Ohio contest could signal Democrats’ momentum for November

President Donald Trump's preferred congressional candidate - and his chief legislative achievement - are about to be tested in battleground Ohio in the season's final high-stakes special election. The midsummer affair comes as Trump's shadow looms over primary contests in four other states on Tuesday, none bigger than Kansas, where the Republican president roiled the governor's race Monday by opposing the sitting GOP governor on the eve of the election.

Hotly contested Ohio special contest tops crowded Election Day…

Ohio Democratic congressional candidate Danny O'Connor speaks during a volunteer canvas launch in Columbus, Ohio, on Aug. 5, 2018. Ohio Democratic congressional candidate Danny O'Connor speaks during a volunteer canvas launch in Columbus, Ohio, on Aug. 5, 2018.

Ohio congressional contest could signal Democrats’ momentum for November

In this Aug. 26, 2017 photo provided by Kyle Reardon, Dimitri Shein, back center, poses with his family, back row from left, Vincent, Joy, Victoria, wife, Melissa; front row, left to right, Genevieve, Mica, and Madelyn at Point Woronzof in Anchorage, Alaska. Shein, a Russian immigrant, is seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. House in Alaska and is one of four candidates competing in the Aug. 21 primary.

Trump says Ohio’s Balderson would be “great congressman”President…

Republican Troy Balderson, a candidate for Ohio's 12th District, joins volunteers at a phone bank in Westerville, Ohio, on Monday, Aug. 6, 2018, a day ahead of a special election for the congressional seat. Balderson, a two-term Republican state senator, is working to retain GOP control of the 12th District.

With 13 weeks to Election Day, Ohio special is big focus today Source: Cox Media Group

As voters go to the polls on this Tuesday for Congressional primaries in four states, the main story line tonight will be a special election for a U.S. House seat in the state of Ohio, as Republicans struggle to hold on to a seat which has been easily in the GOP column for years, as a defeat will be seen as a clear rebuke of President Donald Trump and the Republican Party writ large in a key mid-term election year. "He's really tough.

Trump shadow looms over Tuesday elections in Ohio, Kansas

President Donald Trump's preferred congressional candidate - and his chief legislative achievement - are about to be tested in battleground Ohio in the season's final high-stakes special election. The midsummer affair comes as Trump's shadow looms over primary contests in four other states on Tuesday, none bigger than Kansas, where the Republican president roiled the governor's race Monday by opposing the sitting GOP governor on the eve of the election.

Where are retiring Congress members going to work? Loopholes let them …

WASHINGTON Thirty-five members of Congress 32 in the House and three in the Senate are serving out the last months of their terms while the public is left in the dark on whether new jobs they may land pose a potential conflict of interest. The two main reasons: a loophole in legislation that was touted as promoting disclosure of retirees' post-congressional job negotiations, and interpretations of how to apply the law.

ALS sufferer using last breaths to help Democrats win

It isn't easy for Ady Barkan to raise his right fist anymore, but he's been doing it a lot lately. Diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable neurodegenerative disease better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, 34-year-old Barkan is a progressive activist who has spent the past two years fighting the GOP's 2017 tax bill and trying to help Democrats take back Congress.

Candidates make final push in tight Ohio US House race

In this April 24, 2012, file photo, Ohio state Sen. Troy Balderson, R-Zanesville, asks a question about permit fees for owning exotic animals during an Ohio Senate Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources Committee hearing in Columbus, Ohio. Balderson and Danny O'Connor, a Democrat serving as recorder of Franklin County, Ohio, are running in a special congressional election on Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2018, to determine who will fill out the final months of the term of former U.S. Rep. Pat Tiberi, a Republican who retired in January 2018, before both candidates face off again for the retired lawmaker's seat in the Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, general election.

Morning Bits: Trump is a prosecutor’s dream

Vladimir Putin would not dream of a system in which the president isn't in charge. "The issue, I think, for us in the midterms is, what message is Putin hearing? Is he hearing the message that we heard from [Director of National Intelligence Daniel] Coats and [FBI Director Christopher A.] Wray and others in that press conference at the White House, or is hearing the message of the president of the United States? And I fear that the message that the Kremlin cares most about is what they hear from Donald Trump, and that is still one of denial and cover for the Russians."

Kasich: Balderson did not invite Trump to Ohio Source: Cox Media Group

Republican congressional candidate Troy Balderson said Sunday he was "honored" to have President Donald Trump campaign for him despite Ohio Gov. John Kasich's claim that Balderson did not invite the president to the Saturday rally in Delaware County. With Balderson finding himself at the center between an ongoing feud between Kasich and Trump on the eve of Tuesday's special election in Central Ohio, Balderson said in a statement he "welcomed" the president to the Saturday rally where "he highlighted his support for" Trump and his agenda.

Trumpcare Could Lose Big In Tuesday’s Ohio Special Election

Republican congressional candidate Troy Balderson speaks next to US President Donald Trump during a rally August 4, 2018 at Olentangy Orange High School in Lewis Center, Ohio. Trump and Republicans are concerned Balderson could lose to Democrat Danny O'Connor in the special election Tuesday, Aug. 7. Tuesday's special election in a conservative Ohio Congressional district in the Columbus suburbs could be a blow to future efforts to roll back Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, let alone repealing the law.

4 primaries, Ohio special election promise key midterm clues

Voters in five states head to the polls Tuesday, and both parties are looking for signs of strength and unity in their ranks less than three months until the first major U.S. election since the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington State all hold primaries Tuesday, but the special election in Ohio's 12th Congressional District is taking on particular significance because it's the last time Democrats and Republicans will face off directly until November.

Trump on midterm elections: It’s about me

To continue reading this premium story, you need to become a member. Click below to take advantage of an exclusive offer for new members: President Donald Trump, right, shakes hands with 12th Congressional District Republican candidate Troy Balderson, left, during a rally, Saturday, Aug. 4, 2018, in Lewis Center, Ohio.

Trump casts midterm elections as a personal referendum

Embracing his breakneck return to campaign politics, President Donald Trump on Saturday argued that Republicans needed to control Congress by casting the midterms as a referendum on himself. In a raucous rally in a sweltering gymnasium north of Columbus, Ohio, Trump pitched for the GOP candidate up in a special election next week and defiantly questioned the idea that, historically, the party that controls the White House suffers in the midterms, declaring "but I say why?" "Why would there be a blue wave? I think it could be a red wave," Trump said of his party's prospects in November.

Trump goes after LeBron

Ahead of campaigning in Ohio on Saturday, President Donald Trump unleashed a withering attack on the state's favourite son, savaging LeBron James in a late-night tweet that derided the intelligence of one of the nation's most prominent African-American men. Melania Trump's spokeswoman quickly distanced the first lady from the criticism of James, saying in a statement Saturday afternoon that it appears James is "working to do good things on behalf of our next generation" and that the first lady would be open to visiting his new school.