Wake up with the Washington Examiner: Election litigation, veepstakes intrigue, and a new IVF road map

Election by lawsuit

Former President Donald Trump and Republican allies filed dozens of lawsuits in the aftermath of the 2020 election. The effort to deny President Joe Biden victory was a concerted one that began with public denials of the validity of vote counts and carried on in courtrooms across the country.

While litigation over the election kicked into high gear after Nov. 3, 2020, both parties have already started submitting legal questions about the validity of interim elections, possibly laying the groundwork for a repeat of what happened four years ago.

In today’s final installment in our Mailing it in series, which has explored fights over absentee voting and voter registration efforts in swing states, Senior Investigations Reporter Barnini Chakraborty examined some of the lawsuits unfolding that could have the biggest effects on the outcome in November.

Georgia was at the heart of some of the most contentious 2020 fights. Trump has been indicted in Fulton County for his alleged efforts to put his thumb on the scale in the Peach State after he became the first Republican presidential candidate to lose there since George H.W. Bush in 1992.

Though Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has had her investigation into the former president derailed by personal indiscretions that nearly forced her off the case, the deeply Democratic area in an otherwise ruby-red state remains a battleground for legal action.

“Julie Adams, a member of Georgia’s Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections, refused to certify two primaries this year, claiming she had been denied her legal right to review a long list of election records for fraud,” Barnini wrote this morning.

“Adams, who has gone on the record to say she believes former President Donald Trump was the victim of a stolen election in 2020, has filed suit against the board. If a judge grants her and others in her position the power to hold up the outcome of elections, it could create a chaotic aftermath to an already tense 2024 election,” she wrote.

Interim skirmishes that attempt to hold up finalizing the results of minor elections are sending Democrats into a panic. Republicans are arguing they simply want to ensure elections are being conducted fairly and accurately. The people who have the authority to authorize them say they need to have access to detailed records about who voters are and whether they voted legitimately.

But as similar fights play out in battleground states, including Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, and Michigan, repeated complaints about fraud could dint public faith in the electoral process.

As Barnini wrote, “Some have worried that the refusal to certify results is just the start of a deluge of legal battles that will begin before the first ballots are even cast for the 2024 presidential election.”

Click here to catch up on the most important election lawsuits unfolding now.

Pumping the brakes on the veepstakes

With the Republican National Convention just weeks away, an announcement about who is joining Trump at the top of the ticket is imminent. Buzz around the choice has been building for months as Trump has been fast and loose with who he says he’d consider whenever he’s asked.

A smaller group of eight candidates has reportedly been given a range of questionnaires, some more detailed than others, in what appeared to be the final stages of vetting.

But after last Thursday’s dismal debate performance by Biden, White House Reporter Naomi Lim wrote today, it might behoove Trump to put off his vice presidential announcement for as long as possible to keep the focus and pressure on his opponent.

“With the first sitting congressional Democrat calling on Biden to stand aside as the party’s presumptive nominee before next month’s convention in Chicago, Trump may delay his vice presidential announcement so it does not step on Biden’s negative news coverage,” Naomi wrote.

“Delaying Trump’s vice presidential announcement ‘makes sense’ because some Democrats are ‘in the process of burning down the Biden campaign,’ with the ‘sad truth’ that Biden is ‘not up to the job’ after his debate performance last week, according to Republican strategist Cesar Conda, chief domestic policy officer adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney and onetime chief of staff to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL),” she wrote.

Of course, Trump is limited in how long he can go before telling voters who he has picked.

The convention starts in just 10 days. Trump doesn’t have to announce who his choice will be before the convention begins — Richard Nixon (1968), Gerald Ford (1976), and Ronald Reagan (1980) didn’t announce their selections until the final day of their respective conventions. Bob Dole waited until one day before the 1996 convention to select Jack Kemp as his running mate.

But Trump is enjoying a reprieve from negative media attention right now. Democrats are starting to turn on Biden publicly. He won’t have to appear for sentencing in his hush money trial until September. And the Supreme Court’s decision on Monday that presidents are broadly immune for official acts taken while in office could upend several of the indictments against him.

“The bottom line is the Biden campaign is crashing and burning before our eyes,” Republican strategist Conda told Naomi. “Now is not the time for Republicans to distract from the dumpster fire that is the Democratic Party today.”

Click here to read more from Naomi.

New IVF MVP?

Republicans have been reeling from the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade for two years. Despite the 50-year campaign to send the authority to regulate rules about abortion back to state legislatures, Republicans have been caught flat-footed when it comes to campaigning on anti-abortion platforms.

The already choppy electoral waters got murkier earlier this year when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled embryos created via in vitro fertilization were considered children under state law. States immediately started clamping down on IVF out of fear doctors could be prosecuted under tight anti-abortion laws.

But “pro-family” Republicans are anxious to draw bright lines between their support for IVF and their opposition to abortion. Economics Reporter Zachary Halaschak had an exclusive interview with Senate candidate Dave McCormick, who laid out his plans to be a leader in the area if he can defeat Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-PA) in November.

“I will be a strong advocate for IVF,” McCormick told Zachary. “I think it’s a great contribution to society.”

In addition to doubling the federal child tax credit, McCormick told the Washington Examiner he wants to provide a $15,000 tax credit specifically for fertility services such as IVF.

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“As a businessperson, I’m looking for investments that have a high return on investment and pay now to avoid enormous costs later,” he said.

Click here to learn more about McCormick’s detailed IVF plans.

In case you missed it

Biden had a horrible, no good, very bad Tuesday.

Judge Aileen Cannon is feeling better about taking her time.

Trump has a clearer path to victory in court in Georgia.

Baldwin balks at appearing with Biden in hometown.