Illinois election results roll in for key House and Senate primaries

La Shawn Ford wins the Democratic primary in Illinois' 7th Congressional District, NBC News projects.

Ford, a state representative, will be the Democratic nominee in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Rep. Danny Davis, who is 84.

Davis endorsed Ford, who ran against 12 other Democrats, one of whom — Melissa Conyears-Ervin — was endorsed by former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

See the latest results here.

Daniel Biss wins the Democratic primary in Illinois' 9th Congressional District, NBC News projects.

The Evanston mayor defeated former journalist Kat Abughazaleh, who also ran a progressive campaign. Biss and Abughazaleh both earned more votes than state Sen. Laura Fine, who benefited from super PAC funding aimed at pushing a more moderate candidate.

Support for Israel was a critical component in the race, with Biss and Abughazaleh both criticizing the U.S. ally, while Fine defended it. Biss, who is Jewish and whose relatives survived the Holocaust, has criticized the Israeli government and advocated for a Palestinian state. But he still offered support for the "special relationship" between the U.S. and Israel.

Biss earned endorsements from retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who has represented the seat for decades, and Sen. Tammy Duckworth.

See the latest results here.

Melissa Bean wins the Democratic primary in Illinois' 8th Congressional District, NBC News projects.

Bean, who represented the district in the House from 2005 to 2011, was endorsed by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. She was the top fundraiser among eight Democrats seeking the nomination.

Bean was also backed by the secret money group Elect Chicago Women Now.

See the latest results here.

Pritzker may have only just now learned officially whom he faces in November, but he has had an inkling for some time.

That's evidenced in Pritzker's early criticisms of Bailey, a onetime state lawmaker who just clinched the Republican nomination for governor for the second time.

In January, Pritzker went after Bailey for failing to condemn the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by immigration agents in Minnesota.

"Alex Pretti was killed in Minneapolis by Trump’s masked federal agents, and Darren Bailey refuses to even acknowledge it. Instead of answering questions or condemning the killing, Bailey spent the weekend on Facebook Live," Pritzker's campaign said in a statement then.

Pritzker bested Bailey in the 2022 race for governor.

Juliana Stratton wins the Democratic Senate primary in Illinois, NBC News projects.

Stratton defeated Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly. As the Democratic nominee, Stratton is heavily favored to win the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Dick Durbin. She will compete against Republican Don Tracy in the fall.

Stratton, Illinois’ lieutenant governor, was endorsed by Gov. JB Pritzker and Sen. Tammy Duckworth. Pritzker poured money into Illinois Future Fund, a group backing Stratton, and spent nearly $15 million in ads supporting her and attacking Krishnamoorthi, according to AdImpact. She overcame a large financial disadvantage after Krishnamoorthi spent $29 million on primary ads.

Stratton also faced attacks from the super PAC Fairshake, which supports pro-crypto candidates, while receiving the endorsement of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who supports increased crypto regulation.

If she wins in November, Stratton will become the sixth Black woman to serve in the Senate.

See the latest results here.

Here at Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi’s watch party, live election results from the local news on the screen next to the stage have been replaced by the campaign logo. There’s no notable shift in mood among the supporters here as Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton performs well with about 67% of the vote in.

Don Tracy, the former chairman of the Illinois GOP, has won the Republican primary for the Senate in Illinois, NBC News projects.

Tracy had largely self-funded his campaign, lending $2 million of his own money to his race. Those funds helped him outspend his opponents in the primary, including attorney Jeannie Evans, another self-funder, and Casey Chlebek, who works in information technology.

But Tracy will face an uphill climb in the historically Democratic state. Then-Vice President Kamala Harris won Illinois by 11 percentage points in 2024.

See the latest results here.

Darren Bailey has won the Republican primary for Illinois governor, NBC News projects. He will face Democratic Gov. JB Priztker, who is running for a third term, in the general election.

Bailey and Pritzker battled for the job in 2022, with the Democrat winning the seat with 54.9% of the vote. Pritzker has become a national figure in recent years, in part because of his pushback against the Department of Homeland Security's immigration enforcement tactics in Chicago.

See the latest results here.

Donna Miller wins the Democratic primary in Illinois' 2nd Congressional District, NBC News projects.

Miller was one of 10 Democratic candidates. Her victory thwarted Jesse Jackson Jr.’s comeback bid.

Miller, a Cook County Board of Commissioners member, got a boost in the final six weeks of the primary from two secret-money groups, Affordable Chicago Now and Elect Chicago Women, which don’t have any public accounting of who is funding them or why. Miller is also backed by the group Democratic Majority for Israel.

See the latest results here.

Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, a Democratic Senate candidate in Illinois, campaigns today. Scott Olson / Getty Images

Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton is leading her opponents in the Democratic Senate primary in vote-rich Cook County and specifically in Chicago as results continue to come in.

With about 70% of the expected vote in so far from Cook County, Stratton is leading with 39%, followed by Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi at 30% and Rep. Robin Kelly at 22%.

Stratton, who is from Chicago's South Side, is also leading in the city itself. With about 58% of the expected vote in, she is leading with 43%, followed by Krishnamoorthi at 24% and Kelly at 24%.

The Illinois House Democratic primaries have been wildly pricey — about $38 million has been spent on ads in the races so far, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. 

The 9th District has seen the most ad spending, at about $12.3 million; followed by the 7th District, at $9.8 million; the 8th District, at $9 million; and the 2nd District, at $7.3 million.

The biggest outside spenders have been Elect Chicago Women and Affordable Chicago Now, two secret groups that haven’t had to report their donors yet; the AIPAC-aligned United Democracy Project; and the crypto-backed Fairshake.

One big dynamic in this primary has been the presence of three brand-new super PACs, which took advantage of campaign finance reporting rules to obfuscate who is funding them until days after the primary.

We wrote about this more than a month ago, and the spending has expanded exponentially. 

The groups — Affordable Chicago Now, Chicago Progressive Partnership and Elect Chicago Women — have spent more than $16 million in independent expenditures to boost Donna Miller in the 2nd District, Melissa Bean in the 8th and Lara Fine in the 9th (while cutting down some of their opponents).

A key question tonight will be whether these groups got what they paid for or provoked enough backlash that their spending backfired. 

Around $57 million has seen spent on ads in the Democratic Senate primary in Illinois, half of it coming from a single candidate, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democratic candidate for the Senate in Illinois, today. Scott Olson / Getty Images

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi's campaign spent $29.1 million on ads through today, while Rep. Robin Kelly's campaign spent $1.4 million and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton's campaign spent $1.1 million.

Stratton did get a large boost: $14.9 million in ads from Illinois Future PAC, a super PAC funded largely by Gov. JB Pritzker, who endorsed Stratton. But Stratton also faced $9.5 million in attacks from Fairshake, a super PAC funded by cryptocurrency executives and companies.

Polls closed at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. local) in the Illinois primaries, with Democratic contests for the Senate and several open House races drawing the most attention.

People cast their votes today at Welles Park in Chicago. Kamil Krzaczynski / Getty Images

Follow live results here. And check out our election preview for more on the dynamics shaping these primaries.

If Kat Abughazaleh wins her primary in Illinois' 9th Congressional District tonight, she will be a Democratic nominee who remains under federal indictment. 

But Abughazaleh’s attorneys are trying to throw out the conspiracy charge she faces after she protested at the immigration detention facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview last year. She was charged along with five other people — known originally as the Broadview Six — with conspiracy, accused of impeding the movement of a government vehicle. Charges against two of the defendants were recently dismissed.

Kat Abughazaleh in Chicago today.  Nam Y. Huh / AP

In a motion filed yesterday, lawyers for Abughazelah and three other plaintiffs argue that the government’s charges are overblown and that they violate the defendants’ First Amendment rights. 

“By indicting Defendants under an amorphous ‘spontaneous conspiracy’ theory based merely on their coincidental presence and participation in a public protest, the Government is attacking the constitutional rights of expression, assembly and association,” the dismissal motion says. 

Trump started off an annual St. Patrick's Day event at the White House today by saying he "spent my whole day with the Irish, and I should have been spending it with the Iranians."

He then said the U.S. is "doing very well" in its war against Iran.

Trump has not provided any specificity about when the U.S. and Israel will end their strikes on Iran.

The judge presiding over a case seeking to halt construction of Trump's planned $400 million White House ballroom expressed skepticism over the legality of the project at a hearing in Washington today.

President Donald Trump holds an artist's rendering of the new White House ballroom last year. Alex Brandon / AP

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Yaakov Roth called what’s happening on the White House grounds a “renovation” in an effort to explain why the administration doesn't need to get Congress’ express written consent.

“I’m struggling to see how you see this as a 'renovation,'" U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said. “To call a $400 million, 90,000-square-foot ballroom a renovation, that takes some brazen interpretation of the laws of vocabulary.”

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, introduced a bill today to regulate the Pentagon’s use of AI, an opening salvo in how Congress might address the military’s use of the technology.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth; Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.  AP file

The bill seeks to codify two existing Defense Department guidelines into law: that AI cannot autonomously decide to kill a target and that the technology cannot be used to help the military conduct mass surveillance on Americans. It would also ban using the technology to launch or detonate a nuclear weapon.

“We’re unhealthy as a political system, and so we focus more on things like Greenland than we do on the use of AI in matters of lethal force. And it’s our responsibility to legislate this,” Slotkin told NBC News.

Read the full story here.

New York City wants former Mayor Eric Adams to find a new lawyer.

In a court filing today, attorneys for the city’s Law Department asked to be allowed to withdraw from defending Adams from a suit alleging he sexually assaulted a woman when he was a transit cop in 1993.

Read the full story here.

Some Chicago voters said their choices at the polls today were inspired by a desire to see change in the Democratic Party and a rejection of support from pro-Israel and pro-cryptocurrency groups.

A woman casts her votes at West Belmont Library in Chicago, IL. Kamil Krzaczynski / Getty Images

Steve O’Connor, a Chicago voter, told NBC News that his decisions were influenced directly by whether candidates accepted money from AIPAC, an influential pro-Israel lobbying group.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., defended his decision to bring the SAVE America Act to the floor despite needing 60 votes to pass it, which it doesn't have.

“I’m looking forward to a vigorous, long, spirited conversation on the floor of the United States Senate," he said.

He added, "I think it’s an important debate to have because it is an issue that’s at the very core of elections in this country, and I think this is something that the American people care about, something that we’ve obviously heard a lot about from constituents across this country, and I think it’s an important debate to have."

Senate Republicans voted to bring up the SAVE America Act to overhaul election laws nationwide, kicking off what’s expected to be a highly contentious floor debate.

The vote was 51-48, with Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., joining unified Democrats in opposition.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has promised “an extended debate” on the legislation, which Trump has labeled his “No. 1 priority.” But it doesn’t have a viable path to pass in the Senate.

Read the full story here.

The Justice Department said this afternoon that the House Oversight Committee's subpoena of Attorney General Pam Bondi in its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein is "completely unnecessary."

A Justice Department spokesperson said that lawmakers have been invited to view unredacted Epstein files at the Justice Department's headquarters and that Bondi "has always made herself available to speak directly with members of Congress."

"She continues to have calls and meetings with members of Congress on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which is why the Department offered to brief the committee tomorrow," the spokesperson said. "As always, we look forward to continuing to provide policymakers with the facts."

The GOP-led Oversight Committee subpoenaed Bondi earlier today.

Trump accuses BBC of using 'AI-generated' clips of him

02:18

Trump claimed in comments to reporters that the British Broadcasting Corp. used artificial intelligence to show words he never spoke on the day of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol — even though his $10 billion defamation suit against the network made no such claim.

"BBC was incredible. What they did was they had me speaking something I never said," which was "AI generated," Trump said when he was asked about the status of his suit against the BBC over a documentary that aired in the U.K. ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

The BBC's attorney referred a request for comment to the BBC, which did not immediately respond.

Trump's suit alleges that the BBC news show "Panorama" documentary was deceptively edited by combining two quotes from different parts of Trump's speech on the Ellipse on the morning of the attack — one in which he encouraged people to go to the Capitol and another almost an hour later in which he said: "And we fight. We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

Trump's attorneys alleged in a filing this year that the "BBC spliced together two distinct portions of the Speech separated by nearly 55 minutes and omitted a critical intervening portion — a distortion that, by its nature, required deliberate selection and sequencing rather than an accidental 'glitch.'”

House Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., formally subpoenaed Attorney General Bondi over the Justice Department’s handling of records related to Jeffrey Epstein and compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

The deposition will take place April 14.

The Republican-led committee voted 24-19 this month to subpoena Bondi for testimony in its investigation into Epstein.

Five Republicans voted for it, including Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who put the motion forward, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Michael Cloud of Texas and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.

Chief Justice John Roberts said today that personal criticism of judges is dangerous and urged prominent figures to dial down the rhetoric just days after Trump launched his most recent broadside against the Supreme Court.

Roberts, the head of the federal judiciary, said at Rice University in Houston that critiques of the substance of Supreme Court rulings are part of the job but that some more pointed comments have gone too far. He did not mention Trump specifically.

Read the full story here.

The Senate will vote to proceed with the SAVE America Act this afternoon, which will trigger a debate on the bill that is expected to last into the weekend and potentially next week. 

The end result of this exercise in the coming days will be the failure of the bill, which will be subject to a 60-vote threshold — but only after Republicans who support it and Democrats who oppose it are able to speak about the legislation. 

How long it takes largely depends on how long Republicans want to continue talking. Senators can speak as long as they want, and there’s no restriction on how many times they talk. There’s no real triggering mechanism to end debate during the process unless Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., moves to do so once Republicans decide to move away from debate and instead to votes. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., dodged when he was asked whether he could provide an example of fraud in a previous election that the SAVE Act would have prevented.

Johnson instead defended the legislation, citing polling that Democrat voters also want election security reform. 

“Look, we’re not going to litigate all that,” Johnson said. “I can tell you what I’ll tell Democrats: You should listen to the American people.” 

Johnson ignored further questions about identifying fraud.

GOP leadership also urged Democrats to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security, pointing to recent suspected terrorist attacks in the U.S. as examples of the agency’s necessity. 

Johnson referred to four attacks, "all of which originated from perpetrators who are already inside the country. Every one of those attacks falls squarely the purview of the Department of Homeland Security, and the Democrats don’t want to fund it, and now they’re demanding we strip funding from the very agency responsible for stopping all of that.” 

While answering questions from White House reporters this afternoon, Trump criticized Europe's immigration policies, which he's done frequently in the past.

"I love Europe," Trump said. "I've spent a lot of time in Europe. It's a different place. Bad — bad things have happened to Europe, very bad things, and you better do something about immigration."

Shortly after, Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin chimed in, saying that Ireland's "population is growing, but in a very positive way, our economy is going well because we're attracting a lot of people from Europe and beyond into work legally and validly in our country."

Martin added that he thought "sometimes Europe gets characterized wrongly in terms of it being overrun."

"It's much more robust now, much more stronger mechanism in place to facilitate legal migration," Martin said.

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin in the Oval Office today. Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images

Trump told reporters today that he would delay his trip to China for “five or six weeks,” officially pushing the major summit after administration officials opened the door to the trip’s postponement.

“We’re resetting the meeting, and it looks like it’ll take place in about five weeks,” Trump said, later saying five or six weeks. “We’re working with China. They were fine with it.”

Read the full story here.

The top judge in District of Columbia federal court wants a record kept on any failed grand jury indictments sought by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's office for the next four months.

The order by Chief Judge James Boasberg comes after an unusually high number of failed indictments in D.C. federal court in recent months, including an effort to indict six sitting members of Congress last month over their speech in a social media video.

 “Several recent matters have raised the question of whether notice should be provided to the duty magistrate judge when a grand jury fails to concur in an indictment in a Grand Jury Original (GJO) investigation — i.e., where no complaint or information is pending against the target,” Boasberg wrote.

Prosecutors are currently only required to report such votes if the subject has already been charged criminally.

Daniel Biss, a Democratic congressional candidate in Illinois and mayor of Evanston, acknowledged in a statement that he had a brief relationship with a student while he was teaching at the University of Chicago in 2004 before cutting it off because it was "ill-advised."

Megan Wachpress, a lecturer at Stanford Law School, said yesterday on social media and in an extended note on Substack that Biss had been her math professor and, once the academic quarter ended and he was no longer her professor, asked her out on a date. She said he cut things off after he had "second thoughts," but said that the situation made her feel "ashamed."

"It took becoming a professor myself to realize the implications - what it means to be attracted to someone who categorically has less power than you. I don't know if it's disqualifying, but there are too many women not getting a platform as a result of behavior like this for me not to say something," she wrote on the social media platform Bluesky.

In a statement to the Daily Northwestern, a Biss campaign spokesperson said the two went on a "handful of dates over the course of a few weeks" in 2004. "Daniel realized then, as he does now, that it was ill-advised, and he ended it."

Biss is running in the crowded 9th Congressional District, with voters headed to the polls today.

The Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, a retired Green Beret and longtime supporter of Trump, says he has resigned over the war in Iran. 

“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation,” Joe Kent in a statement posted on X today. “It is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

Read the full story here.

Trump says Joe Kent was ‘weak on security’ in reaction to his resignation

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Trump told reporters yesterday that one of his predecessors told him he wished he had been the one to bomb Iran.

It appears he did not speak to any of the four former presidents. An aide for George W. Bush told NBC News that “they haven’t been in touch,” while an aide to Bill Clinton told NBC News that whoever Trump was referring to was not Clinton.

An Obama aide said “no recent conversations” have taken place between Barack Obama and Trump, and a source familiar with the matter said the former president Trump was referring to was not Joe Biden.

Read the full story here.

The White House received a counteroffer from Democrats late last night on funding the Department of Homeland Security in exchange for reforms to immigration enforcement, a White House official told NBC News. 

It’s the first exchange between the White House and Democrats in about two weeks. DHS has been shut down for 30 days and many workers have missed paychecks.

A senior administration official suggested Friday they are still open to making a deal with Democrats. 

“The administration is very open to codifying best practices in law enforcement that are currently being carried out in Minneapolis and around the country,” the official told NBC News.

Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance hosted Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin, the head of Ireland's government, and his wife, Mary O’Shea, for a St. Patrick's Day breakfast in a visit that has become an annual tradition for the U.S. and Irish governments.

Vance and Martin delivered remarks hailing the relationship and history between Ireland and the U.S., with the vice president hailing Ireland as an "important trading an economic partner."

"But I actually think that understates the cultural friendship between the United States and Ireland," Vance continued. "So many of the greatest Americans were people who came from Ireland or their families came from Ireland."

Trump will meet with Martin later today at the White House.

Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance greet Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin and his wife, Mary O'Shea, at the vice president's residence today. Roberto Schmidt / Pool via AFP - Getty Images

Trump said in a post on Truth Social this morning that he would "never" endorse anyone who votes against the SAVE America Act, a sweeping voting bill the Senate is slated to consider this week.

"The Save America Act is one of the most IMPORTANT & CONSEQUENTIAL pieces of legislation in the history of Congress, and America itself. NO MORE RIGGED ELECTIONS!" he wrote.

The legislation would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo identification to cast ballots in federal elections, among other provisions.

"Only sick, demented, or deranged people in the House or Senate could vote against THE SAVE AMERICA ACT, Trump continued, adding that such votes would come back to haunt those members at election time.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, confirmed yesterday that a man killed by Dallas police in a standoff last week had worked as security for her, calling it “a tragic ending that we wish had been avoided for all.”

Crockett said in a statement that Dallas police confirmed “the death of a member of our security team,” adding that “we are saddened and shocked by some of the concerning revelations.”

Read the full story here.

Lawyers for the man charged with planting pipe bombs near the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters on Jan. 5, 2021, said in a new court filing that he should be covered by Trump’s blanket pardon of Jan. 6 defendants.

The attorneys for Brian Cole maintained his innocence but also argued that if he did place the pipe bombs, Trump’s pardon of people involved in “events…at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021” would cover his alleged actions.

Read the full story here.

Sen. Bernie Sanders is demanding that Senate Health Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy hold a hearing to set the record straight that there is no link between vaccines and autism.

Cassidy, R-La., a doctor, has been outspoken about his belief that vaccines are “safe and effective and will not cause autism.”

But in a letter shared exclusively with NBC News, Sanders, I-Vt., said Cassidy must counter statements by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has undermined public faith in vaccines and raised questions about their connection to autism. Cassidy’s was the deciding vote to confirm Kennedy.

Read the full story here.

Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton on Saturday touted a Senate endorsement from the late Rev. Jesse Jackson that she said she had just been notified she received, days before Illinois Democrats choose their nominee to succeed retiring Sen. Dick Durbin. 

But instead, the announcement has turned into a back-and-forth saga. Jackson’s group, Rainbow PUSH, and his son, Yusef Jackson, later said that the endorsement, weeks after the elder Jackson’s death, was not meant to be public and didn’t have final approval. He attributed the mix-up to a staff member.

Read the full story here.

Polling locations are open in Illinois until 7 p.m. CT.

Voters can find polling places on the state's board of elections website.

Illinois voters will determine their party's candidates in a series of competitive primary races for a Senate and House seats.

Illinois voters will head to the polls today to consider party nominees for U.S. Senate and House seats.

Sen. Dick Durbin is retiring, leaving the solidly blue seat open. The major candidates vying to replace him are Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Rep. Robin Kelly. Gov. JB Pritzker and Sen. Tammy Duckworth have endorsed Stratton, and Pritzker has spent millions to boost her. Krishnamoorthi, meanwhile, has spent nearly $29 million on ads, according to AdImpact, dwarfing his competitors. 

House races are also competitive in the 2nd, 7th, 8th and 9th districts. In the 2nd Congressional District, the contenders include former congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., Cook County Board of Commissioners member Donna Miller and State Sens. Robert Peters and Willie Preston.

In the 7th District, Democrats will choose from more than a dozen candidates on the ballot. The 8th District race is also crowded, and a few of the most prominent contenders include former Rep. Melissa Bean, tech consultant Junaid Ahmed and Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison.

In the 9th District, some of the contenders include state Rep. Laura Fine, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss and former journalist Kat Abughazaleh.

Republicans are aggressively touting a popular provision in their sweeping SAVE America Act to overhaul elections nationwide: requiring photo identification to vote.

It’s a policy long opposed by Democrats in Congress, who liken it to nefarious Jim Crow-era laws aimed at preventing Black Americans from voting.

But that message is increasingly falling flat with the American public, including Black voters, as photo IDs are increasingly required for common activities, like air travel.

Read the full story here.

Virtually all of the different battles simmering inside the Democratic Party this year are on display in today's primaries in Illinois, where retirements by key House Democrats and the state’s senior senator opened new theaters for intraparty hostilities.

Deep disagreements over issues such as immigration and Israel policy, tactical battles over how best to take on the Trump administration, questions about age of leaders and whether to empower a new generation of them, and the enduring tug of war between progressives and moderates for influence in the party are all at the forefront as Illinois Democrats weigh potential successors for retiring Sen. Dick Durbin and a quartet of Chicago-area House members leaving their districts.

Read the full story here.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills is launching her first negative TV ad today, targeting her opponent in the Democratic Senate primary over his controversial social media posts.

The ad features women reading past Reddit posts from Graham Platner, an oyster farmer and military veteran, where he downplayed sexual assault. The women call the comments "disgusting," "horrible" and "disqualifying."

In the online posts from 2013, first reported by The Washington Post, Platner responded to a commenter who wrote, "There’s always that story about the girl who gets raped because she drank too much and somebody took advantage of that."

Platner responded, "Holy f---, how about people just take some responsibility for themselves and not get so f---ed up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to? Men and women, you make a choice to consume enough of a substance to lose your self control. So if you don’t want to be in a comprising situation, act like an adult for f---s sake."

Platner said in an interview with the Post about those Reddit comments, "I can honestly say I did not know what the f--- I was talking about. I have been for quite some time on the opposite side of this conversation.”