“Hillbilly Elegy” author JD Vance won Ohio’s contentious and hyper-competitive GOP Senate primary on Tuesday, buoyed by Donald Trump’s endorsement in a race that was an early test of the former president’s hold on his party as the midterm season kicks into high gear. A onetime staunch critic of Trump whose 2016 memoir about his Appalachian childhood lifted him to fame, Vance spent much of the campaign behind in the polls.
But a late-stage endorsement from Trump pushed him to frontrunner status and the two men downplayed Vance’s past scathing criticism of the former president, with Vance saying he was wrong. He now faces Democrat Tim Ryan in the general election race to fill the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman.
The 10-term Democratic congressman, who easily won his three-way primary Tuesday night, will likely have an uphill climb in a state Trump won twice by an 8-point margin. In a potential warning sign for Ryan, roughly twice as many Republicans participated in the primary than Democrats.
About 500 people gathered outside the federal courthouse in downtown Minneapolis Tuesday evening to protest the possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
If the court’s draft opinion becomes its final decision, abortions in Minnesota would remain legal for now under a 1995 state Supreme Court ruling which effectively established a right to an abortion under the state constitution. That has some concerned that Minnesota would become a destination for abortion services for women from other states.
Wall Street is off to a mixed start on Wednesday and bond yields are rising as traders look ahead to an announcement later in the day on interest rates from the Federal Reserve.
The Fed is widely expected to raise its benchmark short-term rate by double the usual amount, half a percentage point, as it steps up its fight against inflation. Several companies were making big moves on earnings news. Lyft sank 30% after releasing an outlook weaker than analysts were expecting, while Airbnb and Starbucks both rose after reporting solid results. The S&P 500 was drifting between small gains and losses.
Ben Hogan can be reached at ben.hogan@stthomas.edu.