Why US midterms are likely to have a profound effect on women’s rights in America
In a park on a Saturday afternoon in suburban Atlanta, a group of young women gather, eating pizza and talking.
But this is no idle chit chat, they are discussing the future leadership of this country, and specifically what the midterm elections on Tuesday mean for their reproductive rights.
Most of them are first-time voters and newly energised by the Supreme Court decision earlier this year to revoke the constitutional right to choose abortion, known colloquially as Roe versus Wade. They are volunteering with the abortion provider Planned Parenthood and are canvassing potential voters in a mostly black neighbourhood.
“I think it’s important that people understand you have a voice and a say in the matter,” Brandy Nalyana, from Atlanta, says.
“With the overturn of Roe v Wade you felt powerless, you were in the streets and nobody was listening to you. But now we have midterms, you’re finally able to utilise your voice.”
Brandy Nalyana, from Atlanta
They are part of a strategy being rolled out across this country to use the increasingly restrictive patchwork of abortion rights to drive voters to the polls.
Each state now decides unilaterally what abortion rights are applied and 13 states have already banned or severely restricted access to abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court decision.
Democrats hope to motivate women, particularly, to vote blue and protect their future right to choose.
Nalah Lewis, a policy officer at Reproductive Justice, is going door to door, encouraging people to go to the polls on Tuesday.
As a younger woman she had an abortion and wants others to have the right to choose.
“I personally was not mentally prepared for [having a child]. I didn’t have the finances for that and I wanted to finish school,” Nalah says.
Nalah Lewis is a policy officer at Reproductive Justice
“Republicans are working overtime to take our rights away. I can’t imagine having to drive hundreds of miles away and worry about childcare and taking time off from work or not having the funds to be able to do that. I’m enraged and that’s why I’m asking people to know that abortion is on the ballot.”
Pro choice advocates fear that if both houses of congress flip to the Republicans there could be an effort to institute a federal, nationwide ban on abortion, denying states their ability to keep abortion legal.
In Georgia, the hotly contested Senate race is between incumbent Democrat Reverend Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker, a former American football star who is endorsed by former president Donald Trump.
Republican Herschel Walker is a former American football star who is endorsed by former president Donald Trump
The pair are currently deadlocked and if Walker wins it could be decisive in flipping the balance of power in this country back towards the Republican Party.
Walker ran his campaign on a message of anti abortion. In August he said he supported a total ban on abortion even in cases of rape and incest, although he has since revised this to say he supports Georgia’s current status of a six-week ban with exceptions.
But stories from Walker’s own past have emerged and been seized upon by his opponent.
Two women have claimed that Walker had extramarital affairs with them and paid for, or even pressured, them into having an abortion when they became pregnant.
Walker has denied the claims, not that the scandal seems to be affecting him in the polls or among his support base, which remains steadfast.
Lots of them were at a eating and drinking on Saturday at a tailgate party outside the Georgia Bulldogs football stadium, the team which Walker starred for.
“I’m not worried about it,” says Vanessa Brosnan, a Republican voter and football fan from Atlanta, “I don’t worry about him because he’s a good guy. He might have a past, but he’s let you know what his past is. There’s a thing called forgiveness.”
Others are plain about the basis of their support of Walker. “I’d vote for Herschel just because he gave us great football,” says Phillip Jennings, a farmer and Georgia Bulldogs fan from Soperton, Georgia.
He says he used to be a conservative Democrat but that the party has “lost its way” and he will now vote Republican across the ticket.
“Crime is rampant everywhere,” he says. “If they’re not killing them with a gun, they’re trying to kill them with a hammer and inflation is killing people, too.
“We’re in an awful place in this country, both Republicans and Democrats, we need a lot of leadership. We need to start looking forward, get these petty issues behind us.”
While many voters seem most animated about issues like crime, immigration and inflation, Democrats are keeping a laser focus on abortion rights.
After the Supreme Court decision to end the constitutional right to abortion, they experienced a significant boost in the polls but that has now disappeared.
As things stand, they could be heading for significant defeats on election night and that is likely to have a profound effect on women’s rights in America.
President Joe Biden has invited Donald Trump for a meeting at the White House today.
This is what we expect is likely to happen.
Guest List
The meeting takes place at 11am local time (4pm UK time). It’s unclear whether they’ll be joined by anyone else for the “meet and greet”.
The final plans are still fluid but, as of last night, vice president Kamala Harris wasn’t expected to attend and JD Vance, the vice president-elect, hadn’t received an invitation from her.
The future first lady, Melania Trump, has been invited to accompany her husband on the visit but it’s thought unlikely she will attend. She did make the visit in 2016 and had tea in the Yellow Oval Room with the then first lady Michelle Obama.
It’s unclear whether the current first lady, Dr Jill Biden, will participate, although she is scheduled to be at the White House.
Enemies Reunited
The Oval Office meeting will be the first between Mr Biden and Mr Trump since the pair shared a TV debate stage in Atlanta last June. It was the night Mr Biden’s gaffes cost him the candidacy.
On that occasion, there was no handshake between the two old enemies and the mood darkened as the verbal sparring began.
“I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence,” said Mr Trump. “I don’t think he knows what he said either.”
Mr Biden said of Mr Trump: “You’re the sucker, you’re the loser.”
Read more:
The big numbers behind Trump’s attempt to shape his legacy
Bluesky gets surge in users switching from X after US election
It was the language of loathing that has long characterised the pair’s interactions. In the past, Mr Biden has called Mr Trump a “threat to this nation”, and Mr Trump has called Mr Biden “stupid”, and a “low-IQ individual”.
And remember, Mr Trump has threatened to pursue retribution against Mr Biden, stating he would hire a “real special prosecutor” to go after him.
On this historic occasion, expect the coldest handshake in American history.
Precedent
Former president Barack Obama invited then president-elect Trump to meet at the White House two days after the 2016 election.
The sit-down in the Oval Office lasted approximately 90 minutes and Mr Obama called it “an excellent conversation” that was “wide-ranging”.
Then vice-president Biden met with then VP-elect Mike Pence during that time as well.
Six days later, the Bidens hosted the Pences at their home.
Mr Trump did not invite Mr Biden for a 2020 visit to the White House, while refusing to concede the election.
In snubbing Mr Biden, Mr Trump bucked a presidential tradition that had gone back decades.
Former president George W Bush hosted Mr Obama in 2008 and Laura Bush hosted Michelle Obama, while former president Bill Clinton hosted Mr Bush in 2000.
What will Mr Biden and Mr Trump discuss?
There is no published agenda but there’s every chance we’ll hear it first hand from either, or both. TV cameras will film the event and both men will have the opportunity to take questions.
Following his 2016 meeting with Mr Trump, then president Barack Obama said: “We talked about some of the organisational issues in setting up the White House. We talked about foreign policy.
“We talked about domestic policy and, as I said last night, my number-one priority in the coming two months is to try to facilitate a transition that ensures our president-elect is successful.”
It is a familiarisation meeting, as much as anything else. Senior staffers, on both sides, will also meet their counterparts.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
What’s in it for them?
For both men, this meeting symbolises an orderly transition of power.
Presidents, outgoing and incoming, working for the good of the country. It works for Mr Trump because why wouldn’t it? He won decisively and will survey the spoils.
It works for Mr Biden because a peaceful transition represents everything that, for him, Mr Trump doesn’t: respect for the office, respect for the people and respect for democracy.
As much as this meeting is wrapped up in the politeness of protocol, it has hard politics at its heart.
Donald Trump has confirmed Elon Musk will co-lead the new department of government efficiency.
The president-elect said on Tuesday that the Tesla and X owner – who is also the world’s richest man – will work with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the department, which is known as DOGE for short.
The appointment fulfils a promise Mr Trump made to the tech billionaire after he endorsed him in the race for the White House, and poured more than $119m (£92m) canvassing for him in the seven battleground states.
In a statement, the president-elect said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.
Donald Trump and Elon Musk in Butler, Pennsylvania. Pic: AP
Despite its name, the DOGE is not a government agency and is instead set to provide “advice and guidance” from the outside of government.
The statement released by Mr Trump said it will partner with the office of management and budget to “drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to government never seen before”.
This will likely mean both Mr Musk and biotech entrepreneur Mr Ramaswamy will be allowed to continue working in the private sector and serve without Senate approval, Sky News’ US partner network NBC reported, as they would technically not be federal workers.
Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the department with Mr Musk. Pic: AP
Federal employees are generally required to disclose their assets to ward off any potential conflicts of interest, and to divest significant holdings relating to their work.
After being elected president in 2016, Mr Trump handed over control of his business empire to his sons in order to try and avoid a conflict of interest. The move was later criticised by the director of the office of government ethics that it did not go far enough and Mr Trump “still [knew] what he owned”.
‘More efficiency and less bureaucracy’
A deadline of 4 July 2026 has been put in place for the new DOGE to conclude its work.
The DOGE acronym coincides with a popular meme and the name of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin that Mr Musk promotes.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
What Musk stands to gain from Trump
Mr Trump added: “A smaller government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift to America on the 250th Anniversary of The Declaration of Independence. I am confident they will succeed!”
Mr Musk said in the statement that the department will “send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in government waste”.
The billionaire has said in the past he wants to cut $2trn from the federal budget but has provided few details on what he would cut.
Meanwhile, Mr Ramaswamy, who threw his support behind Mr Trump after suspending his own bid for the presidency in January, previously called for mass lay-offs in federal agencies.
The union representing federal workers said in a statement on Tuesday that if the DOGE implements these recommendations, or ones similar, it would “mean massive cuts” to multiple departments.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
How Trump won the election
In a string of picks for his second administration, Mr Trump also named Fox New host and army veteran Pete Hegseth as defence secretary and said he would nominate former director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe to be director of the CIA.
Earlier this week, the president-elect named Susie Wiles – who ran his 2024 presidential campaign – as his White House chief of staff, the first woman in history to take up one of the most important non-elected roles in Washington.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Florida senator Marco Rubio is reported to be named as secretary of state, who serves as the president’s chief foreign affairs adviser and the country’s top diplomat.
If chosen, Mr Rubio would be first Latino member of the president-elect’s top team, but Mr Trump could still change his mind on the appointment.
Below is a list of all the appointments Mr Trump has made for his administration so far:
• Susie Wiles, White House chief of staff
• Pete Hegseth, secretary of defence
• Mike Waltz, national security adviser
• Tom Homan, “border czar”
• Elise Stefanik, United Nations ambassador
• Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff for policy
• Lee Zeldin, head of the Environmental Protection Agency
• Mike Huckabee, ambassador to Israel
• Steven Witkoff, special envoy to the Middle East
• John Ratcliffe, CIA director
• William McGinley, White House counsel
• Kristi Noem, secretary of homeland security.
A member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard who leaked classified Pentagon information has been jailed for 15 years.
Jack Teixeira shared documents that contained information about the war in Ukraine on the messaging platform Discord.
The leak exposed information about troop movements in Ukraine, and the provision of supplies and equipment to Kyiv’s soldiers.
He began sharing the documents in 2022, Sky News’ US partner network NBC News reported, and had held top-secret security clearance since the year before.
Teixeira pleaded guilty earlier this year to six counts of wilful retention and transmission of national defence information following his arrest in the most consequential national security case in years.
Wearing an orange jumpsuit, he showed no visible reaction as he was sentenced by US district judge Indira Talwani.
Before being sentenced, he apologised for his actions, saying: “I wanted to say I’m sorry for all the harm that I brought and caused.”
He referenced the “maelstrom” he created and added: “I understand all the responsibility and consequences fall upon my shoulders alone and accept whatever that will bring.”
Afterwards, Teixeira, of North Dighton, Massachusetts, hugged one of his lawyers and looked toward his family and smiled, before being led away.
Jack Teixeira, a member of the US Air National Guard. Pic: Reuters
The security breach raised alarm over America’s ability to protect its most closely guarded secrets and left the Biden administration scrambling to try to contain the fallout.
The leaks were also embarrassing for the Pentagon which tightened controls and disciplined members who failed to take necessary action over the 22-year-old’s suspicious behaviour.
Read more from Sky News:
What is Discord?
Megan Fox announces pregnancy
Kremlin denies Trump-Putin call
Dog helps police catch owner’s killer
A court sketch of Teixeira. Pic: AP
Assistant US attorney Jared Dolan said Teixeira’s sentencing would “be a cautionary tale for the men and women in the US military”.
Teixeira’s own lawyers said that while his actions were criminal, they were never intended to “harm the United States”.
A smashed tablet recovered from bins near Teixeira’s home. Pic: AP
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
“Instead, his intent was to educate his friends about world events to make certain they were not misled by misinformation,” the lawyers claimed.
Prosecutors in court said he tried to cover his tracks as they found a smashed tablet, laptop and Xbox in a rubbish bin at his house.
Teixeira, who was part of the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts, worked as a cyber transport systems specialist – an information technology specialist responsible for military communications networks.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports7 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Environment1 year agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway