RUNOFFS: Tonight’s primaries will provide two of the final major tests of Trump’s endorsement power in this year’s midterm primaries.
Trump has weighed into today's GOP primary runoffs for South Carolina’s Senate seat and for Oklahoma’s governorship, expending political capital in two races that are anyone's to win.
In South Carolina, Trump has thrown his weight behind Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.), who is serving out the final months of her late brother’s term as she seeks a full six-year term of her own. She faces Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a longtime member of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus who is leaning on his experience in office.
Graham and Norman advanced to a runoff after earning about 33 percent and 25 percent, respectively, in the Aug. 11 special primary, setting off a two-week sprint to today’s runoff.
But without much public polling — and after Graham’s fumble over a national security question during last week’s debate — the race is up for grabs. One poll released late Monday night showed the race essentially tied.
Over in Oklahoma, Trump’s pick, Republican Mike Mazzei, finished less than a percentage point behind his opponent, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond (R), who was viewed as an early favorite in the race before Trump weighed in just two weeks before the June primary.
Drummond has faced the president’s ire over his resistance to a Trump-backed project to bring what would be the country’s largest aluminum smelter to his state and filed a suit to block the plant, arguing it would hurt residents and their land. Trump has also suggested Drummond was not supportive enough during his impeachment trials.
The president joined back-to-back tele-rallies last night with each candidate as he urged voters to turn out to the polls.
▪ The Hill Insider: Graham hopes Trump propels her across finish line.
▪ The Hill: Drummond says Trump is ‘wrong’ on tariffs.
SCOTUS SURPRISE: The Supreme Court has lifted a federal judge’s block on Trump’s executive order implementing requirements for mail-in voting, with the majority finding that a handful of Democratic-leaning state sued too early for courts to weigh in.
The conservative majority ruled over the dissents of the court’s three liberals that the judge didn’t have the authority to block the order before the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) implements the new standards.
The ruling allows the president to move closer to instituting his order ahead of the midterms. Trump signed the order in March to direct his administration to create a list of verified citizens who are eligible to vote and for USPS to only send ballots to citizens on a state’s approved mail-in ballot list.
California, Massachusetts, Nevada and Washington co-led the lawsuit challenging the order, leading a total of nearly two dozen states and Washington, D.C.
The ruling covers the timing of the case but not the merits. Additional legal challenges may be to come, leaving whether the order can be implemented in time for November uncertain.
▪ The Hill: Justice Department signals appeal coming on Epstein files redactions.
NEXT ROUND: Trump is already looking ahead to implementing another wave of steep tariffs on Canada following Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s announcement that his government will impose retaliatory tariffs against the U.S.
The president threatened Monday that he would place additional 50 percent tariffs on Canadian cars, trucks, auto parts and steel starting Jan. 1. That would be on top of the 50 percent tariffs that went into effect at the end of last week on a range of Canadian goods, including wine, furniture and cement.
Carney’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods — including dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment and electronics — will take effect Sept. 8.
Trade talks between the countries collapsed at the end of last week. Carney has said the U.S.’s terms were unacceptable, including a late demand that restrictions be placed on Canada’s ability to reach trade deals with other countries.
Trump administration officials have accused Canada of being the one making last-minute changes, with the president saying on Truth Social on Monday that Canada has been “ripping off” the U.S. for years.
▪ The Hill Insider: What to know about US-Canada trade war impacts.
▪ The Hill Insider: Tariff war threatens GOP candidates in border battlegrounds.
TRY TRY AGAIN: The Trump administration is again planning to charge employers more than $100,000 for skilled international workers they hire through the H-1B work visa program, according to a notice of proposed rulemaking issued Monday by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
A federal judge in June struck down the Trump administration’s proposal for a $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications, ruling only Congress could levy taxes and set immigration laws.
But DHS’s proposed rule indicates that the fee would function as a “dedicated revenue mechanism” to recover some of the cost of administering the immigration system.
“The proposed H‑1B fee is intended to recover the costs incurred across the federal government to adjudicate, vet, and support lawful immigration programs that otherwise must be funded by taxpayers,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesperson Zach Kahler said in a release.
▪ The Hill: Texas governor fights Minnesota extradition request for immigration officer.
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