Rep. Buddy Carter said he wants to signal the party's hoped-for future direction.

House Republicans are introducing a bill today to roll back recent Biden administration guidance that warns the nation’s pharmacies of legal and financial consequences if they refuse to dispense abortion or contraception medication.

The “Pharmacist Conscience Protection Act,” led by Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) and first shared with POLITICO, would give pharmacists freer rein to refuse to provide medication they suspect could be used to terminate a pregnancy.

While the bill has no chance of passage in the current Congress and would need to be reintroduced next year if Republicans win back control of the House, Carter said he wants to signal what direction the party hopes to go in the future and send a message to the pharmacists he's been hearing from who currently feel caught between conflicting state and federal laws on abortion.

The Republican elections board commissioner in upstate Rensselaer County was arrested Tuesday on charges of carrying out a brazen ballot scheme that allowed him to cast votes in voters’ names.

Jason Schofield applied for absentee ballots for voters who did not want to vote, and, in some instances, personally pushed voters to sign absentee ballot envelopes, positioning himself or his associates to commit voter fraud in primary and general elections in 2021, according to court papers.

The 12-count indictment charging Schofield said ballots were counted from at least four voters who were instructed to sign ballot envelopes but were not allowed to complete them.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court sprung into the national spotlight during the now-going-on-one-year redistricting battle. But the court is much more than just that, which is why advocates are urging voters to care about the open seats.

With three seats available this November, Democratic voter Barbara Freidman Yaksic said it is essential for voters to use their voices to elect progressive candidates to the court, so they don’t need to rely on a Republican justice to side with fairness.

"There is no honest and open and full debate because Republicans can ram through whatever they want," Freidman Yaksic said. "That's not how our democracy is supposed to work."

Republican voter John Tamburello agrees the court needs to be fair, saying if voters elected a Republican justice, that justice should reflect their views.

"A rogue, very rogue current Supreme Court with their redistricting, they caused so much chaos with what they did," Tamburello said.

Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, a Republican, had crossed party lines and consistently sided with the Democratic justices on redistricting, upsetting her party. In the end, a federal court sided with the Republicans — overruling the high court.

Redistricting

The Ohio Redistricting Commission (ORC) continually passed maps that were struck down as unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court.

The Ohio Supreme Court rejected legislative maps for being unconstitutional and gerrymandered for a fifth time in May. In the bipartisan majority statement, O'Connor said the Republicans "engaged in a stunning rebuke of the rule of law" by refusing to create legal maps.

Abortion

Arguably the most time-pressing issue at this point, the Ohio Supreme Court gets to decide if abortion laws are constitutional or not.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court sprung into the national spotlight during the now-going-on-one-year redistricting battle. But the court is much more than just that, which is why advocates are urging voters to care about the open seats.

With three seats available this November, Democratic voter Barbara Freidman Yaksic said it is essential for voters to use their voices to elect progressive candidates to the court, so they don’t need to rely on a Republican justice to side with fairness.

"There is no honest and open and full debate because Republicans can ram through whatever they want," Freidman Yaksic said. "That's not how our democracy is supposed to work."

Republican voter John Tamburello agrees the court needs to be fair, saying if voters elected a Republican justice, that justice should reflect their views.

"A rogue, very rogue current Supreme Court with their redistricting, they caused so much chaos with what they did," Tamburello said.

Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, a Republican, had crossed party lines and consistently sided with the Democratic justices on redistricting, upsetting her party. In the end, a federal court sided with the Republicans — overruling the high court.

Redistricting

The Ohio Redistricting Commission (ORC) continually passed maps that were struck down as unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court.

The Ohio Supreme Court rejected legislative maps for being unconstitutional and gerrymandered for a fifth time in May. In the bipartisan majority statement, O'Connor said the Republicans "engaged in a stunning rebuke of the rule of law" by refusing to create legal maps.

Abortion

Arguably the most time-pressing issue at this point, the Ohio Supreme Court gets to decide if abortion laws are constitutional or not.

More than 150 Michigan Republicans launched a new campaign effort to boost the reelection prospects of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) against GOP opponent Tudor Dixon, who is backed by former President Trump.

Republicans for Whitmer is led by a leadership council of 35 Republicans from Michigan, including business leaders, former lawmakers and staff who served under former state GOP Govs. John Engler and Rick Snyder.

Bill Parfet, the chairman and CEO of commercial real estate company Northwood Group, said he was supporting Whitmer because she was seeking to build a common bridge between Democrats and Republicans.

“No more fighting,” Parfet said in a statement. ““Among those running for election in November, there exists a group of individuals — some Democrats, some Republicans — that are willing to work together to find a common middle-ground where progress can be made. … The best person to lead that effort is Governor Gretchen Whitmer.”

Whitmer, who has served as Michigan’s governor since 2019, appears to be gaining ground in her reelection bid against Dixon.

Democrats are eyeing what they believe is an increasingly realistic path to victory in Florida’s marquee midterm races after months of hesitation over just how aggressively to contest the state this year.

The Sunshine State has proven elusive to Democrats in recent years; former President Trump carried it in both 2016 and 2020, Republicans have outpaced Democrats in voter registrations and the party has struggled with mounting losses among Latinos, a key constituency that Democrats once saw as a reliable voting bloc.

But recent polling has reignited Democratic interest in Florida, fueling hope among party operatives and officials that they just might be able to oust Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Marco Rubio (R) this year and reassert Florida’s reputation as a swing state.

“I don’t want to sound overly optimistic. We still have a lot of work to do,” said one Democratic consultant involved in key races in Florida. “But things are trending in the right direction.”

Democrats are eyeing what they believe is an increasingly realistic path to victory in Florida’s marquee midterm races after months of hesitation over just how aggressively to contest the state this year.

The Sunshine State has proven elusive to Democrats in recent years; former President Trump carried it in both 2016 and 2020, Republicans have outpaced Democrats in voter registrations and the party has struggled with mounting losses among Latinos, a key constituency that Democrats once saw as a reliable voting bloc.

But recent polling has reignited Democratic interest in Florida, fueling hope among party operatives and officials that they just might be able to oust Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Marco Rubio (R) this year and reassert Florida’s reputation as a swing state.

“I don’t want to sound overly optimistic. We still have a lot of work to do,” said one Democratic consultant involved in key races in Florida. “But things are trending in the right direction.”

Chloe Akers considers herself a grizzled criminal defense attorney. Until a few months ago, she didn't spend much time thinking about abortion — for all her 39 years, abortion was not a crime, so she'd never imagined having to defend someone accused of performing one.

That changed in June when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Akers sat down in her law office and pulled up Tennessee's new criminal abortion statute.

She didn't read it through a political lens; it doesn't matter whether she likes a law — there are a lot of them she doesn't like. Instead, she read it like she would any other statute: What does it make illegal? How would it be enforced?

She was shocked. She read it maybe 10 times more. Surely, she was missing something.

Tennessee's law is one of the strictest in the country. It makes performing an abortion a Class C felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. There are no exceptions. This is the part that Akers has since found herself having to repeat, often eliciting raised eyebrows and deeply drawn breaths: Unlike many states' abortions bans, including the one in Texas, this law does not explicitly exempt abortions performed to save a mother's life.