Congressional Elections

Christopher Ward, once the highly respected former treasurer for the National Republican Congressional Committee, allegedly improperly diverted more than $500,000 in GOP campaign donations during a four-year period from 2003 to 2007, according to documents unveiled by the Justice Dept. on Friday.

Fresh from laying claim to the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama was back on the Senate floor Wednesday, crossing paths with the man he chose as his mentor as a freshman three years ago: Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman. 

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), having secured the Democratic presidential nomination, returned to the Senate for a victory lap Wednesday, telling reporters he spoke briefly with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y) and that he was confident the party will be unified in the coming months.

Though dominated by the presidential primaries in Montana and South Dakota and Barack Obama's clinching of the Democratic presidential nomination, yesterday's vote could have been called the "Super Tuesday" of the 2008 congressional primary season. Seven states with 83 congressional districts held primary elections on Tuesday, and all but California also are hosting a Senate election this year.

New Mexico Rep. Steve Pearce is on track to eke out a win over Heather A. Wilson, another House Republican, in the party's primary for the seat of retiring Sen. Pete V. Domenici.

Four-term Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg flexed his political muscles once again in New Jersey's Democratic primary Tuesday, easily deflecting a challenge from longtime U.S. Rep. Robert E. Andrews -- and rebuffing the contention by supporters of the 50-year-old Andrews that the 84-year-old incumbent should step aside to make way for new leadership.

As the seemingly endless primary battle for the Democratic nomination neared its end, Senator Clinton and her husband raised the issue of why so many people had begun pushing for the race to be brought to a speedy close.

Sen. Barack Obama’s historic quest for the Democratic presidential nomination appeared near an end Tuesday, as the Illinois senator inched closer to the magic delegate math needed to clinch victory and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton signaled that her once seemingly invincible campaign was coming to a close.

Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign denied an Associated Press report today that the New York senator plans to concede tonight that Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has enough delegates to win the Democratic Party's nomination following the final two contests in South Dakota and Montana.

Leonard Lance, a state senator, and public relations consultant Kate Whitman, the daughter of a former governor, are the front-runners in the seven-candidate field for Tuesday's Republican primary in New Jersey's open 7th Congressional District -- a key contest that pivots on whether the district's GOP voters favor political experience or a fresh face.

As the Democratic nomination marathon neared a potential finish line, key senators said the results of Tuesday’s South Dakota and Montana primaries will have a domino effect on uncommitted superdelegates – quite possibly clinching the nomination for Barack Obama.

Just two days before the primary in New Mexico, Rep. Steve Pearce is leading Rep. Heather A. Wilson in the battle for the Republican nomination to replace Republican Sen. Pete V. Domenici.

Liberal activists hailed the big gains in Congress that Democrats made in the 2006 elections. This year they are pushing to elect a Democratic president and bigger majorities for the party in Congress. But as Tuesday's Democratic primary in Iowa's 3rd Congressional District underscores, the political left's fire is not exclusively trained on Republicans.

Congressional candidates have racked up more than $130 million in debt this election cycle, although some of it has been carried over from prior years. Republican House and Senate candidates lead the way with $88 million, while the Democrats are carrying $42 million in IOUs.

Democratic primary voters in southern New Jersey's heavily Democratic 1st Congressional District are almost certain to nominate lawyer Camille Andrews next Tuesday to succeed her husband, longtime Rep. Robert E. Andrews, who stunned the local political community when he announced just before the April 7 filing deadline that he had entered the U.S. Senate primary to challenge four-term Democratic incumbent Frank R. Lautenberg.

A quiet primary in Idaho on Tuesday clarified the field for the Senate race and the state's two House races for the November election.

Just two weeks before the primary, Republican Doug Ose invested $475,000 in personal funds into his campaign for a comeback in Congress in California's 4th District. He represented a neighboring area in Congress from 1999 to 2005, when he retired due to self-imposed term limits. The current representative of the 4th, Republican Rep. John T. Doolittle, is retiring in January in the face of ethics controversies.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) raised slightly more money in April than the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), according to updated campaign finance reports that the political organizations filed this week. But the April figures are not reflective of the Democratic edge in fundraising for Senate races this election cycle.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) outraised the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) in April and began May with its most lopsided advantage yet in the amount of money the campaign committees have to spend in the final six months of the election year.

Oregon's House Speaker Jeff Merkley narrowly defeated political activist Steve Novick early Wednesday for the chance to unseat moderate incumbent Gordon H. Smith, the only Republican holding statewide office in Oregon.

Just a few years after the Republican Party launched a highly publicized diversity effort, the GOP is heading into the 2008 election without a single minority candidate with a plausible chance of winning a campaign for the House, the Senate or governor.

With two of Nevada's three congressional districts facing competitive races in the fall, the contest for each drew many hopefuls who filed to run for the Aug. 12 primary by Friday's deadline. But even with all the competition, the likely Democratic and Republican candidates appear set for the general election.

The head of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) appears to have kept his footing -- at least for now -- despite a push by some colleagues to sack him after the latest in a string of special election losses for the GOP.

For the past 18 months, ever since the 2006 elections, congressional Republicans have been like a hospital patient trying to convince visitors that he is not really all that sick: a bit under the weather; actually feel better than I sound; should be up and about any day; thanks for asking.

Nebraska Republican Mike Johanns, President Bush's former Agriculture Secretary, was overwhelmingly nominated in a primary election Tuesday for a Senate seat in the state he once governed.

Democrat Travis W. Childers, Prentiss County Chancery Clerk, prevailed in Tuesday's election in Mississippi's open 1st District, a seat formerly held by Republican Roger Wicker.

Democratic and Republican top party officials may be more focused on Mississippi tonight than on the West Virginia presidential primary. After all, the primary's outcome is already predicted, while the outcome of the Mississippi's 1st Congressional District special election is much less certain.

The Democratic presidential campaign may be entering its final phase, but the 2008 congressional primary schedule continues apace: voters in Nebraska and West Virginia on Tuesday will select their nominees for the November elections.

Barack Obama can fully accept Hillary Rodham Clinton's terms on Michigan and Florida and still win a majority of pledged Democratic delegates on June 1, allowing him to lay claim to the nomination under the New York senator's own rules.

House Republicans who hoped to be on a slow climb back to the majority by now are reeling from Democratic victories in special elections in Illinois and Louisiana, and sources say another loss in Mississippi next week would roil an already poisoned relationship between House Minority Leader John A. Boehner and National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole.