Father and son trek to South Pole, using only renewable energy
Thirty-two years after becoming the first man to walk to both poles, Robert Swan teamed up with his son Barney for another first: trekking to the South Pole using only renewable energy
There are primaries in four states tonight — Minnesota, Connecticut, Wisconsin and Vermont — but Wisconsin is the state to watch.
The state of play: Sen. Tammy Baldwin is one of 10 red-state Democrats defending their seats this cycle and outside GOP groups have already spent more than $12 million attacking her — before they even have a Republican nominee to challenge her.
What to watch: Eight Democrats are looking to unseat Governor Scott Walker, a Republican who is seeking a third term. The front-runner in the crowded Democratic field is Tony Evers, the state superintendent, who led Mr. Walker by as many as 13 points in one recent poll. Read more
At the federal level, five Republicans are hoping to unseat Senator Tammy Baldwin, a first-term Democratic incumbent running in a state Mr. Trump narrowly won in 2016. Two front-runners on the Republican side — State Senator Leah Vukmir and businessman Kevin Nicholson — are locked in a bitter battle, most recently over a familiar theme: who supports Mr. Trump more.
Two Republican-held House districts are considered competitive here, including one long occupied by Representative Paul Ryan, the House speaker who is retiring. Two Democrats, including union organizer Randy Bryce, and five Republicans are running for Mr. Ryan’s seat in the First Congressional District, which has been held by a Republican in more than two decades. In the Sixth District, which Mr. Trump won by 17 points in 2016, Democrats are hoping to oust Representative Glenn Grothman, a two-term Republican incumbent.
— SYDNEY EMBER
Read more about today’s most important races.
Leah Vukmir, a Wisconsin state senator and close ally to Governor Scott Walker, defeated a former Marine who cast himself as a political outsider to win the Republican primary for US Senate in the state's primaries
Ms Vukmir, who beat political newcomer Kevin Nicholson, advances to face Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin. Republicans have targeted Ms Baldwin - given Ms Baldwin is one of 10 Democrats defending their seats in states won by Donald Trump in 2016 - and outside groups have already spent millions in television ads attacking her.
Ms Vukmir won the endorsement of the Wisconsin Republican Party and the backing of most prominent GOP officeholders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, on her way to victory. She ran as the proven conservative in the race, pointing to her long voting record in support of Republican priorities.
Both she and Nicholson ran as strong supporters of President Trump. Ms Vukmir overcame the release just two weeks before election of a 2016 tape of her making negative comments about Trump and saying voters would have to hold their noses before casting a ballot for him.
Mr Trump, who narrowly won Wisconsin in 2016 by less than one percentage point, did not endorse in the primary.
Democrats appeared particularly motivated in Wisconsin, where eight candidates lined up for the chance to take on Scott Walker, a two-term incumbent who has warned his party about the prospect of Democratic gains.
Walker's strong anti-union policies made him a villain to Democrats long before Trump's rise. State schools chief Tony Evers, who has clashed with Mr Walker at times, won the Democratic nomination.
Once a target of Trump criticism, Mr Walker gained the president's endorsement in a tweet Monday night calling him “a tremendous Governor who has done incredible things for that Great State.” But Mr Trump's persistent attacks on Wisconsin-based motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson put Republican candidates on their heels in recent days, Walker among them.
Randy Bryce, a union ironworker known by the nickname “Iron Stache,” won Tuesday's Democratic primary in the race to replace Mr Ryan in Wisconsin for a seat he held 20 years before announcing his retirement earlier this year.
Republicans, for their part, pinned their hopes on a former Ryan aide, picking Bryan Steil, an attorney who is from a prominent family in the same hometown as Mr Ryan, in a five-way primary. Mr Steil will face Mr Bryce in November
Bryce called Steil a Ryan “clone” and branded him “Lyin' Bryan” in a statement his campaign texted to The Associated Press on Tuesday evening.
“He has no idea what people in this district need,” said Bryce, who defeated Janesville teacher and school board member Cathy Myers in the Democratic primary.
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