MEG KINNARD

National politics reporter

Kinnard covers national politics for The Associated Press. She lives in South Carolina.

Donald Trump and Lindsey Graham are again at odds, now over abortion. The strife could help both men

The relationship between Donald Trump and Lindsey Graham has again turned negative after the South Carolina senator criticized Trump for refusing to support a federal abortion ban.

Trump declines to endorse a national abortion ban. He says limits should be left to the states

Former President Donald Trump has declined to endorse a national abortion ban and says he believes abortion should be left to the states. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee released a video outlining his position Monday.

South Carolina to hold 2024 congressional elections with map previously ruled unconstitutional

A federal court has ruled that congressional elections in South Carolina will be held under a map that it had previously deemed unconstitutional and discriminatory against Black voters.

Who is Nicole Shanahan, the philanthropist picked by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his running mate?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has picked a California lawyer and philanthropist who’s never held elected office to be his running mate in his independent bid for president. Kennedy announced Nicole Shanahan as his choice on Tuesday in Oakland.

Some Republicans who supported Nikki Haley are still refusing to back Donald Trump

Nikki Haley’s base of voters and donors was never big enough to seriously challenge Donald Trump. But her supporters are still splintered weeks after she dropped out of the GOP primary. If that holds, it could hurt Trump’s general election chances.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. picks Nicole Shanahan as his running mate for his independent White House bid

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has chosen Nicole Shanahan to be his vice presidential pick. Kennedy is mounting an independent White House bid that has spooked national Democrats.

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, praises ‘very valuable’ potential of Gaza’s ‘waterfront property’

Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s former White House adviser and his son-in-law, praised the “very valuable” potential of Gaza’s “waterfront property.”

Trump ramps up dark rhetoric in Ohio stump speech for Senate candidate Bernie Moreno

Former President Donald Trump claimed that he — not President Joe Biden — will protect Social Security and warned of a “bloodbath” if he loses in November as he campaigned for Senate candidate Bernie Moreno in Ohio.

Biden and Trump are now their parties’ presumptive nominees. What does that mean? test

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have officially secured the requisite numbers of delegates to be considered their parties’ presumptive nominees.

Nikki Haley suspends her campaign and leaves Donald Trump as the last major Republican candidate

Nikki Haley has suspended her presidential campaign. Haley did not endorse former President Donald Trump on Wednesday and called on him to bring people into the conservative cause.

Nikki Haley wins the District of Columbia’s Republican primary and gets her first 2024 victory

Nikki Haley has won the District of Columbia’s Republican primary. It’s her first victory over Donald Trump in the GOP primary race. The Associated Press declared Haley the winner Sunday night after D.C.

Nikki Haley can’t win the Republican primary with 40%. But she can expose some of Trump’s weaknesses

Donald Trump’s campaign has vowed not to talk about her anymore, but Nikki Haley is still campaigning across the country — and plenty of Republican voters are coming to hear what she has to say.

Off to Michigan, Haley is staying in the race despite Trump’s easy primary win in South Carolina

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley says it’s not “the end of our story” despite Donald Trump’s easy primary victory in South Carolina. Haley had long suggested that her home state would show her competitiveness with the former president.

Trump wins South Carolina, easily beating Haley in her home state and closing in on GOP nomination

Donald Trump has won South Carolina’s Republican primary, beating his last major rival, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, in her home state.

Ahead of South Carolina primary, Trump says he strongly supports IVF after Alabama court ruling

Former President Donald Trump says he would “strongly support the availability” of in vitro fertilization for couples and women who are trying to have a baby.

Nikki Haley hasn’t yet won a GOP contest. But she’s vowing to keep fighting Donald Trump

Nikki Haley’s allies are bracing for a big loss in her home state’s primary election in South Carolina this week. And there are no primary wins on the horizon in other states either.

Nikki Haley is sharpening contrasts with Donald Trump in the South Carolina primary’s closing days

Nikki Haley is using the closing days of the South Carolina GOP primary matchup with Donald Trump to hone her argument that she is the lone remaining candidate who can unite Americans.

Nikki Haley’s request for Secret Service protection one step away from final approval

Top congressional leaders have recommended that Nikki Haley receive protection from the U.S. Secret Service after she reported a growing number of threats during her 2024 presidential campaign. That’s according to, a person familiar with the matter.

Donald Trump stands by remarks about not defending NATO members after backlash

Former President Donald Trump is defending saying he “would encourage” Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to NATO allies that don’t meet defense spending targets days after his comments set off alarm in the U.S. and among its allies.

Nikki Haley stumps in her small hometown of Bamberg ahead of South Carolina’s GOP primary

Nikki Haley has made a campaign stop Tuesday in her hometown of Bamberg, a reliably Democratic rural town that she has described as instrumental to the values that guide her presidential bid, as well as a place where she and her family experienced discrimination.

Haley challenges Trump on her home turf in South Carolina as the Republican primary looms

With two weeks to go before the South Carolina Republican primary, Nikki Haley is trying to challenge Donald Trump on her home turf while the former president tries to quash his last major rival’s narrow path to the nomination.

Will Lester, longtime AP journalist in South Carolina, Florida and Washington, dies at age 71

Will Lester, a longtime reporter and editor for The Associated Press who played a critical role in the wire service’s 2000 election-night decision not to call the presidential race, has died. He was 71.

Haley plans a two-week bus tour before South Carolina’s GOP primary as Trump returns to the state

Nikki Haley is launching a bus tour before South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary on Feb. 24. The former governor is hoping the two-week push will show her commitment to her home state heading into the first-in-the-South vote.

President Joe Biden wins South Carolina’s Democratic primary as he gears up for his reelection bid

President Joe Biden has won South Carolina’s Democratic primary, notching a victory in the state that he pushed to lead the party’s nominating calendar.

Nikki Haley has called out prejudice but rejected talk of systemic racism throughout her career

Nikki Haley’s messages on race are sometimes contradictory. Throughout her career, the Republican presidential candidate has generally called out acts of individual prejudice and the people responsible.

Biden offers fresh assurances he would shut down border ‘right now’ if Congress sends him a deal

President Joe Biden is bidding to salvage a border deal in Congress that also would unlock money for Ukraine. He’s offering fresh assurances that he would be willing to close the U.S.-Mexico border if lawmakers would only send him a bill to sign.

Biden returns to South Carolina to show his determination to win back Black voters in 2024

President Joe Biden is spending the weekend in South Carolina, intent on driving home two messages: He’s loyal to the state that saved his campaign in 2020 and he’s determined to win back Black voters here and elsewhere who were central to his election last time but are less enthused this go-round.

Pro-Biden super PAC launches ad featuring Rep. Clyburn ahead of South Carolina’s lead-off primary

A super political action committee supporting President Joe Biden’s reelection is aiming to boost the Democrat’s primary campaign in lead-off South Carolina with a television ad featuring Rep. Jim Clyburn.

Despite 2 losses, Nikki Haley tries to claim victory thus far in the Republican presidential race

Nikki Haley is trying to frame her Iowa and New Hampshire losses to Donald Trump as a victory. She has vowed to head off a “coronation” of Trump as the 2024 Republican nominee.

Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina backs Donald Trump over Nikki Haley in the 2024 Republican primary

Nikki Haley says she is not worried that Donald Trump has picked up another endorsement from her home state of South Carolina. Rep.