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It was hard to get the band back together, said Adam Eisgrau, a Feinstein staff aide who helped draft the ban.

One of the things we were able to do in 94 was to create consensus against the Rambo-ification of what would otherwise be a standard hunting gun, he said. At the time, law enforcement was feeling totally outgunned. And we let people know that we didnt think all guns were evil or that people who use guns are evil. But by 2004, things had changed, positions had hardened.

In the end, Ms. Feinsteins attempts to ram through a bill to reauthorize the ban failed. Over the next four years, the senator and several other legislators, including Representative Carolyn McCarthy, a New York Democrat whose son and husband were shot on a commuter train, introduced similar measures. None got out of committee.

Democratic candidates, like President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Mr. Biden, have put renewing the ban on their presidential to-do lists. But Democrats, even when they controlled the White House, the Senate and the House from 2009 to 2011, did not act.

The sense of urgency that impelled action in 1994 began to intensify in 2012 with the increasing frequency and human toll of mass shootings facilitated, in most cases, by weapons that were once banned Sandy Hook, Aurora, Orlando, Sutherland Springs, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Parkland, El Paso, Boulder, Buffalo, Uvalde and many others that have attracted less media attention.

A few years ago, the family of the inventor of the AR-15 said he would have been horrified to know that its design was being used to slaughter children and other innocent lives instead of being used as a military weapon on the battlefields, Mr. Biden said last week during a prime-time address on gun violence, proposing a new ban.

A few days later, Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican responsible for negotiating new gun measures for his party, rejected a renewal of the ban in any form.

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Democrats Failed to Extend Assault Weapons Ban in 2004. They Regret It. - The New York Times

The party-switchers are just a small portion of the overall electorate. Even if all 3,600 former Democrats planned to vote for Coram, they would make up less than 1 percent of registered voters. For comparison, Boebert won her first primary by nearly 10,000 votes in 2020.

But the former Democrats aren't the only factor. Theyll be joining a population of nearly a quarter-million unaffiliated voters in the district, all of whom are free to vote in either the Democratic or Republican Primary.

The national attention on Boeberts race could help to draw some of those hundreds of thousands of votes into the contest and the outcome may well depend on whom they support.

For unaffiliated voters who really are neutral between the parties, and there are some of those, they may simply decide the Republican Party is the more interesting contest right now, said Masket, professor of political science and the director of the Center on American Politics at the University of Denver. For primaries that is something that could have an effect.

Boebert has grabbed nationwide attention over the last two years for carrying guns, making viral Twitter posts and heckling President Joe Biden over the deaths of service members in Afghanistan during the State of the Union.

That high profile has helped bring in donations and won the loyalty of many in the districts Republican base. But Coram is counting on a folksy centrist message to win over those unaffiliated voters.

They are unaffiliated because they are sick and tired of the antics of the far right, and the far left, he said in an interview. His campaign stressed that he is focused on winning over undecided voters, not convincing Democrats to meddle in the primary.

In some ways, Coram is an ideal candidate, given his political experience and party connections, Masket said. But he added the candidate hasnt stacked up the kinds of money and endorsements that often push challengers to victory.

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Thousands of Democrats are changing their voter registration in Lauren Boebert's district ahead of the primary - Colorado Public Radio

ATLANTA One look at the results of Georgias primary election last week led many Republicans to believe it was the product of Democratic meddling. Former President Donald J. Trumps recruited challengers lost in grand fashion in his most sought-after races: David Perdue was routed by Gov. Brian Kemp by more than 50 percentage points, while Representative Jody Hice fell to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger by nearly 20.

Mr. Trump and his allies pointed to so-called Democratic crossover voters as the cause of their shellackings. In Georgias open primary system, Democrats and Republicans can vote in the other partys primary if they wish, and more than 37,000 people cast early ballots in this years Republican primary election after voting in the Democratic primary in 2020.

Some Democrats, for their part, staked a claim to these voters, arguing that they had crossed over to strategically support candidates who reject Mr. Trumps falsehoods about the 2020 election. Most of the crossover voters, the Democrats said, would return to the party in November.

But a closer look at these voters paints a more complicated picture. Just 7 percent of those who voted early during last months Republican primary cast ballots for Democrats in that partys 2020 primary election, according to the data firm L2. And 70 percent of this years crossover voters who cast early ballots in the G.O.P. primary had participated in both Democratic and Republican primaries over the last decade.

These voters, data suggests, are less Republican traitors or stalwart Democrats aiming to stop Trump loyalists than they are highly sought-after and unpredictable swing voters.

I didnt want any of the Trumpsters becoming a candidate, said Frances Cooper, 43, who voted in Columbia County, two hours east of Atlanta.

A self-described moderate, Ms. Cooper said that she had voted in both Democratic and Republican primaries in the past, and that she could often vote either way. This time, she said, Mr. Kemp had been pretty good, and was the best of our options. She was undecided about the November general election for governor, but if anything leaning toward Kemp.

Voters like Ms. Cooper base their choices in every election on multiple variables: their political leanings, how competitive one partys primary might be or the overall environment in any given election year, among others. Some Democratic voters in deep-red counties opted for a Republican ballot because they believed it would be a more effective vote. Others, frustrated with leadership in Washington, voted according to their misgivings.

Many unknowns still remain. The current data on crossover voters includes only those who cast ballots during Georgias three-week early voting period, when the most politically engaged people tend to vote. In addition to traditional swing voters or disaffected Democrats, a portion of those who crossed over were indeed probably Democratic voters switching strategically to the Republican primary to spite the former president.

Yet the crossover voters who cast early ballots in last months Republican primary are not demographically representative of Georgias multiracial Democratic base, which also includes a growing number of young voters. Fifty-five percent of these early crossover voters were above the age of 65, and 85 percent were white, according to voter registration data. Less than 3 percent were between the ages of 18 and 29.

It is unclear whether a majority of these voters will return to support Democrats this November, as some in the party expect, or whether they will vote again for Republicans in large numbers.

I think theres a real danger on the part of Democrats in Georgia to just assume that they arent going to lose some of those voters from 2020, said Erik Iverson, a Republican pollster who works with Georgia campaigns.

No race has attracted more debate about crossover voting than the Republican primary for secretary of state, in which Mr. Raffensperger, the incumbent, who had rejected attempts to subvert the 2020 election, defeated Mr. Hice, a Trump-endorsed challenger.

Though Mr. Raffensperger won by almost 20 points, he escaped being forced into a runoff election by finishing with 52.3 percent of the vote, or 2.3 percent above the majority threshold that would have prompted a runoff.

Operatives on both sides of the aisle have speculated that crossover voting was a chief reason that Mr. Raffensperger avoided a runoff. But drawing such a conclusion ignores the many reasons for crossover voting in Georgia, and probably overestimates the number of true Democrats voting for Mr. Raffensperger.

That would be an awful lot of crossover voting, said Scott H. Ainsworth, a professor of political science at the University of Georgia, adding that Mr. Raffenspergers nearly 30,000-vote margin to avoid a runoff had most likely been spurred by more than just meandering former Democratic primary voters.

Still, that hasnt dissuaded some from pointing to crossover voters as a root cause of Mr. Raffenspergers success.

Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, a Republican who founded the group Country First, which supports pro-democracy G.O.P. candidates, cited the Georgia secretary of states victory as proof of his organizations effectiveness.

Why are these midterms so important? This years races could tip the balance of power in Congress to Republicans, hobbling President Bidens agenda for the second half of his term. They will also test former President Donald J. Trumps role as a G.O.P. kingmaker. Heres what to know:

What are the midterm elections? Midterms take place two years after a presidential election, at the midpoint of a presidential term hence the name. This year, a lot of seats are up for grabs, including all 435 House seats, 35 of the 100 Senate seats and 36 of 50 governorships.

What do the midterms mean for Biden? With slim majorities in Congress, Democrats have struggled to pass Mr. Bidens agenda. Republican control of the House or Senate would make the presidents legislative goals a near-impossibility.

What are the races to watch? Only a handful of seats will determine if Democrats maintain control of the House over Republicans, and a single state could shift power in the 50-50 Senate. Here are 10 races to watch in the Houseand Senate, as well as several key governors contests.

When are the key races taking place? The primary gauntletis already underway. Closely watched racesin Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia wereheld in May, with more taking place through the summer. Primaries run until September before the general election on Nov. 8.

Go deeper. What is redistrictingand how does it affect the midterm elections? How does polling work? How do you register to vote? Weve got more answers to your pressing midterm questions here.

I have no doubt we made the impact, Mr. Kinzinger said. His group distributed mailers, sent text messages and ran television ads in support of Mr. Raffensperger. The groups message to Georgia Democrats, who had largely noncompetitive races for governor and Senate, was to vote in the Republican primary instead. Mr. Kinzinger said the efforts helped Mr. Raffensperger avoid a runoff.

The organization has tried to lift candidates in states including Texas and North Carolina, where it successfully helped to oust Representative Madison Cawthorn. The group has plans to support candidates in Michigan and to defend Republican incumbents like Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming.

Sometimes, the motivation for Democrats or Republicans to cross over into the other partys primary goes deeper than statewide contests. For example, if voters are drawn into a noncompetitive district, they will sometimes vote in the other partys primary if it will essentially determine the general election winner.

Take Clarke County in Georgia. Home to Athens, a Democratic-leaning city, the county is wholly contained in the 10th Congressional District, a decidedly Republican seat held by Mr. Hice (he did not run for re-election because he was running for secretary of state). In Clarke County, roughly 900 voters who cast early ballots in the Republican primary had voted in the Democratic primary in 2020, one of the largest county totals of crossover voters outside the Atlanta area.

Those voters, however, may not have been focused on the statewide races but on the closely contested primary election to replace Mr. Hice. Whoever prevailed in the multicandidate Republican primary was likely to win in November in a district that Mr. Hice carried by 25 points in 2020.

Theres a lot of Democrats in Athens and Clarke County who will have no meaningful voice in their choice for Congress unless they vote in the primary, said Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University. There are probably some Democratic voters who were just voting quite rationally in the sense that they wanted their voice heard in a House race, and that is their only meaningful opportunity to do so.

Nate Cohn contributed reporting.

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A Georgia Mystery: How Many Democrats Voted in the G.O.P. Primary? - The New York Times

BOSTON The state's Democratic Party huddles this weekend to nominate candidates in wide-open races for governor, attorney general and other statewide offices ahead of this fall's elections.

Topping the Democratic party's ticket is a wide-open governor's race between Attorney General Maura Healey and state Sen. Sonia Chang-Daz, D-Jamaica Plain, who are both vying for the nomination at the two-day convention in Worcester, which kicks off Friday night.

Healey, the perceived front runner in the race, is widely expected to win a majority of the delegates but political observers will be watching to see if Daz can garner the 15% vote needed to get on the Sept. 6 primary ballot.

Democrats are heading into the convention optimistic about holding on to the several statewide offices and retaking the governor's office for the first time in eight years, with Republican Gov. Charlie Baker not seeking a third term.

"We can't take anything for granted, given that we've only had one Democratic governor in the last 30 years," said Phil Johnston, a former chairman of the state Democratic Party and delegate who is backing Healey. "We need to work extra hard to make sure that we win, but I'm very optimistic that we will win."

The race for lieutenant governor remains less certain, with a crowded field of Democrats vying for enough votes to win a spot on the ballot.

Five hopefuls are running for the second-in-command job, including Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll and Bret Bero, a Boston businessman making his first run for elected office.

Several lawmakers Sens. Adam Hinds, D-Pittsfield, Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, and Tami Gouveia, D-Acton are also seeking the party's nomination.

Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run separately, and winners are matched on the general election ballot. So far, neither of the Democratic gubernatorial candidates have hinted at which of the five candidates they would favor for a running mate.

Further down the ticket, state Sen. Diana DiZoglio, D-Methuen, and Chris Dempsey, a transit advocate, are seeking the party's nomination to run for state auditor following Democrat Suzanne Bump's decision not to seek another four-year term.

Meanwhile, three Democrats Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell, Quentin Palfrey, a former Assistant Attorney General, and attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan are running for Attorney General with Healey seeking the top elected office.

Tanisha Sullivan, president of the Boston chapter of the NAACP, is seeking the party's nomination against incumbent Secretary of State Bill Galvin, who is seeking an unprecedented eighth term in office. Galvin, who has held the office since 1995, is one of the longest serving secretaries' of state.

State Treasurer Deb Goldberg, a Democrat who is seeking a third-term, is the only statewide candidate who is unopposed at this weekend's convention.

The candidates have spent months making the rounds at city and town party committee meetings to talk about their reasons for running and drum up support from local delegates ahead of the convention.

Besides nominating candidates, the gathering will also be an opportunity for Democrats to voice their concerns about major issues ahead of the midterm elections, including abortion access and gun control.

Democratic Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren are among the list of speakers set to address delegates on Saturday.

The state Republican Party held its convention two weeks ago, where former state representative Geoff Diehl and Wrentham business owner Chris Doughty, and their chosen running mates, garnered enough votes to make the GOP primary ballot.

Republican delegates overwhelmingly endorsed Donald Trump-backed Diehl for governor and his running mate, former state Rep. Leah Cole Allen, for lieutenant governor. Diehl won the support of 71% of the delegates, while Doughty outstripped expectations by coming away with 29% of the vote while his running mate, former state Rep. Kate Campanale, won 30% of the vote.

There's also an element of suspense in potential outcomes from this weekend's Democratic Party convention. While some delegates have voiced their support for candidates, others have said they are waiting until the convention to decide.

One statewide race where party delegates appear to be undecided is the wide-open race for state auditor between DiZoglio and Dempsey.

Republican Anthony Amore, the lone GOP candidate in the race, suggested that undecided delegates should wait until the primary to pull a GOP ballot and vote for him.

"Even Democrats should be concerned about one-party rule on Beacon Hill, and many are comfortable with having a moderate Republican in office to keep checks and balances in place," he said Thursday. "A majority of Democrats support Governor Baker, and he thinks they should elect me too."

Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Groups newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@northofboston.com.

We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.

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Democrats to huddle for state convention in Worcester - The Daily News of Newburyport

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On Sunday, President Joe Biden attended a Catholic Mass in Uvalde, Texas, for the 19 children and two teachers who had been murdered at Robb Elementary School. When he emerged to protesters shouting Do something! he stood tall, pointed his finger at the crowd, and responded loudly, at least twice, We will.

Support for tighter gun laws will probably last only until Americans forget about Uvalde. Given that we are, as Gore Vidal called it, the United States of Amnesia, Democrats have a small window of time in which to act on gun control. But thats okay, because Democrats dont have much time before the midterms, eithernow is the time for Democrats to put a big win on the board. A win on guns would not only protect children; it would shore up Bidens anemic poll numbers and excite the Democratic base. If Democratic voters dont show up this fall, it will be because theyve lost faith in Democrats ability to deliver. And yet, Democrats seem to be terrified to deliver.

Well, many of them do. Not, seemingly, Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto ORourke, who showed up at a press conference about the Uvalde shooting and told off the current governor, Greg Abbott, saying, You are doing nothing. You are offering up nothing. You said this was not predictable. This was totally predictable when you choose not to do anything. I was incredibly gratified by Betos disruption. We want electeds who will fight for our values as hard as Republicans will fight against them.

Recent Democratic primary results seem to support this. In Georgia, Representative Lucy McBath easily defeated Representative Carolyn Bourdeaux, a member of Representative Josh Gottheimers Unbreakable Nine, the House group that has blocked Bidens agenda and that was supported by the political organization No Labels. Two other members of the group have also been broken, or at least bent: Kurt Schrader of Oregon, who lost his primary despite having $1.3 million in funding, and Henry Cuellar of Texas, who is ensnared in a recount. In Pennsylvanias Senate primary, meanwhile, John Fetterman crushed polite centrist Congressman Conor Lamb. Seems like a lot of Democrats dont want to be represented by some focus-grouped, mealymouthed moderate who just wants to find common ground with Ted Cruz. Maybe because sensible people have no common ground with Ted Cruz.

Fetterman told me, At a time when the other side has basically declared war on reality, and is willing to lie about something as fundamental as who won an election, its important that Democrats not only call out the BS, but take a stand and dont back down from a fight. When the stakes are this high, we need more Democrats who are clear and confident about what we believe, refuse to apologize for it, and dont run away scared every time Republicans call us names.

As Ron Brownstein noted in The Atlantic, Pew polling found that significant majorities of Americans support background checks (81 percent), an assault-weapons ban (63 percent), and a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines (64 percent); a majority also opposes concealed carry of weapons without a permit. Gun control is a winner for Democrats, and thats why Republicans just want to run out the clock on it. I really hope people don't speculate, don't jump to the usual political conclusions, don't call for these sweeping massive changes while people are grieving, Kellyanne Conway said on Fox Newss The Fiveas if taking no action and accepting gun violence as a given should be a comfort to someone who has just lost a child in a mass shooting. Once again, Democrats need to stop pretending that Republicans are good-faith actors.

If the GOP is hostage to its base, Democrats are on the run from their core voters. Whether its voting rights or debt forgiveness, when it comes to delivering a win for their base, Democrats seem unwilling or unable to deliver.

Before speaking at a Memorial Day observance on Monday, Biden said that Mitch McConnell is a rational Republican. [Senator John] Cornyn is as well. Maybe he was being ironic, or playing 16-dimensional chess. History clearly shows that Mitch McConnell will not ever do anything to protect Americans from guns. If hes saying that he wants a bipartisan solution, its because he knows he can simply keep saying that until the moment passes. After Uvalde, McConnell told CNN, "I am hopeful that we could come up with a bipartisan solution." And after the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in 2016, he told reporters, "Were open to serious suggestions from the experts as to what we might be able to do to be helpful. Remember, this is the guy who, according to The Washington Post, refused a meeting with the Sandy Hook families.

What should Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer do, you ask? How about push Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to support a filibuster carve-out for an assault-weapons ban. (He should have also done this for voting-rights legislation.) The very conservative Supreme Court may try to overturn such a ban. Or maybe Manchin and Sinema wont go for it, in which case, the blood of the next mass shooting is at least partially on their hands. But if nothing else, Schumers attempt would show the Democratic base whom to blame.

As Representative Rubin Gallego of Arizona tweeted at Sinema after she said she was horrified and heartbroken by the senseless tragedy unfolding at Robb Elementary School, Please just stop.. unless you are willing to break the filibuster to actually pass sensible gun control measures you might as well just say thoughts and prayers. And Schumer loves a show vote. When he does it to Republicans, it never works, because Republicans love to show that they vote on party lines. But with Sinema and Manchin, he may see a different result. And if he doesnt, at least Schumer will have done what his constituents sent him to Washington to do.

At the state and local levels, Democrats should go after gun rights with the same twisted playbook that Republicans have used to go after a woman's right to choose. Throw open the doors for everyonevictims, families of victims, friends of victimsto sue gun manufacturers. New York should pass its own S.B. 8 for guns. Republicans pretend to love states rights. Let's see how they like it when blue states decide to fight back. Democrats might feel powerless, but its because theyre relying on an outdated playbook. Its time to be brave, think big, and deliver for the American people.

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Democrats Should Do Something the Way the GOP Does Things - The Atlantic