As Congress responds to President Donald Trump's attack on Iran, lawmakers who served on the front lines of Iraq and Afghanistan are making their voices heard in a war debate that has taken on intensely personal meaning.
Plus, a spotlight on Tuesday's elections in Georgia and Mississippi, an update from the ground in North Carolina and one extraordinary photo of the dignified transfers of fallen U.S. troops.
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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., joined from left by Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, talk about the war against Iran, during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) |
These lawmakers were shaped by combat after 9/11. Now they’re grappling with a new Mideast war — By Stephen Groves
While the initial votes on Iran saw Congress divide mostly along party lines — with Republicans backing Trump’s actions and Democrats warning of an extended conflict — veterans in both parties share deep reservations about entering the conflict.
“Do I take gratification? You know there’s the Marine side of me: Yeah, of course,” said Arizona Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego, whose company suffered some of the heaviest losses on the U.S. side during the Iraq War. “I know they killed a lot of American soldiers, American Marines. But do I also understand that I have a responsibility not to let my lust for revenge drive my country into another war?”
Republican Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona, a former Navy SEAL who left college to enlist the week after the Sept. 11 attacks, said his concerns were partially assuaged by briefings from the Trump administration that indicated to him the president is not planning a drawn-out war, adding that he was calling for the Trump administration to approach the conflict with “humility and caution.”
In addition to the veterans serving in Congress who admit mixed feelings about Iran, experiences in the post 9/11 wars are also coloring the decisions of the Trump administration, given that top officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, were once deployed to Iraq.
Read more of Groves' reporting on lawmakers shaped by combat. |
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AP Elections Spotlight: Georgia-14 and Mississippi-02 |
The U.S. Capitol is seen on sunrise Monday March 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) |
The big picture: Two U.S. House seats at center stage in Tuesday’s elections in the Deep South have at least one thing in common: they both feature Black Democratic candidates looking to score an upset, one in a heavily Republican Georgia district to fill the vacancy of an outspoken incumbent and the other in a heavily Democratic, majority-Black district in Mississippi against one of the most senior members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Georgia-14: Republicans Clay Fuller and Colton Moore and Democrat Shawn Harris are among the 17 active candidates competing on the same ballot to replace former GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who resigned in January following a public rift with Trump. Harris, a retired Army brigadier general, received 36% of the vote against Greene in her final race. That wasn’t enough to win in 2024, but if he can consolidate the Democratic vote and come close to that performance on Tuesday, it could be enough to secure one of two spots in the April 7 runoff in the heavily Republican district. Trump, who has endorsed Fuller, won it with 68% of the vote and carried all 10 counties by bigger margins than Greene did. Harris didn’t carry any counties in 2024, but his best showings were in the population centers of Cobb and Paulding counties. The sheer number of candidates could also be a factor: there are a dozen Republicans to divide the vote, and three for Democrats.
Mississippi-02: The Mississippi delegation’s longest-serving current member and lone Democrat is the latest party elder in recent years to face a primary challenge. Rep. Bennie Thompson is seeking an 18th term but must first get past a primary field that includes Evan Turnage, an attorney and former aide to Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren. Thompson has a huge financial advantage, and his most competitive primary as an incumbent was back in 2006. But with three candidates running, the race is eligible for an April 7 runoff if no one clears the 50% mark. Last week, another senior member of the CBC, Rep. Al Green of Texas, was forced to a runoff under different circumstances: he finished behind the newest member of Congress, Rep. Christian Menefee, after being drawn into the same district under a Republican mid-decade redistricting plan. — By Robert Yoon.
Read more on these contests in Georgia and Mississippi. |
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AP is there: Cooper aims to keep streak alive in North Carolina |
North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate former Gov. Roy Cooper speaks at a primary election night watch party Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt Ramey) |
Handing it over to GARY D. ROBERTSON, our political reporter on the ground in North Carolina.
"Roy Cooper is a familiar face and commodity in North Carolina politics, having never lost a state election dating back to the 1980s, and is comfortable on the campaign trail. But Republicans have had the best of Democrats in Senate races in recent times, and Donald Trump's endorsement of former RNC Chairman Michael Whatley will test again the power of the president in the closely divided state. Whatley is new to campaigning for himself. Independent voters — the state's largest voting bloc — will likely determine the outcome eight months from now."
Read Robertson's latest on the North Carolina Senate race here. |
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An Army carry team moves a flag-draped transfer case containing the remains of a soldier who was killed in a drone strike at a command center in Kuwait after the U.S. and Israel launched its military campaign against Iran, during a casualty return Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson) |
Here's how Washington-based photo journalist JULIA DEMAREE NIKHINSON captured this photo at Dover Air Force Base:
"This casualty return, my second with President Trump in a matter of a few months, was significant in that it was for the first six American soldiers killed in the Iran war. Casualty returns often happen in the middle of the night, often with a very small receiving party and no other activity on the tarmac. Here, I wanted to show the pageantry involved. The wide lens captures the motorcade vehicles, at the ready, and the crowd in the background, creating a stark contrast between the government plane that brought some of the official receiving party and the military plane that brought the transfer cases home."
Explore more of what goes into Nikhinson's incredible work here. |
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That’s all from me for the day, thanks for reading Ground Game. Please let us know what you think of this newsletter. You can sign up for more and invite a friend here. - Meg
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