8.5.26 A divided Democratic party, leftover bombs and mines, Mike Peters’ final album

**Mary Reichard** (0:05)
Good morning. One of the most expensive Senate primaries ever could help decide the future of the Democratic Party.

**Lindsay Mast** (0:12)
We'll talk about that race in Michigan and more with Hunter Baker. That's ahead on Washington Wednesday.
Also on World Tour, the remnants of war that still claim lives long after the fighting stops. And the legacy of Mike Peters, whose music outlasted repeated cancer diagnoses.

**Jules Peters** (0:30)
Mike wrote this, believing he was going to survive.

**Lindsay Mast** (0:34)
And World commentator Cal Thomas says we should listen closely to the stories of those who lived through socialism and communism.

**Mary Reichard** (0:49)
It's Wednesday, August 5th. This is The World and Everything In It from listener-supported World Radio. I'm Mary Reichard.

**Lindsay Mast** (0:56)
And I'm Lindsay Mast. Good morning.

**Mary Reichard** (1:00)
Time now for the news with Kent Covington.

**Kent Covington** (1:03)
Voters went to the polls in five states Tuesday, including for a US. Senate primary in Michigan.
That's where Democrat Haley Stevens faced off against Abdul Al Sayed in a race that some had billed as a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party. Stevens was backed by most establishment Democrats while the party's hard left and socialist wing boosted Al Sayed. Haley told supporters gathered late last night for what they hoped would be a victory party.

**Haley Stevens** (1:36)
We might not know the results until early in the morning, maybe even later tomorrow.

**Kent Covington** (1:44)
Al Sayed said much the same to his supporters, but struck a more confident tone.

**Abdul Al-Sayed** (1:48)
Right now, we are on track to vastly outvote the historical numbers that we should have expected.

**Kent Covington** (1:55)
As of early this morning, with about four-fifths of the votes counted, Al Sayed was leading by about two percentage points.
Michigan voters also cast ballots to decide both the Democratic and GOP nominees for governor. Democrats picked Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, while Republicans went with Congressman John James, who had President Trump's endorsement. In Missouri, Congressman Wesley Bell beat former Congresswoman Cori Bush in a Democratic primary rematch. Bush had been a member of the left-wing progressive group known as The Squad. Bell unseated her two years ago. And in Kansas, voters rejected a Republican push to start electing Supreme Court justices. More than 60% said no. Conservatives wanted elections after the court blocked pro-life laws and issued other rulings they opposed.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch is one step closer to Senate confirmation after a key vote on Tuesday. World's Harrison Waters has more.

**Harrison Waters** (2:56)
The Senate Judiciary Committee met Tuesday after two Republican holdouts agreed to approve Blanch's nomination. With John Cornyn and Tom Tillis on board, Blanch's nomination passed out of committee on a party line vote, 12 to 10
It's now up to the full Senate to vote later this week. But even with Cornyn and Tillis now on board, his confirmation is no sure bet. Two Republicans have not yet said how they will vote, Senators Lisa Murkowski and Bill Cassidy. And Senator Susan Collins has said she will vote no.
And with a thin GOP majority and Senator Mitch McConnell still absent due to medical concerns, Blanche can afford to lose no more than one or two Republican votes. Reporting for World, I'm Harrison Waters.

**Kent Covington** (3:40)
Republican Senator Rand Paul filed a resolution Tuesday to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate at a hearing last week. Paul chairs the Homeland Security Committee, which will vote on the resolution tomorrow. Fauci appeared at that hearing only after being subpoenaed, and he then pleaded the fifth to every question asked. Paul and other Republicans argue that Fauci's earlier pardon from former President Joe Biden canceled his Fifth Amendment protection. Contempt referrals normally go to the full Senate needing 60 votes to beat a filibuster, but Republicans would not have those 60 votes, so Paul says he will send that referral to the Department of Justice himself. The DOJ then decides whether to prosecute.
Russian attacks continue in Ukraine.
Ukrainian authorities say a strike in the city of Sumi Tuesday killed an elderly woman and two children. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted amateur video that he said captured a bizarre and frightening Russian drone attack, World's Travis Kircher explains.

**Travis Kircher** (4:48)
The video shows a street vendor selling vegetables in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson when he was hunted down by a drone. The footage appears to show it chasing him around his vehicle before it strikes his car, wounding him.
The man later calls the encounter terrifying. He says he tried to show the drone that he only had vegetables, but it wouldn't terminate its pursuit. Meanwhile, in Russia, authorities there claim five people are dead after a Ukrainian drone strike Tuesday hit three warehouses just outside Moscow.