«Squad» member Rashida Tlaib In Michigan said she was confident she would hold off a challenge from local Black leader Brenda Jones, as votes were being counted overnight on Tuesday.
«I’m confident. I’m confident in the movement that we started. I’m confident that as we experience this tonight, we are going to see that our country is ready,» said the progressive Democrat in a video to supporters. «Others that are saying, ‘Enough. Enough with corporate greed. Enough with the assault on our families».
Ms Tlaib, who become one of the the first two Muslim women elected to Congress in 2018, was seeking reelection in Detroit’s 13th District, where she faces a rematch with City Council president Brenda Jones, who was narrowly defeated last time around by less than 900 votes.
There were early indications that Ms Tlaib was ahead as votes continued to be counted, with an official announcement expected to be made on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Republican candidate Roger Marshall was elected to the Senate in Kansas on Tuesday, defeating anti-immigration firebrand and former Trump adviser Kris Kobach.
Both Ms Tlaib and Mr Kobach’s election chances had been seen as a test as to whether or not voters would back candidates on the edges of the Democratic and Republican parties, ahead of November’s elections.
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US officials made the contradiction on Wednesday, stating nothing yet indicated the massive explosion in Lebanon on Tuesday was linked to an intentional attack.
The officials, speaking anonymously to the Associated Press, said that while it was in the realm of possibility that the blast was a coordinated attack, the belief so far was that the explosion was most likely an accident.
Since the blast, which has killed at least 100 people and injured an additional 4,000, US officials have said they did not know what created the initial fire and explosion. But they believed reports from Lebanon that indicated a large stockpile of ammonium nitrate from a past seizure was what exploded.
On Tuesday, during a coronavirus press briefing, the President Donald Trump contradicted what US officials were saying about the blast.
«It looks like a terrible attack,» he said.
Mr Trump was then asked why he thought it was an attack instead of an accident, like Lebanon and US officials were reporting.
He responded: «It would seem like it based on the explosion. I met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that it was. This was not a – some kind of a manufacturing explosion type of a event. … They seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind, yes.»
The president added the United States was prepared to assist Lebanon following the explosion, and US officials said there was no indication any Americans were killed or injured from the blast.
