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In a news conference in which they repeatedly discussed their concern about vitriolic partisan division, the managers of the Democratic and Republican teams for the Congressional Baseball Game declared that the game will go on.

Members of Congress will play each other in the decades-old game at Nationals Park on Thursday evening as scheduled. Attendees at the game will be asked to contribute to a charity supporting the families of police officers killed in the line of duty, in recognition of Wednesdays shooting which left two officers wounded, in addition to the three planned charities which support D.C. children.

Were not going to let incidents like this change our way of life or our daily routine. Were going to go ahead and play the ballgame, Democratic manager Rep. Michael Doyle (Pa.) said.

Those not attending the game can also donate online and may be able to watch the game on C-SPAN. In recent years, the game has raised more than a half-million dollars annually for local charities.

Doyle expressed hope that the congressmen showing the nation their lighthearted, united side as they play a summer game of baseball together would set a meaningful example. When the leadership of this country is civil to each other, maybe the country will be civil, too, and the news media will be civil, he said. We can change the mood of this country.

Republican manager Rep. Joe Barton (Tex.) said many of Congresss long-standing institutions aim to promote respect despite differences, from the baseball game to the language used on the House and Senate floors. You can be intensely political without being personal. A lot of the traditions of the House are designed to defuse personal animosity: the gentleman from Pennsylvania, my good friend from Texas.

He blamed numerous modern trends on eroding that bonhomie including harsher political ads demonizing members of Congress, members traveling more frequently to their districts rather than spending time getting to know each other outside of work hours, and the instantaneous news updates available online.

The managers also offered assurance that Nationals Park will be highly secure Thursday night, and said that perhaps in future years, the teams should beef up security at their practices.

I bet you most members of Congress would tell you they dont want any personal detail. I certainly dont. Ive never felt unsafe here or in Pittsburgh, Doyle said. But I do think when you have a situation where you have 20 or 30 or 40 members of Congress all in one place, in a completely open place that anybody can walk straight through, I do think maybe we should be rethinking that a little bit.

There was a Capitol Police officer present, parked in a car about 500 feet away, during the Democrats practice this morning too, Doyle said. The Republican practice had two officers, out of their car, because Scalise, as the majority whip, has a security detail.

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The baseball game will go on, Democrat and GOP managers say in joint conference - Washington Post

The poll, conducted by the Republican Trafalgar Group, was completed on Tuesday eveningbefore Wednesday mornings shooting of Rep. Steven Scalise (R-LA), staffers, a lobbyist, and two Capitol Hill Police at a Republican Congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia.

It is unclear what impact that shooting will have on the outcome of the election, which will be held next Tuesday.

The race has become the most expensive in American political history. Ossoff has raised over $23 million, while Handel has raised about $4.5 million, according to Federal Election filings covering the period ending on May 31. In addition, a number of SuperPACs and other organizations have spent money on behalf or against both candidates.

One poll released on Tuesdayshowed the race tied, butthe Real Clear Politics Average of Polls, which includes Wednesdays Trafalgar Group poll, gives Ossoff a slight 3.2 percent edge.

News of the shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), several staffers, and two members of the Capitol Police at a practice of the Republican Congressional baseball team at a field in Alexandria, Virginia on Wednesday morning shocked both campaigns.

Handels campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Hodgkinsons Facebook post. Earlier on Wednesday morning, Handel tweeted that she and her husband were sending our thoughts & prayers to Rep. Scalise, Capitol Police, staff, & everyone affected by this horrific attack, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported:

Handel has canceled her public events for tonight.

Her Democratic opponent, Jon Ossoff, described the Facebook post as sickening.

I condemn this appalling act of violence committed, obviously, by a disturbed individual, Ossoff said. The country is united right now in our prayers for those who are fighting for their lives and our appreciation of those who saved lives.

Numerous reports indicated that the alleged shooter, James Thomas Hodgkinson, was a supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and posted a number of statements on social media indicating a hatred for President Trump.

Hodgkinson local newspaper, the Belleville News-Democrat, reported that he frequently wrote letters to the paper protesting against Republicans and tax policies and supporting the legalization of marijuana, the Journal Constitution reported:

Trumps election as president was disturbing to Hodgkinson, who had also traveled recently to Washington to participate in protests, his brother told the New York Times.

I know he wasnt happy with the way things were going, the election results and stuff, Michael Hodgkinson said

Hodgkinson also apparently worked as a volunteer with Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders campaign and filed a number posts on Facebook opposing Trump, according to the Journal Constitution.

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Poll: Democrat Ossoff up by Three in Georgia Special Election, Impact of Shooting on Race a Wild Card - Breitbart News

WASHINGTON -- Democratic lawmakers are suing President Trump over foreign money flowing into his global business empire.

Almost 200 senators and representatives are plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging Trump is violating the so-called emoluments clause of the Constitution. It's being filed early Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the lawmakers said.

The plaintiffs argue they have standing to sue because the clause says only Congress may approve foreign gifts and payments.

"The framers gave Congress a unique role, a unique right and responsibility," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who helped organize the lawsuit.

Although Mr. Trump turned over control of his real estate development, management and marketing company to his adult sons and a senior executive, he did not divest from it. That means he stands to benefit financially from the Trump Organization's profits, including from foreign governments.

Since he's become president, the Trump Organization has secured dozens of potentially valuable patents, including in China, and collected fees from lobbyists working for Saudi Arabia and other countries using his properties.

The new suit - the third of its kind - says the full scope of foreign payments to the Trump Organization cannot be known because the president has not made his tax returns public.

Earlier this week, two Democratic attorneys general filed a similar claim. Days after Mr. Trump's inauguration in January, a liberal-funded government watchdog group filed an emoluments lawsuit. A restaurant group and two individuals in the hotel industry later joined as co-plaintiffs.

Mr. Trump and the Justice Department have called these lawsuits baseless. They argue the clause isn't intended to prevent normal business such as hotel payments and real estate transactions.

"The President's business interests do not violate the Emoluments Clause, for reasons explained at length in DOJ's filing on Friday night in the CREW case. This lawsuit appears to be just another politically motivated iteration of that case," said a senior White House official. "The White House will review the Complaint, but we expect that DOJ will move to dismiss this case in the ordinary course. This is another example of the Democrats playing political games instead of working for the American people they were elected to serve."

Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, said he and Blumenthal have amassed the "greatest number of congressional plaintiffs on any lawsuit against a president." He said they're taking the action "not out of any sense of pleasure or partisanship but because President Trump has left us with no other option."

Ahead of the filing, only Democrats were asked to sign on, but Blumenthal and Conyers plan to send letters to their Republican colleagues Wednesday asking them to join the effort.

The Washington Post points out that, "The 37-page congressional complaint contends that the nation's founders were concerned that foreign powers could interfere with American affairs. The suit says that the founders were particularly worried that 'foreign states would give benefits and rewards to the nation's chief executive to subvert his loyalty.'

"As a result, they wrote the emoluments clause of the Constitution with language 'both sweeping and unqualified,"' the lawmakers' lawsuit says."

2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Congressional Democrats suing Trump over foreign payments - CBS News

President Trump intends to nominate Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel to return to the Federal Communications Commission after her term lapsed at the end of last year because of political maneuvering.

The White House announced the coming nomination of Rosenworcel, a supporter of tough net neutrality rules for online traffic, late Monday night.

If confirmed by the Senate, she would become only the second FCC commissioner to serve nonconsecutive terms.

Her first five-year term expired in May 2016 but she was allowed to stay on until the end of the year as Democrats pushed Senate Republican leaders to allow a confirmation vote after President Obama renominated her.

Although Rosenworcel had bipartisan support, Senate Republican leaders did not bring her nomination up for a vote. President Obama had renominated her in January shortly before he left office, but Trump withdrew the nomination a few weeks later.

Andrew Jay Schwartzman, a Georgetown University law professor and longtime telecommunications consumer advocate, cheered the decision to renominate Rosenworcel.

This appointment rights a wrong, because she deserved confirmation last year, and should have been sitting on the commission all along, he said. I look forward to her zealous advocacy for universal broadband deployment, especially for younger Americans.

The five-member commission now has two Republicans Chairman Ajit Pai and Michael ORielly and one Democrat Mignon Clyburn.

But Clyburns term expires at the end of the month. The agency generally needs at least three members for a quorum to vote on rules and take other formal actions.

Trump appears to have nominated Rosenworcel, a former FCC and Senate staffer, to replace Clyburn. But its possible Trump could renominate Clyburn along with another Republican, which would allow the agency to retain its GOP majority.

The political party of the president gets to hold three of the agencys five seats.

FCC nominations usually move through the Senate in bipartisan pairs. Rosenworcels nomination is expected to be paired with the renomination of Pai, whose five-year term expires later this year.

When Democrats controlled the agency in 2015, Rosenworcel joined with Clyburn and then-Chairman Tom Wheeler to pass the controversial net neutrality rules that subjected broadband providers to the same utility-like oversight as conventional phone companies.

The move was strongly opposed by Republicans and major broadband providers, such as AT&T Inc.

The regulations are designed to ensure the unfettered flow of online content. They prohibit broadband providers from slowing Internet speeds for some content such as video streams, selling faster lanes for delivering data or otherwise discriminating against any legal online material.

Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican, has proposed to reverse the utility-like oversight of broadband providers, a move Democrats and consumer advocates said would make it difficult to police net neutrality regulations.

Twitter: @JimPuzzanghera

jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com

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Trump to nominate Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel, a net neutrality supporter, to return to FCC - Los Angeles Times

A Democrat who would be Virginias first openly transgender lawmaker won the primary contest to challenge Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William), a social conservative who proposed a bathroom bill and authored the states constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Danica Roem, a former Gainesville and Prince William Times reporter, beat three rivals Tuesday to join the largest slate of Democratic House candidates in recent memory, joining the launch of a general election campaign in which the party hopes to retake control of a legislative chamber that has a staggering Republican majority.

The Democrats many of whom say they were inspired to run after the election of President Trump will compete in 87 of the states 100 House districts in November, making for the largest number of contested races in at least 20 years.

Democrats had 19 competitive nomination contests, eight of them in districts that presidential nominee Hillary Clinton won last fall. In addition, nine Democrats were uncontested in their primary bids to challenge Republican incumbents in districts where Clinton triumphed.

All four Democratic incumbents who faced challenges Tuesday, including House Minority Leader David Toscano (D-Charlottesville), appeared to have coasted to victory.

[Live results: Virginia primary election]

Roem easily won her four-way race with about 1,500 votes out of about 3,000 cast, a turnout far lower than what can be expected in November.

Although the 13th District leans blue in federal contests, and went for Clinton by 14points, Marshall has fended off a series of Democratic challengers in his 25 years in office.

Roem, 32, said she thinks she can succeed by capitalizing on the surge of Democratic energy and focusing sharply on transportation issues, especially congestion on Route28, while tearing into Marshall for spending time on conservative causes.

People are tired of the fact he is focused on discriminatory social policies instead of bread-and-butter, quality-of-life issues they face every day, she said. He is more concerned with where I go to the bathroom than where his constituents go to work. Im running a race on improving transportation rather than ensuring discrimination.

Marshall, in a statement in which he referred to Roem with male pronouns, said he has always been candid about his conservative views and would run a campaign focused on the issues.

On the Republican side, voters chose nominees in four competitive primaries to run in open seats. Those selected included outgoing House Speaker William J. Howells chosen successor, Stafford County Supervisor Robert Thomas. GOP voters stuck with two incumbents who faced primary challenges.

[Virginia Democrats challenging GOP lawmakers in each Clinton-won district]

House races in off-year elections normally take a back seat to the heated statewide contests for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

But this cycle has seen a surge of interest from Democrats, including a record number of female candidates. Several national progressive groups endorsed and trained Virginia candidates, following criticism that the national party had neglected local and state races, leading to significant losses in the last decade.

Republicans hold a 66-to-34 majority in Virginias House of Delegates. Democrats could regain control of the chamber for the first time since 2000 if they sweep all 17 House districts won by Clinton, a proposition that leaves little margin for error. The party is also eyeing opportunities to pick up seats in 2018 if a judge in a lawsuit challenging how district lines are drawn orders new elections.

We are going to expose the Trump agenda and what it means for Virginia, said Toscano, the Democratic leader who easily beat a challenge from the left by Ross Mittiga.

[In Va. House races, new activists challenge tepid centrism]

Republican party officials say they will welcome challenges to GOP incumbents in red-leaning districts during a governors race.

These are fringe extreme candidates, John Whitbeck, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, said of the Democrats who are running. It helps the top of our ticket because [voters] are more likely to vote for the Republican nominee for governor if they are turned out by Republican incumbents.

National progressive groups aligned with U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) endorsed several House candidates, in addition to Democrat Tom Perriello, who lost the gubernatorial primary to Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam. They saw mixed results.

Elizabeth Guzman was the only one of three progressives backed by Sanderss Our Revolution group to win a competitive primary. She narrowly defeated Sara Townsend, the Democratic nominee in 2015, in the race to challenge Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter (R), and would be the first Latina lawmaker in the state.

The only House primary too close to call was in the 2nd District, encompassing Prince William and Stafford counties, where Jennifer Foy led 2015 Democratic nominee Joshua King by 10 votes.

2017 is a precursor to the dynamics in 2018 said Adam Green, co-founder of the Warren-aligned Progressive Campaign Change Committee, which backed Guzman, Foy and Roem. Progressives will be seeking not just to elect Democrats, but to sweep in a whole new generation of rising and inspiring superstars.

Democratic activists say they will move quickly to unite in pursuit of defeating Republicans after the primary, and some voters appeared to have already gotten that message.

In the 13th District race won by Roem, Jennifer Goforth voted for Mansimran Kahlon but said she would be prefer any Democrat over Marshall.

Hes a homophobic, transphobic, racist bigot, the 49-year-old said, adding that Marshall refused to shake her daughters hand after learning the teenager had founded a gay-straight alliance at her high school. Before this year, everyone was so complacent that they didnt care about local races. No more.

Near the entrance of the polling place, Kahlons father and a volunteer for Roem promised unity as they passed out literature to voters.

Whoever wins, we will all come together, Avtar Kahlon said.

Absolutely, we cant have Bernie or bust here, said Amy Cannon, a friend of Roems.

With four candidates, we are going to get people out, Kahlon said.

In Virginia Beach, Democrat Kelly Fowler defeated Tom Brock, who was pressured to drop out of the 21st District race over a series of racist and sexist Facebook posts.

Del. Bobby Orrock (R-Caroline) easily fended off a primary challenge from Nick Ignacio, who had starred in crude online videos performing lewd acts on sex toys.

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Democratic challenger to Marshall would be Va.'s first openly transgender lawmaker - Washington Post