Al-Zawahri was an Egyptian who took over al Qaeda after the U.S. killed its longtime leader, Osama bin Laden, in 2011. He never achieved the household name status of his predecessor, but Al-Zawahri’s killing is nonetheless a major win for the United States in the ongoing struggle against Islamist terrorism, especially as the United Nations warns that the terrorist group is outpacing its peers — like the Islamic State — as a long-term global threat, write Alexander Ward , Nahal Toosi and Lara Seligman . In a statement to reporters, a senior Biden administration official said “over the weekend, the United States conducted a counterterrorism operation against a significant al Qaeda target in Afghanistan. The operation was successful and there were no civilian casualties.” President Joe Biden plans to give a speech on “a successful counterterrorism mission” tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET. Head over to POLITICO’s homepage to watch his remarks live. ALL EYES ON KANSAS — National media outlets have cast Tuesday’s abortion vote in Kansas as a barometer for how Americans feel about the issue in the post-Roe era. Kansans are set to vote on a constitutional amendment drafted in response to the 2019 state Supreme Court’s ruling that the Kansas constitution protected the right to abortion. A “yes” vote on Tuesday would overturn the constitutional protection, opening the door for the legislature to further limit or ban the procedure in the midwestern state where abortion is legal up to 22 weeks — an immediate threat if Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly loses in November. If voters push the amendment through, it could fuel other state policymakers to take the same approach in restricting abortion rights, according to Elizabeth Nash, a state policy expert at the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion rights research organization. “But if the constitutional amendment is defeated, then that really sends a signal that the public does not support abortion bans, and in fact supports abortion rights,” Nash told Nightly. “That may force some of these state legislators, who thought that banning abortion was important — it may cause them to reconsider.” A recent poll from research firm co/efficient shows support for the amendment at 47 percent, compared with 43 percent of respondents who said they would vote against it. But as a survey researcher, Patrick Miller, a political scientist at the University of Kansas, said, the surveyors’ methods may not accurately capture Tuesday’s turnout, in particular among independents. These voters will be key in determining Tuesday’s outcome, and in this unprecedented vote, he said, it’s yet to be seen how many independents will head to the polls. Independent voters often don’t have a reason to show up in primaries, which is why this amendment was put on the August ballot and not November’s — to give Republicans the upper hand, Miller told Nightly. “I think it’s a fair assessment that the more independents that show up, the higher turnout we have, the better it is for the ‘vote no’ side,” Miller said. “But I don’t know how anyone right now has any solid grasp on what’s going to happen tomorrow.” National media has zeroed in on the vote in recent weeks, but it’s important to note that this amendment has been in the works for years, he said. The Supreme Court’s move to revoke a right was unprecedented, and the Kansas vote is just one just “one datapoint of how abortion politics is changing after Roe.” But Miller does see a lesson for other states and the abortion rights movement across the country — the need to mobilize, and the need to keep voters engaged on this issue. Hundreds of canvassers are knocking on doors to lay out the stakes of Tuesday’s vote, POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein reported from Olathe, Kan., today. Kansans for Constitutional Freedom, the umbrella group fighting to keep the constitutional protection — and legal abortion — in place, has raised more than $6.5 million. Yard signs have popped up across the state. Voter registration has skyrocketed. But the anti-abortion movement in Kansas has been at this work since 1973, Miller said, whereas abortion rights advocates who saw little threat to the right have been playing catch-up in recent months. “Their campaign was pathetic to non-existent until the Supreme Court leak,” Miller said. Even now, Miller is receiving daily texts, door knocks and mailers telling him to vote in favor of the amendment that would empower the Legislature to strip away abortion access. He’s received just a couple of texts from abortion rights advocates, and even his friends who are registered Democrats have noted little direct engagement. Abortion rights activists have found their footing in the state, Miller said, but the concern is the recent push hasn’t been enough to combat conservative mobilization and that the average voter isn’t aware of what’s happening on Tuesday. If the amendment goes through, the effects may be felt well beyond the state’s borders, Nash warned. Kansas, one of the only states in the region where abortion remians legal, has been a safe haven state for patients in Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at mward@politico.com or on Twitter at @MyahWard . The long-awaited Trump endorsement in Missouri’s GOP Senate primary has arrived. Drumroll please … the former president endorsed … ERIC. Which Eric, you might ask? No clue, but both candidates with that name, Eric Greitens and Eric Schmitt, claimed they secured Trump’s endorsement tonight.
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