| House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that going to Taiwan today sends the message that the United States will stand up for democracies around the world, especially as Ukraine enters its sixth month under attack from Russia. "By traveling to Taiwan, we honor our commitment to democracy: reaffirming that the freedoms of Taiwan — and all democracies — must be respected," she wrote in The Washington Post, in an op-ed published around the time she landed Tuesday. This is also arguably personal politics for the California Democrat. Pelosi's San Francisco district has a sizable Asian American population, including Taiwanese voters.  Pelosi with Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, left, and other members of Congress on Tuesday in Taipei. (Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs/AP) (AP) | But as I explained in a newsletter last week: If you're a top U.S. official, there are few places in the world more politically dramatic to visit than Taiwan. Taiwan is an island off the coast of China with a democratic government. Yet China has claimed it as its own territory and has repeatedly threatened military force to seize the island. U.S. military officials worry China might fire missiles into the Taiwan strait after Pelosi's visit. To avoid violence and angering such an economic powerhouse, the rest of the democratic world dances around this awkwardness by supporting Taiwan as quietly as possible while trying not to anger China. The United States technically does not support Taiwan independence. Here's a more in-depth explainer of the complicated relationship. China sees Pelosi's visit as an act of aggression, and it comes at a time when Washington and Beijing already have a lot to fight about — human rights, their economic rivalry, China's ties to Russia. It all puts President Biden in an awkward situation, with a political ally making a trip he would prefer didn't happen. Why the killing of an al-Qaeda leader matters for Biden A little more than a year ago, Biden pulled out of Afghanistan. The Taliban took over in a matter of days, catching Americans and their allies unprepared. Biden's poll numbers trended downward after that and, for a variety of reasons, haven't recovered. But this week, his administration managed to locate and kill one of the masterminds of the 9/11 terrorist attack, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Granted, al-Qaeda has been weakened over the decades, and terrorist attacks don't top the list of Americans' worries. But it's also one of a string of recent, much-needed victories for Biden and Democrats. He can say that this summer, he took out the world's most wanted terrorist, reached a deal within his party to lower carbon emissions and health-care costs, got a bipartisan deal to expand the U.S. semiconductor industry to compete with China and signed into law bipartisan gun restrictions. Tonight, the Senate could also pass a bill helping veterans exposed to burn pits — a measure Republicans recently came under intense criticism for blocking. Is all this enough for Biden's polling to go up and his party to hang on to Congress? We'll see. But for Democrats, it's better than nothing. Election deniers could have a big night tonight  An attendee at a July "Protect Our Elections" rally in Phoenix. (Cassidy Araiza for The Washington Post) | Several states are holding their primaries tonight. I'm especially watching Arizona, which has become a hotbed of election deniers. Candidates who back Donald Trump's false election-fraud claims could win nominations to four of Arizona's top positions: governor, U.S. Senate, secretary of state and attorney general. (Whether those candidates win the general election in November, in a state that voted for Biden, is another question.) Tuesday is also one of this primary season's biggest tests of how Republican voters feel about members of their party who supported Trump's impeachment after the Jan. 6 attack. Three out of the 10 House Republicans who voted for impeachment have primaries today against pro-Trump challengers. Rep. Peter Meijer in Michigan, who could lose to an extreme far-right candidate, is getting the most attention — in part because Democrats spent a lot of cash on ads boosting his opponent. In Washington state, two House Republicans — Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse — are trying to finish in the top two in their primaries, which under that state's primary system will allow them to move on to the general election in November. | 
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