Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida steps down to make way for likely successor Shigeru Ishiba

ANNANDALE, Va. (AP) — As lawmakers voted on a budget deal at the U.S. Capitol, a different kind of balloting was taking place a dozen miles away in a sun-filled Virginia preschool classroom. At stake: which animated dog was the best character on the cartoon “PAW Patrol.”

In a heated primary, the 3-and-4-year-old students in room 14 at the ACCA Child Development Center had narrowed it down to two finalists: Chase, a German shepherd who wears a police uniform, and Skye, who wears a pink “pup pack” and is a favorite among girls in the class. The children cast votes by scrawling their names in crayon beneath pictures of the two characters. By mid-morning, it was a dead heat: five votes to five.

Benejas Abeselome, 4, put his name down for Chase.

“Police take bad guys,” Benejas said. “I wanted police because I like policing.”

It will be years before these youngsters vote in a real election, but ACCA is one of many preschools around the country that have been starting students early on civics education. The goal is nothing short of raising good citizens and strengthening democracy.

At this age, children are not learning about the three branches of government or how a bill becomes a law. Teachers are working with them on how to solve problems with classmates, how to deal with anger or disappointment without being hurtful and how to think about others’ needs. These are lessons, teachers say, that can be difficult to draw from grown-up politicians — especially during a vitriolic campaign season.

“We’re all here to help develop these children to become better citizens … to be better problem-solvers and to be better equipped socially, emotionally,” said Mary Folks, a teacher at the school. “Because once they have a handle on that, I feel like things they accomplish and things they do will have a better impact on this world.”

The most important civics lesson preschools can impart is “social democracy,” said Dan Gartrell, an early education expert. His book on teaching preschoolers about democracy, “Education for a Civil Society,” is used by ACCA and other preschools.

It “starts with appreciating each member of the group as a worthy member and worthy of expressing thoughts and ideas,” Gartrell said. From there, he said, children can learn to treat their peers with kindness, resolve conflicts and negotiate difficult situations without using hurtful words.

Engaging with toddlers in ways that make them feel their voice matters is important groundwork, said Rachel Robertson, the chief academic officer for Bright Horizons, which runs more than 1,000 preschool centers globally and embraces democratic ideals in its early education approach.

Around ages 3 or 4, a child is “starting to be a real community member and contributing to the classroom community and thinking a little bit broader about the world,” Robertson said.

At ACCA, like many preschools, youngsters are given a lot of autonomy. There are hours dedicated to free play. Children get to vote on what they study and eat: A classroom had just finished studying sand because children were curious about it after summer beach trips. And students get to sample apples and vote on which variety the school will order.

It’s all intended to affirm to children that their thoughts are valuable — along with those of their classmates. On this Thursday, they all were thinking about “PAW Patrol.”

In Room 11, 3-year-old Jade, who donned pink sneakers that lit up when she stepped, explained why she was backing Skye.

“I like her helicopter,” Jade said. “I like that she saves everybody.”

In Room 13, teachers created ballots in English and Spanish. When they asked the class who had won the election, one boy confidently piped up: “Me!”

Many of the preschool’s students represent the first generation of their families born in the United States. María-Isabel Ballivian, the preschool’s executive director, said she looks for ways to remind them they are American, even if their families don’t speak English and only recently arrived from other countries. For one, she throws a large Fourth of July gathering.

“If we give them now that sense of belonging, that’s going to be a tool that they will have to become resilient once they face discrimination,” Ballivian said.

Ballivian said many politicians could learn something from coming back to preschool — things like how to weather disappointment and how to think about the well-being of people who are unlike them.

“I don’t see how we can change the adults,” Ballivian said. “But I do know, if we work hard, we can prepare our children for a better future.”

Back in room 14, there was an important development. Another student named Janet had cast her ballot, writing her name under Skye’s photo with a backwards ‘J.’ The students counted the votes aloud. Skye emerged victorious.

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Associated Press journalists Nathan Ellgren and Almaz Abedje contributed to this article.

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The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

LONDON (AP) — Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will make his first public statements since he was released from prison when he addresses the Council of Europe on Tuesday.

Assange, 53, is expected to give evidence to the legal affairs and human rights committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France.

The Parliamentary Assembly, which includes parliamentarians from 46 European countries, said the hearing will discuss Assange’s detention and conviction “and their chilling effect on human rights” ahead of a debate on the topic on Wednesday.

WikiLeaks said in a statement that Assange will attend the hearing in person “due to the exceptional nature of the invitation.”

Assange was released in June after five years in a British prison after he pleaded guilty to obtaining and publishing U.S. military secrets in a deal with Justice Department prosecutors that concluded a drawn-out legal saga. Prior to his time in prison, he had spent seven years in self-imposed exile in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he claimed asylum on the grounds of political persecution.

The Australian internet publisher was accused of receiving and publishing hundreds of thousands of war logs and diplomatic cables that included details of U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. His activities were celebrated by press freedom advocates, who heralded his role in bringing to light military conduct that might otherwise have been concealed.

Among the files published by WikiLeaks was a video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack by American forces in Baghdad that killed 11 people, including two Reuters journalists.

But critics say his conduct put American national security and innocent lives — such as people who provided information to U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan — at risk, and strayed far beyond the bounds of traditional journalism duties.

The years-long case ended with Assange entering his plea in a U.S. district court on the Northern Mariana Islands, an American commonwealth in the Pacific.

Assange pleaded guilty to an Espionage Act charge of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defense information. A judge sentenced him to the five years he had already spent behind bars in the U.K. fighting extradition to the United States.

Assange returned to Australia a free man in late June. At the time his wife, Stella, said he needed time to recuperate before speaking publicly.

His appearance on Tuesday comes after the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly published a report on Assange’s detention in a high-security U.K. prison for five years.

The assembly’s human rights committee said Assange qualified as a political prisoner and issued a draft resolution expressing deep concern at his harsh treatment.

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BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Montana Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy acknowledged Monday that derogatory remark s he made last year about Native Americans were “insensitive.” But Sheehy rejected his opponent’s call to apologize, during a contentious debate in a race that’s emerged as pivotal for control of the Senate.

Three-term incumbent U.S. Sen. Jon Tester had challenged Sheehy over remarks last year in which the Republican told a group of laughing supporters about bonding “with all the Indians…while they’re drunk,” while working cattle at a ranch on the Crow Indian Reservation

“Yeah, insensitive,” responded Sheehy, a former U.S. Navy SEAL. “I come from the military as many of our tribal members do. You know, we make insensitive jokes and probably off color-jokes sometimes.”

Sheehy then tried to turn the discussion to the immigration crisis but Tester kept pressing him.

“Tim, the statement you made degrades Native Americans across this country,” Tester said. “You’re a big guy, just apologize.”

“You apologize for opening the border,” Sheehy retorted.

The acrimonious exchange, during the debate’s closing minutes, underscored the growing tensions between the two campaigns as the contest enters its final stretch. They are each jockeying for support from a small contingent of moderate Republican and Independent voters in the state who are considered crucial to victory in November.

Sheehy sharply criticized Tester over his ties to lobbyists, who have donated more heavily to the Democrat this election cycle than to any other member of Congress, according to the non-partisan group OpenSecrets.

“While I was fighting in Afghanistan, he was eating lobbyist steak in D.C.,” Sheehy said.

Tester in turn accused Sheehy of wanting to outlaw abortion, even as the Democrat linked his own campaign to a voter initiative that would enshrine abortion as a right under the state Constitution.

“I want to see Roe reinstated,” Tester said of the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade that has allowed some states to sharply restrict abortions. “My opponent, on the other hand, feels exactly the opposite. He feels he’s more entitled to make that decision than the women are.”

Tester is the last remaining Democrat to hold high office in Montana and the race is on track to be the most expensive in state history. Republicans party leaders including former President Donald Trump handpicked Sheehy in hopes of toppling Tester, a 68-year-old farmer.

Republicans need to gain just two seats in November to take the Senate majority when a new Congress convenes next year. They are widely considered to have a lock on one, in West Virginia, meaning Montana could make the difference.

Montana has seven Indian reservations and almost 70,000 Native Americans, representing about 7% of its total population, according to U.S. Census data. It’s a voting block that’s long been considered Democratic-leaning. Montana Republicans in recent years have courted tribal leaders hoping to gain their support in elections.

Tribal leaders were highly critical of Sheehy’s derogatory comments about Native Americans that emerged in audio recordings published by Char-Koosta News, the official publication of the Flathead Indian Reservation.

Sheehy did not respond when the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council asked him to apologize in early September. The council represents 11 tribes and First Nations in the U.S. and Canada.

Sheehy later downplayed the comments during a Fox News interview in which he suggested the audio was from “years ago” and had been edited to make him sound “like somebody I’m not.” But he did not deny the authenticity of the recordings on Monday.

Trump won Montana by about 17 percentage points in 2020. Seeking to capitalize on the former president’s popularity in the state, Sheehy has frequently sought to lump Tester with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. The Republican’s objective is to highlight public dissatisfaction over the administration’s struggles to stem illegal immigration on the southern border.

“Democrats on the Hill refused to hold the administration accountable for the largest mass migration in the history of this country,” Sheehy said in response to a debate question about the border.

Seeking to blunt the attacks, Tester skipped the Democratic National Convention last month, declined to endorse Harris and avoids mention of her on the campaign trail. He’s opposed the administration over tighter pollution rules for coal plants and pressed it to do more on immigration.

“Look, I’ll be the first person to tell you that President Biden has not done a good job on the southern border,” Tester said Monday.