US Elections 2026

Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff's fundraising, travel and messaging increasingly look aimed past his own reelection. Allies insist he is focused on the state, but the national footprint keeps growing.

Turning Point's political arm is betting that relentless contact wins low-propensity voters, with some targets called as many as 40 times. Organizers say the saturation approach beats persuasion advertising in a midterm year.

Alaska Senate candidate Mary Peltola publicly distanced herself from an endorsement by Kamala Harris that she never sought, days before the state's primary. The move underscores how toxic national Democratic brands remain in swing states.

Florida's Republican primary field has drawn an unusually colorful roster, from convicted felons to a fashion model and a perennial candidate. Party leaders worry the spectacle will cost them a winnable seat.

Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, a seminary student and Democrat, described Bible-related instruction in public schools as propaganda, drawing a sharp rebuke from Sen. Ted Cruz and other conservatives. The exchange has turned scripture in the classroom into a defining issue in the Texas race.

The pro-Israel lobby is spending heavily in the final Democratic primaries of the cycle, and its involvement has become the argument itself in several races. Candidates are being asked to declare whether they would take the money.

Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is scheduled to appear at a convention alongside a cleric with a record of defending child marriage, drawing fire from Republicans. President Trump singled him out in a string of posts.

A United Methodist pastor who is his party's Senate nominee said he believes atheists and people of other faiths will be in heaven, drawing criticism from evangelical leaders. He defended the remarks as consistent with his denomination's teaching.

Rep. Max Miller told an Ohio judge that he could miss hearings on the civil protection order he filed against his ex-wife because his party's narrow House majority requires his presence in Washington.

Abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement moved a step closer to becoming the official position of the Democratic Party, a shift that would hand the party's socialist and far-left wing a major beachhead in its campaign to take over the party's direction.

The Democratic National Committee's summer meeting opened in Texas with members rallying around embattled Chairman Ken Martin, even as the party wrestles with financial problems and deep ideological divisions ahead of the midterms.

Sen. Ed Markey lobbied fellow Democrats to ban super PACs from meddling in party primaries. Now, despite that crusade, he is being bolstered by one in a messy primary against Rep. Seth Moulton.

Democrat Xavier Becerra still holds a commanding lead over Republican Steve Hilton in California's gubernatorial race, but a new poll shows the gap narrowing as the two head toward their November showdown.

President Trump's top political advisers are urging Republican candidates to make an unexpected shift in their midterm messaging, talking more about health care and less about voter integrity.

Graham Platner, the former Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, is set to headline a Labor Day rally in Ellsworth next month, one of his first public appearances since his scandal-plagued campaign collapsed.

A PAC supporting Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is using AI to reimagine the Cold War-era 'Daisy' ad for the home stretch of a tight U.S. Senate campaign against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, tying him to trans ideology.

Streamer Hasan Piker conceded that he should not be the most prominent surrogate for any campaign, days after his comments about Hamas became a liability for candidates he supports. He said the attention distorts the races. Democratic strategists have been quietly urging distance.

Rashida Tlaib is backing primary challengers to two Jewish House Democrats in Florida, drawing accusations that the targeting is not coincidental. Her office says the races are about policy on Gaza and health care. The episode deepens an intraparty split heading into the midterms.

Abdul El-Sayed offered to settle a scheduling standoff with Mike Rogers by playing a game of tackle football rather than holding another debate. Rogers's camp called it a stunt to dodge scrutiny. The exchange captures how strange the Michigan Senate race has become.

Sen. Tim Scott escalated Republican attacks on Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, saying he is "for Hamas" and "against America." El-Sayed's campaign called the line a smear aimed at his Muslim faith. The seat is among the most contested in the country.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley came from behind to beat progressive favorite Francesca Hong in Wisconsin's Democratic primary for governor. The result cuts against the narrative that the party's left flank is running the table this cycle. Crowley now faces a competitive fall race in a perennial swing state.

Barack Obama is starting a podcast devoted to books, arriving just as his party enters the final stretch of the midterm campaign. Allies wanted him on the trail instead. His team frames the show as a longer-term cultural project.

Minnesota Republicans picked Lisa Demuth over MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, who had Trump's endorsement, setting up a general election against Democrat Amy Klobuchar. Lindell refused to concede and blamed the loss on the count. Allies pointed instead to his support for an immigration amnesty proposal.

Connecticut Democrat John Larson lost his primary to a younger challenger who campaigned explicitly on turning the page from long-serving incumbents. Larson had held the seat since 1999. It is the clearest sign yet that seniority is a liability in this cycle's Democratic primaries.

Darline Graham and Rep. Ralph Norman advanced to a runoff in the Republican primary for Lindsey Graham's seat, with neither clearing the threshold outright. The contest pits a famous surname against a sitting congressman with a long record. The runoff will test how much the Graham name still carries.

Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling on Democratic leaders to bar super PAC spending from Democratic primary elections, singling out AIPAC and what he called a corrupt system of outside money. The demand lands as the party argues over how much of its primary landscape is being shaped by donors rather than voters.

DSA co-chair Megan Romer could not identify a tax rate or income threshold when pressed on taxing millionaires, and Republicans immediately used the exchange to argue that socialists are steering the Democratic Party over a cliff.

Streamer Hasan Piker told Rolling Stone his comments about Hamas were intentionally provocative but defended the rhetoric as a way to force audiences to think. Abdul El-Sayed, whose campaign has been tied to Piker by Republicans, shrugged off the streamer's separate remarks about 9/11.

Darline Graham has Donald Trump's endorsement in the special primary for her brother's South Carolina Senate seat. Whether that is enough will be an early read on how much the president's backing still moves Republican primary voters.

In the streets around a federal office complex near the Minneapolis airport, the resistance to President Trump's immigration crackdown found its footing, and the fight is now reshaping Minnesota's contested Senate primary.

Democratic committees are entering the midterm stretch with a cash shortfall, and party operatives are openly discussing whether longtime Jewish donors have stepped back over the party’s leftward drift on Israel. The gap is forcing hard choices about which races get funded.

Hillary Clinton is publicly courting the Democratic Party’s left flank after a primary season that rewarded insurgents. The overture is a notable reversal for a figure long defined by opposition to that wing.

Vice President JD Vance went after Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, calling his platform crazy and arguing it would gut the state’s auto industry. The attack signals how national Republicans plan to frame the race.

Hawaii’s primary found Gov. Josh Green cruising toward renomination while a progressive challenger mounted a serious threat to an incumbent Democratic congressman. The intraparty fight mirrors the left’s push in other blue states.

A scandal engulfing an Ohio Republican has scrambled the state’s midterm calculations and left party strategists without a clean plan. Democrats see an opening in a seat they had written off.

Darline Graham is testing whether a recognizable political surname can outweigh a lack of experience in a competitive South Carolina primary. Rivals are betting voters want a record, not a relative.

A far-left candidate for governor has installed an OnlyFans model as deputy campaign manager, a hire the campaign is presenting as a deliberate break from political convention. Opponents are treating it as a gift.

Party leaders publicly closed ranks behind Abdul El-Sayed after his Michigan primary win, even as moderates privately worry his platform is unsellable statewide. The truce is real but thin.

The streamer Hasan Piker said Democrats who decline to back Abdul El-Sayed should be “punished,” a demand that lands as the party argues over how much room to give its ascendant left. Commentators across the spectrum, including Mark Halperin, questioned whether Democratic leaders will distance themselves from Piker or absorb him.

Former North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn is one of 14 candidates competing for Florida’s open 19th Congressional District, a heavily Republican South Florida seat with no clear frontrunner less than two months from the primary. Cawthorn left Congress after a single term and a string of scandals; the field around him is betting name recognition cuts both ways.

Days after his upset primary win, Abdul El-Sayed is answering for old remarks disparaging Mackinac Island, the Michigan vacation destination that doubles as the state’s political summer camp. Republican opponent Mike Rogers seized on it — “no place like Mackinac” — in a general election that both sides expect to be fought over cultural belonging as much as policy.

The contest between Susan Collins and Troy Jackson is among the most closely watched Senate races in the country, and both campaigns have concluded it turns on one bloc: Maine women, who have repeatedly rescued Collins and repeatedly threatened to stop. Neither side is confident about which way that history runs this time.

Adam Hamilton leads the largest United Methodist congregation in the country. Now he is testing whether a pastor running as a Democrat can flip a red seat and become the first Kansas Democrat sent to the Senate in nearly a century. Forecasters have already moved the race toward Democrats; Hamilton’s challenge is holding a coalition that agrees on him and little else.

Public surveys pointed to a comfortable Haley Stevens win, and the margin came in nowhere close, reviving old worries about who pollsters are actually reaching. The miss matters well beyond Michigan as forecasters build midterm models on the same assumptions.

Leaders of the Democratic Women's Caucus demanded Rep. Max Miller's resignation as the House Ethics Committee investigates abuse allegations from his ex-fiancee. Republicans, including Scott Jennings, have begun openly discussing a replacement candidate.

The election handicapper shifted Kansas from safe Republican to likely Republican after the Rev. Adam Hamilton won the Democratic primary. It is a small move on paper and a notable one in a state Democrats have not carried for a Senate seat in nearly a century.

Progressive Abdul El-Sayed defeated Rep. Haley Stevens for Michigan's Democratic Senate nomination, overcoming heavy outside spending and handing the party establishment its sharpest rebuke of the midterm cycle. "We took on a machine," El-Sayed told supporters, as Democrats from Bernie Sanders to wary moderates scrambled to define what the win means for November.

Former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio argued that Texas Senate candidate James Talarico's focus on "kitchen table issues" is the hardest version of a Democrat for Republicans to run against. Conservative outlets are already working to define Talarico before he defines himself.

Joanna Whaley, a former megachurch pastor who says she endured 15 years of conversion practices, comfortably won her Democratic primary to become the first transgender woman nominated for the Michigan legislature. Her candidacy has become a proxy for the party's wider argument about identity and electability.

Sen. Bernie Sanders invited strategist James Carville to "start his own party" after Carville threatened to leave over the rise of left-wing candidates and commentators. The exchange captured a Democratic establishment arguing with itself in public on the morning after a bruising primary night.

Fresh off the nomination, Abdul El-Sayed cast former Rep. Mike Rogers as another rubber stamp for President Trump, setting the frame for a Senate race both parties now treat as a national test. AIPAC, which spent heavily against him, says it is not done fighting.

Rep. Chuck Edwards said he will not seek reelection after the House Ethics Committee recommended he be censured. The North Carolina Republican's exit opens a seat his party had expected to hold without effort.

The Republican primary in Michigan's 8th Congressional District went sideways when President Trump's endorsed candidate lost to a rival who had suspended his campaign a month earlier. The result is an awkward data point for a president who spent the night touting his primary record.

Sunrise Movement co-founder William Lawrence is the Democratic nominee in Michigan's 7th District, a battleground seat central to the fight for the House majority. His win, alongside Rep. Shri Thanedar's defeat, extended the night's pattern of insurgents beating incumbents.

Rep. John James has won Michigan's Republican nomination for governor, giving the GOP a well-funded and nationally known candidate at the top of its state ticket. He now heads into a general election shaped by a Democratic base that just moved sharply left.

A Wisconsin judge ruled that the state's absentee voting system discriminates against disabled voters by denying them the ability to cast a ballot privately and independently. The ruling stopped short of ordering election officials to offer electronic absentee ballots before the midterm elections, leaving the practical remedy for later proceedings. Voting rights groups called it a landmark finding; state officials warned that building a secure electronic system on that timeline is not realistic.

Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins said he would not certify a referendum seeking to undo the state's new Republican-drawn congressional map, arguing that the effort is unconstitutional. Organizers had been gathering signatures to put the map to a statewide vote. The decision pushes the fight into court and keeps a map that could decide control of the U.S. House in place for now.

Wisconsin socialist and gubernatorial hopeful Francesca Hong struggled to explain a resurfaced post calling to "cancel Thanksgiving," telling interviewers only that "views can evolve." Other old comments about whiteness, including remarks touching on her own family, have also drawn attention. The exchange has become a test of whether the democratic-socialist wing's online history travels well in a statewide general election.

A Senate Republican said openly that Rep. Max Miller "shouldn't be in office" following abuse allegations, breaking a party reticence that had held for weeks. President Trump reportedly told Miller that winning re-election after the allegations would be "tough." Former Rep. Jim Renacci is weighing a comeback bid for the seat if Miller steps aside, a sign the party is already planning for his exit.

A new survey shows voters trusting Democrats more than Republicans to handle the economy for the first time in nearly a decade, erasing an advantage the GOP has held through multiple election cycles. Pollsters attribute the shift to tariff-driven price increases and affordability frustration rather than to enthusiasm for Democratic proposals.

Vivek Ramaswamy's Ohio campaign has counted on Indian American voters as a natural base, but interviews suggest the community is divided over his rhetoric on immigration and religion. The tension illustrates how a shared background does not automatically translate into political loyalty.

People close to Bernie Sanders are increasingly explicit about which figure they see inheriting his movement, a conversation that has grown urgent as the Vermont senator ages and the democratic-socialist wing wins primaries it once only contested. The succession question matters beyond one seat: it determines who controls a national small-dollar fundraising apparatus.

Primary voters in Kansas, Missouri, Virginia, Washington and Michigan cast ballots in contests that have become a referendum on how far left the Democratic Party is willing to go. The marquee race pits Rep. Haley Stevens against Abdul El-Sayed for Michigan's Senate nomination, with establishment groups and progressive organizers pouring money in on opposite sides. Republicans are watching the outcomes for evidence about which Democratic nominees will be easiest to run against in November.

South Carolina Republicans competing for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s spot on the November ballot squared off in their first debate, with just over a week until the special primary. Graham, 71, died in early July from an aortic dissection, leaving one of the safest Republican Senate seats suddenly open.

Democrats who control the Maryland Legislature began moving a constitutional amendment intended to clear the way for a partisan redistricting process that could deliver their party an additional U.S. House seat by 2028. The push adds another front to the map-drawing arms race now running in statehouses in both parties.

Democratic front-runners in several of the toughest midterm races are collaborating with Hasan Piker, the far-left streamer who once said America deserved the September 11 attacks, wagering that his audience delivers more votes than his record repels. Republicans are already assembling the clip reel.

California Democrats formally endorsed a proposed tax on billionaires ahead of a November ballot initiative. Supporters say the revenue would shore up state programs facing deficits. Business groups warn the measure would accelerate departures of high earners.

Progressive challengers are forcing competitive primaries against establishment Democrats in several states ahead of the midterms. Michigan and Missouri have become the most closely watched contests. Party strategists disagree on whether the insurgencies help or hurt in November.

A new demand from President Trump is forcing Republicans in competitive districts to choose between the party base and swing voters. Several members have declined to state a position publicly. Strategists say the choice could shape a handful of decisive midterm races.

Darline Graham Nordone is campaigning on Trump's agenda in her first run for office ahead of a special Senate primary. Conservative outlets have raised questions about parts of her biography and policy record. The primary is expected to be closely contested.

Campaign filings show a Black pastor who publicly endorsed Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed also received substantial payments from his campaign. The disclosure arrives days before a competitive Democratic primary. The campaign says the payments were for legitimate outreach work.

James Carville doubled down on his critique of the party's midterm messaging, arguing key races should be built around what voters are actually experiencing. He has been making the argument since spring, with limited effect.

Party strategists have concluded that talking about climate distracts from an affordability message, and candidates have gone quiet. Nationwide actions this summer are an attempt to make that silence untenable after months of floods and record heat.

The award, granted over the objections of the deceased's family, is close to double the organization's typical annual revenue. It arrives as DSA-aligned candidates contest a string of competitive primaries.

State GOP chairwoman Corrin Rankin says the Proposition 39 voter ID measure closes loopholes, and the party is pairing it with an affordability message. It is an attempt to build a coalition out of two unrelated frustrations.

Jewish leaders in Denver say Melat Kiros's primary upset and her sharp anti-Israel rhetoric have coincided with a rise in antisemitic incidents. Her campaign rejects the connection.

Vivek Ramaswamy is campaigning on lower property taxes, electric bills and healthcare costs while drawing sharp contrasts with Amy Acton's decisions during the COVID era. The race is one of the cycle's most closely watched.

Domestic abuse allegations against Rep. Max Miller, which he vehemently denies, are drawing national attention and prompting new calls for him to step aside. The Ohio district had not been considered competitive.

Former Rep. Andy Levin lost his 2022 primary to Haley Stevens with heavy AIPAC spending against him. Four years on, with Stevens in a bruising Senate primary, he argues the group's money no longer buys what it used to.

Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed have become proxies for every unsettled argument in the party — establishment against insurgent, progressive against moderate, new media against old. Voters get to settle several of them on one ballot.

Abdul El-Sayed says he is not a socialist despite a Bernie Sanders endorsement, a new ad featuring Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a record of appearances at DSA events. The label has become the central fight of the Michigan primary's closing week.

Candidates who backed the federal healthcare cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act are blanketing the airwaves with ads positioning themselves as champions of lower costs. The cuts take effect during the campaign.

Democratic socialists are on the ballot in high-profile Michigan and Wisconsin races, forcing mainstream Democrats into a position on Israel and Gaza they have spent two years avoiding. There is no answer that satisfies both halves of the coalition.

With the map tightening, the president has begun positioning the Senate majority leader as the person responsible if November goes badly. It is a familiar pattern applied to an unusually well-defended target.

Scandals surrounding chairman Ken Martin have left Democratic operatives openly questioning what the national committee is still for. The doubts come as state parties and outside groups take on more of the money and organizing work.

Former President Barack Obama will headline a fundraiser for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. The event underscores how central map-drawing fights have become to both parties' 2028 planning.

President Trump delivered economic remarks at a General Motors facility in Milford, Michigan, pairing a drag race and vehicle demonstration with a defense of his tariff regime. The stop comes a day before Michigan primary voting.

President Trump warned in a primetime address that more than 250,000 noncitizens might be on four states' voter rolls, but the administration has declined to explain how it arrived at the figure. House Republicans are separately weighing a mail-in ballot ban in a third party-line bill.

The prediction market company Kalshi is challenging a Wisconsin law that strips voting rights from people who bet on elections, casting it as voter suppression. The clash between a battleground state and a fast-growing industry could shape the next wave of election-betting fights.

A federal appeals court upheld an injunction blocking President Trump's executive order aimed at restricting mail-in voting, keeping the measure on hold across nearly two dozen states. The ruling is a setback for the administration's election-integrity agenda ahead of the 2026 midterms. Conservatives criticized the decision as judicial overreach, while the case appears headed for further appeal.

Maine Democrats formally nominated former state Senate president Troy Jackson, a lumberjack and populist, to take on Republican Sen. Susan Collins after the chaotic collapse of Graham Platner's candidacy. Jackson steps into a must-win race for a party trying to steady itself after the Platner debacle. The nomination reshapes one of the most closely watched Senate contests of the 2026 midterms.

A Democratic National Committee panel voted to place South Carolina first in the party's 2028 presidential nominating calendar, cementing the state's early role after a fight over which voting blocs should shape the primary. The decision rewards the coalition that revived Joe Biden's 2020 campaign and sidelines traditional first-in-the-nation states. New Hampshire Democrats are already vowing to defy the calendar, setting up a jurisdictional clash that could fracture the party's early-state order.

Democratic strategist James Carville is urging his party to 'just quit fighting' voter ID requirements, warning that the policy polls at roughly 75% support. His comments signal growing recognition among Democrats that opposition to voter ID is a political liability. New Fox News polling showing broad backing for both voter ID laws and mail-in ballots underscores the shifting terrain ahead of upcoming elections.

A mayor of a small Texas town was arrested on felony charges tied to alleged illegal voting activity. Authorities say the case involves violations of state election law, adding to a series of prosecutions Texas officials have pursued to bolster ballot integrity. The arrest is likely to feature in the broader national debate over voter fraud enforcement heading into the next election cycle.

Candidates endorsed by President Trump swept Arizona's Republican primaries, including a former NFL player who won a competitive congressional nomination. On the Democratic side, party leaders' preferred pick trailed in a key battleground district while an incumbent House Democrat narrowly survived. The results reaffirm Trump's continued grip on the GOP electorate heading into the midterm cycle and signal turbulence within Democratic ranks.

Democratic Socialist candidates are forcing moderate Democrats into high-risk primary showdowns over must-hold races, flexing newfound organizing power within the party. Endorsements from figures like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders signal a leftward pull that establishment Democrats fear could imperil general-election prospects. The intraparty clash exposes a widening ideological rift heading into a pivotal midterm cycle.

Democratic National Committee members are set to meet in Washington this week and could take a preliminary vote on the order of states in the party's 2028 presidential primary calendar. The early jockeying signals that the fight to shape the next Democratic nomination is already underway. Which states vote first carries outsized influence over candidates and messaging, making the calendar an early proxy battle for the party's direction.

Rep. Ralph Norman announced a bid for the late Lindsey Graham's South Carolina Senate seat, defying President Trump's endorsement of Darline Graham for the post. The move sets up a contested Republican primary and tests Trump's grip over the party's nominating fights in a deep-red state. Norman's entry adds another prominent conservative to an already crowded field vying to shape the seat's future.