April 27, 2026

2026 Elections

Blurb:

An under-the-radar primary in North Carolina is gaining national attention after morphing into another competitive battleground for progressives waging war against establishment Democrats, putting incumbent Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) at risk of losing her seat in the state’s bluest district.

The 69-year-old Foushee is facing Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam, a younger, more left-leaning candidate, in the March 3 primary. The congresswoman has been in this position before, defeating the 32-year-old Allam by nine points in the 2022 primary to replace former Rep. David Price.

 

Blurb:

Something appears to be laughably missing in Politico‘s Saturday story about the  June nonpartisan gubernatorial primary in California. Namely the front runner is a Republican, Steve Hilton, and another Republican is very possibly the second place candidate, both of whom would be facing each other in the November general election for governor.

Is it a mere coincidence that Politico writers Blake Jones and Lindsey Holden completely ignored them because they happen to have the taboo (R) by their names which are completely AWOL in “Why Swalwell and Steyer are surging in California governor’s race”?

The focus of the story (to the complete exclusion of Republicans) is made completely absurd by the inconvenient fact that Eric Swalwell is currently in either second or third place while Hilton is ahead of him according to the latest results from Emerson College Polling.

Blurb:

A top Department of Homeland Security official vowed during a private call with election officials Wednesday that immigration officers will not be stationed at polling places in November amid Democratic warnings about interference in the midterms by the federal government.

Heather Honey, the department’s deputy assistant secretary for election integrity, dismissed as “disinformation” any fears that officers from Immigration Customs and Enforcement would be deployed to the polls as part of President Donald Trump’s ongoing mass deportation campaign.

“Any suggestion that ICE is going to be present at polling places is simply disinformation,” Honey said, according to four people on the call who were granted anonymity to discuss it. “There will be no ICE presence at polling locations.”

Blurb:

A Virginia judge granted the Republican National Committee a temporary restraining order that halts Virginia Democrats’ gerrymandering efforts to redraw the state’s congressional districts ahead of the upcoming midterms.

The Republican National Committee brought a lawsuit Wednesday to stop what the organization describes as an unconstitutional last-minute power grab by Virginia Democrats. Filing a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, the RNC asked the court to block the implementation of the proposed constitutional amendment. According to local media, Tazewell County Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. granted the RNC motion on Thursday.

Blurb:

As progressive activists blockade Palantir offices and protest the company’s AI tools used in ICE deportation and surveillance operations, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has continued taking millions from the company’s lobbyists, according to new Federal Election Commission filings.

In January alone, more than a dozen lobbyists with firms representing Palantir bundled a combined $2.9 million for the DCCC, according to a newly filed FEC disclosure. The January haul from Palantir’s lobbying firms represents 38% of the DCCC’s total contributions for the month.

Blurb:

 

In electoral politics, it is usually the party that is out of power that promises that a victory will end the rule of an unpopular congressional majority or president.

The usual message coming from a minority party during a midterm election is that they should be elected to serve as a check on the president. The message of checks and balances has an inherent appeal to many voters, because the system of checks and balances between the three branches of government is baked into America’s national DNA.

Blurb:

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) is leading the tightly contested Texas Democratic Party Senate primary by 12 points, according to a new poll.

The shock lead was revealed in a survey from the University of Texas/Texas Politics.

The survey of likely Democrat primary voters shows Crockett with 56 percent support.

Meanwhile, state Rep. James Talarico trails at 44 percent.

The poll carries a margin of error of plus or minus 5.1 percentage points for the Democrat subset.

Blurb:

If voter ID requirements truly threaten civil rights, it follows that many other civil rights are also threatened. Identification is needed throughout American society, including for transportation, accommodation, and housing — historical battlegrounds for civil rights.

The SAVE America Act would require documented proof of citizenship for voter registration and photo identification for voting in federal elections.  President Trump and Republicans support the legislation, and Americans overwhelmingly support voter ID, which is at the heart of the measure.  Democrats, on the other hand, overwhelmingly oppose the SAVE America Act and, by implication, the election integrity requirements it would implement.

Blurb:

“Anything you can do, I can do better,” the famous duet from the musical “Annie Get Your Gun,” comes to mind as Republicans in blue states watch their red congressional districts disappear because Democrats turned the tables on President Donald Trump’s plan to push mid-decade redistricting to make it easier for the GOP to hold the House majority. Once Republican states decided to employ this strategy, Democrats would have been derelict not to do the same.

House Republicans leaders are beginning to realize that their chances of midterm victory may shrink because this Pandora’s Box was opened. It’s not just that blue states might create more safe seats than red states might. The debate has energized the Democrat base and allowed their big money donors to argue to the public that this is just another “authoritarian” attempt by Trump to rig the system.

Blurb:

High Democratic turnout in Texas’s Senate primary is driving record early voting numbers, giving hope to Democrats in the reliably red state.

Though primary turnout is usually lower in nonpresidential election years, the 2026 primary has drawn unusually close attention, largely due to the race between state Rep. James Talarico and Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX). In the first seven days of primary voting, a record 1,259,356 votes were cast — 665,664 for Democrats and 593,692 for Republicans, according to unofficial data from the Texas secretary of state, obtained by the Texas Tribune.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has added 12 candidates to its list of “Red to Blue” races. These candidates represent 8 states, Arizona, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Four states, Arizona, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, have two “Red to Blue” races. An analysis of the Cook Political report puts 14 GOP seats in a toss-up or leans Democrat, compared to only 4 Democrat seats.

Blurb:

House Democrats Pick 12 Candidates to Back in ‘Red to Blue’ Initiative – legalinsurrection.com

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) added 12 candidates to its “Red to Blue” initiative in an attempt to retake the House in 2026…

The candidates are and the incumbent:

  • AZ-02 – Jonathan Nez (Eli Crane)
  • AZ-06 – JoAnna Mendoza< (Juan Ciscomani)/li>
  • IA-01 – Christina Bohannan (Mariannette Miller-Meeks)
  • IA-03 – Sarah Trone Garriott (Zach Nunn)
  • MI-04 – Sean McCann (Bill Huizenga)
  • NC-11 – Jamie Ager (Chuck Edwards)
  • PA-08 – Paige Cognetti (Rob Bresnahan Jr.)
  • PA-10 – Janelle Stelson (Scott Perry)
  • TN-05 – Chaz Molder (Andy Ogles)
  • VA-01 – Shannon Taylor (Rob Wittman)
  • VA-02 – Elaine Luria (Jennifer Kiggans)
  • WI-03 – Rebecca Cooke (Derrick Van Orden)

…Unfortunately, the Cook Political Report has 14 Republican Congressional seats in its toss-up category. The organization has only four Democratic seats.

Regarding Republican-held seats, the Cook Political Report also put NE-02 as a lean Democrat and UT-01 as a solid Democrat.

However, Democrat-held seats, NC-01 leans Republican, while ME-02 and TX-35 are likely Republican.

Blurb:

 

The Supreme Court’s tariff decision left the door wide open for Democrats to hammer President Donald Trump for violating the law. This time, they’re not taking the bait.

Instead, Democratic campaigns are leaning into an argument they have been making for months: Trump’s tariffs are coming out of voters’ pockets. Some Democrats can’t help but hit the tariffs as “unlawful,” but they’re pivoting quickly back to affordability.

Blurb:

Occasional California Governor Gavin Newsom, who keeps turning up anywhere but California, has continued his highly calculated descent into vulgar and insulting behavior this week. The performance still has the awkwardness of the first week of acting school. It’s like watching a character play a character, many times removed from an identifiable real person. Whatever he’s doing, he’s definitely pretending.

If you’ve missed it, Newsom is back to doing subtext-heavy locker room kneepad jokes like the one he did in Davos, and he’s bragging to audiences that he’s stupid like them, “a 960 SAT guy.” He’s playing a towel-snapper, a mean jock, not above hard words or a fist fight. His relentlessly horrible director of communications got in on the act, responding to questions from a journalist like this:

Blurb:

Virginia Democrats are advancing two bills to extend deadlines for receiving and counting mail-in absentee ballots several days after Election Day.

Delegate Adele McClure and State Senator Barbara Favola, who represent Arlington, have introduced companion bills, HB 82 and SB 58, which will extend the deadline for counting absentee ballots in Virginia from noon to 5 p.m. on the third day after Election Day, reported ARL Now.

Blurb:

Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales is facing steep odds in his upcoming GOP primary as fallout continues from a sex scandal involving a former aide who died by suicide last year.

Gonzales, 45, a married father of six and Navy veteran, had an affair with his former district director, Regina Ann “Regi” Santos-Aviles, 35. Santos-Aviles self-immolated in the garden of her Texas Hill Country home in September.

A former Gonzales staffer told the San Antonio Express-News that the congressman failed to act after being warned about Santos-Aviles’ declining mental health. The report said Santos-Aviles’ husband had learned of the affair and that she became depressed.

Blurb:

A narrative of a looming “blue wave” just hit a wall — and it came from inside CNN.

During a segment breaking down the 2026 gubernatorial map, CNN data analyst Harry Enten delivered a “wake-up call for Democrats,” pointing to race ratings that currently tilt in Republicans’ favor across the country.

“I think electoral races nationwide should stand as a wake-up call for Democrats,” Enten said. “A wake-up call for Democrats.”

Blurb:

 

Independent journalists from Muckraker released footage Tuesday showing a New York City Board of Elections employee giving a registration form to someone claiming non-citizen status, noting the office accepts any submission without reporting issues. The worker acknowledged occasional non-citizen attempts but said his role is just to collect and forward forms, which later face database checks. Critics highlighted it as a vulnerability, while studies show non-citizen voting remains rare, fueling partisan divides over stricter proof-of-citizenship laws like the SAVE Act ahead of 2026 midterms.

The Virginia Supreme Court has just given the insurrectionist DNC state the go-ahead to push a referendum that will effectively cancel 4 U.S. House seats for conservatives. DNC Virginia looks to cement its hold on American soil by effectively making it impossible for non-Democrats to ever win in the state again. The referendum, the new district map, will be voted on starting this March through mid-April. The move followed the GOP’s failure to secure a gerrymandering scheme favorable to their party in Indiana, a state they fully control.

The courts have failed at all levels to recognize the constitutional violations of gerrymandering as a principle, which allows political parties to create geographically unnatural voting districts to assure their party cannot be defeated in a general election ever again. Now, millions of conservatives will be effectively disenfranchised from the voting rolls, taxed without representation. SCOTUS continues to allow this unconstitutional practice.

Blurb:

VA High Court Greenlights Dem Gerrymandering Effort – thefederalist.com

The Virginia Supreme Court handed Democrats a massive win Friday, allowing them to move forward with a redistricting referendum that would gerrymander the commonwealth’s U.S. House districts from five Republicans and six Democrats to one Republican and 10 Democrats.

Democrats have been looking for a way to push through their referendum, despite legal challenges and court rulings saying the efforts are illegal, in time for an April 21 special election that would allow the gerrymandered map to take effect before the November general election.

Early voting is set to start March 6.

If the referendum passes, it would allow the Virginia legislature the authority to redraw the congressional maps, instead of its nonpartisan commission. The nonpartisan commission is relatively new in Virginia, coming into play once since its creation by referendum in 2020. In that case, the commission failed to agree on maps, requiring the state Supreme Court to complete the process.

Despite the failures of the commission, the gerrymandering plan from the Democrats is a mid-decade power-grab aimed at disenfranchising Virginians in order to pad Democrat House seats ahead of a potential U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act, which already artificially gave Democrats numerous seats based on racial gerrymandering.

 

Former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and former U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, both Republicans and co-chairs of a group called Virginians for Fair Maps, which is aimed at stopping this process, put out a statement Friday promising further legal challenges.

“Though we firmly believe this referendum is illegal, the court has allowed it to move forward before final judgement. There will be further legal action on this matter,” they said. “All across Virginia, voters are speaking out against this brazen political power grab that allows politicians in Richmond to choose their own voters. It’s wrong, it’s illegal, and it will fail.”

While allowing the special election to move forward, the Virginia Supreme Court bizarrely set itself up to hear the case after the election occurs, meaning there appears to be three potential outcomes: The referendum fails and the case would likely not be heard; the referendum is approved and the court agrees with Democrats, allowing the gerrymander; the referendum is approved and the court agrees with Republicans, throwing it out.

The last scenario is unlikely, since the court would be seen as nullifying a vote.

Republicans are still talking as if things could go their direction, with state House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Va., saying, “we’re going to make our case to Virginians that this is unfair. This is unprecedented. And, quite frankly it’s against the law we believe.”

State Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougle, R-Va., said, “Last October, democrats took an unprecedented step to illegally pass a constitutional amendment at the 11th hour. The judiciary agreed, and the Supreme Court has taken up and fast-tracked the case. Make no mistake, the rule of law will prevail.”

But beyond the legal challenges that they could present, the state and national Republican parties, as well as other organizations, face an urgent need to set their sights on a massive get-out-the-vote operation in Virginia.


Breccan F. Thies is the White House correspondent for The Federalist. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. As an investigative journalist, he previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.


from thefederalist.com

Blurb:

In a notable shift in Nevada’s electoral landscape, the Republican Party has achieved a slim lead in active voter registrations over Democrats, marking the first lead for the party since 2007.

As of February 2026, Republicans hold 596,356 active registrations, compared to Democrats’ 593,740, giving the GOP a lead of 2,616 voters. Nonpartisan voters, however, remain the largest group, with 799,056 registrations, accounting for approximately 37.5 percent of the total 2,128,758 active voters in the state.

The RNC has $95 million cash in hand compared to the DNC, which has $14 million cash in hand, but $17 million in debt. The RNC is also debt-free. As of the end of 2025, Trump’s Super PAC, MAGA Inc., has raised $289 million in 2025 alone. MAGA Inc. is the biggest Super PAC, with Fairshake, a “Pro-crypto” Super PAC, coming in second at $194 million. A distant third was Leading the Future, a Pro-AI Super PAC, coming in at $39 million.

Blurb:

Trump’s Massive Fundraising Boosts GOP Midterm Hopes – slaynews.com

President Donald Trump’s massive fundraising has built a financial juggernaut that could rewrite the rules of midterm elections for Republicans in 2026.

Trump and allied Republican groups have stockpiled $375 million as of the end of 2025.

The figure towers over Democrat reserves, with the Democratic National Committee (DNC) holding just $14 million while still burdened by $17 million in debt.

This cash advantage, bolstered by the Republican National Committee’s $95 million on hand, has GOP strategists hopeful of defying the historical trend where the incumbent president’s party loses congressional seats during midterms.

Meanwhile, Trump’s super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc. (MAGA Inc.), raised an unprecedented $289 million in 2025, fueling optimism for aggressive campaign support.

Blurb:

 

Increasingly violent threats toward and harassment of public officials — from county clerks up to the president — are driving more and more of those figures out of their jobs, a particular concern among local election officials, who have struggled with attrition for years.

In the years since the 2020 election, roughly 50 percent of top local election officials across 11 western states have left their jobs since November 2020, according to a new report from Issue One, a bipartisan organization that tracks election issues and supports campaign finance reforms.

The election adminis

Blurb:

Republicans massively out-fundraised Democrats in 2025, a massive boon to the GOP heading into the midterm election cycle.

According to recent Federal Election Commission reports, the Republican Party has almost $700 million in cash on hand across six different funding groups. The Democrats have $167 million cash on hand, but the Democratic National Committee is in debt.

“The [Republican National Committee] closed out 2025 in a position of real strength, building a serious war chest as we head into the 2026 midterms focused on defending and expanding our Republican majorities,” said Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters.

The U.S. Supreme Court has officially approved the racist gerrymandered California map created by the DNC, with not one conservative judge dissenting. The ruling means anything goes as far as gerrymandering is concerned, and other states are sure to follow, both blue and red. SCOTUS offered no comment in their approval.

Blurb:

SCOTUS Allows California’s Gerrymandered Map – PJ Media

The U.S. Supreme Court might have just helped Democrats defeat a Republican majority for the 2026 midterm election.

California Republicans filed to block the blatant gerrymandering in their state last month, but the Supreme Court — despite supposedly having a conservative majority that took an oath to uphold the Constitution — sided with California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Inferno) Wednesday, according to The Epoch Times.

Back in October, Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) slammed the redrawn congressional map, saying: “California is already #1 in the nation for poverty, unemployment, and homelessness. So now Newsom has set his sights on a new distinction: #1 in gerrymandering. Princeton’s Gerrymander Project called the Prop. 50 map one of the two worst gerrymanders in the last 50 years.”

The most shocking part is that not even the staunchest conservatives on the court, Justices Sam Alito and Clarence Thomas, reportedly dissented. The Epoch Times reported that the court did not explain why it ruled as it did and why there was no dissension.

Blurb:

Every so often there’s a piece of content in The New York Times or a similar publication that’s meant to create suspicion but without saying exactly why, usually for the purpose of politicizing something mundane. The story this week about National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard being on site during an FBI operation in Atlanta is one of those pieces of content, but in this case, the reason for the manufactured suspicion is obvious.

The Times on Monday wrote that it was “unusual” for Gabbard to appear at an FBI field office following the agency’s seizure of 2020 ballots from an election center in the ever-so-seedy Fulton County. You know, the place where election officials just admitted to improperly certifying hundreds of thousands of ballots in violation of the election rules. “[H]er continued presence has raised eyebrows given that her role overseeing the nation’s intelligence agencies does not include on-site involvement in criminal investigative work,” the article, reported by a grand total of three people, said.

Blurb:

The dramatic family story Maryland Gov. Wes Moore often tells on the campaign trail has helped power his rise as a national Democratic figure. But according to reporting by Andrew Kerr of the Washington Free Beacon, the tale does not hold up against historical records.

Moore, widely viewed as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, frequently recounts how his grandfather fled South Carolina as a child in the 1920s after the Ku Klux Klan targeted the family. Moore says his great-grandfather, a Black minister, enraged the Klan with sermons condemning racism, forcing the family to escape Charleston in the dead of night to avoid a lynching before resettling in Jamaica.

It is a gripping narrative Moore has repeated for years, including during his successful 2022 run for governor. He first told the story in a 2014 memoir and has since framed it as a defining example of American injustice and perseverance.

Blurb:

I’ve got bad news for conservative readers: The Democrats have every meaningful advantage for the 2026 midterms. According to the betting markets, there’s nearly an 80% probability the Dems will win control of the House of Representatives.

And honestly? That number is too low. (I’m guessing there’s a percentage of conservative gamblers who’re betting with their hearts, not their heads.)

It’ll probably hit the mid-90s by Sept.

Which means, the GOP would be wise to expedite its legislation ASAP and then pull up the ladder well before the end of the term, because once the Dems control the House, the gig is up. That’s the end of President Donald Trump’s legislative legacy.

And his final two years as president will be spent dodging subpoenas, battling with congressional committees, and being impeached (probably more than once). Get ready for two long years of government shutdowns and grandstanding gridlock.

The Dems aren’t even being coy about what they’re planning. This NBC News story ran yesterday evening:

Facing the threat of being held in contempt of Congress, Bill and Hillary Clinton agreed Tuesday to testify before the House Oversight Committee about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Democrats now say Republicans have established a precedent when it co

Christian Menefee’s unexpected special U.S. House election victory in a GOP-majority Texas district has taken the GOP majority in the House down to 218-214. This means that if just ONE GOP representative fails to vote the party line, this produces a 216-216 tie.

The circumstances of the win for the DNC in Texas have yet to be analyzed, but initial evidence suggests voter turnout on the GOP side led to the unexpected win. If so, the seat is sure to flip back to the GOP in a few months; if not, this is a bellwether worth noting.

Blurb:

House GOP majority shrinks to just one vote as Johnson swears in new House Democrat  Fox News
from news.google.com

The House Republican majority just got reduced to a perilously slim one-vote margin thanks to a Democrat’s victory in Texas over the weekend.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., swore in newly minted Rep. Christian Menefee, D-Texas, on Monday evening, bringing the overall House of Representatives margin to 218 Republicans and 214 Democrats.

That means if a bill gets no Democratic support and the House is in full attendance, losing more than one GOP vote will result in a 216-216 tie — meaning it would fail to pass.

President Donald Trump is hoping to use RNC power to rally for a GOP midterm win by creating a National Midterm Convention event. Bylaws have recently been changed to allow for this event to happen. The target for the event is late summer to early fall of this year. So far, Las Vegas and Dallas have been mentioned as possibilities.

Blurb:

Trump, RNC Plan Unprecedented ‘Midterm Convention’ Ahead Of Crucial Elections – trendingpoliticsnews.com

The Republican National Committee (RNC) has approved plans for a historic “midterm convention” ahead of this year’s congressional elections. The rule change comes as President Donald Trump has vowed to be actively involved on the campaign trail, especially in swing districts and tight congressional races.

RNC members approved the rule change during the committee’s winter meeting in California. The RNC unanimously amended its bylaws, specifically Rule 13, to allow Chairman Joe Gruters to convene a “special ceremonial convention” outside of presidential election cycles.

Previously, party rules limited conventions to every four years for nominating presidential candidates. The new provision requires at least 60 days’ notice for the event, which is expected to largely mirror presidential conventions with a focus on rallies, speeches and addresses from candidates, as well as senior GOP leaders and President Trump.