Thread: 2026 Midterm Election

The GOP is losing one of its best issues

For years, Republicans have had some reliable terra firma: If they were talking about immigration and border security, they were winning.

Even amid the backlash from Donald Trump’s 2016 pledge to ban all Muslim immigrants to his 2024 amplification of baseless claims that migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating pets—immigration remained a durable, winning issue for the GOP.

Now the ground is shifting under them.

A torrent of viral images from Minnesota and beyond as Trump’s immigration agents stepped up their shambolic interior campaign of enforcement in recent months — and the killing of two people in Minneapolis in two separate incidents this past month — have led to a loud public backlash, soured voters on the GOP’s approach and eroded President Donald Trump’s standing on the issue ahead of the looming midterms.

The broad sweep of public polling shows Trump fumbling what has historically been his party’s strongest issue, which even Democrats concede paved his path back to the White House. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found this week Trump hit a second-term trough on the issue, with a majority of Americans — 58 percent — saying his crackdown has gone too far. Only 39 percent approve of his handling of immigration, down two points from earlier this month, and an 11-point erosion from last February. What’s more, a poll from the Democratic-aligned Searchlight Institute this week found that 58 percent of likely midterm voters want ICE to be reined in.

“The image that has been created is not a good thing,” said Jose Arango, the Republican chair of Hudson County, New Jersey, a heavily Democratic area with a large Hispanic population that shifted rightward in 2024. “We’re losing in the public relations campaign.”

Even before Alex Pretti’s killing in Minneapolis, Trump’s own voters were fretting over his agenda. A plurality of Americans said the president’s mass deportation campaign is too aggressive — including 1 in 5 voters who backed Trump in 2024, according to the latest POLITICO Poll. More than 1 in 3 Trump voters said that while they support his immigration agenda, they disapprove of the way he is implementing it.

And another new round of polling on Thursday could give Democrats more ammo as voters move away from Trump’s immigration agenda. The Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC’s latest polling, shared exclusively with POLITICO and being sent to lawmakers, donors and campaigns Thursday, shows not only a growing number of likely voters who disapprove of ICE, but also a majority in favor of Democrats’ strategy of demands for reform even if it means a partial government shutdown, with 54 percent also saying they would blame the GOP and Trump for the shutdown and not accepting ICE reforms. These numbers are especially telling as the biggest shifts occur “among moderates, non-MAGA Republicans, and key swing voters,” the polling memo said.

Trump approval on immigration at record low: Survey

President Trump’s approval ratings on immigration have dropped to a record low, according to a new poll.

The Reuters/Ipsos survey results come during the Trump administration’s massive immigration crackdown operations in Minnesota, where tensions have risen to a boiling point after federal agents shot and killed two people and wounded another man.

Only 39 percent of respondents in the Monday survey said they approved of Trump’s immigration policies, and 53 percent said they disapproved.

While this is the lowest approval rating yet for the president on this issue, it follows a recent downward trend in polling on the topic.

In a Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted earlier this month, 40 percent of respondents said they approved and 52 percent disapproved of his administration’s immigration policies. In the president’s first administration, his lowest approval rating on immigration was also 40 percent.

The Biden administration’s worst approval rating on this issue was 26 percent. The former president hit this record twice, in May 2023 and December 2024.

Trump made immigration a central component of his presidential campaigns, promising to crack down on illegal immigration into the U.S.

However, immigration officers’ tactics in Minnesota — and the latest crackdown in Maine — have raised eyebrows from some Republicans lawmakers, not to mention drawn intense backlash from congressional Democrats.

Following the second fatal shooting of a Minnesota resident by federal officials, Senate Homeland Security Committee Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Monday requested testimony from the leaders of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Patrol and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in letters to each agency.

Additionally, Democratic senators said they will not support a crucial funding package that allocates money to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including $10 billion more to ICE.

On Monday, Republicans shot down a request from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to remove the provisions related to DHS. This process would have involved calling back the House into session to vote on the amended package.

If the Senate does not pass the funding package by the deadline this Friday, the government will partially shut down.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) said in posts on the social platform X on Monday that he spoke with the president who “agreed the present situation can’t continue.” Minneapolis has been the site of both fatal shootings and mass protests against federal law enforcement’s operations in the state.

Frey said federal agents will begin “leaving the area” on Tuesday and that he will meet with Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, on the same day.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll gathered responses from 1,139 Americans from Jan. 23-25 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Democrats say they are seeing signs of a fundraising boost amid outrage over ICE

Democratic donors say that the fatal shootings by federal agents in Minnesota this month have not only generated outrage in key fundraising circles but have compelled many to open up their checkbooks.

In more than half a dozen interviews with The Hill, major Democratic fundraisers and donors said the shootings provided what one major check writer called “a shot of cold reality” about what the country is facing under the Trump administration.

A number of Democratic donors vowed to not give another penny to the weakened party after its brutal 2024 losses, but now some are vowing to return.

“I am predicting they won’t be able to spend all the money in the midterms,” John Morgan, a longtime Democratic mega-donor and prominent personal injury lawyer, told The Hill, projecting a surge in donations for candidates up for reelection.

Morgan said he expects Democrats will see an influx in cash in the coming months as a result of the shootings in Minneapolis.

In conversations with House leaders in recent weeks, Morgan said he has even come up with a pitch for other donors: “Write a check … to get a check on power.”

It will be months before contributions for the first quarter of 2026 will be revealed, but operatives at Democratic organizations say they are seeing an increase in donations from big and small donors.

Democrat flips Texas Senate seat, will represent district Trump previously won

Democrat Taylor Rehmet won a special election for the Texas state Senate on Jan. 31, flipping a district blue that President Donald Trump won by 17 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election against Kamala Harris.

Rehmet, a veteran and labor union leader, defeated Republican activist and entrepreneur Leigh Wambsganss to represent Texas' 9th Senate district, located in the Fort Worth area.

“This win goes to everyday working people,” Rehmet told supporters, according to multiple reports.

Trump had backed Wambsganss in the race, urging voters in the district in a post on Truth Social to "GET OUT AND VOTE for a phenomenal Candidate."

Speaking to reporters outside Mar-a-Lago on Feb. 1, Trump distanced himself from the Texas GOP loss, saying “I’m not involved with that.”

“I'm not on the ballot,” the president said. “So, you don't know whether or not it's transferable, but you put the Democrats in, you'll end up with open borders again.”

The Democratic National Committee in a statement said the state Senate win "is another sign that Democrats have the momentum heading into November," referring to the midterm elections that could shift the balance of power in Washington.

Democrat wins US House of Representatives seat

The state Senate race wasn't the only victory Democrats notched over the weekend. Democrat Christian Menefee won a Texas special election for the U.S. House of Representatives on Jan. 31, according to multiple reports, a result that will narrow Republicans' already slim majority in the chamber.

Democrats Menefee, a former Harris County attorney, and Amanda Edwards, a former member of Houston's city council, competed in a runoff to represent Texas' 18th Congressional District, a solidly Democratic area covering part of Houston and the surrounding region.

However, this election does not necessarily predict which party might win in November's midterms. In the 2024 presidential election, then-Vice President Harris won the district over Trump by 69%-29%.

Republicans hold a 218-213 majority in the House, an already close margin that will narrow to 218-214 once Menefee takes office. Other House vacancies are also slated to be filled later this year, with special elections planned for Georgia, New Jersey and California in March, April and August, respectively.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, already faced difficulties getting legislation across the finish line with the current GOP majority.

Menefee is expected to be sworn in quickly, but it's not certain. In fall 2025, Johnson delayed the swearing-in of now-Representative Adelita Grijalva following a special election in Arizona. She won that race in September but was not sworn in until mid-November.

House Republicans unveil election reform bill dubbed Make Elections Great Again Act

House Republicans unveiled a sweeping elections reform bill Thursday that would mandate long-sought requirements like presenting photo ID when voting and citizenship verification to register to vote.

Dubbed the Make Elections Great Again Act, the bill is led by House Administration Committee Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) and marks an evolution of election reform legislation that House Republicans have crafted in previous Congresses, such as the American Confidence in Elections Act.

“Americans should be confident their elections are being run with integrity – including commonsense voter ID requirements, clean voter rolls, and citizenship verification,” Steil said in a statement. “These reforms will improve voter confidence, bolster election integrity, and make it easy to vote, but hard to cheat.”

In addition to requiring photo ID when casting a ballot and citizenship verification upon voter registration, the bill implements restrictions on how states administer and maintain their election systems — some of which became flashpoints in the 2020 election, fueling President Trump’s claims of election fraud.

The bill would require mail-in ballots to be received by the close of polls on election day to be counted, making an exception for members of military stations overseas. Several states currently allow mail-in ballots to be counted if received up to a certain point after Election Day as long as they are postmarked by Election Day — often leading to delays in determining election winners in states like California where the vast majority of ballots are cast by mail.

It would require states to use auditable paper ballots for a federal election. The vast majority of federal ballots are already cast on paper, with a 2024 Brennan Center for Justice analysis estimating that 98 percent of votes cast would be on paper ballots in that year’s presidential election.

It would also implement stronger routine voter list maintenance requirements and ban universal vote by mail systems by requiring voters to affirmatively request a ballot to vote by mail.

“Ballot harvesting,” the practice of collecting completed ballots and delivering them to polling centers, would also be prohibited for anyone who is not an immediate family member or caregiver of a voter. It would also prohibit a person from distributing or delivering more than four mail-in ballots at a time.

The bill would prohibit federal agencies from using taxpayer funds to promote voter registration, in reference to former President Biden’s 2021 executive order directing agencies to help the public register to vote, with Republicans deeming the practice “BidenBucks.”

The bill would also ban ranked choice voting in federal elections. The system, in which voters rank their top choices of candidates rather than voting for a single person, is used in some statewide elections in Maine and in Alaska and a smattering of local elections across the country.

Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), ranking member on the House Administration Committee, slammed the legislation and promised to oppose it.

“President Trump and House Republicans are terrified of the American people. They are desperate to rig the system so they can choose their voters. This bill is their latest attempt to block millions of Americans from exercising their right to vote. I will fight this bill at every turn,” Morelle said in a statement.

The unveiling of the bill comes a day after Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters that another GOP elections bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, will come to the Senate floor “at some point.” The bill has previously passed the House, and Thune said lawmakers are working to add a requirement ensuring only residents can cast a ballot, not just register.

The Make Elections Great Again Act is endorsed by numerous conservative election reform activists.

“I’ve spent the last decade registering voters across the country and empowering Americans to vote. Without fair elections, we aren’t a free nation,” Scott Presler, founder of Early Vote Action, said in a statement. “Thank you to Chairman Steil for his leadership on comprehensive election reform. Let’s make elections great again!”

It also got stamps of approval from Jason Snead, director of Honest Elections Project Action; J. Christian Adams, president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation and commissioner on the United States Commission of Civil Rights; and Justin Riemer, president and CEO of Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections.

New Poll Predicts Historic Result In Midterm Elections

A new FOX News poll predicts that Democrats will topple Republicans by a historic margin in the midterm elections.

The survey, which was released last Thursday (January 29), has the Democrats holding a 52% to 46% margin over the Republicans in a hypothetical poll, which is the highest of any party on that metric ever. The Democrats, who are currently the minority party, are also reported to have surged on key issues, which includes a 14% advantage on affordability, a 21% edge on health care, a 14% lead in helping the middle class, a 22% advantage on transgender issues and a 1% edge on taxes.

“Democrats are taking back the House in November,” said Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Justin Chermol.

Republicans continue to hold a 15% advantage on border security, a 12% edge on national security, a 5% lead on immigration and a 2% advantage on addressing the national deficit. The Republicans' projected disadvantage comes as President Donald Trump is reported to have a second-term low 40% approval rating among independent voters.

Democrats have already surged in elections that have taken place since Trump took office last year, which included flipping the Texas state Senate in District 9 by winning all 14 percentage points during a special election in a district where Trump claimed all 17 points during the 2024 election, as well as off-year 2025 race victories in Virginia, New Jersey and other states.

Texas Democrat sworn in to House, shrinking GOP margin to 1 vote

Rep. Christian Menefee (D-Texas), a former Harris County, Texas, attorney, was sworn in as a member of the House on Monday after winning the special election runoff for the late Rep. Sylvester Turner’s (D-Texas) seat last week.

“It’s been more than 330 days since the people of the 18th Congressional District had representation, had a voice in Congress,” Menefee said after being sworn in.

“When this body took on important votes about whether to cut [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)] benefits, about whether to make it more difficult to access Medicaid, important issues, this district had no voice in Congress, so this one is for the 18th.”

Turner died in March of last year at the age of 70, leaving his seat empty for close to a year.

With Menefee now a member of Congress, House Republicans are facing an even tighter margin of error for votes. The House now stands at a 218-214 split, in a time of unease among Republicans in the lower chamber directed toward Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and President Trump. The already beleaguered Speaker can now only afford to lose one Republican vote.

The government is also currently in a partial shutdown, with Johnson on Monday expressing a positive outlook on the House approving a funding package to end the partial shutdown in spite of demands from conservatives.

Johnson has said he believes his chamber will pass the funding package by Tuesday.

^ Moving nicely in the right direction.

Trump's all a panic and will do something very bad even by his standards... When will the republicans stand up and be counted??? It's well past the time for them to act.

Trump urges Republicans to nationalize elections. What does that mean?

Trump spoke with former FBI deputy director Dan Bongino on his podcast on Feb. 2, as his administration continues to claim fraud in the 2020 presidential election despite lacking evidence. He accused Democrats without evidence of bringing migrants to the U.S. to vote, though only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote in federal and state elections.

"The Republicans should say, 'We want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least ‒ many, 15 places.'" Trump said. "The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting. We have states that are so crooked."

It's one of several controversial comments that Trump has made regarding upcoming elections, but what does it even mean? Here is what to know:

What does it mean to nationalize an election?
The U.S. election system is decentralized. There are more than 10,000 election jurisdictions in the U.S., including counties and townships, and each state has its own election official and set of rules for administering elections.

The Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution states the "Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof," though Congress may make or alter regulations. The president is elected through a state elector system, and while the number of electors is set, the way those electors are chosen is largely up to the state and political party.

To nationalize voting would likely be a departure from this, though Trump did not go into specifics on the podcast. Asked to elaborate, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement:

“President Trump cares deeply about the safety and security of our elections – that’s why he’s urged Congress to pass the SAVE Act and other legislative proposals that would establish a uniform standard of photo ID for voting, prohibit no-excuse mail-in voting, and end the practice of ballot harvesting.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about the podcast comments on Feb. 3, and said Trump was referring to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require documented proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections.

"The president believes in the United States Constitution," Leavitt said when pressed on whether he believes states should oversee elections. "However, he believes there has obviously been a lot of fraud and irregularities that have taken place in American elections."

Leavitt said the 15 places he mentioned referred to places where they saw "a high degree of fraud," mentioning California and New York City as examples.

Which states are involved in the mid-decade redistricting battle Trump initiated?

A diffuse election system helps bolster safety, as any individual hacking or fraud effort would be unlikely to sway state or federal elections.

Nationalizing latest in Trump's future election rhetoric

Trump's suggestion to nationalize the election has drawn criticism. Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer likened Trump to a dictator, saying on the floor, "Does Donald Trump need a copy of the Constitution? What he is saying is outlandishly illegal."

It isn't the first time Trump mentioned changes to upcoming elections. He has spurred a nationwide mid-decade redistricting battle to attempt to give Republicans more seats in Congress and hold onto control of the House after the midterms.

He has repeatedly flirted with a third term, despite a Constitutional two-term limit.

He told Reuters about the midterms, "we shouldn't even have an election.” (Leavitt later said he was joking).

Supreme Court refuses to block California’s Democratic-friendly map

The Supreme Court on Wednesday cleared the way for California to use its new congressional map that adds up to five Democratic-leaning seats for the midterms, rejecting Republicans’ emergency bid to block it.

Supported by the Trump administration, the California GOP has challenged the map as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. They point to the mapmaker’s comments boasting about strengthened Latino voting power under the new design.

In a one-sentence order without any noted dissents, the Supreme Court declined the emergency application to halt the design for the midterms. It is not a final ruling, and the case could return to the justices and impact future election cycles.

The decision was not entirely surprising, given the court signaled in a separate ruling related to the use of Texas’s new GOP-favored House map ahead of 2026 that both Texas and California had drawn their new set of congressional lines for partisan gain.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) called for the map after Texas Republicans began a mid-decade redistricting war by passing a new map that nets up to five GOP-leaning seats.

With both California’s and Texas’s maps going into effect, each state’s design effectively cancels the expected partisan gain of the other.

At the crux of the legal battles is whether the congressional districts were drawn for political or racial reasons.

The states defend their designs, noting federal judges have no power to question political gerrymanders under a 2019 Supreme Court precedent. But the challengers say race was really the motivating factor, which judges can scrutinize.

In California, Republicans’ challenge revolves around the new 13th Congressional District, which spans parts of the Central Valley. The lawsuit claims statements by mapmaker Paul Mitchell reveal the design was intentionally aimed at boosting Latino voting power in violation of the Constitution’s equal protection guarantee.

“The evidence before the court tells a consistent and damning story,” the California GOP told the justices.

A divided three-judge panel rejected the arguments last month, instead crediting Democrats’ stated motivation that they were merely boosting their party’s chances in response to Texas.

At the Supreme Court, the state argued it’s wrong to focus on the mapmaker because voters are the ones who passed the design. They also noted the Trump administration’s support was procedurally unusual.

Because the administration is an actual party in the lawsuit, it normally would’ve filed its own, separate emergency appeal. Instead, it submitted a written brief supporting the existing appeal filed by California Republicans.

“Whatever the explanation for that unusual decision, the Court should be wary of granting an injunction in the first instance, on a hurried timetable with limited briefing, where the requested relief would nullify the choice of millions of voters and displace state election laws in the middle of an active primary campaign,” Newsom and state officials wrote in court filings.

Though the Supreme Court has appeared to settle the fate of California’s and Texas’s maps for the midterms, both lawsuits may return to the high court to determine whether the designs can survive later election cycles.

The decision comes as states across the country are racing to redraw their House maps ahead of the November midterms. Texas Republicans redrew their House map last year, prompting a flurry of states, both red and blue, to do so as well.

The redistricting math is still fluid, but Republicans are expected to gain up to nine seats so far from redistricting, mandated and not, from new maps in Texas, Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina.

Meanwhile, Democrats could be poised to gain at least six new seats between California and a court-ordered ruling in Utah.

Virginia, Maryland and Florida could also redistrict ahead of November.

Democrats launch aggressive campaign to win back infrequent voters

Democrats are launching an aggressive campaign to win back voters they lost, not to Donald Trump, but to the proverbial “couch”, as they look to regain support ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

On Wednesday, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) rolled out a new initiative called Local Listeners with the goal of targeting over one million “infrequent” voters in key battleground districts. Seeking to build on the party’s string of off-year election victories, which extended into 2026 with an upset in Texas last weekend, the DNC is betting that early, localized outreach will be crucial in winning back these voters’ trust – and their ballots – this time around.

“If we want to keep earning back the trust and support of voters, we have to listen to them,” the DNC chair, Ken Martin, said in a statement, shared in advance with the Guardian. “This program modernizes the way we are talking to and hearing from the voters that we need to win elections now and for years to come. The Democratic Party is done with waiting until the last minute to engage voters – these conversations need to happen early and often.”

The program marks the DNC’s most ambitious early voter outreach effort for a midterm cycle, according to the organization. More than 2,000 volunteers have already signed up to participate in what the groups says is a sign, of “renewed grassroots energy” for the party.

Volunteers will undergo a seven-week training program on how to better engage these voters, including sessions on “active listening” and “having difficult conversations about politics”.

The goal is to engage voters who cast ballots for Joe Biden in 2020 but sat out in 2024, with volunteers aiming to conduct at least 250,000 phone conversations and host more than 50 grassroots events in key congressional districts by the end of March.

The Trump campaign employed a similar strategy in 2024, investing heavily in outreach to newly registered and “low propensity” voters – those who are registered but often don’t vote. According to the Pew Research Center, voters who cast ballots in 2024 but skipped the 2020 election despite being eligible, favored Trump by a margin of 54% to 42%.

The president’s party typically loses ground in the midterm elections, with Democrats well-positioned to retake control of the House – and possibly the Senate – as concerns persist about the high cost of living and Americans sour on Trump’s stewardship of the economy.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) enters the 2026 midterm election year with a vast fundraising advantage over the DNC, according to federal financial disclosures. The RNC reported raising $172m in 2025, with $95m in the bank, while the DNC raised $146m but ended the year with just $14m in hand and $17m in debt.

But party leaders are hopeful Democrats’ recent gains will foreshadow even more wins in this year’s gubernatorial and congressional contests.

“While Republicans ignore Americans, preferring to serve billionaires instead of everybody else, Democrats aim to reach over a million voters in the next few months,” Martin said. “And we’re going to talk about what matters in their lives: affordability, freedom, a shot at the American Dream. That’s how we win in 2026 and beyond.”

^ Good idea. They'll need a high voting turnout (if there's an election).

I'm, just watching series 1 of the Man in The High Castle - looks a bit like modern day America...

Sanders laughs off Trump’s comments on nationalizing elections

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Tuesday laughed off President Trump’s call for Republicans to nationalize U.S. elections in over a dozen states ahead of the November midterm elections.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked Sanders why he was laughing after a clip played of her exchange with the president where he was asked about his remarks.

“Because I was thinking this guy, on the phone, after the 2020 election, talking to the secretary of state in Georgia, and saying to him, ‘All I need — get me 11,000, whatever it is — votes that I can win Georgia,” Sanders told Collins.

“This is Mr. Honesty and Mr. Integrity, who provoked an insurrection on Jan. 6, so that the election would be overturned,” he continued. “The idea that anyone would trust, for one minute, this guy running an honest election would be beyond comprehension. Not to mention that obviously he has not read the Constitution of the United States, which has states running elections, not the federal government.”

Collins noted that the 15 states Trump listed were states that he lost to former President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

“What a shock,” Sanders said. “And no doubt that every state he won was perfectly honest, no problem. Just the states that he lost. Look, you’ve got a guy who is a demagogue, who is an authoritarian and is moving this country into a very, very dangerous direction.”

Trump made the remarks regarding nationalizing federal elections during an interview with former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino on Monday. Trump said, “Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over — we should take over the voting — the voting in at least many, 15 places.’ The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”

The president doubled down on his comments the next day, telling reporters in the Oval Office that “if a state can’t run an election, I think the people behind me should do something about it.” He referenced cities like Philadelphia, Atlanta and Detroit — cities run by Democratic officials — as places where “horrible corruption on elections” is occurring.

The Constitution allows states to have the authority to hold and oversee elections, and that Congress “may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations.”

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill pushed against Trump’s remarks, especially after National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard was seen during an FBI search of a Fulton County, Ga., elections office.

“That’s not what the Constitution says about elections,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky) told MS NOW’s Stephanie Ruhle, later saying he was not in favor of nationalizing elections.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said he was also against nationalizing elections, noting that he is “supportive of only citizens voting and showing ID at polling places. I think that makes sense. … But I’m not in favor of federalizing elections, no. I think that’s a constitutional issue.”

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee who last week questioned why Gabbard was at the FBI search in Fulton County, said the combination of the search and Trump’s remarks are more than just about the outcome of the 2020 election.

“That statement alone makes clear that this threat to our election security, the basic premise of our democracy is forward-looking to 2026 and 2028 and, candidly, to the institutions that safeguard our democracy,” Warner said. “If it doesn’t scare the heck out of you, it should.”

Virginia Democrats signal agreement on new map that would net 4 seats

Top Virginia Democrats signaled Thursday that the party has agreed upon a new House map proposal that would give the party four pickup opportunities heading into November.

“We made a promise to level the playing field, and today we’re keeping our promise. Our maps are ready. Virginia’s ready. We said 10-1, and we meant it,” Virginia Senate President Pro Tem L. Louise Lucas (D) told reporters.

Virginia House Speaker Don Scott (D) said he expects the new proposal will be released either later Thursday or Friday.

Virginia Democrats had been mulling two different map proposals — one that would give the party a 10-1 edge in the congressional delegation and one that would give them a 9-2 edge. The state currently has a 6-5 Democratic edge.

Virginia represents one of the last chances for Democrats to redistrict ahead of the 2026 elections.

Lawmakers are looking to tee up a constitutional amendment before voters in the spring that would allow Democrats to temporarily redraw the congressional lines in the state before the midterms. A judge recently ruled that Democrats wouldn’t be able to hold their redistricting referendum in time ahead of the midterms, though the party is appealing that ruling.

Should Democrats be successful with their redistricting effort before November, the new pickup opportunities could help level the playing field for the party. Republicans are so far projected to have at least nine pickup opportunities this cycle from redistricting, while Democrats currently have at least six.

Maryland Democrats are looking to pass an aggressive 8-0 map in favor of their current 7-1 map, though it faces steep opposition from Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson (D). Florida Republicans are also eyeing a special session in April on redistricting, where the party could net up to five seats there.

State election officials brace for possible Trump interferencea in midterm results

Top bipartisan election officials from around the country are growing increasingly alarmed by what they see as President Donald Trump’s unprecedented push to interfere in the midterm elections.

A series of recent moves — from his administration’s requests for access to state voter rolls to a surprise FBI raid at a Fulton County election office — have solidified those concerns, with more than a dozen election officials from both parties telling POLITICO they fear Trump is laying the groundwork to undermine results still months away.

“Everything we lived through in 2020 was the beginning — not the end — of this multi-year effort to dismantle democracy in America,” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat who is also running for governor, said in an interview. “We’re seeing it play out now in reaching a fever pitch in really extraordinary, unprecedented, scary ways.”

In another unusual move, the FBI this week invited chief election officials to a meeting to discuss “preparations” for the 2026 elections later this month. The meeting will include the FBI, Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Election Assistance Commission, according to an invitation sent to an election chief and viewed by POLITICO.

Trump’s incursion into state election proceedings was on stark display at last week’s meeting of secretaries of state in Washington, a typically staid, bipartisan event that turned into a political spectacle at times — with Trump and his administration looming large.

As the election officials gathered, the FBI was executing a search warrant at the Fulton County, Georgia, elections office in search of ballots from 2020. Dozens of states are locked in active litigation with the Justice Department over its unprecedented request for voter rolls, and officials were pleading with the administration to halt its deployment of ICE agents to Minnesota, which the Trump administration tied to the state’s voter rolls. And just after the conference, Trump said Republicans should “nationalize” and “take over” elections.

“The concern that I have is that the Trump administration seems to be looking for every possible pretext to try to seize control in some way,” said Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, another Democratic gubernatorial hopeful who has been a vocal critic of the administration’s deployment of immigration officials.

While Democrats were more outspoken, the concerns were not limited to just one party. Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, a Republican and her state’s chief election official, pressed a senior White House aide at the conference about the harsh criticism coming from the administration over the DOJ’s voter roll push.

“The things that have been said publicly, frankly, are quite appalling,” Henderson said to White House Deputy Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Jared Borg as several of her colleagues and reporters looked on, referencing comments from the Department of Justice attacking states for not complying with its request for voter rolls across the country, a move that has confused — and frustrated — many state election officials.

The DOJ “pretty much slandered all of us to publicly claim that secretaries of state are not doing our jobs and that the federal government has to do it for us. Not OK,” Henderson said during a question-and-answer session.

West Virginia Secretary of State Kris Warner, another Republican, echoed Henderson’s rhetoric surrounding the voter roll push in an interview.

“What is it that the federal government thinks that they can do that we’re not already doing?” Warner said. “I mean, elections are left to the states in the U.S. Constitution.”

Still, some Republican secretaries of state applauded the Trump administration’s involvement in state election proceedings.

“I really appreciate the accountability and the oversight from the Trump administration in making sure that the law has been, was, and will be followed,” said Wyoming GOP Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who represents one of 11 states that have voluntarily turned over their voter rolls to the DOJ.

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon defended the administration’s request for voter rolls in a statement, saying “clean voter rolls and basic election safeguards are requisites for free, fair, and transparent elections.”

“The DOJ Civil Rights Division has a statutory mandate to enforce our federal voting rights laws, and ensuring the voting public’s confidence in the integrity of our elections is a top priority of this administration,” she continued.

A White House spokesperson also dismissed concerns from election officials about the deployment of ICE agents, which some Trump allies have pushed for. “ICE is focused on removing criminal illegal aliens from the country, who should be nowhere near any polling places because it would be a crime for them to vote,” spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement.

While members of both parties sharply rebuked the Trump administration’s foray into elections — from the request for voter rolls to the FBI raid in Fulton County — they maintain that they still trust the election system overall.

That somewhat paradoxical dynamic has put Democrats in a bind: They are forcefully defending election integrity — and have faith in the system — while casting doubt on an administration they believe is doing everything it can to cling to power after the 2026 midterms.

“I trust American elections. I trust American elections in Kentucky and Tennessee and South Dakota, just like I trust them in California, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada,” Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, said in an interview.

Still, Fontes said, “we have a new set of threats to our election,” threats that come from what he calls “an administration that is totally unhinged, totally undisciplined, and is willing to sacrifice the entire Republic and what we stand on for no really good reason.”

“If the president himself genuinely believes that we should have a free and fair election in 2026 he needs to come out and say so,” Fontes said.

It all comes at a precarious time for election administration across the country, as droves of officials leave the field amid increased scrutiny and sometimes outright threats.

In many ways, last week’s conference of secretaries of state was emblematic of the tension playing out for these officials as they navigate an administration increasingly involved in election administration.

At one point, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pam Bondi and National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard were all scheduled to speak — an unprecedented move for a conference that rarely draws Cabinet-level officials.

The officials’ planned appearance immediately riled up Democrats, some of whom quickly planned to boycott the appearance. Gabbard has come under sharp scrutiny in recent days over her involvement in last week’s FBI raid in Georgia — a move that concerned Democrats and numerous state election officials who say it falls far outside the purview of her role as director of national intelligence.

And although the Cabinet officials’ visit was eventually canceled — for reasons that still remain unclear — it put the tensions between Democratic and Republican secretaries on full display. Democrats were notified they would be allotted only three questions as a caucus, they said, and all their inquiries would be vetted and read by the president of the National Association of Secretaries of State, Mississippi Secretary Michael Watson, a Republican.

Benson, the Michigan Democrat, said she planned to tell the officials that their rhetoric placed her at risk and ask Bondi specifically how the DOJ would protect officials who have come under fire. But with all questions set to go through Watson, she felt partisanship had taken hold of the conference.

“We aren’t children,” Benson told POLITICO just before the meeting was canceled, adding later: “How’s the Republican secretary of state of Mississippi going to ask that question on my behalf?”

Even though election officials are maintaining their faith in this year’s midterms, many told POLITICO they are taking active steps to prepare for the possibility of interference from the federal government — likening such moves to how they would prepare for events like a flood or a fire.

“Although I’m not yet predicting federal interference in the November election, I feel a responsibility to plan for that possibility,” said Minnesota Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon, noting that his office is working with officials from other states on possible scenarios.

The difference, however, is where the threats are coming from, said Fontes, the Arizona Democrat.

“Trying to protect voters is not new,” he said, “we’ve got new kinds of threats, unfortunately, this time around, the bad guys are inside the castle so we just got to try a little harder.”

__________

‘Grind the country to a halt’: Democrat urges national strike if Trump meddles in midterms

Trump, at this point, is set to lose the House (certainly) and Senate (very likely). He will be interfering in the elections, and hopefully (?) the Republicans will join the Dems to impeach him.

^It might be difficult to impeach him

Colorado secretary of state "deeply skeptical" of FBI midterms call

The FBI sent a letter this week inviting top election officials nationwide, including in Colorado, to join a call later this month about "preparations" for the 2026 midterm elections, according to an email obtained by Axios Denver.

Why it matters: Coordination between federal agencies and state election officials isn't unusual. But the letter lands as President Trump escalates calls to "nationalize" elections and follows an FBI raid of an elections office in Georgia — rattling state officials and raising alarm among voting rights groups.

What they're saying: "Your election partners … would like to invite you to a call where we can discuss our preparations for the cycle, as well as updates and resources we can provide to you and your staff," reads the letter, signed by FBI election executive Kellie M. Hardiman.

• Federal partners expected to participate on the call include the FBI, the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, the Postal Inspection Service, and the Election Assistance Commission.

Zoom in: Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold's office confirmed to Axios Denver that it received the invitation.

• "Donald Trump has used his entire second term to undermine confidence in our democracy and weaken federal infrastructure to support our elections," Griswold said in a statement.
• "I am deeply skeptical of any effort from the administration that suggests they are now here to provide any meaningful assistance to state election officials," she added.

Between the lines: The FBI's outreach comes as the Trump administration is already testing the limits of federal authority over elections. The Justice Department is suing more than a dozen states — including Colorado — for their voter roll data.

• In December, Griswold said in a statement that Colorado "will not comply" and told the DOJ to "take a hike."

State of play: Trump's push to federalize elections has state and local officials on both sides of the aisle on edge.

• Matt Crane, a former Republican county clerk who now heads the Colorado County Clerks Association, told CPR this week that Trump's proposal to nationalize elections is unconstitutional.
• "We believe in ... government power coming from the states and going up to the federal government, not the other way around," Crane said. "So there's a lot to be concerned about there."
• Denver Clerk and Recorder Paul López echoed that sentiment in a news release issued Tuesday. "The Constitution is clear … We are not a dictatorship, as much as Trump wants it to be."

What's next: The FBI-led call with state election officials is scheduled for Feb. 25.

The left smells blood after shocking Democratic primary result

Progressives are feeling newly emboldened by the stronger-than-expected showing of the left-wing outsider in a New Jersey congressional primary on Thursday.

Why it matters: There are dozens of House races like this across the country where at least one left-wing insurgent is vying either to win an open seat or topple an establishment House Democratic incumbent.

• "This is a clear sign that the Democratic electorate is desperate to elect new leaders — like the dozen of working class champions we're supporting in primaries this cycle," Justice Democrats spokesperson Usamah Andrabi told Axios.
• Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said the New Jersey result "shows that the progressive wing... is ascendant and consistent with the base of the party."

Driving the news: The 13-candidate Democratic primary to replace now-Gov. Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey's 11th congressional district ended in a dead heat between progressive organizer Analilia Mejia and former Rep. Tom Malinowski.

• With several thousand provisional and late mail-in still to be counted as of Friday, Mejia led Malinowski by 500 votes, 28.75% to 27.97%, according to the Associated Press.
• Mejia trailed many of her opponents in fundraising, bringing in just $420,000 to Malinowski's $1.2 million.

The intrigue: AIPAC spent over $2 million against Malinowski — a mainstream Democrat who had the group's support in the past — for his willingness to condition aid to Israel.

• The group reportedly favored former Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way, who had support from parts of the Democratic Party establishment.
• Observers say that created an opening for Mejia, the most prominent progressive in the race, who was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and the Progressive Caucus.
• "AIPAC affiliated groups spent millions," noted one centrist House Democrat when asked about the result. "Wouldn't have even happened without that."

What we're hearing: A senior House Democrat, asked if members were freaking out about their own primaries in the wake of the shock result, told Axios, simply, "Yes."

• "I definitely think this points to progressive anti-establishment energy," acknowledged a third House Democrat, a moderate in a swing-district.
• Still, that lawmaker argued that too many moderate candidates split votes and endorsements and that "if [the] establishment and money all got behind one candidate like what normally happens," Mejia may not have won.

Zoom in: Other Democrats said the result is more of a referendum on AIPAC money than a true barometer of where the energy is in the primary electorate right now.

• Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.), a vocal AIPAC critic, told Axios this election was the "first real test of their money and it failed miserably," adding, "My advice to anyone is avoid their support. It could cost you mightily."
• Several lawmakers also pointed to the splintered field of establishment-aligned candidates, with others noting that Malinowski had faced hits of carpetbagging from his former district.

Zoom out: There are plenty of other primaries this year that will demonstrate whether this race is a fluke or a sign of things to come.

• Several older, establishment-aligned House Democrats such as Reps. Ed Case (D-Hawaii), Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) and Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) are facing primary challengers who have raised serious sums.
• Numerous open primaries in deep blue districts also feature prominent progressive candidates, such as Kat Abughazaleh in Illinois' 9th district.

The bottom line: "It was true in 2025 and will be true in 2026: The establishment is not unbeatable - they have only gone unchallenged," said Amanda Litman, the co-founder of Run For Something.

• "Voters are pissed: They want change and they want leaders who can credibly make the case that they'll fight like hell. Money matters — but voters' fury matters more."

Schiff: Trump planning to ‘subvert’ midterms

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Sunday said President Trump is attempting to “subvert” midterm elections after a recent FBI raid at an election warehouse in Georgia.

“I think [Trump] intends to try to subvert the elections. He will do everything he can to suppress the vote,” Schiff said during an appearance on ABC News’ “This Week.”

“And if he loses the vote, and I think the Republicans now expect they’ll get a real drubbing in the midterms, he’s prepared to try to take some kind of action to overturn the result. And we really shouldn’t question that,” he added.

His comments follow the president’s years-long campaign falsely alleging the 2020 election was rigged. Last month FBI agents stormed a Fulton County, Ga. election warehouse and confiscated voting ballots from the election six years prior.

County officials say they currently have no record of their inventory and have requested the opportunity to have forensic accounting of the ballots taken.

Photographs showed that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was on site during the raid. Last year, she was also present during an operation in Puerto Rico where voting machines were seized.

“We saw him try to the point of insurrection to overturn the 2020 election. We see him now taking these extraordinary steps with an election now years ago. He’s basically telling us he intends to interfere in this coming — upcoming election,” Schiff told ABC’s Jonathan Karl.

“The public has turned against him. In every election we’ve had since his election, the voters have swung wildly against him. And as you know, he said at that prayer breakfast, his ego cannot stand another loss. So, we have to prepare for the worst. We have to prepare in every way we can. And frankly, the best preparation we have is not the Congress because Republican senators for the most part are not going to stand up to him,” the California senator added.

Schiff was the subject of a Justice Department probe last year surrounding mortgage fraud after sharing rampant criticism for Trump.

Still, he and his colleagues, including Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), have raised concerns about the upcoming election after Trump called for Republicans to “take over” voting procedures in more than a dozen states and “nationalize” the midterm elections.

“The fact is Donald Trump cannot get over the fact that he lost Georgia in 2020, that he lost the election in 2020,” Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said during an appearance on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”

“My fear is now, he sees the political winds turning against him, and is he going to try to interfere in the 2026 elections? Something a year ago I didn’t think would be possible,” he continued.

Schiff said voter turnout is the only way to combat interference in the 2026 election.

“The courts are useful at the lower levels, but at the Supreme Court, they have left him unrestrained. The best protection we have is to mobilize the largest voter turnout in U.S. history to so overwhelm the vote and get the kind of margins we saw in Texas in the special election so that there’s no way they can cheat,” Schiff said.

DCCC Adds VA-05 To Districts In Play As Democrats Further Expand Battlefield for 2026 Midterms

DCCC’s 2026 offensive target list grows to include John McGuire as Virginians sour on Republicans’ record of gutting health care and raising costs

Today, the DCCC is expanding House Democrats’ Districts in Play for the 2026 election cycle to include Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, signaling Democrats’ readiness to reclaim the House majority by widening the battlefield and working to defeat Congressman John McGuire.

The DCCC’s Districts in Play are competitive districts held by vulnerable Republicans across the country that will determine the House Majority.

McGuire’s addition to the DCCC’s Districts in Play sends the clear message that Democrats know Southside Virginia voters are souring on his wildly unpopular record of raising costs, attacking affordable health care, and hurting working families.

^ Why announce them, so the Republicans have time top react and pump money; just terrible business. In these types pf tactical issues. In business (which is all these Dems/R are...) you keep your cards close to your chest.

It reminds my of an NTL fuk-up in the 90s (I see them as a very similar company to OpenAI although the big money then was going from analogue to digital); NTL were buying up "homes past" to cable at massive rates; unsustainable, and they did go out of business... But, one month they announced (I think it was Manchester, but can't be sure of the city) they in 3 months time super fast cable would be available to all... Sky, their main competitor thus had 3 months to make great offers such as 6 months free Sky TV and Sky play, etc (Sky had a return path via BT copper wire phone lines, so the product was comparable although Sky had all the content like Premier League football), and... No market left for NTL in that city as Sky cleaned it up, maybe at an initial lose, but nothing like the massive loss of NTL laying thousand of miles of optic cable that was wouldn't be used. Democrats, have a think...

Virginia Democrats advance 10-1 House map

Virginia Democrats advanced a proposed set of new congressional lines on Tuesday that would give the party four more pickup opportunities heading into November, putting them one more step closer toward teeing up a new House map before the midterms.

Democrats in both chambers separately passed a House map that would give the party a 10-1 edge in the congressional delegation. The Old Dominion currently has a 6-5 Democratic edge in its delegation. Now each chamber needs to pass the other’s legislation, after which the map will head to Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s (D) desk for signature.

Democrats in the Old Dominion are looking to pass a new set of congressional lines ahead of November to even the playing field with Republicans who have redistricted mid-decade in states like Texas and Missouri. Virginia offers one of Democrats’ best chances at gaining pickup opportunities ahead of November.

Democrats are looking to tee up a referendum in April asking voters if they can temporarily redistrict mid-decade. If voters approve, that paves the way for a new map to put in place before November.

But Democrats were dealt a blow recently when a local judge ruled that the party wouldn’t be able to hold its referendum in time for the November midterms. Virginia Democrats have appealed that ruling.

^ This is why Trump has ruined US politics - everyone will just copy the things he gets away with.

The only way forward is full legal thrashings and the harshest results for Trump and his team of nutters.