(October 2, 2026)
Four Senate races and three gubernatorial races present flip opportunities for Republicans in this year‘s midterms. Those include the Senate races in Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, and New Hampshire, as well as the governor’s races in Kansas, Oregon and Wisconsin.
In July, a YouGov poll found that 49% of Americans believed the US government should arrest Netanyahu under the warrant, 27% said it should not, and 23% were unsure.
President Donald Trump stated earlier this summer that Netanyahu “will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form” while visiting the US. His administration’s position, as stated in a February 2025 executive order, is that Netanyahu can’t be arrested. The ICC, it says, “has no jurisdiction over the United States or Israel” because, unlike most other nations, neither is a party to the Rome Statute, which created the court.
An American Research Group poll published this week found Trump’s approval at just 29 percent — a new low for his presidency and a flashing warning sign for the congressional Republicans being dragged beneath the waves by the president’s plummeting popularity.
DeSantis is telling Republicans who are frustrated with their party’s candidates to vote for them anyway lest the DSA take the country “back to before the time of the American Revolution.”
Referring to GOP candidates as less-than-perfect, the governor insisted that the alternative is worse. State Rep. Angie Nixon, a DSA member, secured a major upset victory in August to become the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in November.
(…)
Fox News writer Amanda Macias announced that Democratic Socialists of America are “seeking to reshape some of the most basic features of the U.S. economy.” She then proceeded to lay out DSA’s core platform: universal healthcare, free public universities, student debt cancellation, a 32-hour workweek, and collecting higher taxes from the wealthy.
Macias’s framing of the benefits of socialism reads like the wish list of anyone who is horrified by rising healthcare costs while buried in student debt and working insane hours to keep their head above water. In the end, she asked the same tired question posed by so many critics: who’s going to pay for it all?
A new fleet of F-35s never draws that question.
Since 2023, the sharpest decline in support for Israel — down at least 20 points — comes from women, Hispanic voters, voters under age 45, voters with a college degree and Democrats. Republican support has fallen 10 points during the same time.
Sixty percent said launching military action against Iran was the wrong decision, compared with 37 percent who supported it.
Filter By State OR Committee
Sen. John Fetterman has faced a tide of public criticism from fellow Democrats as he stakes out lonely ground as a critic of the far-left wing of his party — and another wave rolled in Wednesday after he made a surprise video appearance at the Republican midterm convention.
So far, however, his Senate colleagues haven’t joined the pile-on.
In the roughly one-minute video introducing McCormick on stage, Fetterman made clear that he is still a Democrat. But took aim at the rise of “socialism” in his own party – a notable and public rebuke to the Democrats’ left flank.
“Yes, I’m a Democrat. Why am I here talking to you today? Because well, I’m a common sense Democrat. I’m always going to stand with America. I’m always going to reject the extremes and socialism and that anti-American way of life,” Fetterman said in the pre-recorded video.
• Keynote speech: President Donald Trump, in his address to the GOP midterm convention, vowed to pay every American adult $5,000 if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate, an extraordinary attempt to seemingly buy votes to keep his party in power. He did not explain how he would make it happen.
• Economic push: In a speech replete with misleading facts, the president also touted the success of his administration’s economic policies despite CNN’s poll of polls showing his approval rating stands at 35%. Read our fact check here.
Watch Trump‘s remarks in the video player above.
„If the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000,“ Trump told the crowd at the Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas. „It will be called the Trump dividend.“
The Republican National Committee launched its midterm convention in Dallas on Wednesday, with President Donald Trump set to be the keynote speaker on Wednesday followed by Vice President JD Vance and the president on Thursday.
During Thursday’s White House briefing, Vance played the role of press secretary after Karoline Leavitt, who departed the administration last month. The White House has yet to name a replacement. At the presser, a reporter asked Vance if he would consider backing Cruz or Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for president.
A new poll of US voters published on Tuesday offers a warning for congressional lawmakers backing a plan to deepen military ties between the United States and Israel, finding that a clear majority of voters oppose the proposal—which some critics have called “treasonous.”
The Data for Progress survey of 1,217 likely US voters—conducted August 3–7 for Demand Progress and the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) Policy Project—revealed that 61% of respondents oppose legislation in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2027 that would integrate Israeli weapons companies into the Pentagon at a level exceeding that of any other country. That figure rose to 78% among Democrats and 73% among independents.
(May 14, 2025)
The revelation of the intertwined scandals captivated Americans. Between the fall of 1986 and the fall of 1987, more than seven out of 10 Americans watched some of the televised congressional hearings about Iran-Contra. But once it became clear that Democrats would not impeach Reagan, public interest waned. Unlike Watergate, when a smoking gun tape implicated President Richard Nixon, to many, the 1980s scandal seemed a blur of byzantine Cold War diplomacy, opaque Swiss bank accounts, and a large cast of forgettable middlemen. The country boxed up the ugly affair and stored it in the attic of its memory.
It did so even as the scandal persisted and investigators indicted dozens of administration officials. In 1988, Reagan’s vice president, George H.W. Bush, won the presidency, and throughout his entire administration, those responsible for Iran-Contra dodged the political and legal consequences of their actions.
(May 21, 2026)
They’re mad at Massie. Why? One Republican out of 217 who hasn’t taken money from the Israeli lobby. Why are they so mad at him? Why was it so important for the Israeli lobby to spend tens of millions of dollars to crush this guy?
It wasn’t stopping really the status quo in any way. He did help get some of the Epstein files released, and God bless him for that. He tried his hardest. But one man against 216 other members of his party is not going to get very far by definition, so why don’t you just leave him alone? Why force the issue?
(August 6, 2023)
In Israel, there‘s concern that the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, might delay and consider pushing the U.S. agreement until after the 2024 presidential elections.
Israel has sent signals to Saudi Arabia emphasizing the advantages of forging ahead under the current Democratic regime. If a future Republican government, possibly under the leadership of former President Donald Trump, were to take over, bridging bipartisan support for the deal might become an uphill battle.
(…)
Beyond a defense pact, the Saudis also have raised requests with the US for civilian nuclear capabilities, advanced weaponry, and beyond. Israeli agreement would be crucial for these components.
House lawmakers voted 216-212, almost entirely along party lines, to pass HR 8800, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2027.
Republicans voted 209-7 in favor, while Democrats voted 205-6 against the measure. Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar (Texas), Don Davis (NC), Jared Golden (Maine), Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), Adam Gray (Calif.), and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.) voted „yes.“ Independent Rep. Kevin Kiley of California also voted in favor of the bill.
The House on Tuesday approved a procedural vote to advance the $1.15 trillion 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, which includes a section to further integrate the US and Israeli militaries, a plan that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said was his idea.
The rule to allow floor debate and a vote on the NDAA and several pieces of legislation passed in a 214-211 vote, and a final vote on the House’s version of the NDAA is expected to take place on Wednesday. The procedural step came after the House Rules Committee denied a vote on an amendment introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to strip Section 219, the Israeli integration plan, from the bill.
Republicans will now race to replace Graham on the November ballot in a special primary election in mid-August, according to state law.
In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning, President Donald Trump said he was already considering who he might back in the race.
The longtime politician had served as a US senator for South Carolina since 2003
(Updated on October 1, 2024)
– Congress works less than half the year, with the House averaging 147 legislative days annually.
– Senate members have slightly more legislative days, averaging 165 days each year since 2001.
Asked by CNN about Vance’s comments, Ocasio-Cortez smiled and said, “I hope he is” the nominee.
Two Senate Republicans who supported a previous resolution calling for an end to the US war on Iran changed their votes late Wednesday after President Donald Trump publicly and privately berated GOP lawmakers, calling them “losers” who provided “aid and comfort to the enemy.”
In Wednesday’s procedural vote, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.)—who reportedly got into a shouting match with Trump over the Iran war during a closed-door lunch hours earlier—sided with virtually every other Republican in opposing the war powers resolution, just a day after he supported a separate, symbolic resolution calling for the removal of US forces from the conflict. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) also switched, changing his vote to “present” at the urging of the president.
Updated on: June 24, 2026 / 11:37 PM EDT / CBS News
Later in the day, however, signs emerged that some of the Senate Republicans who had previously voted to constrain Mr. Trump‘s war powers were reconsidering.
Cassidy was briefed on Iran at the White House by Vice President JD Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff, the senator confirmed on X, writing that the conversation „address[ed] many of my concerns.“ Cassidy voted against advancing the resolution Wednesday night.
And Paul voted present on Wednesday, despite voting in favor of the last several Iran war powers resolutions. He said on X his goal was to „give the President more space and leverage to negotiate a lasting peace.“
Updated on: June 25, 2026 / 12:07 AM EDT / CBS News
President Trump‘s meeting with Republican senators on Wednesday turned testy, and at one point, he sternly told Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy to sit down, after questions arose about the War Powers Resolution, according to sources directly familiar with the meeting.
The White House is expected to formally request a supplemental spending bill in the coming days
A swath of GOP senators and some House Republicans were livid Wednesday when a Trump administration official read the memorandum to reporters before sharing the document with lawmakers.
Senior White House officials have held small-group and individual calls with select GOP lawmakers, but an all-member briefing from Trump administration officials on the agreement is not expected until next week.
US Representative Rashida Tlaib rejected Republican representative Brian Mast’s claim that Lebanese civilians killed by Israel are “terrorists”.
The exchange occurred on Wednesday night during a US House of Representatives session following Tlaib‘s resolution to withdraw US troops from Lebanon, which Mast called “reckless and unserious”.
“Eleven children killed, injured every 24 hours in Lebanon. Are those children Hezbollah? Are those children terrorists?” Tlaib shot at Mast who continued to dismiss Tlaib and her call to protect civilians in Lebanon.
Track AIPAC, an American online project that tracks US political donations by organisations that are part of the Israel lobby, including Aipac, reported that Mast received $881,227 from pro-Israel PACs as of April 2026.
Wednesday‘s action defied President Donald Trump as a handful of Republicans joined with Democrats to end the three-month-long war. House Speaker Mike Johnson had tried to prevent an outcome that would show the mounting opposition to the war.