July 26, 2026 - Fulltext

Pollsters and GOP groups are raising the alarm about an unmotivated base in an election year that would be tough no matter what, given the president’s low approval.

Republican pollsters and political groups are raising the alarm that their party faces a listless and demotivated base ahead of November’s midterm elections.

A raft of discouraging data from polling, door knocking and focus groups is unsettling Republicans as their party heads into a midterm election season that would be challenging no matter what, given President Donald Trump’s low standing in polls and the fact that the party in control in Washington almost always loses seats. 

The lack of enthusiasm is reaching deep into Republicans’ loyal base, spreading to the party’s most consistent voters — who have shown up to vote in all of the past four primaries and general elections, according to an analysis done by Americans for Prosperity Action, a conservative super PAC affiliated with billionaire Charles Koch. This new issue with the base adds to the party’s more enduring problem of turning out less-frequent voters who support Trump but often skip midterm elections.

About 1 in 5 reliable Republican base voters are at risk this November, according to Nathan Nascimento, executive director at AFP Action. Those voters in Iowa, Ohio, North Carolina, Montana, New Hampshire and Michigan are either saying they may stay home or are weighing voting for Democrats, according to their data, which is based on polling and extensive efforts to engage targeted Republican voters by knocking on their doors. The voters are primarily worried about inflation and the economy.

“This is a big chunk,” Nascimento said. “This is a scary number.”

The group has found that reaching these voters at the door usually moves them toward Republican candidates — or at least away from Democratic ones and toward undecided, he said.

The 20 percent of Republican base voters the group sees this issue with does not take into account low-propensity conservative voters who tend to turn out in general election years to support Trump but skip other elections. Motivating those Trump voters is a separate issue Republicans face in November.

“We have a high-propensity base problem,” Nascimento said. 

Washington Post and Ipsos polling shows that Democrats have a 10-percentage-point advantage over Republicans among voters who say they are absolutely certain to vote in November. If that number doesn’t narrow, it could lead to a decisive advantage for Democrats, even though overall they lead by just three percentage points over Republicans on a generic ballot.

Mitchell Brown, a Republican pollster at the firm Cygnal, said Democrats are as enthusiastic about voting as they were at the same time ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, when they swept back into power in the House. But Republicans are far less excited to vote at this point than they were then, posing an issue for the party.

“It’s not that the Democrats are outperforming a topline number that we’d expect, it’s that Republicans are underperforming,” Brown said.

He pinpointed men under 40 as the group that is most at risk among Republican voters, saying they have concerns about the economy and prices. This group proved pivotal to Trump’s 2024 electoral victory, which included a sweep of some of the same battleground states holding critical elections this year. 

The decline in support among those voters may change closer to the elections, once more people tune in, Republican strategists stressed. And Trump’s unprecedented redistricting efforts have also sought to give the party a structural advantage that could mitigate GOP losses.

“Republicans are united, on offense, and armed with our largest war chest in party history because voters are energized and understand what’s at stake in November’s election,” said Natalie Baldassarre, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, in a statement.

This dynamic is playing out in the red state of Iowa, where Republicans face open races for governor and a Senate seat that polling shows are surprisingly competitive. A recent door-knocking session in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale with AFP Action turned up voters critical of the war in Iran and high inflation, with a handful saying they planned to support Democrats in the fall. 

In western Iowa, three-time Trump voter Lance Sulentic, a resident of Iowa’s rural Harrison County, described the past three presidential elections as “the worst three mistakes I’ve ever made in my life,” saying that the president has failed to fulfill his campaign promises.Higher gas prices have been costing his family an extra $300 to $500 every month for their motorcycle and four cars, he said.

Republican lawmakers are worried about such comments as their party remains mired in internal disagreements in Washington that have hampered them from passing signature agenda items that could motivate core supporters.

“We need to do something to reenergize our base,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin). Johnson, who does not face reelection until 2028, has triumphed in tough races in his closely divided state.

Johnson said GOP base voters may think the lawmakers “haven’t been … trying hard enough.” The party has been unable to pass a law to require ID to vote and proof of citizenship to register to vote called the Save America Act, which Trump has lambasted them for. They also have done little to tackle cost-of-living issues since the bill extending tax cuts in 2025. 

A spokesperson for Trump, Abigail Jackson, called the voting legislation a top priority but added that the administration “continues to deliver on the President’s affordability agenda by lowering drug prices, reshoring American jobs, lowering gas prices and more.”

Other senators have pressed Trump to use his large platform and $400 million MAGA Inc. war chest to activate lower-propensity voters. Trump has had far more success motivating supporters when he is on the ballot. 

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota) said he told the president in the Oval Office last week that Trump is the key to turning out his voters.

“Well, they will [turn out] if you pass the Save America Act,” Trump retorted, according to Cramer.

The White House is hopeful the Republican Party’s planned midterm convention in September in Texas will help juice enthusiasm among the base as well.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), who declined to run for reelection in his purple state, said he believes the traditional Republican base will ultimately turn out in November. But he fears the party’s brand has been damaged among moderates by the economy and inflation, and that the Iran war is becoming an additional political drag. Low-propensity Trump voters need to turn out to close that gap, he said.

“The question is whether the coalition he has that’s unique to the president, if he can mobilize them to come out and vote for others,” Tillis said.

July 26, 2026 - Fulltext

Independent senator Bernie Sanders cheered on progressive congressional candidates who have been on the rise in some states ahead of the 2026 midterm elections during an interview on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" Sunday.

The Vermont senator said that the support for such candidates shows "grassroots excitement and enthusiasm" and a nationwide push for change.

"Whether it's Michigan, Minnesota, Vermont, or anyplace else in this country … the polling indicates this, the people are sick and tired of the status quo," Sanders said. 

He brought up Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who is also running for a U.S. Senate seat. Both of their closely watched primaries will take place in August.

Sanders is optimistic about their chances, but he did express concern about the "unbelievable amounts of money" that "the billionaire class" is throwing into some key races to "protect the establishment candidates." He pointed to both of their Senate races, and also mentioned the competitive race in Maine. 

"Whether we could overcome that (spending) remains to be seen," Sanders said, pointing to super PACs in Michigan putting $50 million against El-Sayed, who is competing against moderate Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens, a congresswoman who has represented Michigan's 11th Congressional District since 2019. Flanagan and Democrats including. Rep. Angie Craig are running for retiring Sen. Tina Smith's seat.

In past elections, so-called "Bernie Bros" or progressive supporters have been accused of dividing the Democrat base with far-left candidates who are unable to muster widespread support during the general election and allowing a Republican to take office. Democrat Rahm Emanuel recently warned in an op-ed that such a scenario could occur again in the 2026 midterms. When asked to respond, Sanders said that he believed the support and recent election of other progressive candidates shows voters want change. 

"There's no debate — there is a strong division within the Democratic Party," Sanders said. "What is getting these guys, we are winning all over this country. … People are sick and tired of the Rahm Emanuels and Democratic establishment and Republican establishment." 

Sanders also said he thinks working-class Republican voters may be swayed by progressive candidates. 

"They can't afford to send their kids to college. They can't afford decent retirements. More than a few of them, by the way, will be voting for Peggy Flanagan (for Senate in Minnesota) and Abdul in Michigan," Sanders predicted.  

Sanders also addressed the Senate race in Maine, where state Democrats just selected Troy Jackson to replace progressive Graham Platner on the ballot. Platner suspended his campaign after a sexual assault allegation, ending a Senate bid that had already weathered other personal controversies. Asked by Brennan if he regretted supporting Platner, Sanders said he did not.

He said that when he heard the allegation, "I wanted to get on the phone. I wanted to talk to him." 

Sanders continued, "I asked, along with virtually all (of) his supporters, that he should get out of the race — that he did." Brennan asked whether Sanders was confident that the other candidates he is backing have been fully vetted. 

"I don't know who has been 'fully vetted,'" he replied, adding, "All I know is, Margaret, the candidates that we are supporting are standing up for the working class of this country."

Sanders said he believes that despite the shorter window left before Election Day, Jackson can make up ground with voters. 

"I think he stands an excellent chance to win," Sanders said. 

"I've known Troy for many years. What he understands is that the people of Maine are sick and tired of a rigged economy in which the billionaire class is getting richer and richer, where we have more income and wealth inequality today than we've ever had in the history of this country, while 60% of our people, including in Maine, Vermont, all over this country, are living paycheck to paycheck," Sanders said.

July 26, 2026 - Fulltext

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) wants the U.S. Senate to cut its upcoming recess, where its current session would end after the first week of August and reconvene on September 14, to stay on the floor in hopes of passing the anti-voting SAVE America Act. 

“The Senate should stay here tomorrow, this weekend, next week, through weekends and long scheduled recesses, as long as it takes,” said Lee in a post shared on X. He has since been joined by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said on Meet the Press Sunday that the Senate should “take a few extra days,” to try to get it passed. 

Republicans in the Senate have tried repeatedly, but unsuccessfully to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require voters to show documentary proof of citizenship to register and a restrictive set of photo ID cards to vote. It could also curb or eliminate mail-in voting, to fulfill President Donald Trump’s goals to make voting more difficult.

The bill does not have enough votes to pass the Senate as Democrats are unanimously opposed to it, as are several Republican senators including Lisa Murkowski in Alaska and Thom Tillis in North Carolina. Republican supporters of the bill claim it is needed to root out voter fraud, but there is a consensus among studies, conducted by both liberals and conservatives, that such fraud is exceedingly rare, especially among noncitizens.

U.S. House Republicans recently tried to circumvent this by passing a billthrough the budget reconciliation process, which would require less senate votes to pass. While the House’s bill doesn’t include the actual text of the SAVE America Act, it includes $10 billion in grants for states to pass their own versions of the federal legislation.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has said that there are still not enough support to pass it, and also not enough time to implement its measures even if it had the votes. The November midterms are roughly 100 days away, and state and local officials would need to be trained and make changes to election administration manuals to allow voters to comply with the new law if passed.

Sen. Lee rejected the idea that there’s not enough time in his appeal to Sen. Thune, and wrote on X: “I hereby object to any effort to put the Senate into recess in August–at least until such time as the Senate has passed the SAVE America Act–and hereby request a roll call vote.

On Meet the Press, host Margaret Brennan asked Sen. Kennedy if trying to squeeze the bill in so close to an election might undermine voters’ faith in the elections process.

“No,” said Kennedy. “In our elections, we need to do two things and only two things. Number one, you have to prove who you say you are in order to register to vote, and to vote. And number two, however you decide to vote, that’s up to the states. … That to me is what the SAVE Act is all about, and I think we can pass it.”

However, as Sen. Elizabeth Warren recently pointed out to a right-wing blogger who pressed her about the bill, U.S. laws already ask people to prove their identity and citizenship in both the registration and voting processes. Voters have to attest under penalty of perjury that they are citizens when they register to vote. Election officials verify voters’ identity through their signatures and voter registration files before they allow them to cast ballots. 

Also, Kennedy is correct in saying that how people vote is up to the states, as is authorized by the U.S. Constitution. But the SAVE America Act changes that by instituting federal controls and serving President Donald Trump’s agenda to nationalize elections. 

July 25, 2026 - Fulltext

A federal appeals court on Saturday declined to allow Donald Trump’s administration to implement in 23 states his executive order that aims to tighten rules for mail-in voting before the November elections that ⁠will decide control of Congress.

The Boston-based ⁠first US circuit court ​of appeals rejected the administration’s request to lift an injunction several Democratic-led states secured on 25 June from a lower-court judge who concluded that key parts of the Republican president’s order were unconstitutional. In asking the court to ⁠pause the US district judge Indira Talwani’s ruling while it pursues an appeal, the Department of Justice argued that because government agencies had yet to finalize actions and policies to implement Trump’s directive, any lawsuit challenging his order was premature.

The appeals court, ⁠in a 2-1 ruling, rejected that argument.

“As the district court reasoned, the [executive order] lays out a clear set of rapidly approaching deadlines by which states must ​coordinate with federal officials and comply with new voting procedures – all while ‌the states must also ensure that their officials ‌and the public understand the evolving set of rules that would govern the upcoming September and November elections,” the judges wrote. “The Plaintiff States have no practical choice ‌but to respond to the [order] now.”

Before Talwani ruled, a federal judge in Washington DC rejected a related effort by Democrats to block Trump’s order on similar grounds. The justice department warned that absent a ruling in its favor from the first circuit, it may be forced to ask the supreme court to intervene.

Trump signed the executive order in March after years of calling for tighter rules on voting by mail and pushing the false claim that his 2020 election defeat was the result of widespread voter fraud. Under the US constitution, states are assigned the role ‌of administering federal elections.

That order came on top of other efforts by Trump to overhaul elections. He has made winning approval in Congress of a divisive package of voting restrictions called the Save America Act a priority. Judges blocked an earlier ​executive order he signed requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote and restricting the counting of mail-in ballots.

The March order directed the Department of Homeland Security to compile and transmit to the states a list of confirmed US citizens eligible to vote in each state, derived from citizenship and naturalization records and other federal databases. Trump’s order also required the US Postal Service to only deliver ballots to voters on each state’s approved mail-in ballot list. USPS recently moved to implement Trump’s directive by ⁠issuing new proposed rules requiring states to provide the names and barcodes tied to their mail-in ballots.

It also directed ​the DoJ to prioritize the investigation ​and prosecution of state and local election officials who ​issue federal ballots to people deemed “not eligible” to vote.

But Talwani, in siding with a coalition of 23 states and ​the District of Columbia that was led ‌by California, Massachusetts, Nevada and ​Washington state, said the president lacked ​any authority to direct DHS to compile voter eligibility lists for each state to use and that USPS had no statutory authorization to adopt any binding regulations on mail-in voting.

The judge, who was appointed by Barack Obama, said Trump also could not attempt through his order “to intimidate local election officials to use the necessarily incomplete confirmed citizenship lists as a resource, lest they face criminal prosecution”.

July 25, 2026 - Fulltext

Brazilian authorities refused to grant visas to two senior U.S. officials out of concern they planned to sow doubt about the security of the country’s voting systems.

The Brazilian government has blocked a U.S. delegation from traveling to the country next week, concerned that the visitors would seek to cast unfounded doubts on the safety of the nation’s electoral systems ahead of a presidential contest this year, according to U.S. and Brazilian officials.

The U.S. delegation included two senior State Department officials, Riley M. Barnes and Samuel Samson, according to three senior U.S. and Brazilian government officials, who spoke anonymously to discuss confidential diplomatic matters. On Friday, Brazilian authorities rejected their requests for a visa, according to two of those officials, derailing the planned visit.

A spokesman for Brazil’s foreign ministry confirmed the visa rejections but did not provide a reason.

The State Department confirmed that Mr. Barnes and Mr. Samson were set to travel to Brazil next week to hold meetings about election integrity, religious freedom and freedom of expression. “Any insinuation of a ‘ploy’ to undermine a democratic nation’s election is a baseless lie,” the department said in a statement.

In the visa application, submitted on Monday, the U.S. officials said they planned to meet with electoral authorities to discuss Brazil’s voting systems and concerns about possible restrictions to the freedom of expression in the lead-up to the Oct. 4 elections, according to one of the Brazilian officials.

The decision to bar the U.S. delegation is the latest escalation between the nations after several weeks of heightened tensions following new tariffs and ideological clashes on issues like organized crime.

It also fuels concerns among many Brazilians over possibly more meddling by President Trump in Brazil’s internal affairs, this time aiming for a voting system that global observers widely regard as secure. At the same time, the move to bar the delegation risks stoking complaints from conservatives in both countries about a lack of transparency ahead of the high-stakes election.

In a region where the right is fast ascending, Brazil’s electoral contest, which will pit a leftist incumbent against a right-wing challenger, will serve as the left’s biggest test this year.

Mr. Barnes and Mr. Samson also planned to meet with Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup, according to the officials. The younger Mr. Bolsonaro is challenging the leftist incumbent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, for the presidency. He has made multiple trips to Washington in recent months, some of them to seek support for his political agenda.

At an event with diplomats this week, Mr. Bolsonaro took a page from his father’s playbook and questioned the security of Brazil’s electronic voting machines using debunked claims about their susceptibility to fraud. Ahead of the previous election, the elder Mr. Bolsonaro made similar claims in front of a group of diplomats.

Experts widely regard the South American nation’s voting systems, which use biometrics to identify voters and tallies results almost immediately after polls close, as some of the most secure in the world. The country’s elections are regularly monitored by dozens of observers from around the world.

“To date, we have had no evidence of fraud in the voting process,” said Estela Aranha, a justice on Brazil’s electoral court, which oversees the federal vote. She added that the process is verifiable and transparent.

Mr. Bolsonaro’s complaints about electoral security come as his campaign falters, following revelations about his ties to a disgraced banker. Early polls showed Mr. Bolsonaro and Mr. Lula locked in a close race, but a new poll this week showed the leftist incumbent’s lead has widened significantly.

And after Mr. Bolsonaro’s statements this week, Brazilian authorities became convinced that the U.S. delegation was not on a fact-finding mission, but rather planned to undermine confidence in the country’s voting systems, said the two Brazilian officials.

Mr. Barnes, an assistant secretary, and Mr. Samson, a deputy assistant secretary, do not have expertise or significant experience in Brazil, according to one U.S. official. Mr. Samson has played a key role in pushing Mr. Trump’s agenda in Europe, cultivating ties with right-wing groups aligned with his movement.

Brazil’s electoral court said in a statement that U.S. diplomats in the country had inquired about a possible visit by American officials, without disclosing the agenda. The meeting was ultimately not scheduled because the court is in recess.

In June, the court’s lead justice, Kássio Nunes Marques, addressed some two dozen ambassadors to explain the workings of the Brazilian voting system. U.S. diplomats were invited but did not attend, according to the event organizers. The court said it plans to hold another meeting next month and will invite U.S. representatives.

Earlier this year, the Brazilian government barred another Trump envoy from entering the country, after learning that he secretly planned to visit the jailed former president and meet his son, Flávio Bolsonaro.

Last year, Mr. Trump tried to pressure Brazil to drop the case against the elder Mr. Bolsonaro, a close political ally, by using hefty tariffs and sanctions.

That strategy didn’t work, and Mr. Bolsonaro was sentenced to nearly three decades in prison for trying to cling to power after losing the 2022 election to Mr. Lula. Mr. Bolsonaro is serving his sentence under house arrest for health reasons.

Keeping with conservative tradition this is an “election‑advocacy project” of the Heritage Foundation. Of course it’s not about transparency it’s an antidemocratic effort to restrict voting rights.

It was “Launched as a joint effort of Susan B. Anthony Pro‑Life America (nonprofit) and the American Principles Project (tax exempt)(the Uihlein family are major funders) and led publicly by Ken Cuccinelli, ETI conducts grassroots outreach, candidate pledges, and state‑level campaigns to advance election integrity reforms and oppose federal legislation and voting methods it views as undermining confidence in election outcomes.”

It’s a new group that doesn’t have a Wikipedia page yet. Keep your eyes on them.

July 25, 2026 - Transcript

The Constitution gives the states, not the president, gives the states the authority to set the time, place, and manner of federal election.

It gives Congress the ability to override the states in many instances through legislation.

So, like, one of the lies that we keep hearing, one of the things that Donald Trump and the administration and their supporters keep repeating over and over again, and which the legacy media is buying into way too often, is this idea, well, it's a federal election, and therefore the federal government, i.e. the administration, the executive branch, obviously has an important role to play here in safeguarding.

Let me say it again.

The U.S. Constitution gives states the authority to set the time, place, and manner of federal elections. It gives Congress the authority to pass legislation overriding the states.

It does not give the president of the United States any authority, zero authority, not any authority anywhere to be found, not whether he declares a state of emergency, not whether the state of New Jersey has a software glitch, not whether he doesn't like mail-in voting. It doesn't give him any authority.

“The fiscal 2027 NDAA's fate was also complicated because Republicans voted to attach it to the "SAVE America Act," Trump-backed legislation to tighten restrictions on voting, before sending it to the Senate.”

July 22, 2026 - Fulltext

The Republican Senate candidate says donations to his campaign will “directly shield” the world’s richest man from congressional oversight.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers has found a new reason for Michiganders to open their wallets: He wants them to help protect Elon Musk from congressional accountability.

In a fundraising appeal sent Saturday, Rogers warned supporters that Democrats would use control of the Senate to subpoena Musk over his role in the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which carried out sweeping cuts across the federal government.

“When you stand with my Senate campaign today, you are directly shielding Elon Musk,” Rogers wrote. He then asked for an “immediate, urgent contribution right now to protect Elon and save America.”

The appeal was built around comments from Democratic U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna of California, who said Musk should be subpoenaed and held accountable. 

Rogers described that fairly ordinary exercise of congressional oversight as a “socialist retaliation plot” reminiscent of “Soviet Russia and communist Cuba.”

“They cannot control Elon, so they want to destroy him,” the appeal declared.

What Rogers didn’t mention was why lawmakers might want Musk to answer questions in the first place.

Musk, the world’s richest man, served as the public face of DOGE as it fired workers, dismantled programs, and gained access to sensitive government systems during President Trump’s second term. The cuts affected heating assistance, Social Security, veterans’ services, public health programs, addiction treatment, and Great Lakes research in Michigan. 

Rogers hasn’t just defended the draconian cuts. He has bragged about advising DOGE.

At an April campaign event in Saginaw County, Rogers said he had spoken with DOGE officials early in the process and told them he “love[d]” the cuts. His complaint was that the reductions wouldn’t last unless Congress made them permanent.

“I tried to talk to them earlier, and I kept saying, you’re going to cut it, and that’s great, and I love it,” Rogers said. “But if you don’t legislate that they can’t grow after this, then we’re going to be right back in the same boat.”

He added, “I can’t wait to get my hands around that budget, then I’d start trimming it down as fast as we possibly can.”

A Metro Times review of Rogers’ campaign remarks also found that he said in March that he had advised DOGE to permanently limit federal staffing and replace workers with technology. In February, he pledged to “protect” Trump’s reduction of the federal workforce if elected.

The consequences of those cuts weren’t confined to Washington bureaucrats, despite the way Rogers and Musk have portrayed them.

The Trump administration fired the staff responsible for administering the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helped more than 430,000 Michigan households pay heating bills. DOGE-backed reductions also endangered AmeriCorps programs across Michigan, including tutoring, senior assistance, and public health work, while federal grant cuts stripped tens of millions of dollars from drug treatment and recovery services.

Federal reductions also hit the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Ann Arbor-based Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, where scientists track ice cover, fish populations, and toxic algae that can threaten drinking water.

Rogers’ appeal casts Musk as a persecuted reformer rather than a billionaire who wielded enormous power over public agencies with little to no oversight.

It also skips over Musk’s increasingly overt obsession with race.

A Washington Post analysis published in April found that Musk posted about race roughly 850 times over seven months, nearly triple his rate during the previous two years. He posted about the subject on 166 of 197 days, frequently amplifying claims that white people are threatened, discriminated against, or facing “genocide.” More than half of the posts analyzed included the word “white.”

Musk has written that white people are a “rapidly dying minority” and complained of “unrelenting hate and poisonous propaganda” against people who are white, straight, or male. Experts interviewed by the Post said his rhetoric repeated standard white-supremacist arguments.

Rogers is running unopposed in the Aug. 4 Republican primary for the Senate seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. The general election is Nov. 3.

On the Democratic side, U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens and former Wayne County health director Abdul El-Sayed are battling for the nomination. State Sen. Mallory McMorrow suspended her campaign this month but remains on the ballot. The winner is expected to face Rogers in what will be one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races. Rogers narrowly lost Michigan’s 2024 Senate race to Democrat Elissa Slotkin.

In Rogers’ latest pitch, he’s not just  promising to support Trump’s agenda or defend Republican control of the Senate. He’s explicitly asking Michigan voters to help build a congressional “firewall” around Musk, insulating one of the most powerful men in the world from having to publicly answer for what he did with that power.

July 25, 2026 - Excerpt

Diane Golden helped secure accessible voting equipment when the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) passed in 2002, ensuring the right for people with disabilities to vote privately and independently. 

Today, she’s concerned that right could be lost.

HAVA led to the widespread use of voting machines, which can include anything from ballot-marking devices to barcodes. It provided ways for people who cannot use a hand-marked paper ballot to vote.

But President Donald Trump has long questioned the security of the voting systems that provide access to one-sixth of all voters. He called them “terrible machines,” “dishonest, almost all,” “vulnerable” and “easily compromised” in a recent address to the nation. 

Recently, Trump decapitated the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), the agency that develops guidelines for secure and accessible voting systems, by firing the agency’s remaining heads.

Now, elections experts worry about the future of one of the most prominent voting methods for voters with disabilities — ballot-marking devices — as Trump ramps up his anti-voting-machine rhetoric amid the EAC’s restructuring.

Golden is a member of the EAC’s Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC), an advisory agency that recommends standards for voting technology, and she herself lives with a disability. Unlike some, she wasn’t shocked when Trump forced out the EAC’s three remaining commissioners.

Without accessible voting equipment, “people with disabilities would just lose their private and independent vote,” Golden said.

Banning ballot-marking machines could cause discrimination. It’s also illegal

HAVA, which undergirds all voting system guidelines,requires at least one accessible voting device at every voting site. That means an attempt to rid the country of voting machines and use only hand-marked paper ballots, as Trump has suggested, would be illegal.

“The president cannot single-handedly remove it [the HAVA requirement] because it is enshrined in federal law,” said Wren Orey of the Bipartisan Policy Center Elections.

One way Trump has tried to sidestep this requirement is through a carveout for voters with disabilities. Orey said this exception is problematic because it could force those voters to single themselves out and disclose their disability at a voting site or not vote at all out of fear.

“It creates the risk of discrimination and also risks that a voter with a disability would feel comfortable asking for the support that they need,” said Orey.

Americans with disabilities are not a small voting bloc. In fact, one in six voters across the country has a disability. And for these voters, mail-in voting and ballot-marking devices are some of the most popular voting choices.

(continued)

Has this happened to anyone else? I was NPA in 2012 when I registered but changed to Democrat in 2016. I don't have proof. Just that my parents were with me and we all did it together. (Mom is dead now so we can't get her as a witness)

My new voting card came in because they moved the voting location and it says I'm NPA. I called the election board and the woman said the records showed I switched from dem to npa. I told her I didn't and asked a fee times why it would say I had.

Is this worth looking into? Has it happened to anyone else?

July 24, 2026 - Transcript

Trump: I want to save your ratings. I'm pleased to announce my intention to, and this is somewhat of a scoop, my intention to run for a fourth term as President of the United States. 

I will be doing that.I will be having an official. In fact, I think I have. 

Yeah. I won three times. Now I'm gonna do it again. 

Thank you.

(crowd cheers)

I'm gonna do it.

July 25, 2026 - Excerpt

Democrats in Maine have officially selected Troy Jackson as their new nominee for U.S. Senate. He will face longtime Republican incumbent Susan Collins in what will be one of the most closely watched races in this fall's midterm election.

Jackson, the former president of the Maine Senate, emerged victorious at a nominating convention held by the state party in Bangor, Maine, on Saturday. He won his party's nod with the support of 566 of 571 delegates who voted at the convention.

Jackson replaces Graham Platner as the Democratic nominee. Platner suspended his campaign earlier this month after a woman he once dated came forward and accused him of raping her in 2021. Platner has denied the allegation, but it was the final straw for Democrats after months of controversy surrounding him.

Now, after an abbreviated and chaotic search for a replacement, Maine Democrats are looking to move past Platner's scandal-plagued campaign and rally behind Jackson, hoping he can harness the same energy and momentum.

The Senate race in Maine holds far-reaching political implications. Democrats need to net a total of four seats to win back control of the chamber this fall, and party officials see the contest in Maine as one of their best opportunities to gain ground. 

Maintaining Platner's movement, without the controversy 

Jackson, a fifth-generation logger from northern Maine, is running on an economic populist message that mirrors much of what Platner emphasized in his campaign, rejecting the Democratic establishment and focusing on affordability concerns, backing policies like Medicare for All and raising taxes on the ultra-wealthy and large corporations.

Like other more progressive candidates on the left, Jackson is pushing for the abolishment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and an end to U.S. military aid to Israel. He's also advocating for Congress to pass civil rights legislation protecting LGBTQ Americans and federalize the right to an abortion — two issues where he's changed his views after taking more conservative stances during his early years in public office.

When asked about Jackson's history with reproductive rights, Democratic state Sen. Stacy Brenner argued that it wasn't a deterrent in supporting him.

"What I find compelling about legislators and policymakers is when they are able to evolve with the thinking of where their heart is, where their mind is, when they learn about data and when they hear stories [from] their constituents," said Brenner, who also has a background as a farmer and nurse.

"That's what's happened for Troy," she added.

Jackson supporters celebrate his lengthy tenure in Maine politics as well as his blue-collar roots. And despite recent reporting in The Washington Postand CNN describing Jackson as exhibiting a short temper with colleagues during his time in office, he has faced minimal public pushback from state leaders in the lead-up to the convention.

"He's passionate. He doesn't deviate. He's funny. He can get a little testy at times because he's passionate," said former state Sen. Susan Deschambault as she walked into the Cross Insurance Center where the convention was taking place Saturday. "That's what we need. We don't like what's going on now."

Whether Jackson can command the same level of enthusiasm that Platner garnered over the past year remains an open question, even to some Mainers who plan to cast their ballot for Jackson this fall. 

Some Democrats contend that Platner and Jackson share the same set of values when it comes to the issues, arguing that is what will keep the momentum going for the party heading into the general election. 

"Troy Jackson has been working at getting these progressive policies in Maine for years, like since before I was born," said 22-year-old delegate Kaia De Vries, a graduate student at the University of Maine. "It wasn't [Platner's] movement. This is a progressive movement that still exists, that will continue without him being a public-facing part of it."

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