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October 4, 2026

36 posts · Sunday

Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 191

Blue Wave Update

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Trial Balloon · Ep. 191: Blue Wave Update

Supreme Court Heads Into New Term

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“When the Supreme Court kicks off a new, nine-month term on Monday, one key player will be noticeably absent: President Donald Trump,” CNN reports.

“After months of near-constant confrontation with the White House, the nine justices will retake their seats behind the court’s mahogany bench without a docket full of Trump-driven, separation-of-powers blockbusters that defined the last term — from tariffs to birthright citizenship to the firing of once-independent government officials.”

“The respite is unlikely to last.”

NBC News: Supreme Court to decide multiple high-profile cases in new term.

Reuters: With a mixed scorecard, Trump poised to test his powers again at U.S. Supreme Court.

Democrats Hold Big Lead with Latino Voters

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“Democrats have a 24-point edge among Latino registered voters nationally heading into the midterm elections, according to the new NBC News/Telemundo poll. But under the surface, there are distinct segments of Latino voters — differences that mirror other divides in national politics and demonstrate how ‘the Latino vote’ is more than one big bloc.”

“Like the broader electorate, Latino women lean more Democratic than Latino men do.”

The Two Biggest Cities Could Soon Have Socialist Mayors

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“Voters could make history next month by giving the two largest U.S. cities something in common: South Asian immigrant democratic socialist mayors,” Axios reports.

“Such a pairing would capture two forces reshaping urban America — its growing diversity and the Democratic Party’s shifting ideological boundaries.”

“New York, the nation’s largest city, is already led by democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani.”

“The challenger in Los Angeles is Nithya Raman, an Indian-born urban planner and two-term City Council member who is trying to unseat Democratic Mayor Karen Bass on Nov. 3.”

Older Candidates Keep Winning

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“In the lead-up to the midterm elections, calls for generational change have echoed through districts across the country, as younger candidates have pushed to replace the old guard,” the New York Times reports.

“And yet, the gerontocracy remains alive and well in American politics. In primary after primary, voters rejected those calls for younger leadership, voting for incumbent politicians who were notably older than their challengers.”

New and Improved

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I’ve made a bunch of changes over the last few weeks to improve the Political Wire experience. 

A cleaner, faster design:

  • A new theme built just for Political Wire will allow me to make modifications more quickly. Navigation is simpler and search now sits in the menu bar, one tap away.
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  • There’s a new phone layout with a cleaner header and menu.

Read it your way:

  • A new “Aa” button in the menu bar let’s you pick your theme and text size. Switch between light and dark mode, and choose small, medium or large text. Members’ settings are remembered separately for phone and computer, so large text on your phone doesn’t follow you to your laptop.
  • Better previews when you share a post. Links to Political Wire on social media and in texts now show a proper image card: the poll chart for poll posts, a quote card for Quote of the Day, or a branded headline card.
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Find more of what matters:

  • A new “In Case You Missed It” panel partway down the front page brings back what I think are important stories that may have scrolled out of view.
  • The Polling Dashboard now tracks key governor’s races as well as Senate races.

I hope these changes make reading Political Wire an even better experience!

If you have any other suggestions, just send them my way.

Quote of the Day

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“This feels more like 1994 and what I mean by that is not the total number of seats in play. But it’s that you feel like America is the battleground.”

— Democratic pollster John Anzalone, quoted by CNN, on the midterm elections being fought across many red states.

Democrats Are Making Plans to Clean Up Government

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“Democratic House members are writing bills to rein in a president’s emergency powers. Lawyers are strategizing about how to insulate the Justice Department from presidential influence. A House measure would block a president from unilaterally remodeling the White House. Ethicists are writing rules to prevent a future first family from self-dealing,” the Washington Post reports.

”Throughout Washington and beyond, President Donald Trump’s opponents are scrambling to ensure that after he leaves office, the changes he has imposed on the presidency, and the country, will fade with him.”

Trump Backs Data Centers in Ohio Amid Tight Senate Race

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“President Trump defended data centers at a midterm campaign rally in Vandalia, Ohio, on Saturday, arguing that the U.S. will risk losing ground in the global artificial intelligence race against China without the massive facilities that have come under heightened scrutiny,” NewsNation reports.

Said Trump: “There’s so much money to be made for Ohio. You can’t just turn them off. They’ll go to China.”

New York Times: Trump promotes data centers at rally with Republican facing heat on them.

‘No Tax On Tips’ May Fall Flat for GOP in Midterms

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New York Times: “Republicans in Congress had hoped the major tax-and-spending-cut bill they muscled into law last year would redeem them on the campaign trail as they try to beat historical odds to keep their majorities in November’s midterm elections.”

“But in an election that has increasingly become defined by the high cost of living, the benefits of the measure — including sharply restricting federal income taxes on tips and overtime — appear to be getting swamped by economic stress.”

How Trump Moved Ethical Lines

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“When President Trump decided in his first term to host the annual Group of 7 summit of world leaders at his own private golf club in Miami, the act of self-dealing was so astonishing that it incited an uproar among fellow Republicans, forcing him to scrap the idea,” the New York Times reports.

“Now in his second term seven years later, Mr. Trump has decided to host the Group of 20 annual summit of world leaders at his private golf club in Miami in December — and this time the plan has generated practically no protest.”

“The unprecedented blitz of self-enrichment by Mr. Trump, his family and his friends since he returned to the White House last year has become so extensive, so profligate and so brazen that he has effectively moved the goal posts of what is considered out of bounds. An act that was deemed an outrage in 2019 is barely noticed in 2026.”

Some Democrats Take a Harder Line On Trans Athletes

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New York Times: “As the midterm election approaches, some Democrats in battleground races are moving to respond to Republican attacks casting them as extreme on transgender issues. In some cases, Democrats have reacted by accusing Republicans of being out of touch with voters’ economic concerns, or desperate to change the subject. In others, Democrats have voiced their opposition to transgender female athletes participating in girls’ and women’s sports. At times, their opposition has drawn criticism from other Democrats.”

“The strategies show how the party has shifted on the issue since the last nationwide election — a pivot that has played out in various ways since early 2025, when Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat from deep-blue California considering a run for president, suggested that the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports was ‘deeply unfair.'”

Superpowers Race to Put Nuclear Reactors On the Moon

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“In late August, NASA asked contractors to prepare to build a nuclear reactor that could survive a space voyage and run without maintenance near the moon’s south pole. That may sound like science fiction, but the agency wants it ready to be launched by December 2030,” the New York Times reports.

“There is a reason for the rush. Russia aims to have a lunar reactor running by 2036 as part of a secretive partnership with China. NASA has already sped up its schedule to beat its rivals.”

“The race is for the very future of space exploration. The United States and China want to be first to establish a moon base, to search for resources like frozen water and to launch missions deeper into the solar system. Controlling access to the moon’s assets is vital to this mission. Both superpowers believe a nuclear reactor is the centerpiece of this ambition.”

New York Times: Who owns the Moon?

Some Democrats Say Race in South Carolina Is Winnable

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New York Times: “Dr. Andrews, a pediatrician, is running for a seat that no Democratic candidate this century has come within eight points of winning. Even some of her most ardent supporters, in what may prove to be the most favorable midterm for Democrats in years, sense that her bid is a long shot.”

“Yet there is also some reason for optimism. Dr. Andrews is running against Senator Darline Graham, a political novice facing skeptics within her own party, at a time when the political environment is rapidly deteriorating for Republicans. Democrats are tied or in the lead in Senate races in five reliably Republican states, according to new New York Times/Siena University polls. That puts victories in Kansas, Mississippi and South Carolina within the party’s sight lines, if at their outer reaches.”

“Dr. Andrews will emerge next month as either a symbol of a massive Democratic comeback, or a cautionary tale of the limits of progressive optimism.”

Kristi Noem’s Agency Gave Her Donor a Lucrative Contract

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“In the last hours of Kristi Noem’s tenure as the homeland security secretary, her agency delivered a windfall to one of her political donors by buying five airplanes from the man’s firm at a substantial markup, documents show,” the New York Times reports.

“The Department of Homeland Security agreed to pay the donor’s firm $108 million for a Boeing 737 airliner that had been converted into a massive private jet, complete with a stand-up bar, two bedrooms, marble showers and a table covered in manta ray skin.”

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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