Daily Archives
93 posts · Tuesday
“House Majority PAC, Democrats’ chief super PAC focused on congressional races, is going on air with new TV and digital ads in 21 districts,” Punchbowl News reports.
“Many of the ads are running in deep-red territory, including newly drawn seats in Florida and Texas.”
“The White House confirmed that President Donald Trump does not plan to reimburse the federal government for the taxpayer money already spent on what he’s called ‘Patriotic Ads,’ despite the fact that he pledged on Truth Social to ‘pay for them myself,'” the Washington Sun reports.
“I think the key over the next 34 days is bringing home Republicans. And I think it’s important to remind some of these Republicans who are not energized yet that the Supreme Court’s on the ballot.”
— Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), quoted by Fox News.
“Sen. Susan Collins’s bid for a sixth term in the Senate is a test of political gravity,” the Washington Post reports.
“For years, the Republican senator in an ever-more Democratic Maine has run so far ahead of President Donald Trump that she practically floated above him, suspended in air thanks to a mix of selective defiance and canny use of Senate seniority to steer millions to the small state for local works projects.”
“But 11 years into Trump’s political life, Collins’s campaign against Democrat Troy Jackson has been weighed down by the Republican president and his constant controversy and growing disapproval. Trump is everywhere in the race.”
“The expanded political map for this year’s midterm elections has sharply increased the demand for polling, straining the call centers that conduct surveys, squeezing capacity and complicating the already difficult task of getting accurate reads on public opinion,” the Washington Post reports.
Said GOP pollster Landon Wall: “It’s like doomsday. It’s the most stressed I’ve ever been in my entire career. We are medium-sized. We do millions of dollars of polling. But even that does not mean we have the volume to book things out.”
“Marco said, there are two kinds of guys in the United States Senate. There are the guys who want to go on TV and earn a lot of credibility for themselves, and there are guys who get things done. Marco, first of all, don’t criticize the people who show up on TV. That made me vice president of the United States.”
— Vice President JD Vance, quoted by the New Republic.
“As Ukraine’s European backers deal with myriad challenges at home — violent student protests in France, political upheaval in Germany and a mounting fuel crisis across the continent — Russian President Vladimir Putin is counting on a collapse of European support for Kyiv in the coming months,” the Washington Post reports.
“The Russian economy is struggling under the weight of international sanctions, and the Kremlin is laboring to cover a yawning budget deficit. But after Putin’s party secured a scripted win in parliamentary elections last month and Russian forces pounded Ukrainian schools, power plants and bridges with ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones, he has expressed no interest in dropping his maximalist demands in exchange for peace.”
“President Donald Trump called Natalie Harp a ‘perfect person’ after showing her off to hundreds of rallygoers,” New Republic reports.
Said Trump: “So, tonight I’m going to sign a historic executive order to officially waive the off-road requirement and allow anyone to purchase tax-free red-dye diesel for any reason. And I’d like to ask Natalie to come out. Natalie, come out! Bring it out here!”
“As the president’s grinning blonde aide walked onto the stage, the crowd cheered wildly. After signing the document, Trump handed it back to Harp, patting her on the shoulder. As she departed the stage, the president looked back, just to ogle her one last time.”
“There are plenty of Republican incumbents who don’t want to be seen with Donald Trump right now, but the phenomenon isn’t limited to blue states: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced that when the president holds an event in San Antonio this week, he won’t be in attendance,” MS NOW reports.
“The governor said he has other campaign events planned and won’t be available.”
A new AARP poll in New Hampshire finds Chris Pappas (D) leading John E. Sununu (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 51% to 44%.
“Wall Street took home a record bonus haul in 2025. This year is expected to be even better,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The nation’s biggest banks have raked in profits from both Wall Street businesses and their Main Street consumers, reflecting booms in corporate dealmaking, initial public offerings, artificial intelligence and market volatility as well as a resilient consumer.”
“Attorneys for Olympic canoeist David Hearn asked the internal watchdogs at the Justice and Interior departments on Tuesday to investigate the circumstances surrounding his arrest, indictment and the dismissal of the case,” CBS News reports.
“Hearn’s case garnered national attention, after he was falsely accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and subsequently indicted on a charge of felony destruction of government property.”
“Four weeks out from the election, and for most Americans, it’s time for football, foliage and flannel. For politics watchers, all eyes are on an October surprise,” Fox News reports.
“They’ve been game-changers before. In 2008, the collapse of Lehman Brothers, which ushered in the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, was a turning point in John McCain’s presidential campaign…”
“Surprises have come from home and abroad. In 1980, it was President Jimmy Carter’s inability to resolve the Iranian hostage crisis. Eight years earlier, it was President Richard Nixon’s announcement that ‘peace was at hand’ in Vietnam.”
“Some have more impact than others. It’s not clear that news about George W. Bush’s DUI changed much about the 2000 election, nor that James Comey’s letter to Congress about Hillary Clinton’s email server was the decider in President Trump’s 2016 win.”
“Still, these surprises all have one thing in common: they happened in presidential years.”
“Democrats have pulled back some of their ads in North Carolina’s Senate race, days after the top Senate Republican super political action committee paused its future spending in the state,” Politico reports.
“Ships are ferrying almost as much crude oil out of the Strait of Hormuz as they were before the Iran war. But they are barely moving any barrels of the fuel the world needs most: diesel,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“For now, the distinction is paramount in American politics. President Trump’s team has explored a long list of options to arrest the skyrocketing price of diesel fuel, which factors into the cost of groceries, gadgets and just about everything else moved on semitruck beds.”
“The national average for a gallon of diesel hit a record $6.53 late last month. In California, where supplies are increasingly tight and fuel taxes are higher, diesel reached a historic high of $8.44 a gallon.”
“In a surprisingly competitive race, new filings reveal that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has spent down the majority of his war chest in an effort to preserve his position, while Democratic challenger Gina Hinojosa’s fundraising has ramped up,” the Washington Post reports.
“In a New York Times-Siena poll conducted in late September, Hinojosa received support from 49 percent of likely voters, versus 46 percent for Abbott. The governor has spent more than $130 million on the race, while Hinojosa has spent $17 million.”
“Donald Trump’s justice department has moved to strip the citizenship of 40 naturalized citizens accused of crimes in what authorities describe as ‘the largest’ such initiative over a single period during his administration,” The Guardian reports.
“U.S. justice department officials on Monday announced the filing of ‘de-naturalization actions’ against more than three dozen people alleged to have committed such offenses as ‘acting as an agent for a foreign government, committing voluntary manslaughter, and aggravated sodomy against a special‑needs man.'”
“Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said he plans to stay on the court through next year, brushing aside speculation that he could retire early and let President Donald Trump fill his seat after the election but before a new Congress is sworn in next year,” Politico reports.
Said Alito: “I intend to stick around through this term. I made that decision many months ago.”
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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