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“House Republicans are seizing on the Supreme Court’s decision that freed national party committees to coordinate directly with candidates, reserving nearly $9 million in TV ads across more than 20 races this month,” Axios reports.
“The NRCC is moving quickly to exploit its cash advantage over the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and bolster GOP candidates, many of whom have been outraised by their Democratic opponents.”
“Senior advisers to President Donald Trump met privately with his pollster last month to sort through the latest numbers. The outlook was grim,” NBC News reports.
“One of the findings that longtime Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio shared suggested that Republican voters weren’t all that enthused about upcoming midterm elections in which Trump isn’t on the ballot — a conclusion reflected in public polling as well.”
“An election that Trump voters sit out would be a debacle for Republicans, jeopardizing the party’s thin majorities in the House and Senate.”
“Ted Cruz isn’t hiding his presidential ambitions—and he is taking some digs at the presumptive front-runner along the way,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The 2028 contest hasn’t started yet, and there is still a midterm election in November. Vice President JD Vance, who is leading in early polls of potential Republican nominees, is campaigning for candidates in tough races and fundraising for the party.”
“But Cruz, the Texas senator and firebrand conservative, is already putting in the legwork in Iowa, hitting the podcast circuit and embarking on a book tour. He is also quietly asking people if they would be interested in working on his 2028 bid, according to people familiar with the requests.”
“Ken Paxton, you might not like the way he dresses, and I say this, it’s so insulting to him, but I might as well say it. You might not like the way he looks. You might not love his television interviews. But he was the best attorney general and that speaks a lot louder than the suit he’s wearing that doesn’t look so great or than anything, frankly.”
— President Trump, speaking about Ken Paxton.
“When the U.S. launched its campaign against Iran six months ago, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth promised a quick, decisive blow that would avoid a long entanglement. Now, he is quietly extending troop deployments in a sign that the conflict could drag well into next year,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“It is part of an open-ended military strategy designed to give President Trump options in the war… But the deployment of 19 warships, air-defense units, fighter squadrons and paratroopers across the region is straining servicemembers and their families and creating a maintenance backlog that could take years to unwind.”
New York Times: “The drama began Tuesday afternoon, when two of the most conservative Democrats in the House broke with their party to pave the way for votes on a slate of Republican bills.”
“By Wednesday, it had mushroomed into a full-on furor featuring accusations of betrayal, demands for punishment for the defectors and a quiet but intense round of whispers about what the episode said about the leadership of Representative Hakeem Jeffries.”
For members: Hakeem Jeffries Is No Nancy Pelosi
“When Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told President Donald Trump last week that he was resigning, Trump suggested he could stay at least through the midterm elections — a show of support for a top Pentagon leader who has clashed with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth,” the Washington Post reports.
“At the White House meeting last week where Driscoll told Trump of his planned departure, he also voiced concerns to the president about the damage he said Hegseth was doing to the Army.”
“Former Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner is no longer set to speak at a Labor Day rally when he makes his first major public appearance since ending his campaign against Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine,” NBC News reports.
“Steve Bannon has made a career out of clashing with far-left politicians. But these days, President Trump’s former chief strategist has found a common cause with them: opposition to the AI boom,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The far-right podcast host has joined Democrats in warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence and the need to fight data centers that power AI deployment.”
“Bannon backs a proposal from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VtT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who are aligned with the insurgent Democratic socialists, to ban the construction of new data centers.”
“Last week, the Trump administration unveiled what it billed as an ‘Economic D-Day’ aimed at forcing Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and return to the negotiating table,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“But the experience of Western sanctions and economic pressure on autocracies such as Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela and Syria shows the challenges facing Washington in trying to bend Tehran to its will. Indeed, the strongmen ruling such countries have historically used a mix of violence, economic adaptation and political suppression that enables them to withstand economic pain for years, if not decades.”
“Autocratic countries adapt in various ways. Sanctions typically push activity underground, creating flourishing black markets for goods, services and even people. Dictators also use outside pressure to rally their populations, especially among elites.”
“Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, is emerging as a top contender for the Army secretary role,” Semafor reports.
“Parnell doesn’t have the nod locked down yet, and it’s unclear when President Donald Trump will nominate a successor to Dan Driscoll, who resigned earlier this week. But many inside the administration are pushing for Parnell, who is close to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and has held his current job since the start of the president’s second term.”
“A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from carrying out for now the president’s latest effort to impose new limits on automatic birthright citizenship after losing an earlier legal fight before the U.S. Supreme Court,” Bloomberg reports.
“Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) admitted in a recent interview that he’s worried about Republicans losing their Senate majority, acknowledging the strong political headwinds they face this fall because of high prices and President Trump’s slumping approval rating,” The Hill reports.
Said Thune: “I worry about that, for sure. I’m a realist, and I just think you — I don’t ever try and sugarcoat things. I think it’s a competitive environment right now.”
“President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that a new helipad on the White House grounds is complete, touting the project as both safer and more visually striking than the previous landing area,” NOTUS reports.
“President Donald Trump on Wednesday told reporters that he planned extensive travel to states with high stakes races in the final month before the midterm elections in November,” Reuters reports.
Said Trump: “I will be going to Alaska. I’m going to be going the last 30 days before the election. I’ll be making a lot of stops.”
CNN: A midterm about Trump.
A new Alaska Survey Research poll in Alaska finds Mary Peltola (D) leading Dan Sullivan (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 51% to 49%.
“President Trump praised the no-jail plea deal for Tiger Woods — saying it was a ‘very fair’ outcome after the golfer allegedly drove under the influence of prescription drugs,” the New York Post reports.
He added: “I think he’s going to have somebody drive him. I told him that a long time ago, ‘Why do you get somebody to drive you?’ So he’s going to have somebody drive him from now on.”
Mediaite: Trump claims he warned Tiger Woods to get a personal driver years before DUI arrest.
“The U.S. Postal Service has been swiftly developing a complex screening system for mail-in ballots ahead of this year’s midterm elections, despite ongoing legal wranglings over President Trump’s executive order to restrict voting by mail,” the New York Times reports.
“The new system, which requires states to tell the Postal Service which voters will be sent ballots so they can be verified before delivery, shows how aggressively the Postal Service is moving to deliver on the president’s directive ahead of the upcoming elections, which could tip the scales of power in Congress.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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