As the midterm election cycle begins to accelerate, members get the full Political Wire experience — including exclusive analysis, the ad-free site, bonus newsletters, the weekly news quiz, Trial Balloon and more.
Get 20% off a new Political Wire membership.
“Attorney General Phil Weiser was projected on Tuesday to win the Democratic nomination in Colorado’s gubernatorial primary over Sen. Michael Bennet,” NOTUS reports.
“It’s a stunning loss for Bennet, who was long considered the front-runner in the race. In the primary, which became about how Democrats will stand up to Trump, he batted back attacks over his confirmation votes for some Trump administration officials.”
“Manny Rutinel, a progressive state representative, defeated a moderate Democrat to win the primary election in Colorado’s most competitive swing district,” the New York Times reports.
“Now he will face Representative Gabe Evans, a Republican seen as vulnerable, in a race that will help determine which party controls the House.”
Fox News: Mamdani comparisons follow Colorado Democrat into pivotal House race after primary win.
“President Donald Trump said he had earned at least $26 million in income from an array of new real estate ventures abroad, illustrating how his fortune has grown as his family embraces foreign deal-making in his second term,” Bloomberg reports.
You already know the problem: the same story can look completely different depending on where you read it — and some barely show up at all because algorithms decide what you see.
My goal for Political Wire is to help you get outside those filters — to understand not just what happened, but how it’s being covered and who might be missing it. That’s why I use and recommend Ground News.
It’s an app and website that brings together global news from across the political spectrum, showing each source’s bias, factuality, and ownership.
What I find especially useful is the Blindspot Feed. It highlights stories getting heavy coverage on one side but little on the other — a quick way to see what your usual news diet may be missing.
For a limited time, get 40% off a Ground News Vantage subscription at www.groundnews.com/political.
“Magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll asked a judge to release more than $5 million to her one day after the Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to challenge a jury’s finding that he sexually abused and defamed her,” CNN reports.
“Carroll’s lawyers asked the trial judge to expedite the briefing schedule on her motion to release the funds, saying both sides previously agreed to do it after the nation’s highest court ruled.”
“President Lyndon B. Johnson’s wife owned a profitable radio station. George W. Bush was on the board of an oil company while his father was in the White House. And Hunter Biden was paid by a Ukrainian natural gas company while his father was vice president,” the New York Times reports.
“But never before in American history has there been anything like Donald J. Trump, a president who in his first year back in office has collected about $1.4 billion in new revenues from cryptocurrency businesses that directly benefited from his actions as president, a financial disclosure report made public on Tuesday shows.”
“Overall, Mr. Trump’s revenue in 2025 jumped to at least $2.2 billion, compared with a minimum of $622 million in 2024 before he returned to office.”
Colorado voters went to the polls today for a number of high-stakes Democratic primaries — for governor, Senate and a couple of House seats.
Polls close at 9 p.m. ET.
Leave your reactions in the comments as the results come in.
“The U.S. government has lifted its export controls on Anthropic’s leading models, ending a weeks-long impasse between the $1 trillion AI company and the Trump administration,” the Financial Times reports.
“The U.S. Department of Commerce told Anthropic it had lifted the ban on Tuesday evening allowing the AI company to re-release its latest model, Fable 5, to the general public.”
“The Senate GOP campaign arm won a major Supreme Court boost in the party’s bid to hold congressional majorities on Tuesday,” Axios reports.
“Republicans’ reliance on mega-donors and their cash-flush committees positions them to benefit more than Democrats from the ruling, which allows committees to spend unlimited sums in coordination with candidates as they push against headwinds in November.”
“GOP officials reacted with glee to the Tuesday ruling, deriding Democrats who have criticized the decision for giving more power to the wealthiest donors.”
Bloomberg: Supreme Court opens midterm ad floodgates, giving GOP an edge.
“Instead of hitting the campaign trail to court voters in the hotly contested U.S. Senate race in Texas over the Fourth of July, MAGA firebrand Ken Paxton is on a trip abroad with his mistress,” the Daily Mail reports.
“Exclusive videos and pictures show the married Texas attorney general and his mistress traveling in economy from Washington, DC, to Iceland on Saturday.”
New York Times: “Mr. Paxton did not confirm or deny that he was romantically involved with the woman, and did not respond to a request for comment. His trial for divorce from Angela Paxton, a Texas state senator, was previously set to take place this month but was delayed.”
A new Fox News poll in Maine finds Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) has a small three percentage-point advantage over challenger Graham Platner (D), 50% to 47%.
But among the two-thirds of voters who say they are extremely motivated to vote, Platner actually leads by 9 points, 53 to 44%.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) called Rep. Tom Kean Jr’s (R-NJ) explanation on Tuesday for his prolonged absence from Congress “embarrassing” in an interview with TMZ, Mediaite reports.
Said Boebert: “I think it’s embarrassing, still, even more so. I mean, sure, like, take care of yourself, get healthy, but who gets to take four months off of work because they’re sad?”
“Vice President JD Vance said that he believes Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will be the leading Democratic candidate for president 2028,” CNN reports.
Said Vance: “I think it’s got to be AOC. I know that’s probably conventional wisdom.”
“The House approved a measure Tuesday compelling the public release of records showing which House members have used taxpayer dollars to settle sexual misconduct charges levied against them and how much money was spent,” Politico reports.
“President Trump announced on Tuesday that the Republican Party would hold an unusual midterm convention in September in Dallas as he seeks to mobilize his party before the fall elections,” the New York Times reports.
“Party conventions are typically held only in presidential election years. But Mr. Trump became enamored with the idea of a splashy midterm convention last year, and party officials have been planning the logistics of the event for months.”
“The convention will be held from Sept. 9-10, Mr. Trump said.”
“President Donald Trump reported earning at least $1.2 billion in 2025 from crypto and memecoin-related businesses,” Bloomberg reports.
“President Donald Trump has begun construction on a new White House helipad, his latest change to the historic grounds,” the Washington Post reports.
“Construction crews worked into the night Monday on the White House’s South Lawn, with the project blocked off by a large fence.”
New York Magazine: Trump threatens to put tacky gold eagle on White House.
“Americans’ attitudes toward the economy improved slightly this month as gas prices declined, but their outlook is still mostly negative by historical standards,” the Associated Press reports.
“The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose 0.6 point to 91.2 in June, a figure that is still below its year-ago reading of 95.2. Consumer attitudes worsened after the Iran war caused oil and gas prices to spike, accelerating inflation and causing Americans’ inflation-adjusted incomes to decline. Before the pandemic, the index regularly topped 120.”
“If it were me, I would have been more specific about that, and I encouraged him to be.”
— Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), quoted by Politico, on Rep. Tom Kean (R-NJ) being so secret about his absence from Congress due to a diagnosis of depression.
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.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.