“Former Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) will announce whether he’s running for Senate in the next two weeks, per multiple people familiar with his thinking. It’s widely expected Sununu will enter the race, but the former senator hasn’t made a final decision,” Punchbowl News reports.
“Republicans have been talking a big game about winning New Hampshire’s open Senate seat. But there’s a brutal looming GOP primary featuring Sununu and former Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA).”
“I haven’t seen anything that breaks the stalemate. This whole thing is stupid.”
— Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS), quoted by Semafor, on the government shutdown.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “digital mistress,” Olivia Nuzzi, is writing a book that will address their online love affair, Status reports.
Daily Beast: “The book is not solely about Nuzzi’s relationship with the vaccine skeptic but rather her career covering politics, particularly Trumpworld and the MAGA movement. The book reportedly does delve into the affair, marking the first time Nuzzi has gone public with any details.”
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) announced he would challenge Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) in 2026, the Boston Globe reports.
Politico: “Moulton, who turns 47 this month, is putting age at the center of his announcement, saying in a campaign video to be released Wednesday that Markey is ‘a good man’ but he should nevertheless move on after decades in Congress.”
President Donald Trump said that the United States could step in to disarm Hamas — “quickly and perhaps violently” — if the organization did not do so itself, a potential vulnerability in a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement that has tentatively brought an end to two years of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the Washington Post reports.
Said Trump: “They will disarm or we will disarm them. Got it?”
Playbook: “To be very blunt, it’s not clear how this would work. But your Playbook author is old enough to remember when the Trump administration was saying there will be no U.S. boots on the ground in Gaza … Because it was JD Vance saying it only last Sunday.”
Washington Post: “Some 22 million Americans are set to lose health insurance subsidies by the end of the year…”
“About 80 percent of the people who benefit from them live in states that Donald Trump won in the 2024 presidential election. Many have no idea that their health insurance costs are on track to go up.”
“Americans are set to pay more than half of President Donald Trump’s tariff costs as companies raise prices, according to economists of Goldman Sachs Group,” Bloomberg reports.
“US consumers will likely shoulder 55% of tariff costs by the end of the year, with American companies taking on 22%… Foreign exporters would absorb 18% of tariff costs by cutting prices for goods, while 5% would be evaded.”
“President Donald Trump suggested the $20 billion lifeline the US is planning for Argentina could be contingent on libertarian leader Javier Milei’s success in the midterm elections, sending fresh jitters through the currency market,” Bloomberg reports.
Washington Post: Trump says U.S. won’t benefit from $20 billion bailout for Argentina.
“The public-health resistance to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is growing,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Governors across 15 states including New York, California and North Carolina are forming a new public-health alliance to detect and respond to disease threats, saying federal-funding cuts and policy changes by the Trump administration are putting their citizens at risk and forcing them to find alternatives.”
“The state leaders, all Democrats, will join forces to help one another prepare for pandemics, track infectious diseases, write public-health guidelines, share expertise on preventive care and buy vaccines and supplies in bulk.”
“In its trade standoff with Washington, Beijing thinks it has found America’s Achilles’ heel: President Trump’s fixation on the stock market,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“China’s leader, Xi Jinping, is betting that the U.S. economy can’t absorb a prolonged trade conflict with the world’s second-largest economy… China is holding a firm line because of its conviction, the people said, that an escalating trade war will tank markets, as it did in April after Trump announced his so-called Liberation Day tariffs, prompting Beijing to hit back.”
“China expects that the prospect of another market meltdown ultimately will force Trump to negotiate at an expected summit with Xi late this month.”
“Two weeks after the start of the government shutdown, President Trump has seized on the stalemate for political gain, aiming to hurt Democrats while insulating his administration from the costs of the fiscal crisis he helped bring about,” the New York Times reports.
“Democrats and Republicans remain starkly at odds over how to reopen the government. But unlike previous presidents, Mr. Trump has been unwilling to mediate a truce. He has opted instead to stretch the limits of his power to cushion the blow for agencies and constituencies he supports, while embarking on a retribution campaign against his political foes.”
“A pair of decades-old promises from Congress — ensuring disabled students receive a free and appropriate education and protecting all pupils from discrimination in schools — have been thrown into doubt after a round of sweeping layoffs at the Education Department,” the New York Times reports.
“The department’s Office of Special Education Programs was decimated by the cuts, which the Trump administration issued on Friday in its latest reduction of the federal work force. The special education office has been the principal government arm overseeing billions of dollars that support about 10 percent of the nation’s school-aged children, but will have fewer than a half-dozen employees, a reduction of about 95 percent since the start of the year.”
“President Trump plans to throw the weight of his endorsement and his allies’ fundraising behind Jack Ciattarelli, the GOP nominee for New Jersey governor in next month’s elections,” Axios reports.
“Polls show the underdog Ciattarelli running competitively against Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey, a blue state where a Ciattarelli upset would represent a major win for the Trump White House.”
“The planned transfer of downtown Miami land for President Trump’s future presidential library was temporarily blocked by a Florida judge on Tuesday,” Axios reports.
“Marvin Dunn, a Miami historian and activist, filed a lawsuit saying the public should have been more involved in the process that saw Miami-Dade College transfer ownership of the 2.63-acre property that has an estimated value of $67 million to the state, which donated it for Florida’s first presidential library.”
Punchbowl News: “The redistricting wars are the biggest story of the 2026 midterms as both parties race to draw as many favorable new seats as permitted under state and federal law. These power struggles between local politicians, congressional leaders, courts and the White House are playing out in a dozen states, as well as the halls of Congress.”
“The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today for a second time in a Louisiana redistricting case that could have huge implications for the 1965 Voting Rights Act and minority representation in Congress. The Congressional Black Caucus is holding a press conference on the case — Louisiana vs. Callais — this afternoon…”
“We’ll get a better sense of what the justices are thinking by their questions. Between six and 10 Democratic seats could be at risk under a broad ruling, especially in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Georgia and South Carolina. But it gets difficult to draw too many more GOP-favored seats than that because of demographics and parochial politics.”
“There is some good news for Democrats. Even if a ruling comes in the next few months, it would likely be too late to affect the midterms.”
Politico: The Supreme Court has chipped away at the Voting Rights Act for years. Will this case be the final blow?
“In her first public comments since two viral videos surfaced last week showing her berating a staff member and belittling a news reporter, Katie Porter owned up to her missteps on Tuesday and said she was working to hold herself to a higher standard of conduct,” the New York Times reports.
“China’s sweeping new restrictions on rare earth exports jolted governments and set off a race to secure alternative supplies, in a stark demonstration of Beijing’s global clout and growing risks for companies,” Bloomberg reports.
“The rules announced last week require overseas firms to obtain Chinese government approval before exporting products containing even trace amounts of certain rare earths that originated in China. They prompted threats of punitive measures from Washington even as both sides signal an openness to talks, and pushback from the European Union.”
CNBC: Auto industry raises the alarm as China tightens export rules for rare earths.
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.
