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A new Siena poll in New York finds Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) with a 52% to 27% lead over Rep. Elise Stefanik (R) in the gubernatorial race, a big increase from the 45% to 31% advantage the poll gave the incumbent a month ago.
Following Charlie Kirk’s assassination last week, White House officials are looking at ways to integrate President Trump’s political operation with Kirk’s Turning Point movement to build on the late activist’s success with conservative-leaning youth, Axios reports.
Said one Trump adviser: “Charlie would want us to carry on with his work. And we’re going to.”
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“The biggest thing is to broaden the assassination investigation from a single murder to the broader conspiracy. If we are going to go to war, let’s go to war.”
— Stephen Bannon, quoted by Politico, on how the Trump administration should respond to Charlie Kirk’s murder.
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “The future direction of the Democratic Party will be defined in no small part by the 2028 presidential primary season.”
“But the actual sequencing of that primary season remains up in the air, and it remains a logistical question for Democrats to solve as they continue to grapple with the larger challenges revealed by the 2024 election.”
“Among the thorny details Democrats need to work out is what to do with New Hampshire, which continues to zealously protect its ‘first-in-the-nation’ status.”
President Trump accused the Biden administration of having “weaponized” the Justice Department against the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“As Democrats search for their way out of the political wilderness, a new think tank, introduced on Wednesday, has some ideas about where the party went wrong,” the New York Times reports.
“Among them: too much emphasis on issues like climate change and LGBTQ rights, and far too much deference to the powerful liberal organizations championing those causes at the expense, some argue, of appealing to voters in battleground states.”
Said veteran Democratic operative Adam Jentleson: “The folks who are most to blame about Trump are the ones who pushed Democrats to take indefensible positions.”
The Economist: Who’s afraid of the Democratic Socialists?
“President Donald Trump still does not have his ambassador to the United Nations in place eight months into his term,” NBC News reports.
“And given the Senate’s schedule, it is unlikely that Mike Waltz — who Trump first announced would be his nominee for the high-profile post more than four months ago — will be confirmed in time for the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly this month, arguably the most important gathering for the ambassador.”
“Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, best known for rejecting Donald Trump’s pressure to overturn Georgia’s 2020 results, entered the governor’s race Wednesday in a bid that will test whether a Republican who crossed the president can still win over his party’s voters,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
AP: “The wealthy engineering entrepreneur might appeal most to business-oriented Republicans who once dominated GOP primaries in Georgia, but he is pledging a strongly conservative campaign even while he remains scorned by Trump and his allies.“
Russia and Belarus are rehearsing the launch of Russian tactical nuclear weapons as part of joint war games, Reuters reports.
“Former President Barack Obama suggested on Tuesday that President Trump and his allies were using the assassination of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk to stoke division and silence debate about Mr. Kirk’s ideas,” the New York Times reports.
Said Obama: “When I hear not just our current president, but his aides, who have a history of calling political opponents ‘vermin,’ enemies who need to be ‘targeted,’ that speaks to a broader problem that we have right now, and something that we’re going to have to grapple with — all of us.”
“Drawing more of a contrast with Mr. Trump, he referred to his own presidency and to past Republican leaders he said had believed in unifying a fractious country.”
He added: “I think George W. Bush believed that. I believe that people who I ran against — I know John McCain believed it. I know Mitt Romney believed it. What I’m describing is not a Democratic value or Republican value. It is an American value. And I think at moments like this, when tensions are high, then part of the job of the president is to pull people together.”
Panicked air traffic control audio suggests Air Force One and a Spirit Airlines flight got too close for comfort last night.
Playbook: “Get ready for some jarring juxtapositions on cable news networks today as images of Donald and Melania Trump, bathing in the pomp and ceremony of a state visit to Britain, contrast sharply with the tumultuous, era-defining moments unfolding here in D.C.”
“The president and first lady will spend the day at Windsor Castle, the oldest and grandest of Britain’s many royal residences, for a long-planned program of banquets, bejeweled carriages and military parades.”
“But American viewers will see these charming images interspersed with minute-by-minute coverage of bitter domestic disputes over political violence, free speech, public health and the future of the U.S. economy. A little cognitive dissonance may be required to get yourself through the day.”
“Two minor problems. Firstly: it’ll probably rain. (Because of course it will.) Secondly: Trump remains spectacularly unpopular in the U.K., meaning organizers face the rather awkward prospect of thousands of angry protesters trying to muscle in.”
“Gov. Mike Braun gave the strongest indication yet that a special session to redraw Indiana’s congressional maps is likely inevitable,” the Indianapolis Star reports.
“He won’t call the special session without knowing that enough legislators would vote to approve redistricting, he reiterated to reporters Sept. 16. But his prediction is that things are heading in that direction, and if it does, the session could occur anytime from early November through the ‘earliest part’ of the 2026 regular session, he said.”
Punchbowl News: “It’s a new era for the Federal Reserve. And not everyone is jazzed about it.”
“The world’s most important central bank is set to cut interest rates today — probably by 25 basis points. That’s the boring part, though much of Washington and Wall Street will be thrilled.”
“It’s everything else swirling around the Federal Reserve in this politically charged moment that’s the problem. This may be the most important Fed Day in years.”
“President Donald Trump has been waging an unprecedented and broad-ranging campaign for control of the Fed all year long. This particular meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee comes at a critical crossroads in that conflict.”
Wall Street Journal: Fed divisions thrust Powell into uncharted territory.
New York Times: “As Israel mounts a major Gaza offensive, President Trump has neither urged restraint nor endorsed the action, which Israel’s leader has taken as an implicit green light to proceed.”
A new Generation Lab poll found that Charlie Kirk was almost universally known among college kids: 94% of students had heard of him, a remarkable level of name I.D. for any political figure.
However, most college students were not fans. A combined 70% of students said they either “strongly disagree” or “somewhat disagree” with Kirk’s views. Only 30% said they agreed.
In her first public comments since President Trump fired her, the former head of the government agency that measures inflation and job growth called her dismissal “a dangerous step” for the economy, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Erika McEntarfer pointed to what she called “not a good list” of other countries where statisticians have been pushed out over disappointing statistics, including Argentina, Greece and Turkey.
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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