Politico: “Super PACs and other organizations have already dropped more than $53 million in Democratic House primaries this year, according to OpenSecrets, with four more months of nominating contests to go. The outside spending has zoomed past the approximately $30 million spent in each of 2018 and 2020, much of it focused on safely blue seats, where different wings of the Democratic Party are battling to elect primary winners likely to go to Congress — and stay there for years.”

John Della Volpe: “The growing presence of Mr. Trump’s voice back on the national stage; the leak of Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion on abortion and the likely fall of Roe v. Wade; and the opportunity for Mr. Biden to make good on a campaign commitment to address the student debt crisis have formed ideal conditions for Democratic renewal. While older voters will prioritize each party’s pledges to reduce inflation this fall, younger voters will additionally weigh the broad set of values and vision for the future held by Democrats and Republicans.”

“Young Americans are more likely to vote when they see a tangible difference between the parties and feel the consequences of election outcomes. As Generation Z and young millennials were tuning into politics more closely, millions watched Mr. Trump roll back climate policy, undermine the Affordable Care Act, deliver tax breaks for the wealthy and pave the way for white nationalist theorists to enter the public square — all moves that were antithetical to the values of reducing inequality and standing up for those without a voice. These are values that we’ve found in young Americans across most points on the ideological spectrum.”

Washington Post: “Political volatility has become commonplace in a nation as deeply and closely divided as America today. Seven of the last eight elections qualify as change elections — a shift in the balance in some important way. And, if Republicans were to capture the House and Senate in November, Biden would become the fifth consecutive president to see his party lose both chambers of Congress on his watch.”

“But other than Democratic nervousness, what is the story of this year? What is motivating voters? What forces are steering the election, other than the tides of history.”

“Analysts point to a nation weary at a time in which there seems no escape from disorder, whether it be the long bout with the coronavirus or soaring prices or rising crime rates in cities or surging crossings of undocumented immigrants at the southern border. Added to all of that is the brutal war of aggression in Ukraine launched without provocation by Russian President Vladimir Putin, a conflict that is redrawing the international order.”

A new Emerson College poll in Pennsylvania finds Mehmet Oz leading the GOP Senate race with 28%, followed by Kathy Barnette at 24%, and David McCormick at 21%.

In the GOP gubernatorial race, Doug Mastriano has surged to first place with 34%, while Lou Barletta trails with 22%.

“The full political tensions expected during the 2022 campaign season will play out in primaries occurring Tuesday, when voters in Idaho, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oregon and Pennsylvania go to the polls,” Axios reports.

“The largest group of primary contests to date will include tests of former President Trump’s endorsement, highly competitive bouts between moderate and progressive Democrats — and a make-or-break moment for one of Congress’ most controversial members.”

CNN: Trump could be facing an endorsement Waterloo this week.

“President Biden is telling White House aides to shift into campaign mode, reminding them even small mistakes can be costly and demanding they take opportunities to highlight differences with Republicans,” Axios reports.

“His private exhortations over the past month are another indication he wants to make November’s congressional and gubernatorial contests into choices between two competing acknowledgmentvisions, rather than a referendum on his two years in office.”

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a leading Democratic candidate vying for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat, says he suffered a stroke on Friday but is on his way to a full recovery, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

“Fetterman said doctors told him he suffered no cognitive damage and that he could return to the campaign trail after resting and recovering.”

The Democratic primary is on Tuesday.

New York Times: “The development upended his ability to engage voters in-person during the most intense stretch of the race. Still, he has been leading his main Democratic rival, Representative Conor Lamb, by double digits in sparse public polling.”

Kathy Barnette, a Republican Senate candidate in Pennsylvania who has climbed in the polls against two big-spending rivals, on Sunday sought to downplay her past Islamophobic messages on social media, telling a Fox News host that some of them were “not even full thoughts,” nor “even full sentences” but rather, prompts intended to facilitate a conversation, the New York Times reports.