“Amid a knockdown, drag-out fight for control of Congress, one issue is dominating advertising and transcending partisan divides, instead pitting challengers against incumbents: Everyone is running against members of Congress trading stocks,” NBC News reports.
“At least one TV or digital ad mentioning the issue has run in the last month in nearly every competitive race for Congress.”
For members: Affordability Meets Corruption
“A judge on Wednesday dismissed Donald Trump’s lawsuit accusing The Des Moines Register and its former pollster of misrepresenting the state of the 2024 presidential race, rejecting the president’s claim that the newspaper’s poll coverage violated Iowa’s consumer fraud law,” the Associated Press reports.
The Economist: “The president appears out of options to change voting rules before November. That does not stop other machinations. Three worries predominate: that the president might send federal officers to the polls to intimidate voters, order police to seize ballot boxes, or pressure MAGA-friendly election administrators to refuse to certify results.”
“State officials, Democratic congressmen and litigation non-profits have been war-gaming those scenarios for months.”
Washington Sun: “150 winners of primary elections, to fill 435 House seats, faced no opposition in the spring and summer contests, and now head into the general election without any doubt of their victory in November. A huge majority of those are incumbents seeking reelection.”
“Moreover, an additional 233 winners of House primaries sit in uncompetitive districts and are all but assured of winning, making the November general election an afterthought. That’s 88% of the entire House essentially already chosen through a primary process that often lacks competition itself.”
“Indiana’s Supreme Court on Thursday ruled after a months-long recount that a Republican incumbent state senator narrowly defeated his Trump-backed challenger in the GOP primary for the state Senate seat,” NBC News reports.
“The court declared state Sen. Spencer Deery the winner of the Senate District 23 Republican primary in May, certifying that he beat challenger Paula Copenhaver by three votes, and ordering that his name appear on the general election ballot in November.”
“Vivek Ramaswamy deleted a campaign video of himself taking swings in a batting cage after the clip became an online punch line and an eyewitness raised questions about how the footage was edited,” the Washington Sun reports.
“In 2023, a young speechwriter for the presidential campaign of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida suffered a seemingly devastating career setback,” the New York Times reports.
“Within days of Nate Hochman’s promotion of a pro-DeSantis video that flashed an image embraced by white supremacists, public outcry grew, and he was among a group of staff members fired by the campaign.”
“But Mr. Hochman’s career was not over… This year, Mr. Hochman took a position as a senior aide to one of the most powerful figures in the federal government… According to Mr. Hochman’s email signature, he is also Mr. Rubio’s chief speechwriter.”
“Alaska’s House and Senate contests are set for November’s general election, after the results in the state’s nonpartisan top-four primary put fringe candidates on the ballot, including one who shares the same name as the incumbent and a felon serving a 20-year prison sentence in New York,” CBS News reports.
“Tuesday’s Democratic primaries in Massachusetts are likely to determine who will represent the state in Washington next year,” the New York Times reports.
“The state is so Democratic that its primaries are usually more consequential than general elections in congressional races. The state’s last Republican House members left office after the 1996 elections. Scott Brown, who won a special election in 2010 after the death of Edward Kennedy, was the only Massachusetts Republican to serve in the Senate since 1979.”
Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.
Leave your reactions in the comments as the results come in.
“President Donald Trump took aim at Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) on Wednesday, declaring the congressman ‘ruined his career’ by endorsing former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) over him in the 2024 Republican presidential primary,” Mediaite reports.
“Florida is known for hurricanes and so the DSA is a disaster area in Florida — and there’s no federal reimbursement coming to help these people.”
— Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), quoted by Politico.
“Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was projected to win a competitive Democratic primary in a historically Black district in Florida, likely securing her return to the House of Representatives in January,” NOTUS reports.
“Rep. Cory Mills was defeated by a Republican challenger Tuesday in a Florida primary that tested voters’ tolerance of several serious controversies the lawmaker faces, including claims involving sexual misconduct and domestic violence,” the Washington Post reports.
“The federal investigation related to the dueling Republican Senate candidates in Alaska with the same name has entered a new phase,” NBC News reports.
“A grand jury last week issued subpoenas to compel information from witnesses linked to the campaign of Dan J. Sullivan.”
“The former schoolteacher who recently registered as a Republican is under investigation for potentially being part of a conspiracy to confuse voters and steal votes away from the incumbent, Dan S. Sullivan, who has been in office since 2015.”
“Tuesday’s primary punctuates just how much Florida, once the nation’s largest swing state, has been transformed into a solidly Republican bastion,” the New York Times reports.
“Florida’s electoral contests are no longer the nail-biters that led to past recounts and countless late-night jokes. Its politics now reflect how Republicans have consolidated power in President Trump’s adopted home state, which has become a proving ground for the next generation of ambitious Republican politicians.”
New York Times: Florida primary underscores state’s new identity as a Republican juggernaut.
“Embattled GOP Rep. Cory Mills is running for reelection Tuesday in a Florida primary that will test voters’ tolerance of serious controversy, including claims involving sexual misconduct and domestic violence,” the Washington Post reports.
”If Mills, 46, wins his race, Democrats believe the scandal-laden Republican’s victory could make the reliably red seat vulnerable to an upset in November.”
“President Trump voted by mail ahead of Florida’s Republican primary on Tuesday, participating for at least the third time in a practice that he has railed against for years and has equated to cheating,” the New York Times reports.
“President Donald Trump spent last week handing out coveted endorsements ahead of Florida’s Tuesday primaries. But amid the parade of thumbs-ups on Truth Social, one House Republican incumbent was conspicuously absent: Rep. Cory Mills,” Puck reports.
“Trump endorsed Mills earlier in the cycle, but his recent omission offers the clearest evidence yet of the campaign that House Republicans have been waging behind the scenes to ensure that the scandal-plagued congressman loses his primary.”
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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