New York Times: “Democrats are also expanding their ambitions in Senate elections, where the four-seat pickup needed for control once felt impossible. Democrats initially focused on maintaining seats in Georgia, Michigan and New Hampshire, with possible pickups in Maine and North Carolina. Now they are looking at Ohio, Alaska, Texas and Iowa — and wondering how to support independent candidates challenging Republicans in Nebraska and Montana.”

“And in the House, there are plans to soon add more seats that Mr. Trump carried by as many as 20 percentage points.”

“At a campaign rally in Augusta, Georgia, on Saturday, the Democratic senator Jon Ossoff mocked Donald Trump’s rosy predictions on Iran and tore into what he called the unprecedented corruption of the president’s family,” The Guardian reports.

“While Ossoff is running for re-election in November, he trained most of his fire on the president, and the vice-president, amid mounting speculation that the Democrat could launch a bid for his party’s nomination for the presidency in 2028.”

Earlier for members: Jon Ossoff Emerges as a Democratic Dark Horse

Associated Press: “Indiana’s primary on May 5 has become an unlikely test of Trump’s grip on the Republican Party. After state senators defied White House pressure by opposing redistricting, Trump has endorsed seven primary challengers in races that rarely attract any attention from Washington.”

“The campaign, backed by national organizations such as Turning Point Action and pro-Trump groups that have spent more than $4.2 million on advertising, has no precedent in recent memory. Gov. Mike Braun and U.S. Sen Jim Banks, both Republicans, are also working against incumbent state senators in a display of deference to Trump.”

“Republican officials are sounding the alarm and urging significant changes ahead of November’s midterm elections, worried that the war in Iran and Democratic enthusiasm could lead to a blowout,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“In some places, they fear it might already be too late.”

“Candidates looking to take down sitting members of Congress in primaries are stockpiling cash as their races heat up, according to fundraising reports filed Wednesday — and it’s Democratic lawmakers who are mostly on defense,” NBC News reports.

“At least nine House Democrats and one Democratic senator, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, were outraised by their primary challengers in the first fundraising quarter of the year, suggesting the energy within the party that is clamoring for new leaders is fueling some of these contests.”

“Steve Bannon on Thursday offered a rosy view of the populist right’s influence — and of Republicans’ fortunes, predicting they would keep the U.S. House this fall,” Semafor reports.

Said Bannon: “I feel better than ever.”

“He touted the success of conservative Senate candidate Ken Paxton in Texas and polls showing that less than a majority of South Carolina voters approve of GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, whose hawkishness has made him a frequent political punching bag for Bannon.”

Analilia Mejia (D) has won a special election for New Jersey’s 11th congressional district, the New Jersey Globe projects, keeping Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s (D) old seat under Democratic control and handing a huge win to the insurgent progressive movement that powered Mejia’s campaign.

The Atlantic: “Midterm elections are typically rough for an incumbent president’s party. But this year threatens to be brutal. Trump’s approval is lower right now than it was at this point ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, when Democrats won back the House in a historic blue wave.”

“Almost every new poll is a red flag for Republicans: Independents, young voters, and Latinos—groups that were crucial to Trump’s win in 2024—aren’t in the bag anymore. Even non-college-educated white Americans, once the president’s strongest group, have turned on him, according to a CNN polling average. Democratic-leaning voters are 17 points more likely than GOP-aligned voters to say they’re “extremely motivated” to vote in November.”

“Many Trump voters, in other words, have had it. At this point, it seems safe to declare that the historic coalition that powered the president’s second reelection is finished—kaput. The question is whether, with seven months to go until the midterms, any semblance of it can be revived.”

Politico: “Steyer vaulted himself into the top tier of the wide-open race with a $120 million advertising blitz and a concerted courtship of the state’s progressive powers…”

“Steyer’s spending allowed him to steadily climb out of the low single digits and into the upper echelon of a brimming Democratic field, along with Swalwell and former Rep. Katie Porter. Now, with Swalwell out, Steyer is dominating the airwaves, with a rotation of ads so heavy he is nearly omnipresent in California’s expensive media markets.”

A new Emerson College survey of Michigan likely Democratic primary voters finds 24% support Abdul El-Sayed and Mallory McMorrow in the August U.S. Senate primary, while 13% support Haley Stevens.

Thirty-six percent are undecided

New York Times: “James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Texas, raised $27 million in the first months of 2026 — a remarkable haul that far outpaced that of any other Senate candidate. His campaign said it was the most a Senate hopeful had ever raised in the first quarter of a year.”

“Pro-Israel megadonor Miriam Adelson gave $40 million to the Republicans’ House and Senate super political action committees, boosting the party’s war chest as it fights to maintain control of both chambers,” Bloomberg reports.

“Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner repeatedly praised the tactics used by Hamas terrorists in comments made about a graphic video of a Hamas raid into Israel in 2014, in which terrorists killed at least five Israeli soldiers,” Jewish Insider reports.

Said Platner: “Pragmatically I have little problem with killing an enemy combatant who you attempt to capture but for whatever reason cannot. From a strictly professional standpoint, this was a damn fine looking and successful raid against a superior opponent, I dig it.”

“Why should we keep the majority? We’ve gotten one bill passed, and that was President Trump pushing and pushing and pushing, and it took us 18 hours to get Republicans to vote for it — 18 hours straight on the Senate floor. And it’s embarrassing that we’re up here raising money to continue with the same people being up here. It’s just nonsense.”

— Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), on Benny Johnson’s podcast.