Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a new U.S. House redistricting plan that will give the GOP 4 more seats. The law was immediately challenged in state courts.
02c U.S. Politics – Election
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President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans are quietly exploring whether Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) could be pulled away from the Democrats, as tensions between the Pennsylvania lawmaker and his own party continue to surface.
According to a report, GOP officials believe that even if Republicans were to lose several Senate seats in November, flipping Fetterman could help them maintain control of the chamber.
President Trump has reportedly made a direct pitch, offering his full endorsement along with potential financial backing if Fetterman were to switch sides.
At the same time, several Senate Republicans have begun engaging with Fetterman more informally, testing whether he might be open to distancing himself from Democrats.
Despite the outreach, Fetterman publicly pushed back.
“I’m not changing,” he said.
“I’m a Democrat, and I’m staying one.”
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There has been an interesting theory floating around that one of the reasons Donald Trump improved his standing with voters age 18-34 in 2024 was that the youngest among that age group were not old enough to remember how bad the first Trump term was, thus, they were susceptible to Trump’s campaign style of lies and promises that will never come true.
After getting the full Trump treatment for a year plus of his second administration, those voters have come back to Democrats in a big way.
Politico reported on a new poll of young voters from the nonpartisan Generation Lab:
It shows young Americans planning to vote Democratic in November by a margin of 52 percent to 19 percent. Broken down by party, the data indicates that the GOP has a significant base problem: Just 58 percent of young Republicans say they’ll vote GOP — with nearly a third selecting “neither” or “won’t vote.” By contrast, 85 percent of young Democrats intend to show up for their party at the ballot box.
Just as in 2024, deep discontent with the state of the economy is driving anger at the party in power. Now, 81 percent of young Americans rate U.S. economic conditions as bad or terrible — including 68 percent of Republicans. The younger the age bracket, the more optimism diminishes.
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The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is at it again — anointing preferred candidates in hotly contested 2026 primaries and being accused, by their own party, of openly “putting its thumb on the scale” to protect establishment candidates.
Which is a fancy way of saying they’re being called out for rigging the primaries.
Shocker, I know. The party that feigns being warriors for ‘saving democracy,’ but then installed Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton when their voters chose Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, respectively, is at it again.
In the latest round of “Red to Blue” endorsements, the DCCC jumped into multiple tight Democratic primaries to boost candidates they have unilaterally decided can win in the general elections. Some of those candidates are trailing their opponents in both endorsements and fundraising.
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The redistricting war of 2026, which had appeared to conclude in a stalemate between Democrats and Republicans after Florida’s special session, is anyone’s to win.
In the wake of the Louisiana v. Callais ruling, Republicans in the South are on the move, ready to redraw maps the courts had previously blocked efforts to change.
The outcome of the renewed tit-for-tat redistricting war could determine which party controls the House of Representatives in 2026.
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana has already signed an executive order calling off the state’s May 16 House primaries to allow for redrawing the state’s map, declared a racial gerrymander by the high court.
Louisiana has two Democrat-held districts, held by Reps. Troy Carter and Cleo Fields.
Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee has also called a special session to redistrict after the ruling. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., is the only Democrat U.S. House member from the Volunteer State.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld South Carolina’s current congressional map in 2024. In light of the Court’s most recent decision on the Voting Rights Act, it would be appropriate for the General Assembly to ensure that South Carolina’s congressional map still complies with all…
— Gov. Henry McMaster (@henrymcmaster) May 1, 2026
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Not a single Democrat in the Senate is willing to support the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, and a new op-ed from The Washington Post might just explain why.
The SAVE America Act would amend the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) to require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote and voter ID to cast a ballot in federal elections. The current “safeguard” preventing noncitizens from registering to vote and voting is a tiny square box on the federal registration form asking applicants to attest they are telling the truth about their citizenship status. In other words, the honor system.
The legislation passed the House (with a single Democrat voting alongside Republicans) but has stalled in the Republican controlled Senate, with a few RINOs and the entire Democrat apparatus opposing the election integrity legislation.
Are Anti-Trans Measures Being Used as Republican “Ballot Candy”? – Mother Jones– www.motherjones.com
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At a fundraiser in early January, Nevada Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo outright admitted to donors he wasn’t the most inspiring candidate. “I am not enough of a motor—uh, a motivator—as a governor candidate to get them off the couch,” he said on a recording obtained by the Nevada Independent.
“We have a couple ballot initiatives we’re going to initiate in order to get voters out,” Gov. Lombardo reassured the room.
But the governor had a plan to fix it. “We have a couple ballot initiatives we’re going to initiate in order to get voters out,” he reassured the room. One measure would mandate photos IDs at the polls, a policy that targets racial minorities. The other initiative would tap into a newer but no less virulent strain of right-wing grievance: “The second thing we’re going to do is this thing called Men in Women’s Sports,” Lombardo said at another event last October, referring to a Nevada constitutional amendment he proposed earlier this year that would ban trans girls and women from playing on girls’ school sports teams.
“Yay!” a few listeners responded. “Yeah!”
“That’s going to get people out to vote,” the governor continued. “Because, just from the groans in the room, I think they’re going to support it.”
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A panel of voters on Fox News suggested that Republican control of government and President Donald Trump were to blame for “very, very, very high” prices.
During a Fox News segment on Monday, host Harris Faulkner asked the voter panel how they would approach the midterm elections. One independent said that she was frustrated and might not vote at all.
“Well, honestly, what has been holding me back is I feel like the change that I was expecting from the president himself,” voter Mary Josephine explained. “I don’t feel in my everyday life, which is concerning to me. I still feel, obviously, that, you know, prices are very, very, very high. You know, if you’re going to the grocery store or just in general, because inflation still exists.”
“Unfortunately, now we have the higher gas prices, which really hurt, you know, everyday people in their pocket,” the voter added. “And I’ve voted my entire life. And the frustration right now is, it’s just unbelievable. Because what really changes? I just feel like that we’re kind of, you know, just, you know, kind of steering the ship in the same direction.
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Democrats hope gerrymandering Virginia will give them the edge they need to win back the House. But Tuesday’s special election is proving more competitive than they’d like.
Tight polling and concerns over voter turnout in an atypical April election have many Democratic party strategists and officials preparing for a close finish.
“I always thought this campaign would be close [and] 24 hours out, I believe that to be the case,” Democratic strategist Jared Leopold said on Monday, before the final day of voting.
“Anytime you’re on the ‘yes’ side of a referendum, you’ve got the burden of proof,” he added. “It doesn’t matter what the referendum is, but anytime you’re arguing for ‘yes,’ the other side is going to be arguing for the status quo.”
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Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed a bill making Virginia the latest participant in the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact last week, as the compact draws perilously close to upending our constitutional order. Every American who cherishes our republic should take notice.
For years, left-leaning pundits and politicians have campaigned to scrap the Electoral College, the method the founders gave us for choosing presidents. Their vehicle is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. With Virginia’s recent entry, the compact now includes 19 jurisdictions (18 states plus the District of Columbia) controlling 222 electoral votes. That falls short of the 270 needed to trigger the scheme, but the trajectory is clear and troubling.
Virginia’s action carries special irony. This is the state of James Madison, the Father of the Constitution. Yet in April 2026 Virginia has joined an effort that effectively rewrites a core feature of the document Madison helped design.
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A billionaire running for governor of California just released a plan so radical it makes Gavin Newsom look like a moderate.
Tom Steyer, the hedge fund billionaire and failed 2020 presidential candidate who now leads the Democrat primary field for California governor, published a five-point immigration platform this week that calls for abolishing ICE, jailing federal immigration agents, and using state funds to bring deported illegal aliens back to California.
You read that right. He wants to arrest the people enforcing federal law and roll out the red carpet for those who broke it.
Fox News reporter Bill Melugin laid out the details:
NEW: CA gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer (D) releases an immigration platform that is radically left of Gov. Newsom. It includes:
– Abolish ICE
– Put ICE agents in jail & “treat them like the mob”.
– Bring those “kidnapped & detained by ICE back home.”
– Give CA AG power to… https://t.co/XqM8eK7Hhf— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) April 14, 2026
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It’s been about a week since now-former Rep. Tony Gonzales resigned from Congress after the Texas Republican admitted to having an unethical sexual relationship with at least one former aide, who later died by suicide.
Yet the state’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott, has yet to set a special election to fill Gonzales’ seat—and that silence is telling.
President Donald Trump carried Gonzales’ seat by just over 15 percentage points in 2024, according to data from The Downballot. In a normal year, that would make this seat a GOP lock.
However, this election cycle has been anything but normal.
Last year, Trump pulled New York Rep. Elise Stefanik’s nomination to serve as ambassador to the United Nations because he worried her seat would be competitive in a special election. And Trump carried Stefanik’s seat by nearly 21 points—making her Upstate New York district even stronger Republican territory.
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Steve Hilton, a Republican running for governor in California, said Sunday that President Trump’s low approval rating in his state will not play a role in the outcome of the gubernatorial race. “This election is going to be about the future of California and the fact that we’re desperate for change in California,” Hilton, whom…
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The Elitist Media continue to treat the exchanges between President Trump and Pope Leo XIV as an opportunity to try to drive Catholics from the President’s coalition ahead of the midterms. And absolutely no one is more ham-handed about it than ABC News.
Watch Rachel Scott’s report rehashing the controversy, with a sprinkling of Vice President JD Vance’s remarks at a Turning Point USA Event in Georgia, as aired on ABC’s World News Tonight on Wednesday, April 15th, 2026 (click “expand” to view transcript):
WATCH: @ABCWorldNews continues to ham-handedly try to pry Catholics away from President Trump’s coalition.
DAVID MUIR: Tonight, Vice President JD Vance now warning the Pope to, quote, “be careful.” What Vance was talking about as President Trump lashes out against Pope Leo. And… pic.twitter.com/ffS1oyOuwY
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 16, 2026
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Republicans have expressed fears both publicly and privately that their congressional majorities are in serious danger in November, as voters angry with President Donald Trump’s war in Iran and the fact that it’s making life even more unaffordable in the United States threaten to punish the GOP at the ballot box.
But now they have moved on from merely talking about those fears to taking concrete steps that make it clear they know their prospects are dire and that they are on track to lose control of not just the House but the Senate, too.
On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he is taking steps to ensure that Republicans will be ready to replace Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito should he choose to retire this summer, giving a little hint-hint to the 76-year-old with a lifetime appointment who was recently hospitalized with an unspecified illness.
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Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) holds a sizable cash advantage over his GOP rivals in the race for New Hampshire’s open Senate seat.
The Democrat raked in $3.3 million to his campaign account over the first quarter of the year as he vies to succeed retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). Pappas, who faces only nominal opposition for his party’s nomination, entered April with $4.2 million in his war chest, according to his Federal Election Commission filing.
Pappas’ leading GOP competitor, former Sen. John E. Sununu, raised $1.1 million directly to his campaign account and had nearly $1.9 million in cash on hand. He spent just $349,000, per his filing — a significantly lower burn rate than Pappas, who spent $2.3 million over the last three months.
Sununu’s primary rival, former Sen. Scott Brown, lagged even further behind. Brown raised a modest $321,000 and entered the second quarter with $783,000 in his campaign coffers. He spent more money than he brought in, according to his filing.
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The New York Times published a detailed article about how national Democrats are losing enthusiasm for Maine’s Senate race. Incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins is at risk, but the leading candidate in the Democratic primary is an oyster farmer with Nazi tattoos, who also trained with an Antifa-like militia. He apologized for getting the tattoo, removed it, then withdrew the apology, and now appears to suggest that his military service turned him into a Nazi, or something similar.
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Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff holds a massive fundraising advantage over the Republicans hoping to unseat him in November, giving him a head start as the GOP field remains fractured.
Ossoff, considered one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents of the cycle, raised $14 million during the first quarter of the year and ended with more than $31 million cash on hand — a significant war chest that dwarfs the combined totals of his Republican challengers, according to filings from the Federal Elections Commission.
On the GOP side, Rep. Mike Collins led in first-quarter fundraising, raising just over $1 million and entering the second quarter with $2.1 million in cash on hand. Collins has been a front-runner in public polling of the race, but with a large share of voters still undecided ahead of the May primary, the contest appears increasingly likely to head to a June runoff.
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Maryland’s Legislature is run by Democrats, yet it refuses to gerrymander the congressional districts in its state. Virginia Democrats could learn something from the Free State.
Like it or not, Virginia is constantly comparing herself to next-door Maryland. Out of the 47 seats in the Maryland Senate, 34 are held by Democrats.
Still, those senators chose to leave mid-decade redistricting in a committee drawer rather than comply with former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and his nationwide redistricting campaign.
To be fair, President Donald Trump did say it would be nice if Texas — when ordered by the courts to redraw a few districts because they failed the Voting Rights Act “majority-minority” litmus test — made a few more Republican-majority seats.
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Democrats have a problem.
And it’s not just Republicans saying it.
CNN — yes, CNN — just dropped a poll that has to be sending shockwaves through every Democrat strategy meeting in the country right now. According to their own data, only 28% of Americans view the Democrat Party favorably. That is the lowest number CNN has ever recorded going all the way back to 1992….
In 2018 — the last time a Republican was in the White House during midterms — Democrats led net favorability by 12 points. In 2006, they led by 18. Those were both blue wave years.
Now? The script has completely flipped.
Take a look:
🚨 HOLY CRAP! Even CNN was just forced to report that REPUBLICANS are leading net favorability by +5 points ahead of the 2026 midterms
That is HUGE, given in 2018, Democrats were +12
“Look at this. Party ahead, midterm year with GOP president? Republicans actually AHEAD by 5… pic.twitter.com/CgfJqWYezB
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 6, 2026
And here are the raw numbers straight from CNN’s own polling:
CNN POLL
March 26-30
Choice for CongressNow Jan.
Democrat 48% 46%
Republican 42% 41%Favorable Opinion Of…
Only Republicans 28%
Only Democrats 24%
Neither party 26%
Both parties 3%https://t.co/d9m3gZSIG0— Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 3, 2026