Election Watch

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President Donald Trump has removed the remaining Democrat members of the Election Assistance Commission, leaving the federal election agency without commissioners as his administration pushes to tighten election security ahead of the 2026 midterms.

The move affects the only federal agency devoted solely to election administration.

Trump fired Democratic commissioners Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland on Thursday, according to Votebeat.

Republican Commissioner Christy McCormick was allowed to resign rather than face termination, three sources inside the agency told the outlet.

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The Maine Senate race has turned into a disaster for Democrats after more allegations, this time alleging rape, were dropped against Graham Platner yesterday afternoon. While Platner has not dropped out of the race yet and has not indicated what he plans to do, several prominent Democrats have withdrawn their endorsements and called on him to drop out.

That means Democrats have to find someone to run against Republican incumbent Susan Collins. Governor Janet Mills dropped out of the race ages ago, not seeing a path to victory, so it’s unclear if she’d return to try again. But there’s a report that Democrats are looking at Nirva Shah, the former Biden administration CDC Director.

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Retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) endorsed establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in Michigan’s race to succeed him in the Senate.

Peters backed Stevens over the more progressive candidate Abdul el Sayed in the highly anticipated Aug. 4 Democratic primary for the Michigan Senate seat, putting his thumb on the scale days after the candidates faced off in their first one-on-one debate.

“This is not about rhetoric. It’s about action. She has been a fighter for Michigan. She has been effective in getting things done for the state,” Peters said of Stevens to the Detroit News.

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Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich dropped an interesting X/Twitter post early Sunday morning:

Something interesting and unpredictable is happening around the country. In blue states Republicans are doing unusually well…In Minnesota Republican senate candidate Michelle Lafoya is tied at 47 with Democratic Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan. Hard to believe there is a blue wave coming when states like Minnesota and Oregon are in play. The continued rise of the big government socialist-weird values Democrats seems to be turning off a lot of people even in states that have traditionally been very leftwing.

 

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Michigan Democrat Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is pitching Medicare for All as a universal health insurance guarantee with no premiums, copays, deductibles, networks, or out-of-pocket costs, despite warnings that eliminating virtually all patient costs would leave taxpayers responsible for the bill.

In an exclusive clip from an interview on Intellectually Petty Radio provided to Breitbart News, El-Sayed said:

“I think you need to guarantee health care for everyone, cradle to grave, without premium, copay, deductible. Medicare for all. And I just want you to imagine, right, that that card that you get in your — via your private health insurer — that card sits in your back pocket. You pay a ton of money for it, and it goes away if you lose your job. Now, imagine you had one right there, but you got the day you were born that doesn’t expire until you expire, God willing, after a long, healthy life at 120 years old in your sleep. You don’t lose it if you turn 26. You don’t lose it if you turn 65. You don’t lose it if you get married, get divorced. Doesn’t matter. It’s there for you. There’s no network, and there’s no cost out of pocket. That’s the security people need and deserve.”

The remarks show El-Sayed doubling down on Medicare for All with no premiums, no copays, no deductibles, and no out-of-pocket expenses.

Medicare as it exists today does not operate that way. Seniors commonly pay Part B premiums, face deductibles, and remain responsible for coinsurance and other out-of-pocket expenses. The program is also heavily subsidized by federal taxpayers and contributes substantially to the national debt.

The healthcare systems

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Planned Parenthood Votes, the super PAC affiliated with the nation’s largest abortion company, is launching a more than $47 million campaign to take over Congress.

The abortion giant’s goal is defeating Republican lawmakers who voted to defund the abortion organization last year.

The spending, described as near-record for the group and second only to its $50 million outlay in 2022, will fund advertising and voter outreach in 10 battleground House races across seven states, as well as Senate contests in Maine and Michigan.

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On Wednesday evening, Graham Platner suspended his campaign as the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in Maine. He had faced a growing number of scandals and loss of support, with the final straw coming Tuesday when an ex-girlfriend claimedPlatner broke into her home and raped her.

“I think as many of you know, over the past couple days, I have faced some very serious allegations and I just want to make it clear this is all false,” Platner said in his video announcement.

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Former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene caught some well-earned heat after she posted — and quickly deleted — a sharp attack on the woman accusing Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner of rape.

In the since-removed post, Greene questioned why the accuser, Jenny Racicot, waited years to go public and suggested she was turning past consensual encounters into “rape for politics.”

The timing is more than a little ironic, coming from the same congresswoman who had spent months positioning herself as the loudest voice for Epstein survivors, pushing hard for a full release of the files, and ripping President Trump for allegedly slow-walking accountability for the elite.

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“Sexual violence is a red line. We are withdrawing our endorsement and calling on him to withdraw from this race.”

Multiple Democrats have pulled their endorsements of Senate candidate Graham Platner following a new report released on Monday that revealed a woman who dated him alleged he raped her. The report is the latest in a string of scandals that the Maine Democrat has faced on the campaign trail.

Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego wrote, “The allegations against Graham Platner are troubling and deeply serious. I am rescinding my endorsement.”

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The recent wave of primary victories by Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) candidates has the media celebrating a web of grassroots populism and a supposed “working-class uprising.” But look past the revolutionary rhetoric, and you’ll find a much more sinister reality: Modern American socialism isn’t being driven by the proletariat; it is being bankrolled by a cabal of deep-pocketed, ultra-wealthy leftists.

Historically, socialism has never been about uplifting the poor; it is an insider game designed to consolidate state control while shielding the wealth of the ruling class and ransacking the middle class along the way. To pave the way for this scam, these trust-fund radicals must first destroy the independent American family.

To do that, they have weaponized a nasty little phrase in our modern, grievance-obsessed culture. Whenever a person achieves success, buys a home, or launches a business, the bitter arbiters of online misery waste no time throwing an insult disguised as an observation: “You’re just doing well because your parents had money to help you.”

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Thursday on “The Alex Marlow Show,” Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow talked about John Hickenlooper.

Marlow said, “This is a guy described himself as an extreme moderate and a fiscal conservative allowing for all this socialism, Islamism, crazy stuff.”

The Alex Marlow Show, hosted by Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow, broadcasts coast to coast on weekdays from noon to 1 p.m. Eastern on the Salem Radio Network stations. You can listen to the radio show online here. The show also airs at 9 p.m. Eastern on the Salem TV news channel. Marlow’s podcast, The Alex Marlow Show Presented by Breitbart News, is released weekdays at 9 p.m. Eastern. You can subscribe to the podcast on YouTube, Rumble, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

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Ocasio-Cortez’s backing of el Sayed comes after a swing of several midterm primaries showed momentum growing against the Democratic establishment, with voters in states such as New York and Colorado picking either socialist or anti-establishment challengers over mainstream Democrats. The move also bucks the primary goals of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), whose preferred candidate in the Michigan Senate race is the more centrist Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI).

“Despite our ideological differences and whatever disagreements there are in the party, every single one of us sees this moment as existential,” Ocasio-Cortez told the New York Times, who first reported the endorsement. “And I think many people are willing to put aside differences in order to give us the best chance at winning. And I think that Abdul gives us that right now.”

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Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal senior contributor Victor Davis HansonSubscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos.

Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for the Daily Signal.

We’re watching a modern-day French Revolutionary-like takeover of the Democratic Party. We could call it the Reign of Terror or the Democratic guillotine.

What I mean by that, in 1793 and ’94, when the French Revolution was well on its way to fruition, a group of radicals called Jacobins, led by the Robespierre brothers, hijacked that revolution and decided that they were going to go far, far to the left of the effort to abolish the monarchy and rename the days of the week, the months, start with a year zero concept, go out and attack private property, and execute people.

Now, I don’t think the democratic socialists are going to do that, but their takeover is similar to the Jacobin takeover. And what is their agenda? Their agenda is a radical Green New Deal, war on fossil fuels, open borders, no deportations, no deportations even for criminally convicted.

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The math does not add up for the left, and polling data show they will have a much harder time picking up leads than they originally thought. This is because most sensible Americans do not appreciate how radical the party has become. And if you are surprised by this, you are probably a leftist buffoon.

According to CNN’s Data Analyst Harry Enten, the Democrats will need to pick up four seats and lead in at least one GOP-held seat in North Carolina if they hope to take back the Senate. The GOP currently leads six points in the key six swing states, with 53% saying the Democratic Party has gone too far left.

“On the mathematical march to four seats, there really is only one seat at this point that Democrats can look like they can count on,” Enten said.

While it is entirely possible they could win one or two of these seats, they need four, making this a “math problem,” according to Enten.

“These are states that are just very hard to win because, bottom line, what is holding them back is the fundamentals. And when you put it all together, and you look at the prediction marks, the chance to win the Senate, the environment is getting a little bit better for Republicans. There are seats on the table, but the fundamentals are against them,” Enten said. “Simply put, they have a statistical math problem.”

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Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow withdrew from the Democratic Senate primary on Sunday. Once running neck and neck with her rivals for the seat being vacated by Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), who is retiring, McMorrow had plummeted to a distant third after revelations about previously deleted tweets and a series of other campaign missteps.

While McMorrow is considered far-left, she stops short of being a democratic socialist.

She did not endorse either of the two candidates remaining in the race: Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), who is backed by both the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the United Democracy Project, the primary super PAC affiliated with AIPAC; or the radical Abdul El-Sayed, who has been endorsed by democratic socialists Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

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Former lawyer Melat Kiros, 29, has criticised the Democrats for their support of Israel during its genocidal war on Gaza.

Democratic ⁠socialist Melat Kiros has defeated 15-term United States Representative Diana DeGette in the Democratic primary in a Denver-area district in Colorado, according to US media projections, the latest victory of ‌a leftist over an establishment Democrat.

The race on Tuesday was called ⁠by multiple media outlets after 78 percent ⁠of the votes were counted and Kiros had a nearly 7,000-vote lead over DeGette.

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A closely-divided U.S. Supreme Court has handed down a critical decision on election integrity, jeopardizing the security of American elections and the sovereignty of the nation. In an opinion released Monday morning in Watson v. Republican National Committee (RNC), the court’s narrow majority ruled that mail-in ballots postmarked by election day may still be counted even if received after election day.

“Three federal statutes set the day for the election of Representatives, Senators, and the President,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote for the majority. At issue is a Mississippi state law allowing ballots received by mail and postmarked by election day to be counted for up to five days after election day. The RNC argued that federal statutes preempt Mississippi’s law and require ballots to be received by election day in order to be counted. Barrett and the majority concluded that the federal statutes “do not” preempt Mississippi’s law.

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Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) is an easy Exhibit A in the tilt at PolitiFact. In his first Senate run in 2020, PolitiFact’s Tom Kertscher threw a “Pants On Fire” flag at his opponent Sen. David Perdue for labeling Ossoff a “socialist.” Ossoff was endorsed by Bernie Sanders (and Ossoff welcomed it.) And yet, Ossoff can smear Trump as a “totalitarian farce” with no checking.

On Monday, PolitiFact threw a “False” at Ossoff’s current Republican opponent, Rep. Mike Collins:

U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff “cast the deciding vote for the inflation disaster,” referring to the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

PolitiFact newbie Ben Brasch really had to stretch reality to come to Ossoff’s defense. The Senate vote on the “Inflation Reduction Act” was 50-50, so if he had voted against it, that vote would decide it. He was a deciding vote.

But no, everybody blamed Kamala:

Ossoff supported the Inflation Reduction Act. Every Democratic vote was needed, but he was not the “deciding vote.” Harris, as vice president, came in to break the tie. 

Despite its name, the law had little effect on inflation. Inflation had peaked by the time it passed, and many provisions required phasing in over several years.

We rate the statement False.

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Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who served as head cheerleader in the left’s failed attempt to keep Donald Trump off her state’s 2024 Republican primary ballot, now faces a lawsuit alleging she broke the state constitution in permitting non-residents who have never lived in Colorado to vote in its elections.

Griswold, the leftist tool of the far-left machine that defiled the U.S. Constitution, is now accused of ignoring the Centennial State’s charter.

“Yet again, Democrats are trying to let people vote in a state where they’ve never lived,” Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters said in a statement. “Jena Griswold is ignoring Colorado’s Constitution and allowing non-residents to cast ballots in Colorado elections.”

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Sen. Ruben Gallego is under federal investigation for suspected campaign finance violations, a new report said Monday, threatening to cast a fresh shadow over the Arizona Democrat’s political future as he eyes a possible 2028 White House run.

The Justice Department probe comes even after the Senate Ethics Committee closed its own inquiry into allegations of sexual misconduct and campaign finance violations.

According to a letter released by Gallego’s office Monday, the Senate panel found no evidence that the freshman senator violated Senate rules or applicable law.

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The Supreme Court ruled Monday that ballots postmarked on or before Election Day but received afterward can be counted by states. “Election day” is now a misnomer because voting and counting go on for many weeks in states like California.

RedState’s Jennifer Oliver O’Connell explains:

A pivotal ruling on the fate of states that collect and count mail-in ballots after election day has been issued. In a 5-4 decision on Watson v. RNC, the Supreme Court of the United States held that federal Election Day statutes do not prohibit states from counting ballots postmarked by Election Day but received afterward under state law.

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President Donald Trump just gave Republicans something they usually lack in a midterm year: a national stage they control. 

The Republican Party will hold a first-ever midterm convention in Dallas on Sept. 9 and Sept. 10, less than two months before voters decide control of Congress on Nov. 3.

For a party defending narrow majorities, the move is bold and risky.

And smart.

Midterms typically punish the party in the White House. Gallup’s history shows the president’s party has lost an average of 25 House seats in midterm elections since 1946. From Reuters:

An off-year convention is unusual, with such events usually held only during presidential election years. Republicans are under pressure to hold on to control of Congress for Trump’s final two years in office and worry that voter unease over the economy and Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran could hurt their efforts.

“BIG NEWS! For the first time ever, the ⁠Republican Party will hold a MIDTERM CONVENTION. It will be in Dallas, Texas — One of my favorite places in the World. It will be fantastic!” Trump said in a social media post.

Trump plans to address the gathering, according to two Republican sources familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The move would further tie him to the election’s outcome at a moment when Republicans are confronting historic headwinds. The party that holds the White House in the first midterm elections after a presidential election usually loses congressional seats.

Presidents with under 50% approval have watched their parties lose an average of 37 House seats. Republicans don’t need a lecture from consultants; they need turnout, discipline, and a message strong enough to break through the usual noise.

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A 29-year-old socialist ended a longtime Denver congresswoman’s tenure with an upset victory in the Democratic primary Tuesday.

Melat Kiros, an Ethiopian immigrant and lawyer who was fired over her public criticism of Israel, stunned incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette winning 49.3% of the vote to the congresswoman’s 43.5%, the Associated Press reported with 78% of ballots counted. Endorsed by Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Kiros is the heavy favorite to win the November general election given Colorado’s First Congressional District’s strong Democratic lean.

In addition to the DSA, Kiros had the endorsements of Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Our Revolution, a left-wing group that began as a continuation of his 2016 presidential campaign. She also had garnered the support of Chris Rabb, a fellow DSA-backed candidate who won the Democratic nomination for a deep blue Philadelphia-based seat in May, and Justice Democrats — a group instrumental in helping Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez oust a longtime incumbent in a 2018 primary.

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A Fox News poll published Tuesday shows the 2026 Maine Senate race remains tight, with incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins holding a narrow lead over Democrat Graham Platner.

The poll shows that among registered voters, Collins receives 50 percent support to Platner’s 47 percent. The race shifts among the most engaged voters. Platner leads Collins 53 percent to 44 percent among those who say they are extremely motivated to vote, fueled by higher enthusiasm among Democrats.

About 76 percent of Democrats say they are highly motivated to vote, compared to 61 percent of Republicans. The poll also found voters have concerns about both candidates, but worries about Platner run deeper. Roughly one-third of independents said they are extremely concerned about Platner’s judgment, while 30 percent said the same about Collins having served too long.

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The Alaska Supreme Court has delivered the final blow to Republicans’ efforts to keep a Senate challenger by the same name as incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R) off the ballot.

In a short order handed down Monday, the court affirmed a ruling from a superior court that Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. must appear on the Aug. 18 primary ballot for U.S. Senate.

‘The only reason he is running is to deceive voters and manipulate Alaska’s election system.’

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Far-left Texas Democrat James Talarico is tied with Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a shocking new Senate poll, raising alarms that Democrats may have a path to threaten a reliable GOP stronghold.

Democrats have not won a U.S. Senate race in Texas in nearly four decades.

However, a New York Times/Siena survey released Tuesday found Talarico and Paxton tied at 47 percent support among likely Texas voters.

The race is one of a handful that could determine whether Republicans keep control of the Senate.