The U.S. and Canada Were Hours From a Trade Deal. Now 50 Percent Tariffs Are in Effect, and Canada’s Answer Arrives September 8.
Fifty percent U.S. tariffs on almost $20 billion in Canadian goods took effect at midnight Friday, August 22, after trade talks that both governments had described as nearly complete collapsed in their final hours. Prime Minister Mark Carney, who days earlier had been...
Trump Endorsed Darline Graham for Her Brother’s Senate Seat. On Tuesday, South Carolina Republicans Decide Whether That Settles It.
South Carolina Republicans vote Tuesday, August 25, in the runoff that will almost certainly decide who holds Lindsey Graham's Senate seat. Senator Darline Graham — appointed to the seat after her brother's death on July 11, encouraged to run by President Trump, and...
Health Insurance Premiums Jumped 58 Percent This Year. Insurers Have Now Filed for Another 15 Percent — and the New Rates Arrive Two Days Before the Election.
Insurers selling coverage on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces have proposed a median premium increase of 15 percent for 2027, according to KFF's analysis of rate filings from 276 insurers across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It is the second-highest...
RFK Jr.’s Health Department Canceled Nearly 200 Research Grants Without Explaining Why. Cory Booker and 29 Senators Are Demanding Them Back.
On July 15, roughly 150 research teams across nearly 30 states received notices from the Department of Health and Human Services that their federal grants were canceled, effective immediately. The grants came from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the...
Missouri Voters Gathered Signatures to Put Their New Map to a Vote. A Judge Ruled They Don’t Get One. The Redistricting Wave Is Now Locked In.
A Missouri judge ruled Wednesday that the state's new Republican-drawn congressional map will be used in November — and that the citizens who gathered signatures to overturn it by referendum do not get to vote on it. The ruling removes one of the last obstacles to the...
A Democratic Socialist Beat $16 Million in Florida’s Senate Primary. Trump’s Endorsement Lost Two More Races.
Primaries in Florida, Alaska, and Wyoming on Tuesday, August 18, set some of the last major matchups of the 2026 midterms — and extended two of the season's defining patterns. In Florida's Democratic Senate primary, state Representative Angie Nixon, a democratic...
Trump Sat on a $400 Million War Chest While His Party Worried About November. The Money Is Finally Starting to Move.
President Trump has given the green light to begin pouring money from his personal political action committee into boosting vulnerable Republicans ahead of the midterms, CNN reported Friday, with one person familiar with the discussions floating $30 million as a first...
The Homeland Security Secretary Says Election Officials Who Do Not Comply Could Face Prison. The Officials Had Questions.
Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin has said that state election officials who do not comply with the administration's election directives — including sharing their voter rolls with a federal immigration database — would be subject to fines and even prison...
Millions of Student Loan Borrowers Have Until September 29 to Pick a New Plan. Doing Nothing Puts Them in the Most Expensive One.
The SAVE plan, the income-driven student loan repayment program that millions of federal borrowers enrolled in, no longer exists. It was eliminated by the 2025 reconciliation law, and its endgame is now playing out on a clock: since July 1, 2026, loan servicers have...
A Senator Died. The Governor Gave His Seat to His Sister. On August 25, South Carolina Republicans Decide Whether She Keeps It.
When Senator Lindsey Graham died unexpectedly in July at age 71, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster filled the vacancy within two days — with Graham's younger sister. Darline Graham, who had never held elected office, was sworn in on July 14 as the first woman...
Trump’s Mail Voting Order Is Now Blocked in All 50 States. The Judge: “The Executive Branch Has No Authority to Regulate Elections.”
A federal judge on Tuesday, August 11, barred the Trump administration from implementing the president's mail voting executive order anywhere in the country, expanding a block that had previously applied only to the 23 states, plus the District of Columbia, that sued....
Trump Says His Election Bill Would “Guarantee the Midterms.” The Senate Left Town Without Passing It.
President Trump has spent the past several weeks publicly pressuring Senate Majority Leader John Thune to cancel the Senate's August recess and pass the SAVE America Act, the election overhaul bill Trump has called his top legislative priority of 2026. Trump's stated...
Trump Endorsed the MyPillow CEO for Governor of Minnesota. Republican Voters Chose the House Speaker Instead.
Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth won the Republican primary for governor on Tuesday, August 11, defeating both Mike Lindell, the former MyPillow CEO endorsed by President Trump, and Kendall Qualls, the candidate endorsed by the state Republican Party at its...
Four States Hold Primaries on Tuesday. In Minnesota, Trump’s Endorsed Candidate for Governor Is the MyPillow CEO.
Voters in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, and Vermont go to the polls on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, in the next round of primaries ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. Minnesota carries the day's heaviest card: an open governor's race created by Governor Tim...
The Senate Confirmed Todd Blanche as Attorney General, 50 to 49. The Deciding Vote Came From a Senator His Own Party Already Voted Out.
The Senate voted 50 to 49 in the early hours of Saturday, August 8, 2026, to confirm Todd Blanche as Attorney General of the United States. Every Democrat voted no, joined by two Republicans: Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Senator Mitch McConnell...
After the Supreme Court Blocked the Chicago Guard Deployment, Trump Withdrew From Three Cities. D.C. Was Different.
In December 2025, the Supreme Court refused to let the Trump administration proceed with its National Guard deployment in the Chicago area while litigation continued. Eight days later, Trump ended the Los Angeles deployment and abandoned attempted deployments in...
More Than 4.5 Million People Have Lost Food Assistance Since Last July. In 2027, States Get the Bill.
Participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the federal food assistance program formerly known as food stamps and commonly called SNAP, has fallen by more than 4.5 million people since July 2025, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget and...
Two Republican Senators Now Oppose Todd Blanche’s Confirmation as Attorney General. One Senator Holds His Fate.
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska announced on August 7, 2026, that she will vote against the confirmation of Todd Blanche as Attorney General of the United States, citing concerns about the politicization of the Justice Department under his leadership. Murkowski's...
Memphis Votes Under a New Congressional Map After Tennessee Erased Its Only Majority-Black District
On April 29, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3, along ideological lines, that Louisiana's majority-Black congressional district was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The ruling, in the case Louisiana v. Callais, effectively gutted what remained of Section 2 of...
A Progressive Won Michigan’s Democratic Senate Primary Against $65 Million in Outside Spending. Here Is the November Matchup.
Abdul El-Sayed, a public health official and former executive director of the Detroit Health Department, won the Michigan Democratic Senate primary on August 4, 2026, defeating four-term Congresswoman Haley Stevens in a close race that was not called until the morning...
The Federal Government Has Already Shut Down Twice This Year. The Senate Voted Today to Prevent a Third One Before the Midterms.
The Senate voted 89 to 4 on Monday, August 3, 2026, to advance a short-term government funding bill that would keep the federal government open through December 11, 2026, more than five weeks past the November 3 midterm elections. The vote is a procedural step — a...
The Justice Department Had a $1.8 Billion Fund to Pay Trump’s Political Allies. The Acting AG Just Killed It.
On Sunday night, August 2, 2026, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a formal order terminating the Justice Department's 'anti-weaponization fund,' an $1.8 billion pool of money the Trump administration had established to compensate political allies who...
Elon Musk Said He Got Too Involved in Politics. His PAC Is Spending Up to $120 Million on the Midterms.
In May 2026, Elon Musk told The Economist that he had gotten 'a little too involved in politics' and said he 'got carried away, frankly.' On July 29, 2026, Axios reported that Musk had authorized his super political action committee, America PAC, to spend between $100...
The EPA Repealed the Legal Basis for All Federal Climate Rules. 24 States Are Suing to Get It Back.
On February 12, 2026, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule rescinding the agency's 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding — the formal legal determination that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare. EPA Administrator Lee...
The August Primaries Start in Four Days. Here Is What Is on the Ballot Before November 3.
The November 3, 2026 midterm elections are 95 days away. Before voters cast general election ballots, most states must first hold primary elections to select the candidates who will appear in November. August is the last major primary month of the 2026 cycle. Between...
Trump Said Michigan Is Thriving. Michigan Has Lost 8,300 Manufacturing Jobs Since His Tariffs.
On July 27, 2026, President Trump held a rally at the General Motors Proving Ground in Milford, Michigan. He told the crowd that 'Michigan is thriving,' that 'car companies are doing better than they've ever done,' and that all of it was happening 'all because of...
Trump’s Order to Defund NPR and PBS Violated the First Amendment. The Stations Are Closing Anyway.
On March 31, 2026, Judge Randolph D. Moss of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that President Trump's executive order directing the termination of all federal funding to NPR and PBS violated the First Amendment of the Constitution. The order,...
House Passes Stock Trading Ban With Presidential Exemption and Voter ID Requirement
On July 22, 2026, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Stop Insider Trading Act, a bill that would prohibit members of Congress, their spouses, and their dependent children from buying individual stocks while in office. The vote was 232 to 198. Thirteen...
Trump Tried to Create a Federal Voter List and Restrict Mail Ballots. Courts Blocked Him Twice.
This past weekend, the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — based in Boston — upheld a lower court's injunction blocking President Trump's executive order on mail-in voting. The order, signed in March 2026, directed the Department of Homeland Security to compile what...
The Justice Department Subpoenaed Three New York Times Reporters Over Air Force One Coverage. It Also Subpoenaed Their Spouses and One Reporter’s Mother. A Federal Judge Said the Government Had Turned the Law on Its Head. The DOJ Backed Down, Then Attacked the Judge.
On July 23, 2026, the United States Department of Justice withdrew subpoenas that would have compelled three New York Times reporters to testify before a federal grand jury and identify their confidential sources. The withdrawal came during a court hearing in which a...