President Donald Trump’s mid-cycle redistricting push is on the verge of stalling in Indiana, top state Republican officials have warned the White House, and Vice President JD Vance is on his way to the Hoosier state to turn things around.

The cautionary note, shared by three Republicans close to the deliberations, prompted Vance’s second trip in three months to the state to mount a “hard push,” one of the people said. The people cited in this story were granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks.

During the visit, the White House political shop is threatening to conduct its own whip operation.

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, a Republican, conveyed his concerns about the redistricting effort’s chances in the state Senate to the White House last week, two people familiar with those discussions told POLITICO. 

One of those people said Indiana GOP Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray “has been doing nothing to help the effort along or encourage his members, but has been really sort of hiding behind them, and maybe even subtly or not so subtly pouring cold water on the idea so that he can say he doesn't have the votes.”

The White House’s renewed pressure campaign comes as Republicans look to keep up their momentum in their national redistricting fight — building on new maps they passed in Texas and Missouri that could net them up to six House seats in next year’s pivotal midterms. Remapping Indiana’s congressional lines could help the GOP secure two more.

Some of those seats could be offset by the Democratic push to respond in California, where voters will decide on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s push in an Election Day ballot question. And given the GOP’s narrow advantage in the House, any stalling from a red state takes on added importance.

“I think the main thing is that the governor has consistently said that he wants to get the legislature on board with this approach,” the second person said. “He has indicated to the White House that he doesn't think that they're all there yet. And their main reaction to that is that, you know, the vice president wants to come out and continue to put the hard sell on Indiana legislative Republicans to get from point A to point B on this.”

Bray, according to the two Republicans, delivered the White House the same message. The state’s Speaker of the House, Todd Huston, told the president’s team he is willing to “get this done,” one of the Republicans said, but is concerned about securing votes in the Senate, as well as the optics of remapping the state mid-decade.

“I don't think Houston has been particularly helpful, but he's not really been harmful,” the person said. “I think he'll go along. And we can pull the house along if we have to.”

White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair and Political Director Matt Brasseaux are expected to arrive in the state Thursday in their personal capacities to help with the pitch. They’ll be joined by Republican National Committee Chief of Staff Michael Ambrosini.

“I think the White House is going to take stock of the votes,” one of the Republicans told POLITICO. “And if people are going to say we’re not going to help Republicans, then I think the White House is going to make them tell them that to their face."

The White House and a spokesperson for Vance did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Bray declined to comment. And a spokesperson for Huston said, “the Speaker is still having conversations and getting feedback from his caucus members and constituents on this topic.”

Vance learned of the talks in recent days, one of the Republicans allied with Trump’s efforts said, and offered to go to Indiana for a second time, following his August visit to meet with local Senate Republicans.

Since the Vance meeting, Club for Growth Action, a top conservative super PAC, has also run digital ads pressuring Indiana lawmakers to take up redistricting.

Vance’s visit comes just weeks after former Transportation Secretary and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigeig visited the Indiana Statehouse to rail against redistricting efforts, saying that Hoosier Republican leaders were “ashamed of what they’re doing.”

White House allies in Indiana have argued that the death of MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk, who backed primaries for holdout state lawmakers, should lead to renewed efforts to redistrict.

“They killed Charlie Kirk — the least that we can do is go through a legal process and redistrict Indiana into a nine to zero map,” Sen. Jim Banks, the Republican of Indiana, told POLITICO last month.

The Indiana Capital Chronicle earlier Wednesday first reported of Vance’s visit.

“It’s probably fair to say that the House, all things being equal, would rather not do it, but they're also not going to go walk the plank before they know they've got cover across the hallway,” the person added of the state Senate.

Andrew Howard contributed to this report. 

© Francis Chung/POLITICO

Late spending, exacerbated by a mid-battle candidate switch, and lack of attention to voters’ top concerns are among the reasons Democrats lost the White House last year, the Democratic National Committee determined in its assessment of the defeat.

The DNC started briefing top Democrats this week on parts of its post-election review, a highly anticipated post-mortem for a party still divided over what led to President Donald Trump’s second victory and how to forge a path back to electoral power.

DNC officials argued Democrats didn’t spend early or consistently enough to engage and persuade voters, one of several problems the party faced in 2024, the committee said. Swapping Joe Biden with Kamala Harris atop the ticket intensified those systemic, long-term problems for the party, the officials said, according to two people briefed by the DNC this week and granted anonymity to discuss those conversations. So far, Biden's age has not come up, they said.

The DNC officials said the party’s failure to respond to voters’ top issues led to losses across once-core constituencies, including working class voters. One of the people briefed said they understood that assessment to mean Democrats “didn’t talk enough about bread-and-butter issues, and instead, we talked about social issues, social anxieties.” That could portend a DNC critique of the Harris campaign, which some Democrats said emphasized abortion and democracy over the economy and immigration.

The DNC is not expected to release its post-election report until after the New Jersey and Virginia elections in November, arguing privately they must focus on the off-year races in which Democrats appear poised to win the blue states.

The third person briefed on the report said it will examine Democrats’ role in the media ecosystem, advocacy, organizing and technology, and make recommendations for how the party can improve. It will also analyze paid content, messaging, candidate travel and spending decisions from last year.

One of the people described the takeaways as “one, we can’t invest late in building out infrastructure in the states, and two, long-term investment is more important than late investment.”

“The problem with our side — we saw it in 2016, 2020 and 2024 — the money comes late and we need the money to come earlier. The issue for our side is not the lack of money, it’s how late it comes,” the person added.

Even so, it’s not clear how some of these conclusions square with reality.

The Biden campaign did only maintain a skeletal on-the-ground staff in some battleground states, worrying in-state Democrats, as POLITICO reported in December 2023. But Biden’s campaign also started communicating with voters earlier than any other modern presidential reelection campaign.

Biden’s campaign dropped $25 million on ads in September 2023, earlier than both Barack Obama and Donald Trump’s reelection timelines. It spent another $30 million in March 2024 on ads. At the time, Biden’s team argued this early investment would activate key voters.

What questions the DNC tackles in its post-mortem, what conclusions it draws, and who it blames, if anyone, will inevitably inflame Democrats, reopening wounds over an election in which the party lost ground with voters across every demographic and ceded every swing state.

DNC Chair Ken Martin pledged to publicly release the results after he was elected in February, turning what would end up in the post-election review into a parlor game for frustrated Democrats. Some hope the party will take aim at the consultant class, a position Martin ran on during his in-house race. Some Democrats want the leadership of Harris’ campaign to receive more direct blame, while others point fingers at Future Forward, the flagship super PAC that backed her bid. And others believe the DNC needs to more aggressively reevaluate its own role in the defeat.

It’s also not clear if the report will tackle Biden’s advanced age — a top attack line from the GOP that his team downplayed, but one that was put on national display during his disastrous debate performance — and well as his decision to not exit the race until three months before the election.

So far, in these sessions, the DNC did not call out any person or entity by name, these two people said, but one acknowledged, “I don’t know what’s in the full document.”

When asked about the briefings, a DNC aide said the committee was in regular contact with Democrats to share early insights of its analysis, but added the report was not complete and interviews are still ongoing. The aide warned that topics not covered in the briefings may be addressed in the final assessment.

Two of those briefed said the DNC is also using the sessions to prepare for the New Jersey and Virginia elections, where it’s piloting new voter contact projects.

“The DNC has this core role as an infrastructure hub, and they’re looking critically at where that wasn’t strong enough and early enough,” the second person continued. “There were a lot of conversations about what kind of quality persuasion tactics should be deployed, how long that stuff takes, the perpetual problem of talking to voters at the very end of the cycle.”

They also said the DNC shared an analysis of the Republican ecosystem, particularly focused on their online communications, where Democrats “tend to go dark in the off-years in a way [Republicans] don’t do,” the person added.

© Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP

Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson is challenging 10-term House incumbent Steve Cohen, turning the Democratic primary into the latest test of the party’s debate over age.

David Hogg's political group, established to elect younger people to office, is pledging $1 million to Pearson.

In his announcement video, Pearson described himself as a "Memphian, born and raised, who understands how to build bridges across race, identity, ethnicity and generations in order to build the future that we want to live into.”

“We always stand up against those who try to silence us, push us to the periphery, push us to the back, in the places that should represent us,” Pearson added. “Now, I am ready to fight for us in the United States Congress.”

The primary represents the latest clash between generational forces in the party, with the 30-year-old Pearson taking on the 76-year-old Cohen. A wave of Democratic primary candidates, from California to Indiana to Georgia, are challenging longtime incumbents whom they feel are weak leaders at a time when the party is searching for a path back to power. They argue the party needs a stylistic makeover, led by a younger generation of candidates.

Pearson didn’t name-check Cohen in his launch video, but a pair of his progressive backers did. Hogg, who co-founded Leaders We Deserve and pledged to challenge “asleep-at-the-wheel” Democrats, urged Cohen to “pass the torch” in a statement. Justice Democrats called Cohen an “average absentee congressman” who “rarely shows up in the community, campaigns for support or holds town halls … while still cashing checks from corporate PACs.”

Cohen is also the only white member from either party to represent a majority-Black district.

Pearson and Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones gained national attention for their expulsion, then reinstatement, to the state legislature in 2023. The pair led a gun control protest on the state House floor after six children were murdered at a Christian school in Nashville.

Cohen, who was first elected in 2006, has faced primary challenges before and he’s usually crushed his opponents. In 2024, he won with nearly three-quarters of the vote.

© George Walker IV/AP

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed called a fundraising email that went out on the anniversary of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel a mistake in a statement provided first to POLITICO.

“That email mistakenly went out yesterday. Abdul has been clear and consistent: he holds equally valuable the lives of all innocent people and condemns violence against them," said spokesperson Roxie Richner.

The fundraising email from El-Sayed's campaign started by marking that "Two years ago this month, Netanyahu’s military launched a ground invasion of Gaza. Since then, the world has watched tragedy unfold in real time."

It drew condemnation from many on the right and some Democrats, who criticized it for omitting any mention of Hamas' attack on Israel at the outset of the war. El-Sayed put out a separate statement on the two-year anniversary of the conflict Tuesday condemning Hamas' "heinous attack on Oct. 7" and also condemning Israel's "horrific genocide on Gaza."

The Israel-Hamas war could become a major flashpoint in the Michigan Senate race, with Democrats believing the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee could intervene in the contest. The group's political arm has previously backed Rep. Haley Stevens, who's also vying for the Senate nomination, during her time in Congress.

State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, the third major candidate in the race, recently staked out a new stance on the conflict and said she believed Israel's war in Gaza was a genocide.

El-Sayed had been a backer of Michigan's "uncommitted" movement during the 2024 election, though he'd said he would still support Democrats over Donald Trump. He ultimately endorsed Kamala Harris' presidential bid.

Pam Bondi's effusive praise of Trump

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Kevin O'Leary: US stake in Intel is 'waste of taxpayer dollars'

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Bari Weiss, co-founder and CEO of The Free Press, has been appointed CBS News’ editor-in-chief, Paramount announced on Monday. The Free Press will now operate under the company as well.

It’s a major move from the company, which merged with Skydance Corp. in August under CEO David Ellison. Under Ellison, the company has made several strategic acquisitions and is reportedly exploring acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery.

“This move is part of Paramount’s bigger vision to modernize content and the way it connects – directly and passionately – to audiences around the world,” Ellison said in a statement. “We believe the majority of the country longs for news that is balanced and fact-based, and we want CBS to be their home.”

Though she will remain CEO and editor-in-chief of The Free Press, Weiss will report directly to Ellison. The Free Press will maintain its own independent brand and operations, the company said.

Weiss and her wife, Nellie Bowles, launched The Free Press in 2021 with Weiss’ sister Suzy. She was previously an opinion writer for The New York Times.

Partnering with Paramount, Weiss said, allows The Free Press to expand its audience of 1.5 million.

“The values that we’ve hammered out here over the years—journalism based in curiosity and honesty, a culture of healthy disagreement, our shared belief in America’s promise—now have the opportunity to go very, very big,” Weiss wrote in a blog post on The Free Press.

Earlier this year, CBS and Paramount settled a $16 million lawsuit with President Donald Trump over a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Paramount then hired an ombudsman to analyze bias in CBS reporting.

Weiss said she believes in Ellison and “the entire leadership team who took over Paramount this summer.” She added that they plan to make CBS “the most trusted news organization of the 21st Century.”

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© Noam Galai/Getty Images for The Free Press

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Mallory McMorrow, the Michigan Democrat running in a three-way primary to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters, has shifted her stance on the war in Gaza and now believes it is a genocide.

Her latest evolution came during a chat with voters at a brewery in the West Michigan town of Allegan Sunday, just days ahead of the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that led to the conflict. McMorrow’s team provided video of the exchange to POLITICO.

During the back-and-forth, an attendee asked McMorrow whether she would accept support from AIPAC — the politically influential pro-Israel lobby that’s backing rival Democratic candidate Haley Stevens, a member of congress.

“I’m not accepting AIPAC support,” McMorrow told the questioner. “I’m not seeking their endorsement. I’ve never accepted their support. And what we are seeing in the Middle East is a moral abomination.”

She went on to say she would’ve supported Sen. Bernie Sanders’ resolution to block offensive arm sales to Israel and called for a two-state solution.

“My view on this is we have completely lost the humanity of this issue,” McMorrow continued. “It is talked about as like a third rail litmus test without acknowledging these are human beings. They’re people. And our position should be that there is no individual life that is worth more than another individual life.”

A different voter interrupted her to asked whether the conflict was a genocide. McMorrow paused for several seconds, exhaled, and responded, “based on the definition, yes.”

“I don’t care what you call it,” she added, saying for some Jews the term “means something very different to them: that if you lost family members in the Holocaust it means the specific medical testing, gas chambers, being put on a train — I don’t want us to get lost in, ‘do you agree with this definition or not.’ I want to get to the solution.”

The issue is personal for McMorrow, whose husband is Jewish: She received a death threat on her daughter’s life after Oct. 7.

Her remarks demonstrate the fast-moving politics of the issue in a battleground state ahead of next year’s midterms. And they come as the Michigan Democratic candidates are looking for ways to contrast ahead of the election.

They also isolate Stevens as the only remaining Democratic candidate not to call the conflict a genocide. Stevens recently declined two interviews with POLITICO on the matter. Abdul El-Sayed, a former Michigan health official, has long said the war meets that criteria.

Asked 13 days ago by POLITICO about whether the conflict in Gaza is a genocide, McMorrow said “dehumanizing Palestinians, declaring collective guilt, blocking food and medicine and bombing Gaza to the point of uninhabitability is a moral catastrophe.” She declined to use the word “genocide.”

A spokesperson for McMorrow said she based her new stance on a United Nations Commission of Inquiry report from Sept.16 declaring that a genocide took place, as well as conversations with community leaders.

Asked for comment on McMorrow’s position change and its involvement in the race, an AIPAC spokesperson said in a statement: “Israel is fighting a just and moral war and is demonstrating a clear willingness to end the conflict. Rather than making false and malicious allegations against the Jewish state, the pressure should be applied on Hamas to release the hostages and give up power.”

On Saturday, the day before McMorrow called it a genocide, she told POLITICO she faces questions about the issue at nearly every event. She acknowledged it was “a probably small percentage of voters that are voting based on the issue, but it's a lingering concern people have.”

El-Sayed, who is endorsed by Sanders, has warned that AIPAC backing Stevens and spending a lot of money in the race could help Republicans win the seat. He’s noted the state’s “uncommitted movement,” the national pro-Palestinian group, could fray the party’s coalition. Like McMorrow, he said he faces questions about the issue at every campaign stop.

“When I talk about the fact that our tax dollars are being misappropriated to weaponize food against children and to subsidize a genocide, rather than to invest in real people in their communities and their kids and their schools and their health care, it is the single biggest applause line in every speech,” El-Sayed told POLITICO in an interview before a party confab here. “People understand that this is not about what’s happening over there. This is about what's happening with our tax dollars over here.”

Later in the evening Saturday, McMorrow, el-Sayed and Stevens gathered inside a room for Best of the West, a traditional Michigan Democratic fundraiser at a hotel in downtown Grand Rapids. There, they heard Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, who is running for governor, also say that the war in Gaza is a genocide.

McMorrow’s comments came on a weekend in which candidates running in the contentious and longhaul primary—it’s not scheduled to take place until August, though state lawmakers have discussed moving it up—sharpened their knives against one another.

McMorrow and El-Sayed have also contrasted with Stevens over her receiving the tacit backing of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, whose leadership has become a flashpoint among a new generation of Democratic candidates.

Not long after El-Sayed recorded himself trying to eat a heaping, 12-stack cheeseburger to talk about rising costs and billionaires, POLITICO reported that Stevens was set to take a luxury California fundraising trip in Napa Valley this weekend amid the shutdown with members of the DSCC.

“The DSCC believes that Haley has the best chance to win in the general,” reads an email obtained by POLITICO from Stevens’ fundraising firm. “With a proven record of winning in tough elections, she starts this race with a clear lead. The Republicans are uniting in opposition to Haley Stevens in the primary, viewing her defeat as clearing a path to capturing a Michigan U.S. Senate seat for the first time in three decades.”

The email promotes a weekend fundraising swing though Los Angeles in addition to her Napa stop. “If the government hasn’t reopened, she won't attend the events,” a spokesperson for Stevens said.

Still, in such a competitive race even the trip itself was fodder.

“I've never been to a wine cave,” El-Sayed, who doesn't drink, told POLITICO in an interview. “I don’t really know what happens there, but I'll tell you this, I've been all over my state, and I've never found one.”

CLARIFICATION: Due to a transcription error, a quote from El-Sayed has been clarified.

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Rising GOP star Rep. Wesley Hunt is launching a long-shot Texas Senate bid, scrambling a heated primary between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton.

The race for the Republican nomination in the Lone Star State will likely be one the most expensive and bruising primary contests of the 2026 midterm cycle — and some Democrats see an opportunity in the red-leaning state if Republicans surrender their incumbent advantage. Already, Paxton has an edge in most polling of the primary race against Cornyn, though the incumbent senator has closed the gap in more recent surveys. President Donald Trump has yet to endorse in the contest.

Hunt’s announcement on Monday comes after months of work and millions of dollars spent by groups aligned with the two-term congressman to boost his profile outside of his Houston-area political base.

“The time is NOW,” Hunt said in a post on his X account that included a campaign video of testimonials from his wife, brother and longtime colleagues playing up his military record and his commitment to public service. It also included images of him standing next to Trump and made no mention of either of his primary opponents.

Now a three-way battle for the GOP nomination, some Republican strategists anticipate none of the candidates will garner enough votes to win the March 3 primary outright, likely forcing a runoff in May. Privately, some establishment Republicans worry that Hunt's entry in the race could boost Paxton. Over the summer, the establishment-aligned Senate Leadership Fund urged leaders to boost Cornyn’s embattled reelection campaign, arguing in memo obtained by POLITICO in August that Paxton is a “weak candidate who puts the Senate seat at risk in the general election.”

Responding to news that Hunt had launched his bid, SLC communications director Chris Gustafson said, "It's unfortunate that Wesley Hunt has decided to abandon President Trump's efforts to protect the House majority and instead his person ambition... With every credible poll showing him in a distant third place, the only person celebrating today is a giddy Chuck Schumer."

Hunt published a video on X on Monday in which he said that he takes "offense" to the "establishment" criticizing his bid. "I assure you, this is not a vanity project."

Cornyn is in the political fight of his career as he looks to court a base that's increasingly viewed him as disloyal to Trump, particularly after the senator said that Trump could not win the 2024 presidential election before eventually endorsing him the following year. According to internal polling from Cornyn's campaign conducted last month, Hunt received 17 percent of the vote in a hypothetical three-way matchup. It also found Cornyn garnered 32 percent to Paxton's 31 percent support.

“John Cornyn is a battle-tested conservative who continues to be a leader in delivering President Trump’s agenda in the U.S. Senate and he’s the best candidate to keep Texas in the Republican Senate Majority," National Republican Senatorial Committee communications director Joanna Rodriguez said in a statement. "Now that Wesley has chosen personal ambition over holding President Trump's House Majority, there will be a full vetting of his record. Senator Cornyn's conservative record of accomplishment stands tall against Wesley’s."

But Paxton has some vulernabilities of his own. He survived an impeachment inquiry in 2023 where he was acquitted of 16 articles stemming from misuse of power, corruption and bribery. He is also in the midst of a bitter divorce from state Sen. Anglea Paxton, who said she was seeking an end to their 38-year-marriage on “biblical grounds,” publicly accusing him of adultery.

Hunt has made his closeness to Trump a key part of his pitch. He served as a surrogate for the president on the campaign trail last year, working alongside fellow Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) to boost Trump’s standing among Black voters.

During his initial runs for Congress, Hunt received the Trump endorsement, including in 2020 when he narrowly lost a bid to unseat then-Democratic incumbent Rep. Lizzie Fletcher for a Houston-area seat. Following the 2020 census, Texas added two new congressional districts and the state’s GOP-led Legislature drew the 38th Congressional District, which is the seat Hunt currently holds. Hunt notched a 26 percentage point win last year.

Trump’s endorsement is seen as pivotal in GOP primary. To receive it, Hunt will likely have to prove he can raise money at the same rate as Cornyn and Paxton. In the most recent campaign finance reports, Hunt raised just over $400,000 for the quarter ending in July — impressive for a member that faces little opposition but far short of what he'd need to mount a serious statewide bid. Meanwhile, Paxton hauled in $2.9 million for the same period while Cornyn’s political operation pulled in $3.9 million, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.

Democrats also have a contested primary. Former Rep. Colin Allred, a Dallas Democrat who fell short in his push to unseat GOP Sen. Ted Cruz last year, is facing off against state Rep. James Talarico, a rising star.

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© Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Democrats are pushing their candidates to go on the offense on crime ahead of the 2026 midterms, seeing upside in what’s been one of their weakest electoral issues.

A private polling memo that shows potential openings for the party to peel voters away from Republicans on one of their core issues is being distributed to House Democrats and their campaign committees, and was shared exclusively with POLITICO.

The battleground-district survey from Global Strategy Group — commissioned by gun-safety advocacy group Giffords and House Majority Forward, a nonprofit aligned with House Democratic leadership — offers a bleak assessment of Democrats’ starting point: 89 percent of the 1,200 likely voters surveyed want their Congress member to take steps to keep them safe, but only 38 percent trust Democrats over Republicans with that task.

Voters also reported preferring Republicans to Democrats with preventing and reducing crime and cracking down on violent crime — gaps that grew among swing voters.

But, in a hint of hope for the party looking to neutralize a weakness President Donald Trump will exploit next year, those voters swung toward Democrats in all four categories after hearing messaging acknowledging crime is a problem and showing steps the party has taken to increase safety. Specifically, pollsters cited cracking down on gun trafficking and strengthening firearm background checks. The persuasion effort included criticisms of GOP cuts to gun-violence prevention funding, the Trump administration’s attempts to roll back firearm regulations and Republicans’ ties to pro-gun groups.

The double-digit swings gave Democrats a 2-point advantage when respondents were asked about crime reduction, 4 points on keeping people safe and 6 points on crime prevention. The shifts were even more pronounced among swing voters.

Democrats also shrunk the GOP advantage on preventing violent crime to 1 point.

Giffords, House Majority Forward and Global Strategy Group pollsters are in the midst of briefing top House Democrats, frontline candidates and party committees about the poll, which was conducted in July. The groups are angling to revamp Democrats’ crime messaging, urging candidates to project toughness on crime and campaign against traditionally law-and-order-focused Republicans for making cities less safe by slashing federal funding.

And they want the party to shift quickly, lest they give Republicans a runway to ramp up their attacks in the upcoming midterms, when Democrats look to deny the GOP its slim advantage in the House.

“We do not want people to get shot or stabbed or carjacked. We want to hold people accountable when they break the law. None of that is revolutionary. But we do have to actually say that,” Emma Brown, Giffords’ executive director, said.

Doug Thornell, the CEO of consulting firm SKDK, who advised the polling project and works with Democrats including Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, called crime “personal and emotional to voters, and they expect their leaders to make it a serious priority.”

But Democrats face a difficult task in trying to figure out how to handle voters’ concerns over crime, with Trump fomenting those worries by sending the National Guard into blue cities across the country as part of a broader law-and-order crackdown.

Democrats are responding to the push with recent statistics that show violent crime falling from a pandemic-era spike and touting their investments in anti-violence initiatives. But they have struggled to change voters’ perceptions that they’re weak on crime — a belief that helped Trump’s 2024 victory.

Polls show voters largely trust Republicans more on crime; a Reuters/Ipsos survey last month found the GOP holds a 20-point advantage over Democrats on the issue. They see crime-fighting as a strength of the president, who maintains higher approval ratings on lawlessness than on the economy. Republicans are already hammering Democrats in key midterm races as “soft on crime” and anti-law enforcement.

And Democrats have spent years trying to distance themselves from the “defund the police” slogan that hurt them with their own constituents — touting support for law enforcement and tough-on-crime tactics in an acknowledgment they need to retool their approach to criminal justice.

“Anytime Republicans make an aggressive stance and the Democrats criticize it, it looks like the Democrats are defending the status quo. And no one believes the status quo is acceptable when it comes to crime,” GOP pollster Whit Ayres said.

The Democratic groups that commissioned the poll see political openings on crime and on gun violence. Mass shootings topped the list of crimes voters worry, and neighborhood shootings ranked third. Majorities of respondents said easy access to guns and illegal gun trafficking contribute heavily to crime.

Operatives point to Moore, as well as Mayors Justin Bibb of Cleveland and Michelle Wu of Boston, as Democrats who’ve prioritized public safety while parrying Trump’s National Guard push.

But Democrats are not unified.

Some battleground-district Democrats are imploring party leadership to do more to defend law enforcement funding, while others in the emerging slate of populist candidates hardly mention public safety as they position themselves to win back working-class voters on economic messaging.

Democratic-aligned think tanks and strategists disagree on the specifics of what more proactive messaging should look like.

A recent Vera Institute polling presentation to Democratic National Committee members suggested the party use “serious about safety” messaging instead of “tough on crime” talking points and was quickly panned by more centrist Democratic figures — even as other aspects of the progressive criminal justice group’s argument aligned with advice being doled out across the party.

“This is where we should be unifying,” Kim Foxx, a former state’s attorney in Cook County, Illinois, said. “It's right there that we don't have transparency on police killings anymore, that in [the Trump administration’s] effort to go after immigration, they're cutting funding to strategies that work to reduce violence. … We just have to be bold and call it out with a consistent message.”

© Noah Berger/AP

CHICAGO — Jesse Jackson Jr., once a rising Democratic star who saw his congressional career unravel in scandal, is returning to the political stage. He will announce his bid this week for the same Illinois congressional seat he vacated over a decade ago.

“Jesse has been meeting with residents whose concerns about the economy convinced him to run,” according to a person close to his campaign granted anonymity to speak freely. “He feels the district needs results fast and he is uniquely qualified to deliver.”

Jackson will spend the coming weeks unveiling his economic plan and policy platforms to address the cost of living, joblessness and health care access, according to the person.

It’s a dramatic twist for a man whose life once seemed destined for the national spotlight. The son of civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson, he was first elected to Congress in 1995 and held his position for 17 years before it all came crashing down.

Jackson, whose brother is Illinois Rep. Jonathan Jackson, is now running for the seat currently held by Rep. Robin Kelly, who is stepping down to run for U.S. Senate in 2026. Kelly joins Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi in a competitive primary race to succeed Sen. Dick Durbin, who announced he will not seek reelection — setting off a wave of political jockeying across Illinois.

Illinois is undergoing a rare political transformation, marked by a generational shift in leadership. Alongside Durbin, longtime Reps. Jan Schakowsky and Danny Davis have announced they also won’t seek reelection — creating an extraordinary power vacuum in the state's Democratic establishment. This moment of transition has opened the door for a new wave of ambitious contenders and a few familiar names, including former Rep. Melissa Bean and Jackson.

The Illinois Democrat is one of a long line of Illinois pols who’ve been caught up in corruption over the years. Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich went to prison before being pardoned by President Donald Trump. And former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is scheduled to report to prison next week on his corruption conviction.

Jackson also wouldn’t be the first high-profile politician to seek retribution. Following his 2021 resignation as governor amid sexual harassment and nursing home scandals, Andrew Cuomo is also pursuing a political comeback with a run for New York City mayor.

In 2012, Jackson abruptly exited his seat, citing health reasons. A federal investigation revealed a misuse of campaign funds. Jackson pled guilty to siphoning $750,000 for personal luxuries, from Rolex watches to Michael Jackson memorabilia, leading to a prison sentence and a fall from grace.

Jackson served his time and then retreated to Chicago’s South Side, where he embarked on a redemption journey that he often shared in commentaries on Black radio stations. It drew the attention of former Rep. Bobby Rush, the longtime South Side congressmember who retired in 2024. He urged Jackson to get back into politics.

Over the summer, Jackson embarked on a “listening tour,” connecting with constituents. He saw it as a way to introduce himself to new voters to the Chicago South Side and south suburban district that has been redrawn since he left Congress.

Last week, Jackson returned to Washington for a fundraiser in his honor with some members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

And a recent poll showed he has high name recognition in a crowded field.

Still, his path may not be smooth. Jackson’s opponents include notable Democrats in the state, including state Sen. Robert Peters, who’s been endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders and David Hogg’s political group. Also running are state Sen. Willie Preston, Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller, Water Reclamation Board Commissioner Yumeka Brown, management consultant Eric France, policy expert Adal Regis and community engagement expert Jeremy Young.

© Susan Walsh/AP file photo

Roy Cooper raised $14.5 million during the first 65 days of his campaign — a record-breaking total for a Senate challenger in their first fundraising quarter in one of the most competitive races of 2026.

The fundraising haul, shared first with POLITICO, includes $10.8 million into the former North Carolina governor’s campaign account. Another $3.7 million was raised into joint fundraising committees with the party, which allows for bigger contributions. Of the donations, more than 90 percent were $100 or less, Cooper’s campaign said.

It’s more than double what was raised by former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley, who brought in $5.8 million since launching his campaign in July.

Whatley, who's been endorsed by President Donald Trump, and Cooper are expected to face off next fall.

Cooper and Whatley, a prodigious fundraiser with his own national network of donors, have turned this already marquee contest into what isexpected to be the most expensive Senate race in history. Operatives in both parties estimate spending to reach $650 million to $800 million.

Cooper’s first-quarter total beat the record set by Amy McGrath, the former Marine fighter pilot who challenged Sen. Mitch McConnell in 2020 and raised $10.7 million.

Democrats, locked out of power at every level in Washington, see North Carolina as their top offensive target, particularly after Cooper entered the race following the announced retirement of Republican Sen. Thom Tillis. Even so, Democrats face long shot odds in flipping control of the Senate in 2026.

© Francis Chung/POLITICO

Voters under 50 are the least open to electing a female president, and four in 10 Americans personally know someone who would not elect a woman to the White House, a new poll finds.

The American University poll, shared first with POLITICO, reveals a complicated portrait of how voters view women in politics. A majority supports electing more women to office, yet female politicians face persistent headwinds over trust on key issues like national security. They also run up against double standards, with voters saying a female president must be both “tough” and “likable.”

Nonetheless, most voters support electing more women and believe the government gets more done with women in office, according to the national poll of 801 registered voters conducted last month. It was commissioned by the university’s Women and Politics Institute and had a 3.5-point margin of error.

Nearly one in five voters said they or someone they are close to would not elect a woman presidential candidate. That includes one-quarter of women under 50 and 20 percent of men under 50, who said they would not back a qualified female candidate for president, while 13 percent of men and women over 50 said they wouldn’t be open to supporting a woman for president.

“This survey reveals a powerful paradox,” said Viva de Vicq, the survey's lead pollster. “Voters trust women on the issues that matter most and want to see more women in office. Yet when asked about the presidency, bias and narrow expectations resurface.”

The survey comes nearly one year after Kamala Harris lost the presidential race, raising questions about female electability in a country that has only chosen men for the White House.

Voters are divided over how the former vice president’s candidacy impacted future female contenders. More than 40 percent of independent voters believe Harris complicated others' paths — pessimism that pervaded much of the upper echelons of Democratic politics after the election, when Harris lost to Trump by wider margins than Hillary Clinton did eight years prior.

Reflecting on the 2024 election, the poll found that only one-third of voters listen to “bro culture” podcasts. Of those who do, four in five believe those podcasts affected the election. Half of those surveyed said former President Joe Biden hurt the Democratic Party.

The poll said voters trust female politicians more than men to advance women’s equality, abortion and childcare. But more voters trust men than women to handle global conflicts. The “‘old boys club’ culture in politics” was cited as the biggest deterrent for women running for office, closely followed by negative media portrayal.

Of the 2025 landscape, women surveyed are generally more pessimistic about the economy than they were in 2024. Women under 50 are particularly feeling the pinch with a 15-point jump in negative views of the economy.

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© Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here's an offering of the best of this week's crop, picked fresh off the Toonosphere. Edited by Matt Wuerker.

Democrats are entering the government shutdown blaming their rivals for rising health care costs. Republicans are countering by leaning into culture wars and attacking Democrats for pausing paychecks.

The partisan salvos crescendoed into Wednesday as each side prepared to answer for shutting down federal government operations after reaching a stalemate over a short-term funding patch.

Democratic and Republican leaders accused each other of operating in bad faith. The parties’ major campaign arms readied a barrage of attacks to hit airwaves and social media feeds across battlegrounds. And congressional candidates rushed to pin blame on the opposition — all moves that portend the battles to come next year when they tangle for control of the House.

Democrats believe they’re starting off the shutdown with the upper hand, pointing to polling that shows they have an advantage with voters concerned about health care. A string of surveys, including a Morning Consult poll shared first with POLITICO, reveal more voters are poised to blame Republicans than Democrats for the funding lapse — though swaths of Americans say both parties share responsibility. Independents across those surveys more readily point fingers at the GOP governing trifecta.

“Democrats have an advantage: It's a persuasive issue, it's a trust issue. And people care about it,” Brad Woodhouse, who runs a progressive health care group advising members of Congress, said of health care costs.

But Republicans aren’t ceding any ground as they, too, gear up for a shutdown-era feud.

The GOP already sees cracks forming across the aisle, prompting its House campaign arm to launch a digital ad across 42 competitive districts slamming Democrats over delayed paychecks for military members and other federal workers and accusing the party of “grinding America to a halt” to give undocumented immigrants “free health care.” The party's Senate campaign committee is yoking Democratic candidates in key races to what they’re referring to as Senate Minority Leader Chuck “Schumer’s shutdown.”

“If you want to talk about how to hold down people's health care premiums I’m all for that. If you want to talk about how to protect rural hospitals, I'm here for that. But I don't understand what shutting down the government has to do with that. I don't get why the two things are linked,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said.

He was echoing Republicans who have blasted Democrats for attaching health care negotiations to government funding, accusing them of holding the federal workforce “hostage” over an issue Senate Majority Leader John Thune and several rank-and-file GOP senators said they were willing to engage in separate talks on. The Congressional Budget Office estimated Tuesday that roughly 750,000 employees could be furloughed each day of the shutdown.

“The people who will be hurt the most are the people that they say they want to help. It’s going to be working people,” Hawley added. “I just think that's kind of crazy."

Congressional Democrats’ refusal to support a stopgap funding measure without extending expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies marks a stark role reversal for the normally risk-averse party that typically abhors government shutdowns. And it represents a strategy shift for Schumer, who infuriated fellow Democrats when he sided with Republicans during the last funding fight in March.

Now his party is confident it’s returning to what’s historically been one of its winning issues by emphasizing health care. Democrats are armed with polling that shows opposition to the health care cuts in Republicans’ megalaw and are backed by the same advocacy groups that railed against Schumer after his spring shutdown cave. They’re also supported by surveys that show broad support for extending the enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits set to expire by year’s end.

Democrats have discussed framing their message around health care for months, seizing on the expiring subsidies as another opportunity to hammer Republicans over rising costs and to freshen their attacks against the megalaw passed in July. The party’s House and Senate campaign arms began running digital ads ahead of the shutdown, accusing vulnerable Republican lawmakers of voting to raise health care costs and “standing in the way of affordable health care — on purpose.”

House Majority Forward is continuing its $3 million ad campaign targeting 10 vulnerable Republicans over tariffs and the shutdown until at least the end of next week, according to the group.

The minority party's bullishness is owed to millions of Americans likely being hit with higher health care premiums, should subsidies expire at year’s end without congressional action — another strain on the health care system on top of looming Medicaid cuts that providers warn threaten access nationwide. Even President Donald Trump’s top pollster has cautioned those cuts could harm battleground Republicans in the midterms.

But there are some warning signs for Democrats.

In a New York Times/Siena survey released Tuesday, nearly two-thirds of voters, including 59 percent of independents, said Democrats should not shut down the government if their demands are not met — a stat Thune’s aides and Republican campaign arms circulated online in the hours leading up to the shutdown.

And some Democrats are breaking rank: Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), one of the three members of the Democratic caucus who voted with Republicans on Tuesday, had cautioned his colleagues ahead of the vote that Democrats “run the risk of not getting any of those kinds of changes to health care” if the government shuts down.

“There’s no such thing as a totally risk-less strategy,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in a brief interview Monday night. “But this strategy is the right one. It's the right thing to do morally, ethically and legally."

Republicans — sensing they’ll be vulnerable on an issue central to many voters determining the makeup of the House next year — are trying to redirect attention to a culture war fight, arguing Democrats are shutting down the government to fund free health care for undocumented immigrants and suggesting Schumer is acting out of self interest to avoid a primary challenge in 2028.

“Democrats are fighting for free health care for illegal aliens. And at the end of the day, that's not even what they're fighting for. What they're really fighting for is their left wing base that hates Donald Trump,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), whose push to defund President Barack Obama’s signature health care law in 2013 propelled a shutdown, told reporters at the Capitol Tuesday night.

Trump amplified Republicans’ immigration message in a vulgar, artificial intelligence-generated video mocking Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries that he posted after a meeting Monday with congressional leaders from both parties.

The video contains an inaccurate characterization of how the programs operate: undocumented immigrants are largely prohibited from federal health care assistance.

Republicans are also highlighting the shutdown’s impacts — like cutting funding for Head Start programs — in Democratically controlled swing areas. The National Republican Senatorial Committee launched a digital ad Wednesday hitting Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, who voted against the plan to avert a government closure Tuesday, over how the shutdown will affect military families and veterans who may see delays in getting their paychecks and benefits. The NRSC also plans to blast out the ad to voters in a text campaign.

Ossoff is running for reelection in one of the Senate’s few tossup seats next year.

Georgia Democrats, however, are already blaming Trump for losing health care access. In Georgia and Virginia, several rural health care clinics recently announced closures explicitly tied to Medicaid changes under the megalaw officially called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. And if the Affordable Care Act tax credits expire, 750,000 people across the Peach State could lose access to health insurance by 2034, according to KFF.

Seth Clark, a Georgia Democrat and Macon mayor pro tempore, dismissed attacks on Ossoff as ineffective, saying he anticipates Georgians will blame the party in charge for the shutdown as they see government services shutter.

“I definitely don't think a 30-second spot with a scary voice is going to be the one who pins that tail on the donkey,” Clark said. “It's who called for negotiations and who walked away.”

© Francis Chung/POLITICO

Blackburn talks natsec amid shutdown standoff: 'Adversaries do not take a day off'

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Kamala Harris’ autopsy of the 2024 election is leaving storefronts at a historic rate.

Simon & Schuster, the book’s publisher, announced Monday that the former vice president’s book had sold 350,000 copies across the country in its first week on sale, putting it on track to be the year’s top-selling memoir. Just three celebrity memoirs — from Britney Spears, Taylor Swift and Prince Harry — have bested the week one total since 2023, the publisher said.

“In addition to being one of the most interesting books ever written about the experience of running for President of the United States, the success of 107 DAYS proves what a galvanizing and inspiring cultural figure Kamala Harris is,” Jonathan Karp, president and CEO of Simon & Schuster, said in a statement.

But “107 Days,” the former vice president’s account of the frenetic 15 weeks following her elevation to the top of the Democratic ticket and culminating in Donald Trump’s November victory, hasn’t exactly ingratiated Harris to other leaders in her own party.

Top Democrats, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have all bristled at jabs Harris wrote into her book describing the first hours of her campaign and the process by which she selected a running mate.

And the media blitz surrounding her book release, which has seen Harris attempt to walk back some of her criticism and refuse to rule out another presidential run, has only further alienated Democrats still sore over losing the White House to Trump in last year’s election.

But it was Harris’ criticism of former President Joe Biden, her boss in the White House, that drew the most attention. In her memoir, Harris wrote that the White House communications shop under Biden saddled her with unpopular policy priorities and amplified negative stories about her office. She wrote that in hindsight, refraining from pushing him to drop out of the presidential race earlier was reckless.

Still, Harris said on "The View" last week that the two have stayed in touch.

“It’s a good relationship and it’s a relationship that is based on mutual respect, having been in the trenches together, and admiration,” she said. “And it’s sincere.”

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© Mario Tama/Getty Images

DES MOINES, Iowa — Rahm Emanuel, the longtime Washington operator and former mayor of Chicago, had a blunt confession this weekend. He’s tired of trying to fix a rigged system, and says he’s ready to rig it himself — for working Americans.

At a lively Democratic fish fry that capped a busy weekend in a state that’s historically been vital to presidential campaigns, Emanuel made his most public step yet toward testing a 2028 message.

The former White House chief of staff offered a message centered on economic fairness, education and affordability. “This should not come as a surprise to you,” Emanuel said from the stage set up at the home of Iowa state Rep. Sean Bagniewski, who hosted the fish fry in his front yard for 400 Democrats. “The American Dream is unaffordable. It's inaccessible, and we, as Democrats, that's unacceptable to us.”

In frank talk mixed with some humor, Emanuel more than once said, “Somebody needs to take a two-by-four upside Washington's head and swing at it.” The crowd ate it up.

Democrats are still trying to chart a path forward after Kamala Harris lost to Donald Trump last year and the party is out of power. Emanuel’s weekend of informal campaigning and his populist message suggests he wants to see his party return to focusing on kitchen table issues that elevated his former bosses to the White House.

Iowa’s famously discerning electorate provides a proving ground few other early states can match. “The best test for somebody is to walk into a room and talk policy in front of 20 people who have their homework. That doesn’t happen in other places,” said Pete Giangreco, a Democratic consultant based in Chicago, where Emanuel got his political start.

“Rahm can speak from a lectern and one on one because he cuts right through the bullshit. It’s very authentic and real and I think Iowans appreciate that,” Giangrego said.

Emanuel avoided a polished stump speech and instead took questions from the crowd for nearly an hour, talking policy, telling stories of his years working for Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and making a few digs at Donald Trump.

The Q&A format was a strategic choice. It revealed that voters were less concerned with polarizing cultural issues and more focused on practical, everyday concerns — like tariffs, potential Medicaid cuts, education and, even, strategies to combat the spread of misinformation.

The crux of Emanuel’s message was about the American Dream needing fixing. “We used to strive to get into the middle class, now we just struggle to stay there, and we all know it,” he said. “We know it from our own kids.”

Emanuel offered a sobering generational comparison: “In 1950, 50 percent of the kids that were 30 years or younger were married and owned a home. … Today, it's 12 percent.” There was a murmur heard through the crowd.

If the economic message was the heart of his speech, education was its call to arms. “We are at a 30-year low in reading and math scores,” he warned. “Let me break the news to you: children do not hit a do-over. They get one shot.”

Emanuel took aim at Trump, criticizing a speech the president made earlier in the summer saying Democrats hate America.

“I’ve got two kids in the Navy. That's a funny way to show hate,” said Emanuel. “We may have disagreements, but the one thing we don't disagree about is America and why we're lucky to be here … Teddy Roosevelt defined the bully pulpit around the presidency, and President Trump is all bullying. No pulpit.”

Before his Q&A, Emanuel worked the crowd, talking to the small groups who gathered in Bagniewski’s living room or in the front yard.

Asked about a possible presidential run, Emanuel leaned over a table to tell one fish-fry guest, “I’m thinking about it and if I’ve got something to say and something to offer … then I’ll do it, and if I don’t, I won’t.”

The Iowa mystique

Though the Democratic Party dropped Iowa as its first primary state in the last presidential cycle, Iowans have kept their political fish fry tradition alive — and so have the politicians. Along with Emanuel appearing to test the White House waters, JB Pritzker, Pete Buttigieg, Ruben Gallego and Tim Walz have also visited the Hawkeye state.

Saturday’s fish fry and a dizzying number of events beforehand gave Iowans a glimpse of Emanuel as a retail politician.

He spent Saturday morning meeting with labor leaders before visiting with the entrepreneurs behind a downtown business development incubator — a project that mirrors efforts he supported while mayor of Chicago. And on Friday, Emanuel sat down with teachers to talk about education before joining Bagniewski at the Ames vs. Roosevelt high school football game at Drake University, where he talked to parents and teens milling about watching the game.

“This is what we want in Iowa — anyone who’s running or thinking of running to come to Iowa. We want to make sure Democrats are giving Iowa the time of day. It’s grassroots. Kissing babies and coming to Friday night football games really matters,” said Iowa state Sen. Izaah Knox, who also coaches football for Roosevelt.

Tom O'Donnell, a longtime science writer who attended the fish fry with his wife, Paula Mohr, said Emanuel “is reaching for a populist message and I think that’s what Democrats need to do.”

And Iowa state Rep. Rob Johnson, who’s originally from Chicago’s South Side, praised Emanuel for not “shying away” from difficult subjects. “Chicagoans know how to shake a hand and throw a punch at the same time. And in this type of space, you need somebody who you feel is going to tell you the truth even if you don’t like it.”

Attendance at Saturday’s fish fry was more than double its usual turnout. The fresh-caught fish battered in a special recipe from Bagniewski’s parents is always a big draw. Though this year, the Iowa Democrat said it was the headliner that mattered.

“The party’s in a weird place right now nationally and statewide, and I think people really want a fighter on our side. And nobody is more aggressive in the Democratic Party than Rahm Emanuel,” said Bagniewski, who invited Emanuel to the event.

Bagniewski’s home is in Des Moines’ Beaverdale neighborhood, where Obama spoke during his reelection campaign. Residents were so taken by the visit that the neighborhood was nicknamed “Obamadale.”

For Emanuel, known as a sharp-elbowed political operator, the fish fry allows him to road test whether he can translate his insider savvy into genuine connection with everyday voters.

"I'm in the listening mode. Leaders are gonna lift the lid and check the oil and see if the spark plugs are working, which is what they should do," he said in an interview before the fish fry.

More recently, Emanuel is known for breaking down politics as a national political commentator on TV. He pulls from his long resume: along with serving two terms as mayor, he had a stint as ambassador to Japan, was chief of staff to Obama and worked in City Hall.

“Rahm has unparalleled experience at every level of government and really keen insights. But these kinds of trips, done right, should be as much about listening and learning as speaking. It's a chance to let people become more familiar with him but, as important, for him to become familiar with them,” said David Axelrod, who lives in Chicago and worked with him in the Obama administration.

“No matter how good or smart you are, you are going to be tested and stretched by these encounters,” Axelrod said. “If he wants to run for president, or even just hone his ideas, trips like these are essential.”

It's unclear what place Iowa will have in any newly configured nominating calendar, but Iowa is still a state with important midterm races.

“Whether it's fish fries or steak fries, there's no better way to get media attention than going to Iowa or New Hampshire. It doesn't really matter that the calendar is in doubt. It’s more about the symbolic and historical importance of the state,” said Cook Political Report’s Election Analyst David Wasserman.

Bagniewski, the former chair of the Polk County Democrats, hopes Emanuel’s message — and the fish fry’s huge turnout — is a signal to higher-ups in the Democratic Party that it’s time to return the first primary to Iowa.

The Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee is meeting regularly through the spring to decide the primary calendar and whether to restore Iowa’s coveted first-in-the-nation status.

“I’m of the mind that we should do it anyway,” said Bagniewski.

© Shia Kapos/POLITICO

Some of the nation’s most prominent Black mayors are celebrating major drops in crime in their cities — and grumbling that President Donald Trump doesn’t seem to realize the accomplishment.

Trump has repeatedly insisted that cities, particularly those run by Democrats, are overrun with violence, despite the fact that 2025 is on track to have the fewest homicides ever recorded by the FBI. He deployed troops to Los Angeles and Washington and threatened to send them elsewhere.

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said that ignores the realities in cities like his, which recorded just five homicides in April, its lowest on record.

“When we accomplish those things, then the goal post gets moved,” Scott said Friday at a forum of mayors at the annual conference of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. “People are like, ‘well, what about stolen cars?’”

Scott’s views were echoed by other mayors at the event, including Chicago’s Brandon Johnson, Oakland’s Barbara Lee and Washington’s Muriel Bowser — all targets of the president’s rhetoric about safety in American cities.

Johnson, whose city is experiencing a 30 percent drop in crime and the fewest homicides it has seen in a decade, says the focus is no accident.

“I just want to lift up the fact that the very places that are under attack are all spaces that are led by Black leaders,” he said to a mostly Black audience. “We just got to name it. I know we know that, but I want to say it out loud that it’s very intentional, because there is an extremism in this country that has not accepted the results of the Civil War and they’re fully engaged in the rematch.”

Bowser said Trump deployed the National Guard to Washington under a “fake emergency” that was cover for immigration enforcement. The federal action, she said, has “been very menacing and has disrupted … the trust that our communities have with our own police.”

The federal law enforcement presence in Washington was originally set to last for 30 days ending earlier this month, but has since been extended.

Van Johnson, the mayor of Savannah, Georgia, said many Black mayors applaud and have taken notes from Bowser’s handling of the National Guard deployments and how to resist, but not forcefully agitate Trump in the process — all while juggling the expectations of their citizens.

“We live at the intersection of white fear and Black expectation,” said Johnson, head of the African American Mayors Association. “It’s a very, very unique intersection for us … [because the] white fear is that we’re doing too much, and Black expectation that we’re not doing enough. It is a very hard and very lonely place.”

© Jose Luis Magan/AP

Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here's an offering of the best of this week's crop, picked fresh off the Toonosphere. Edited by Matt Wuerker.

James Talarico is a Texas state representative who’s recently announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate. He’s a Democrat, but not afraid to criticize some aspects of his party.

“National Democrats have talked about defending democracy or protecting institutions,” he said. “But, this democracy of ours doesn't work for a lot of people in this country. It doesn't work for a lot of people in Texas…. This is a deeply broken political system. And I'm not interested in defending it.”

Talarico joined POLITICO’s Dasha Burns this week for an episode of The Conversation, in a wide-ranging conversation about his candidacy, his faith and what Democrats can learn from Beyoncé.

Talarico caught national attention when he flipped a state House district outside Austin in 2018, and has grown in prominence on social media, where he boasts millions of followers on TikTok and Instagram. The former school teacher who’s studying to be a pastor is joining a crowded race to try to turn a Senate seat blue in Texas.

His faith has been one of the central aspects of his campaign. “My faith is why I went into public service. My granddad was a Baptist preacher in South Texas [and he] told me that Jesus gave us these two commandments to love God and love neighbor, which means that your faith is inherently public, right?,” he said. “That means that your faith should impact how you treat people out in the world. And really politics is just another word for how we treat our neighbors at the most fundamental level.”

When it comes to immigration, a Texas issue in the national spotlight, Talarico offered a metaphor to explain his approach. “People have a desire for a sane immigration system, a secure border that can ensure public safety and can ensure that the people coming here are coming to contribute to our communities and not threaten our communities,” he said. “We should treat our southern border like our front porch. We should have a giant welcome mat out front, and we should have the lock on the door.”

The full episode of The Conversation is available this weekend on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Nexstar Media Group will continue to preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on its ABC affiliates, the company said Tuesday, effectively pulling the late-night show from dozens of local stations as the comedian prepares to make his return to the airwaves.

The company noted it would “monitor” the show as it returns to ABC, but said its stations would “focus on continuing to produce local news and other programming relevant to their respective markets.” The move makes Nexstar the second broadcasting company to preempt the show, following suit after the Sinclair Broadcasting Group announced Monday it would not air the talk program on its nearly 40 ABC affiliates.

“We made a decision last week to preempt ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ following what ABC referred to as Mr. Kimmel’s ‘ill-timed and insensitive’ comments at a critical time in our national discourse,” the company wrote in a statement Tuesday. “We stand by that decision pending assurance that all parties are committed to fostering an environment of respectful, constructive dialogue in the markets we serve.”

Nexstar, the country’s largest local broadcasting group, owns roughly 30 ABC affiliates across cities like Nashville, Tenn., New Orleans and Salt Lake City. Sinclair also owns dozens of affiliates, including the ABC station serving Washington and its suburbs.

ABC parent Disney announced Monday it would resume airing “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” after deciding to suspend the show last week to “avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country.”

The show’s suspension sparked a flood of criticism from lawmakers and party leaders across the aisle, citing concerns about censorship — particularly after Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr threatened to look into affiliates because of the comedian’s comments.

Nexstar is currently seeking a merger with Tegna, which requires FCC approval.

“We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday,” Disney's statement on Monday read.

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© Bryan Steffy/Getty Images

House Democrats are going on the offense with tariffs and shutdown politics in swing districts, dropping TV ads against 10 vulnerable Republicans as Congress barrels toward an October government shutdown.

House Majority Forward, a nonprofit aligned with House Democratic leadership, is spending $3 million on broadcast TV and digital ads attacking Republicans on cost-of-living increases and cuts to Medicaid. Details of Tuesday’s ad buy were shared first with POLITICO.

“They promised to lower prices, but you’re not imagining it — Republican tariffs are making everything more expensive,” one of the ad’s narrator says, over flashing images of grocery items. “Juan Ciscomani voted to let Trump make tariffs even worse and voted to make healthcare even more expensive. Now, Republicans in Congress are threatening to shut down the government, causing economic chaos.”

Ciscomani, a Republican member first elected in 2022, holds an Arizona House seat that Donald Trump also narrowly won last year.

The ads come as Congress faces a government shutdown stalemate, after the Senate rejected dueling short-term government funding proposals from both parties Friday.

They also preview Democrats’ attack lines against Republicans ahead of the midterms. Public polling finds most Americans disapprove of Trump’s tariff policies. But Republicans maintain an edge over Democrats when voters are asked who they trust more on the economy, according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll released over the weekend.

In addition to Ciscomani, the ads go after Reps. David Valadao of California, Gabe Evans of Colorado, Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn of Iowa, Tom Barrett of Michigan, Mike Lawler of New York, Rob Bresnahanand Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin.

The ad airing against Van Orden features a Wisconsin-based influencer, Kate Duffy. Styled after a social media post, it will air vertically on broadcast TV, a first for the group.

© Mariam Zuhaib/AP

Disney announced “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will resume airing on Tuesday, ending Kimmel's short-lived suspension following comments the host made on his show about the killing of Charlie Kirk.

In a statement released Monday, Disney said it suspended Kimmel last week “to avoid inflaming a tense situation.” The company received intense pressure from Trump allies, including Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, over Kimmel’s comments.

“Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” Disney said in the statement. “It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive.”

“We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday,” the statement continued.

Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which operates nearly 40 ABC affiliates, said Monday evening that it will preempt Kimmel's show on its stations when the show returns.

Kimmel’s suspension set off a wave of criticism from leaders in both parties who were concerned about political censorship.

Prior to Kimmel’s suspension, Carr condemned Kimmel’s comments and suggested that media companies who receive licensing from the FCC have “an obligation to operate in the public interest.”

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said last Wednesday in an interview.

Hours later on Wednesday, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcasting Group, two of the nation’s largest owners of local television stations, said they would preempt tapings of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” because of Kimmel’s comments. Nexstar Media Group is currently pursuing a billion-dollar merger with Tegna that would require FCC approval.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A handful of prominent Republicans on Capitol Hill, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, warned that Carr could set a dangerous precedent and urged the Trump administration to be careful in pressuring a private company to influence its speech.

Democratic leaders in Washington and hundreds of artists and celebrities joined in condemning Kimmel’s suspension.

FCC commissioner Anna Gomez, the lone Democrat in the agency's leadership, welcomed Kimmel's return to air and praised Americans who criticized the suspension.

"I am glad to see Disney find its courage in the face of clear government intimidation," she said.

Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for Turning Point USA, encouraged Nexstar and Sinclair to keep their pledge to preempt Kimmel when his show returns.

“Disney and ABC caving and allowing Kimmell back on the air is not surprising, but it's their mistake to make,” Kolvet said in a social media post Monday. “Nextstar and Sinclair do not have to make the same choice.”

© Chris Pizzello/AP

The 2028 presidential primaries are already unfolding on YouTube.

Amid the rapid decline of cable news, potential candidates and other elected officials are locked in a digital arms race to draw subscribers, boost their reach and build what amounts to their own broadcast networks.

Potential candidates like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) are closing in on audiences that rival or surpass total cable primetime viewers for individual networks. Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley is racking up millions of views. Vivek Ramaswamy, the former 2024 GOP presidential candidate who is running for Ohio governor, dwarfs any other Republican but President Donald Trump on YouTube with more than 813,000 subscribers. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s channel started the year with just 28,000 subscribers, and now has 177,000, having generated nearly 10 million views and accumulated 500,000 hours of viewing time so far this year, according to a spokesperson. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear saw a 448 percent increase in views from last year to this year, a spokesperson tells POLITICO.

Taken together, it signals the arrival of a fast-changing attention economy that has scrambled what effective political communication looks like. The 2028 cycle has the potential to be the first post-cable TV election, heralding the dawn of a post-literate era in which technology fully displaces reading and consumption of news from traditional outlets.

“I think there are a lot of elected officials and their staff who are realizing that their viewers are not necessarily just on cable news, and if they want to reach more people, more diverse audiences, they really have to diversify where they're talking,” said Emily Keller, a former Democratic National Committee social media director who now works with Democratic officials as a strategic partner manager for YouTube.

In this, Buttigieg’s thinking is instructive. In the past, his team turned to YouTube mainly to share clips from his media appearances. Their thinking is different now. “Looking ahead, we see the channel evolving into a destination of its own,” Chris Meagher, a Buttigieg spokesperson, told POLITICO. Meagher went on to describe the platform as “a place for Pete to connect in a direct and unfiltered way with millions of Americans.” (One example: Buttigieg recently spoke to a rural health care provider about the impact of President Donald Trump’s budget cuts.)

The landscape has fundamentally changed since 2016, which some political observers memorably (and incorrectly) predicted would be the “Meerkat election.” That was a passing fad. But the switch to YouTube has staying power.

Just last week, YouTube hosted what it trumpeted as its “first-ever exclusive, global broadcast of an NFL game.” C-SPAN has landed there, too. Young men and disaffected voters are also flocking to the platform for their news.

“YouTube by far represents the broadest reach potential of any platform, especially among younger audiences and disengaged voters,” Meagher told POLITICO.

YouTube says this is a boom time for politicians on the platform. “We’re seeing really significant growth in ways that I would not expect in an off year,” said Carly Eason, a former Republican National Committee official who works as Keller’s counterpart, focusing on YouTube’s outreach to GOP figures. “As they really invest in their channels, work on their channels, and follow a lot of YouTube best practices, they're really reaping the rewards.”

YouTube views are surging among both Republicans and Democrats. “Verdict with Ted Cruz” has some 331,000 subscribers. His top video — an interview with Elon Musk— has garnered 1.2 million views. “This Is Gavin Newsom,” hosted by the California governor, has 187,000 subscribers. Beshear, the Kentucky governor, has a series of videos called "Andy Unplugged: The Lighter Side of Leadership," in which he has taken on the drive-thru at Wonder Whip, shown off Churchill Downs and watched the 2024 solar eclipse.

Other political leaders have taken a different approach to YouTube’s rising influence, primarily focusing on outreach to existing creators on the platform. Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D-Calif.) recent push to improve child safety on Roblox, the online gaming platform, garnered more than 50 million views across 18 videos on other creators’ channels, said Marie Baldassarre, Khanna’s senior communications adviser.

That’s a deliberate choice.

“Our strategy with influencers, right-wing creators and non-political voices is reaching hundreds of thousands of first-time voters and letting them know that Democrats aren't so bad after all,” Baldassarre told POLITICO.

It’s not just potential 2028 candidates who are flocking to the platform.

More broadly, politicians are recognizing they need to build their own audiences. At 92, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) — who, decades ago, was the first senator to adopt the fax machine — is kicking the tires on doing more podcasts, Eason said.

Few Democrats have done so well on YouTube as Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). He began the year with 24,000 subscribers and now has nearly half a million. His straight-to-the-camera videos perform well.

“The nice thing about building up a following on YouTube is that it puts my content in front of people who aren't necessarily looking for it,” Schiff told POLITICO in an interview.

Not long ago, amid his YouTube experiment earlier this year, Schiff said a waiter at a restaurant complimented him on his “show.” He thought the person must’ve been referring to an appearance on MSNBC or another media hit. He thanked the man and then pressed further.

“He looked at me somewhat surprised, and he said, ‘Your show on YouTube,’” Schiff said. “And I thought to myself, ‘Wow, I’ve got a show.’ And now you know that we’re closing in on 500,000 subscribers, that really is like the following of a cable news show.”

Schiff said his party still has work to do in checking Republicans’ rise on alternative platforms.

“We as a party still have a lot more catching up to do in the digital realm, both in terms of the different platforms, but also with digital and social media influencers,” Schiff said.

“The best time for Democrats to care about YouTube was 2018,” Stefan Smith, a Democratic digital strategist, told POLITICO. “The second-best time is now.”

Jessica Piper contributed to this report.

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© Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Made on YouTube 2024

Kamala Harris is going scorched-earth against her fellow Democrats, criticizing not just Joe Biden but a list of party leaders — and potential 2028 candidates — in her new memoir.

Recounting the whirlwind 107 days of her presidential campaign after Biden dropped out of the race in July 2024 following a disastrous debate performance, the former vice president tosses criticisms at a slew of major Democratic players, from her longtime friend California Gov. Gavin Newsom to party star Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

The memoir, titled “107 Days,” presents a raw retelling of the chaotic days between Biden’s bombshell announcement and the November election. Throughout, Harris bluntly describes the failings of a slew of pillars within the Democratic Party, pulling the curtain back on party leadership as Democrats stumble through attempts to land on cohesive messaging during a second Trump era and scramble to elevate possible standard bearers ahead of the 2028 election.

Here are eight Democrats Harris calls out in her new memoir:

Gavin Newsom

The California governor, and Harris’ longtime friend and competitor in their home state, was among the Democrats the former vice president exposed for their response in the hours after Biden dropped out of the race.

“Hiking. Will call back,” Harris wrote of Newsom’s response in notes from her calls that day.

“He never did,” she pointedly added in her memoir, skipping reference to Newsom’s subsequent endorsement hours later.

A spokesperson for Newsom previously declined to comment to POLITICO on the anecdote.

Harris and Newsom, both natives of the Bay Area , have had long and oftentimes overlapping political careers. While Harris, up until her book tour, has largely faded from view after her failed presidential bid, Newsom’s popularity has grown among Democratic voters, especially after the White House sent National Guard troops to the Golden State.

The California governor has come increasingly in the spotlight as one of the few Democratic voices willing to match Trump’s preferred tough-talking form of public sparring.

Gretchen Whitmer

Newsom wasn’t the only Democrat whose response the vice president described as lukewarm.

In her memoir, Harris recounted Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s reticence to commit to an endorsement. According to Harris, Whitmer said she needed to “let the dust settle” following Biden’s withdrawal from the race before making a public statement.

Whitmer, whose name had been floated at the time as a possible Democratic candidate to replace Biden, endorsed Harris the following day — and announced that she would co-chair Harris’ presidential campaign.

A spokesperson for the governor declined to comment on the record.

JB Pritzker

According to her call notes from the day of Biden’s withdrawal, which Harris presented in an italicized list in the early pages of her memoir, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker also declined to immediately offer an immediate endorsement.

“As governor of Illinois, I’m the convention host,” Harris described as Pritzker’s response. “I can’t commit.”

Pritzker endorsed Harris the day after Biden dropped out.

"Gov. Pritzker fought hard to elect Vice President Harris and Democrats across the state and country," said a spokesperson for the governor. "He's proud to have helped lead a convention that built momentum and showcased the Harris-Walz ticket."

Pete Buttigieg

In a shocking dig at the former Transportation secretary, whom Harris described as a “close friend,” Harris wrote that while Buttigieg was her top pick to join her on the presidential ticket, she ultimately didn’t select him because she didn’t believe America was ready for a Black woman and a gay man in the White House.

“We were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man. Part of me wanted to say, Screw it, let’s just do it. But knowing what was at stake, it was too big of a risk,” Harris wrote, adding that “I think Pete also knew that — to our mutual sadness.”

But according to Buttigieg, Harris’ concerns were “not something that we ever talked about.”

The former Transportation secretary told POLITICO on Thursday that he was “surprised” to read Harris’ thought process on his potential vice presidential candidacy in an excerpt of her book published this week, saying he believes in “giving Americans more credit” than assuming they wouldn’t vote for both of them.

Josh Shapiro

Shapiro, who was also in the running to be Harris’ No. 2, didn’t make the cut either.

Harris was concerned that the Pennsylvania governor’s ambition would prove an obstacle to his willingness to serve in a secondary role to hers.

Shapiro “mused that he would want to be in the room for every decision,” Harris recalled in the memoir, writing that she responded bluntly that “a vice president is not a copresident.”

She just couldn’t trust that he would settle for a role as No. 2.

And while Harris lauded Shapiro as “poised, polished and personable,” she said he “peppered” her and her staff with questions — including how many bedrooms were in the vice president’s home and “how he might arrange to get Pennsylvania artists’ work on loan from the Smithsonian.”

Shapiro also showed a “lack of discretion” in the process, Harris wrote, citing an incident when his car — with Pennsylvania plates — was filmed by CNN outside of her residence despite her staff’s efforts to secure the governor less obvious transportation.

A spokesperson for Shapiro pushed back on Harris’ characterization of the governor, telling POLITICO this week that “it’s simply ridiculous to suggest that Governor Shapiro was focused on anything other than defeating Donald Trump and protecting Pennsylvania from the chaos we are living through now.”

Mark Kelly

The Arizona senator, a former astronaut and retired naval officer, was a strong contender in the veepstakes, Harris recalled, describing him as "magnetic" and saying that she "admired" him.

But while Kelly was an “American ideal of selfless service,” he was also “untarnished” politically. He had yet to weather an “‘oh shit’ moment,” Harris wrote, saying that she “wasn’t sure” how he would handle the kind of attacks Trump was likely to lob his way.

Harris was also wary of the fact that Kelly was slow to sign the pro-labor PRO Act — a choice that she called a “red flag.”

The senator’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Joe Biden

After remaining quiet in the aftermath of her 2024 campaign, Harris finally opened the floodgates on her former boss, calling his decision to run for a second term “reckless.”

Though she did not believe it was “incapacity,” Biden was old, Harris wrote. And it showed. At 81, the president was tired, manifesting in “physical and verbal stumbles,” Harris wrote.

“I don’t think it’s any surprise that the debate debacle happened right after two back-to-back trips to Europe and a flight to the West Coast for a Hollywood fundraiser,” she said.

A spokesperson for Biden previously declined to comment on her book, but several former aides were critical of previously published excerpts in interviews with POLITICO.

But while she did have “concerns” about Biden’s ability to lead a successful campaign, Harris emphasized that “there was a distinction between his ability to campaign and his ability to govern,” writing that he "navigated successfully through intensely dangerous world events.”

Harris stressed that her relationship with Biden was a good one, describing their rapport as “genuine,” based on a foundation of shared values despite being people who “seemingly couldn’t have been more different.”

Still, Harris describes the frustration that she and her husband, Doug, experienced feeling that she had to repeatedly prove her loyalty to the president.

“I had to prove my loyalty, time and time again,” Harris wrote.

But Biden and his White House didn’t offer the same in return. When she was cast as a “DEI hire” or mocked for her laugh by conservatives, the White House stayed silent.

“Getting anything positive said about my work or any defense against untrue attacks was almost impossible,” she wrote.

She also specifically mentioned that Biden called her before her crucial debate with Donald Trump in 2024 to inquire why she supposedly was critical of him to donors. The call rattled her, she wrote.

Biden's inner circle

But her broadsides weren’t just reserved for the former president.

Harris directed a volley of criticisms at Biden’s inner circle, blaming them for pushing her to the side as her popularity grew in a series of moves that she said ultimately held her back from beating Trump.

Biden’s team thrust thorny policy items onto her plate, reprimanding her after a viral speech she made and failed to defend her against attacks from Republicans and conservative media — even “adding fuel to negative narratives,” including reports of staff turnover in her office — Harris wrote.

And perhaps most of all, Harris blamed Biden’s confidants for not pushing him to step aside sooner.

“’It’s Joe and Jill’s decision.’ We all said that, like a mantra, as if we’d all been hypnotized,” Harris wrote.

But the former vice president dodged blame herself, saying that as Biden’s second in command, any move to encourage the president to step aside would have been seen as “incredibly self-serving.”

© Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

One of Republicans’ most respected pollsters has identified an emerging group of swing voters who could help decide the 2026 midterms: Call them the weighted vest women.

They’re already flooding your social media feeds and neighborhoods — all while donning weighted vests, the latest fitness influencer fad of 2025. You don’t have to look far to find them. They’re covered on the pages of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop and can be seen in plenty of TikTok videos.

Christine Matthews — the pollster for former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s reelection campaign, former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels’ two campaigns and the president of Bellwether Research — first saw women wearing weighted vests all over her upscale neighborhood in Alexandria.

Matthews’ wanted answers to two simple questions: How many women were wearing weighted vests? And what were their politics? So she commissioned a poll of 1,000 women across the U.S., the results of which she shared exclusively with POLITICO.

Matthews found that about one in six women wear this year’s hottest wellness accessory. But more importantly, the weighted vest women broke for President Donald Trump by three points in 2024.

Going into 2026, though, this group backs Republicans and Democrats equally at 47 percent in a generic congressional ballot. Among all women surveyed, 48 percent would vote for Democrats compared to 35 percent for Republicans.

“The people who swing elections, it always sort of comes down — in particular in midterms — to suburban women,” Matthews said in an interview with POLITICO. “This, to me, is just a particularly interesting cohort that is a subset of that group that could swing these elections because they’re so engaged. They look like they’re definite midterm voters.”

These voters are “under age 45, have kids at home, and live in urban/suburban neighborhoods, [are] well-educated, higher-income and highly engaged with politics,” according to Matthews’ poll deck.

“While much more likely to ‘do their own research’ on health matters, they generally trust mainstream medicine and media,” according to the poll deck. “They aren’t vaccine skeptics or seed oil opponents. They are likely to be listening to a podcast while walking with a weighted vest. They are politically split.”

Matthews acknowledges that the weighted vest women comprise a small cohort, which could lead to a higher margin of error. “So we want to track them and get more data going forward,” she said.

More broadly, the poll found that 31 percent of Gen Z women disagree that vaccines are “generally safe,” and are turning to social media, influencers, podcasts and self-research over doctors and institutions for information. Gen Z women are twice as likely as Boomer women to be vaccine skeptics.

The survey also identified “a worrisome trend” among younger moms: 47 percent of moms to kids under 18 “primarily turn to doctors and the medical establishment for advice,” 32 percent “say they do their own research,” 15 percent “follow natural or holistic approaches” and 11 percent “rely on advice from friends/family.”

Some 71 percent of women say vaccines are safe. Democratic women are more confident about vaccine safety than Republican and independent women. Only 24 percent of Republican women strongly agree that vaccines administered in the U.S. are generally safe, while 49 percent of Democratic women strongly agree and 23 percent of independent women strongly agree. Meanwhile, 20 percent of GOP women and 16 percent of Democratic women say seed oils are unhealthy. And women who say seed oils are unhealthy are more likely to be vaccine skeptics.

It’s not yet clear what the defining issues for the weighted vest wearers in the midterms will be, and Matthews plans to commission more research about them in the coming weeks and months. But they appear to lean more conservative than the median voter.

“They have a modern diet of information that is heavily influenced by new media, social streams and podcasts,” Matthews said. “But it doesn't cause them to go down weird fringe rabbit holes. It encourages them to adopt something like a weighted vest, but not, like, oppose vaccines.”

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America’s late-night talk show hosts rallied Thursday to support Jimmy Kimmel after his suspension — and accused President Donald Trump of sliding into authoritarianism.

TV network ABC yanked Kimmel off air after comments about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk that appeared to associate his alleged assassin with the MAGA movement triggered a backlash from Trump allies.

Stephen Colbert — whose own program on CBS was canceled after he criticized the network’s decision to pay Trump millions to settle a lawsuit — used his opening monologue to slam the Trump administration and ABC for “blatant censorship.”

“With an autocrat, you cannot give an inch,” Colbert said. “If ABC thinks that this is going to satisfy the regime, they are woefully naive.”

Colbert was joined by Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," who mockingly played the role of a grovelling propagandist in a dictatorship.

In front of a fake gold backdrop, a jab at Trump's redesign of the White House, Stewart informed viewers the episode would be "another fun, hilarious, administration-compliant show.”

His guest was Maria Ressa, author of the book "How To Stand Up To A Dictator: The Fight for Our Future."

Over at "The Tonight Show" on NBC, Jimmy Fallon called Kimmel "a decent, funny and loving guy” and called for his reinstatement.

Fallon reassured viewers he would not be “censored” and launched into a commentary about Trump’s visit this week to the U.K. — before he was quickly drowned out by a satirical voiceover saying the president was “incredibly handsome” and “restoring our national reputation.”

Disney-owned ABC announced Wednesday it was indefinitely pausing Kimmel’s late-night talk show, "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," caving to pressure from Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission.

Carr had urged ABC and local broadcasters earlier that day “to take action” against Kimmel, calling the comedian’s comments “truly sick” and warning, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

Top Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, have called for the FCC chair’s resignation.

Asked about the Kimmel decision, Trump told reporters Thursday the talk show host had “said a horrible thing” about Kirk and “had very bad ratings.”

“They should have fired him a long time ago,” he added. “So, you know, you could call that free speech or not.”

Kimmel’s indefinite suspension earned a rebuke from another titan of late-night television: David Letterman.

“It’s ridiculous. You can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian, a criminal administration in the Oval Office,” Letterman said at The Atlantic Festival on Thursday. “That’s just not how this works.”

The 78-year-old comedian added he had been in touch with Kimmel, who was “going to be fine.”

Former President Barack Obama also weighed in, writing on X that the Trump administration had taken cancel culture “to a new and dangerous level” and was using the threat of regulatory crackdowns to “muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.”

Bill Simmons, the godfather of American sports podcasting and a longtime friend of Kimmel, used his show to decry Disney and ABC executives for caving in to government pressure and “censorship.”

“At some point you’ve got to stand for something,” Simmons said.

Seth Meyers on NBC opened his talk show Thursday with a warning of his own: Trump’s administration was “pursuing a crackdown on free speech.”

“And completely unrelated, I just wanted to say that I have always admired and respected Mr. Trump,” he snarked.

Ali Walker contributed to this report. 

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© Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here's an offering of the best of this week's crop, picked fresh off the Toonosphere. Edited by Matt Wuerker.