Free Republic

A federal court issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday stopping a congressional map enacted this year from being used during the 2026 midterm elections. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, said the plaintiffs are likely to prove that the new map is racially gerrymandered. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott vowed to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Political scientists at Harvard said Democratic victories in last week’s off-cycle elections were a sign of powerful backlash to Donald Trump’s presidency, but that Democrats could not afford to rest on their laurels ahead of the 2026 midterms. Tuesday’s elections added new fuel to debates over whether Democrats could best strengthen their coalition by shifting to the center or embracing their party’s left wing. Moderates Sherrill and Spanberger wielded their congressional experience and military and intelligence backgrounds to win governor’s seats. But Mamdani secured the New York City mayor’s office after running an unapologetically progressive campaign. Some Harvard faculty said...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is privately telling confidants that JD Vance is the frontrunner for the 2028 Republican nomination and that he’d support the vice president if he chose to run, according to two people close to the administration. Rubio’s private comments are a vivid example of how some Republicans are already gaming out a post-Trump succession battle, less than one year into the president’s term. The question of succession is especially relevant following Tuesday’s election results in which the GOP underperformed, leading to widespread concern that without Trump himself on the ballot, Republicans are unable to generate enough...

On the menu today: It’s an off-year election, and Republicans lived up to it by having an off year. A really off year — read on. We’re going to take yesterday’s elections in ascending order of importance, but first, the big picture. We’ve all heard President Donald Trump offering his usual spiel — “I’m the greatest, I’m the most popular, everybody loves me,” etc. Well, as of this writing, the president’s job approval in the RealClearPolitics average is 43 percent. If you’re wondering about the range, CNN has it at 39 percent, Rasmussen Reports has it at 47 percent. On...

In an upset, Democrats ousted two Republican members of Georgia’s utility board on Tuesday, according to preliminary results from the secretary of state's office. The closely watched races for two of the five seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission had been viewed not only as a referendum on rising electric bills but also as a bellwether for next year’s contests for governor and U.S. Senate. Since 2007, no Democrat has served on the commission, whose members have six-year terms. But the two Democratic candidates tapped into anger over rising electric bills at a time when prices have risen sharply...

“Mr. Trump has promised working-class tax cuts and protection for working-class social insurance, such as Medicaid,” Hawley wrote. “But now a noisy contingent of corporatist Republicans — call it the party’s Wall Street wing — is urging Congress to ignore all that and get back to the old-time religion: corporate giveaways, preferences for capital and deep cuts to social insurance.” Hawley has consistently spoken up about his opposition to the House plan to use Medicaid cuts to pay for the party-line megabill. The House Energy and Commerce Committee has been charged with finding at least $880 billion in federal spending...

Watchdog group to lend Hill Dems a hand on oversight A left-leaning watchdog group is working to gather materials that could feed Congressional investigations into the Trump administration. The nonprofit group American Oversight, which shared its plans first with POLITICO, is preparing for a scenario where Democrats reclaim the majority in either the House or Senate in the 2026 midterms, which will give the party the ability to issue subpoenas, schedule committee hearings and launch agency probes. Dubbed the “Parallel Investigations Initiative,” it will look similar to what American Oversight did during the first Trump administration, when Republicans also enjoyed...