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Cook Political Report House Ratings 2018 vs 2026 2018: 🔵 Democrats: 210 🔴 Republicans: 195 🟡 Tossup: 30 2026 🔴 Republicans: 210 (+15) 🔵 Democrats: 207 (-3) 🟡 Tossup: 18 (-12)

With the stakes dizzily high, President Donald J. Trump has delivered a series of bold, concrete economic actions that cut real costs for everyday families. He has paid attention to key domestic priorities. Republican leaders have generally failed to spotlight these achievements. This leaves Democrats free to dominate the conversation while public polls show persistent low approval for Trump on economic issues. Such an oversight is not minor. It borders on tragic at this pivotal juncture, when a Democratic win would likely accelerate the nation's slide from superpower status. Consider the direct relief on household essentials. Trump ended Biden-Harris-era restrictions...

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump One of the worst deals ever made by our Country was the Iran Nuclear Deal, put forth and signed into existence by Barack Hussein Obama and the rank amateurs of the Obama Administration. It was a direct path to Iran developing a Nuclear Weapon. Not so with the transaction currently being negotiated with Iran by the Trump Administration - THE EXACT OPPOSITE, in fact! The negotiations are proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner, and I have informed my representatives not to rush into a deal in that time is on our side. The Blockade will...

House Republicans are heading into the 2026 midterm cycle with record-breaking cash and a shrinking battlefield. Despite the polls and the narrative being pushed by the mainstream media, Republicans seem to have momentum that Democrats appear unable to match. And Democrats can’t spin this, no matter how hard they try. Rep. Richard Hudson, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told CBS News this week that the NRCC raised $47.1 million in the first quarter of the year, the largest first-quarter haul in the committee's history. March alone brought in $28.1 million, also a record. The committee now has $78.2...

[cut] Despite the headlines in hostile media (regurgitated by TDSers), the Republican Party is remarkably unified behind Trump, who can end the careers of state senators in Indiana or a United States senator like Bill Cassidy in Louisiana. Trump can do that because — and only because — the party’s voters are with him. If House elections have indeed reached a rough equilibrium since 2020, there will be no wave, and even a pickup of just eight to 10 seats through redistricting could save the Republican majority by the skin of its teeth. Democrats (and TDSers) are counting on this...

Cassidy signaled in his concession speech, without mentioning Trump, that he could spend the final months of his term being more of a thorn in Trump’s side – or at least more openly critical of his party. “Let me just set the record straight: Our country is not about one individual. It is about the welfare of all Americans and it is about our Constitution,” Cassidy said. “And if someone doesn’t understand that and attempts to control others through using the levers of power, they’re about serving themselves. They’re not about serving us. And that person is not qualified to...

Joni Pugh feels like she’s stuck in the middle of a bitter family feud between her president and her congressman. As a loyal Republican, she likes them both – and that is where her predicament begins... “I’m not putting Trump down at all because I’m very much a fan of his, but I’m still going to vote for Thomas. He’s a great guy and is very careful about how he wants our taxpayer money to be spent.” Massie has fought the establishment of both parties since first winning his seat 14 years ago in the tea party era as a...

As we go toward the 2026 midterms, normally, the party out of power - in this case, the Democrats - would have the edge. But redistricting has made things much closer. On top of that, Democrats still have the problem that the voters don't think very highly of them, as we reported. CNN senior data analyst Harry Enten explained that, in addition to redistricting, which is likely to deliver more seats to Republicans, their generic Congressional ballot numbers have gotten worse since March, and they are now within the margin of error. Now the AP just dropped a piece about...

In 2002, my classmate Graham Platner ran for student-body president of John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor. I remember watching him in our auditorium debate his fellow candidates. He was the radical, wearing a revolutionary proletarian costume: overalls and a red armband... I don’t recall the issues they discussed, but I do remember Platner proposing collective action to overturn some school policy — saying something along the lines of, “They can’t suspend us all.” The history teacher serving as moderator interjected to remind Platner and everyone else that, yes, in fact, they could... Students elected the safe candidate, a...

Washington — President Trump said in a phone interview with CBS News Monday morning that he aims to suspend the federal gas tax "for a period of time." "I think it's a great idea," the president said. "Yup, we're going to take off the gas tax for a period of time, and when gas goes down, we'll let it phase back in." Gas prices have soared over 50% since the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28, hitting a high of over $4.52 on Sunday, according to AAA. Analysts say the prices are likely to remain high with Iran...

A congressional map model making the rounds on social media this weekend is turning heads for one very simple reason: it shows Republicans winning 280 House seats. The map, shared by conservative commentator Eric Daugherty on May 10, applies compact, population-based district boundaries across the country without partisan gerrymandering. The result is a staggering 124-seat gap between Republicans and Democrats. Under the model, Democrats hold just 156 seats, with zero tossups. That is the kind of map that would give Republicans a governing majority so large it would reshape what is possible in Congress. 🚨 HOLY CRAP. A new Congressional...

The conventional liberal take on the Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais to limit the use of race in drawing congressional districts is that it is a defeat for minority political influence… But the fact that it will no longer be permitted doesn’t mean that Black voters will necessarily have less influence. They could even have more. The key to understanding why is the tried-and-true power of the swing voter… The alternative to race-based districts, after all, is those that are “geographically compact”—in which the shared concerns of neighbors about their communities are at issue. Those could include race-related...

In 2024, President Donald Trump won the White House buoyed by historic support among Hispanic voters, diversifying the GOP’s coalition and flipping Democratic strongholds like South Texas. Two years later, a crop of Hispanic Republican candidates in Texas will aim to solidify Trump’s gains in defiance of the midterm headwinds facing the GOP this fall. The balance of the U.S. House could turn on whether they succeed... As many as four of the five Democratic seats targeted by GOP redistricting could feature Hispanic GOP nominees, while two of Democrats’ top targets will be defended by Hispanic Republican candidates. In all...

SNIP Summary: Trump has instructed aides to prepare for an extended blockade of Iran following a Monday Situation Room meeting, rejecting both a resumption of bombing and acceptance of Iran's current proposal The blockade is aimed at forcing Tehran to dismantle its entire nuclear programme, with Trump demanding at minimum a 20-year suspension of enrichment Iran's three-step proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz while deferring nuclear talks was rejected as evidence of bad faith The Strait of Hormuz is seeing its lowest transit levels since the conflict began, driving up energy costs and weighing on Trump's poll numbers ahead...

Existential crises tend to arrive when the gap between how life feels and how we thought it would feel becomes too wide to ignore.For a growing number of Americans, 2026 hasn’t just been hard. It’s been disorienting. A Talker Research survey of 2,000 U.S. adults found that one in three people (32%) say they’re currently experiencing an existential crisis, with younger adults far more likely to feel that way than older generations. Nearly four in ten (37%) say their entire lives feel out of their control... A separate survey of 5,000 Americans, conducted by Talker Research for Current in December...

Californians deserve better and this November, they just might get it.Ahead of the gubernatorial election this fall, pundits are buzzing with something Californians haven’t heard in years: a real chance to flip the Golden State red — at least with a new governor in Sacramento. Thanks to its top-two primary system, in which the top two finishers advance to November regardless of party, this is more than possible.AdvertisementThis election cycle matters more than most for the Republican Party, and for the people of California. The Golden State has suffered under one-party Democrat rule for more than fifteen years, and the...

ISLAMABAD — Tehran held firm in its claim that its foreign minister Abbas Araghchi would not meet with US negotiators for a second round of talks during his Saturday visit to Islamabad — throwing into question the future of the negotiations. Abbas and the Iranian delegation left for the airport shortly before 6 p.m. local time after holding meetings with primary Pakistani mediators Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed on Friday that Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would leave the US for “direct talks” with Tehran in Pakistan...

Turning Point USA CEO and chair Erika Kirk helped organize the White House listening session this month that put disgruntled Make America Healthy Again advocates in the same room with President Donald Trump, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and their leading advisers, according to two people inside the Trump administration and two people familiar with the meeting, granted anonymity to discuss the details. It’s one of the first and most prominent examples of Kirk helping the Trump administration keep its coalition together ahead of what is expected to be a difficult midterm election cycle. Some of Kirk' supporters see...

President Donald Trump was pressed in the Oval Office on Thursday about gas prices after he said he once worried they could go as high as $200 a barrel due to the war in Iran. A reporter asked if Trump would be willing to accept $200 oil in order to continue the war. “I think that there’s nothing worse than a nuclear weapon that takes out one of your cities, or two of your cities, or three. I think there’s something worse than the nuclear weapon is going to destroy the Middle East, including Israel,” Trump replied, adding: I think...

Leaders of the Make America Healthy Again movement have pitched themselves as a political force that will make or break GOP prospects in the midterms. But they have yet to make a splash in the only Senate primary where they have entered the fray — Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy’s battle to fend off two challengers to his Louisiana seat... Defeating Cassidy — arguably the highest-profile Republican to challenge Kennedy’s rhetoric and policies on vaccines — would be a coup for the nascent movement... MAHA PAC leader Tony Lyons said his group is the largest donor to Letlow’s campaign and her...