Free Republic

Left-wing candidate Abdul El-Sayed is now leading Michigan’s Democratic Party primary for U.S. Senate. El-Sayed is campaigning for the seat held by Democrat Gary Peters. Michigan’s primary is Aug. 4, and the winner will likely compete with Republican Mike Rogers in the Nov. 3 general election.

Republican senators reportedly criticized Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) for pushing for the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act, with Republican senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and John Kennedy (R-LA) challenging “his strategy.” In a post on X, Andrew Desiderio, a senior congressional reporter for Punchbowl News, shared that one source described the criticism of Lee’s push to pass the SAVE America Act as a “pile-on.” Desiderio also reported that Cornyn and Kennedy “complained” that President Donald Trump is “being led to believe it’s possible” to pass the SAVE America Act in the Senate. “GOP senators went after Sen. Mike Lee...

President Trump’s scuttling of a hearing to review his pick for director of national intelligence has once again plunged Congress into chaos over who will lead the intelligence community and how lawmakers can renew the nation’s lapsed spy powers. The Senate spent the morning ping-ponging over whether members would even hear from nominee Jay Clayton, who serves as a U.S. attorney. Trump said the hearing was canceled, but Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), an ally of the president, initially rebuffed him, saying the hearing would still go on. Cotton later backtracked and announced the “regrettable” decision that the...

Republican senators are growing tired of the White House throwing curveballs into things they want to get done. For example, many Republican senators want a now-lapsed surveillance law that allows intelligence agencies to spy on foreign threats to be reauthorized. The problem? They need Democratic support to overcome a filibuster in the Senate. President Trump has now twice thwarted efforts to win over that support. The first time he named Bill Pulte, the controversial head of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac who had no intelligence experience, as acting director of national intelligence. Democrats and Republicans alike howled in protest. Trump...

President Donald Trump is making life almost impossible for Senate Republicans — and these days fewer of them are willing to just let it slide. Some lawmakers that were once happy to brush off impulsive and disruptive behavior by saying they hadn’t seen the president’s social media posts or that it was just “Trump being Trump” are increasingly willing to speak out against what they view as bad decisions that undermine their ability to deliver legislative wins as the midterms approach. The latest irritation was the early-morning Truth Social post Wednesday that upended GOP hopes of quickly confirming a new...

Graham Platner, the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee from Sullivan, wrote about his involvement with the Socialist Rifle Association using the Reddit handle P-Hustle. MANY PICTURES AT LINK............... Last October, The Robinson Report broke the story that Graham Platner — the disabled Sullivan veteran with an oyster hobby who is now the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate — had personally instructed members of the Socialist Rifle Association in firearms training in Maine. Now, two additional accounts — both from self-described left-wingers — have surfaced that confirm Platner’s top role in the Maine chapter of firearms and political activism org. The reporting...

Literally, every Democrat up and comer is a nepo-baby with a trust fund. Exactly why should working class Americans trust these people who have never known want or held an actual job to care about their needs? PUH-LEAZE!“Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, 37, has a single checking account that holds up to $50,000—and he shares it with his mother, a frequent contributor to his political campaigns who pitched in to cover Talarico’s moving expenses when he was 32, records show,” @peterjhasson -…— Eliana Johnson (@elianayjohnson) June 17, 2026

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tore into President Donald Trump’s Iran peace effort Tuesday, demanding immediate briefings for Congress and the public while branding the administration’s handling of the conflict a secretive “misadventure” that has left America “worse off by every measure.” Speaking on the Senate floor, Schumer said the administration has offered inconsistent accounts of its memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iran and accused Trump of keeping lawmakers and the American people in the dark. Schumer called on Trump to convene a classified Gang of Eight briefing, brief the full Congress on the MOU and publicly explain what...

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said the chamber aims to pass an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act without including the SAVE America Act. Thune is rebuffing President Donald Trump, who said he opposes any renewal of FISA that does not include the SAVE ​America Act, which would require proof of citizenship for voting. Section 702 of FISA, which allows the U.S. to spy on foreigners overseas without a warrant, lapsed over the weekend, which Thune said is a risk to national security.

Dear Senator Warren,When I watched your recent video on X about Elon Musk becoming the world’s first trillionaire, I found myself in the unusual position of agreeing with you—at least in part. That is not a sentence I write often.You see…you are correct that something has gone profoundly wrong in an economy that can produce a trillionaire. You are correct that the gap between the financial elite and ordinary Americans has become so vast that most people can barely comprehend it. And you are correct that millions of Americans increasingly feel as though the economy is rigged in favor of...

While campaigning in New Hampshire for U.S. Senate candidate John Sununu, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said he expects another federal government shutdown in September, in order to give Democrats an advantage in the November midterm elections. Kennedy told reporters that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., could use the approaching expiration of the Consolidated Appropriations Act on Sept. 30 as an opportunity to “create more chaos” ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. “I think he is going to shut the government down in September because that would create more chaos,” Kennedy said of Schumer. “I wish I didn’t have to...

Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell was admitted to a hospital Sunday, his spokesperson said, but there was no immediate information about why he was there or his prognosis. McConnell, 84, was the longest serving Senate leader in history before stepping aside from that role while finishing his final term, which ends in January. “Senator McConnell was admitted to the hospital this morning. He is receiving excellent care,” spokesperson David Popp said in a statement without elaboration. It was not immediately clear whether the Kentucky lawmaker was in Washington, his home state or elsewhere. McConnell’s health has been a subject of scrutiny...

Ever since the news of Texas Democrat Bobby Pulido’s decision to assist his child molesting band member out of jail went viral on Monday, his frequent campaign partner James Talarico has been eerily silent. At a campaign rally in December 2025, Pulido and Talarico appeared side-by-side and offered glowing endorsements of one another. Pulido has admitted to being a longtime fan of Talarico, saying that “he resonated with me a long time ago.” The endorsement from Talarico has meant so much to Pulido that leftist political accounts expressly refer to him as the “Talarico-endorsed candidate.” Talarico likewise fawned over receiving...

James Talarico: There's been a lot of talk in this race about what it means to be a real man. Recently on the campaign trail I told the story of my adoptive dad, Mark Talarico. Every Saturday morning, he would mow our lawn, and then without anyone asking him to, he would go next door and mow our neighbor's lawn because she was a widow. My dad never talked about it — he just did it, because that's what a man does.

Kaine didn’t seem to get it when a Fox News reporter asked him about the outrage over the verdict on his side. “I have a hard time understanding why they would say that,” Kaine said about claims that the verdict was racially charged. All right, then: What about specific claims by Crockett and others? “I know what they’re saying, but I have a hard time understanding,” Kaine said.

Presler posted. “I was very gracious & asked him to pass the SAVE America Act.” Cornyn later reposted Presler’s post and responded with a single word: “Grifter.”

Senator John Cornyn was not consoled when President Trump professed on social media that the senior Republican from Texas would “remain my friend for a long time to come” after the president had enthusiastically endorsed the man who defeated Mr. Cornyn, ending his Senate career. “If that’s the way friends treat you, you wonder about his enemies,” Mr. Cornyn said this week in his first extensive interview since his loss two weeks ago to Attorney General Ken Paxton of Texas, an opponent Mr. Cornyn labeled corrupt and unfit for the Senate. Mr. Cornyn said he had come to terms with...

For Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky, a person with a Nazi tattoo on their chest should be disqualified as a candidate for political office. But that tattoo, along with a series of other controversies that have dogged Senate candidate Graham Platner, has not been enough to dissuade most Democratic voters in Maine from supporting him. On Tuesday, Platner, a 41-year-old oyster farmer and military veteran, won a decisive victory in the Maine Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. He will now face longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in this November's midterm elections. For many Democrats, the removal of Collins is the central...

NEW: The Trump-aligned org Citizens for Sanity is dropping a six-figure ad buy in the Texas Senate race.The ad is a 15 second clip of AI-generated James Talarico singing a "trans kids" rendition of “Favorite Things."

Democratic state Representative James Talarico holds a 3‑point lead over Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in the latest poll of Texas's U.S. Senate race released Tuesday. Despite Texas’s reputation as a reliably Republican state, Democrats are hopeful about their chances of flipping the seat in November due to a favorable national environment fueled by President Donald Trump’s negative approval rating, political baggage carried by Paxton and reversion among Hispanic voters who trended toward the GOP in 2024. Even as polls show a potentially competitive race, Texas is viewed as an uphill challenge for Democrats, but the new poll released Tuesday...