Takeaways from the first primaries of the 2026 midterms
The 2026 campaign kicked off Tuesday with high-profile primary elections in Texas, where Republican Sen. John Cornyn heads to a runoff vote against state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Democrats chose state Rep. James Talarico over U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett to be their candidate for Cornyn’s Senate seat.
Texas looms large in the Democratic imagination, even if national leaders say it’s unlikely to be a key part of the party’s path to a Senate majority, says The New York Times. Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, has said that seats in Alaska, Maine, Ohio and North Carolina are his party’s best bets to flip this year.
Talarico’s victory shows that Democratic voters, even in this moment of intense fear and frustration with the Trump administration, can be drawn in by a message of inclusion, says the Times.
“The people of our state gave this country a little bit of hope, Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian, said in a speech early Wednesday, before the race was called.
Crockett’s campaign says she plans to sue over voting issues in Dallas, where she says “people have been disenfranchised.”
The Texas Supreme Court late Tuesday ordered Dallas County to separate any votes cast by voters who were not in line by 7 p.m., temporarily blocking a district court judge’s order for the polls to remain open, The Texas Tribune reports.
In North Carolina, Democrats nominated former Gov. Roy Cooper, and Republicans chose Michael Whatley, a former Republican National Committee chairman, in a Senate race that’s expected to be one of the nation’s most hard-fought and expensive.
In Arkansas, GOP Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders was unopposed and GOP Sen. Tom Cotton won his primary with 81 percent of the vote, NBC News says.
Also in the news
NYTimes analysis of Iran’s strategy: 'Expand the war, increase the cost, outlast Trump’
Iran judiciary chief threatens ‘those who say or do anything’ in support of U.S.-Israeli airstrikes
Some of the sharpest criticism Trump has faced in early days of Iran war has come from once-loyal media figures
WPost: How Iranian threats to his life colored Trump's thinking on taking the U.S. to war — 'I got him before he got me,’ he told ABC
Republicans, Democrats have competing understandings of Trump administration’s case for war with Iran after first briefing
The text of Trump’s war powers report to Congress on Iran
Congressional lawmakers of both parties increasingly concerned about stranded Americans in Middle East
AP: What travelers should know about upcoming Mideast trips
AP: The U.S.-Israel war with Iran in maps, graphics, images
Pentagon dispute bolsters reputation of Anthropic but raises questions about AI readiness in military
Democrats ask DHS inspector general to probe whether ICE is buying illegally obtained location data on Americans
WPost: ICE training was slashed, records show, corroborating whistleblower's claims
Kristi Noem defends her department’s immigration enforcement tactics in Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing
House Ethics Committee opens investigation of South Carolina GOP Rep. Nancy Mace over housing costs
A day after abandoning law firm executive orders, Trump administration reverses course and pursues fight
Heather Cox Richardson on how framers of Constitution placed power to declare war in Congress
Robert Reich, former secretary of Labor, says he’s heartbroken over what’s happened to Labor Department
As a new election season starts, AP explains its role in declaring winners of races
Autism researchers form independent committee as science-based alternative to Kennedy-appointed group
You can call the Capitol switchboard, (202) 224-3121, and be connected to the offices of your representative and senators. To email your House member and your two senators, you can connect to their websites at Congress.gov. Most lawmakers seem to only accept emails from their constituents, but these leaders accept emails from Americans nationwide, at:
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer
Senate Majority Leader John Thune