Read more about how Republicans are reprising this line of attack for key off-year races and developing midterms contests: www.cnn.com/2025/08/09/p...
Read more about how Republicans are reprising this line of attack for key off-year races and developing midterms contests: www.cnn.com/2025/08/09/p...
Winsome Earle-Sears, GOP candidate for governor in Virginia, is up with a new ad echoing the Trump campaign's "They/Them" ads from the 2024 election, criticizing Democrat Abigail Spanberger over pro-transgender policies:
I am once again wondering why I don't own a local TV station in the Philadelphia suburbs
www.cnn.com/2025/09/01/p...
Lip-Bu Tan should go on Shark Tank
Smart of Taylor and Travis to get the announcement in before NVDA earnings
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are engaged Just like you should engage with my new piece about the fundraising juggernaut that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is building -- and what it means for her future: www.cnn.com/2025/08/26/p...
@waleedshahid.bsky.social: “History shows that independent political and fundraising operations often do more to change a party’s direction than the party’s own infrastructure" www.cnn.com/2025/08/26/p...
@faiz.bsky.social: "There’s too many in the Democratic Party who like to criticize Bernie or be in friction with him. Far fewer have seen the political power of embracing him. AOC always has"
On ActBlue, Democrats’ largest online fundraising platform, the New York congresswoman received the third-most small-dollar donations in the first half of the year. That trailed only the Democratic National Committee and the party’s Senate campaign arm, key party infrastructure:
NEW: How AOC built a Democratic fundraising juggernaut David Axelrod: “She has extraordinary communication skills…She’s done well and I’m sure her name will surface in speculation about future elections.” www.cnn.com/2025/08/26/p...
Obama: "Given that Texas is taking direction from a partisan White House that is effectively saying: gerrymander for partisan purposes so we can maintain the House despite our unpopular policies... I have tremendous respect for how Governor Newsom has approached this."
NEW: Obama calls Newsom’s redistricting plan ‘a responsible approach’ in response to Texas Republicans redrawing maps www.cnn.com/2025/08/20/p...
New: Progressive veterans group seeks to boost Spanberger in Virginia governor’s race with $500,000 ad campaign www.cnn.com/2025/08/19/p...
Let's throw some chum in the water echeloninsights.com/in-the-news/...
A look at the DNC's reported cash on hand, across regular FEC filings dating back to 2020 -- currently at a five-year nadir:
Pritzker: "Ours is a story that doesn’t have a cult telling us what to believe or sycophants telling us what to say or a king telling us what to do."
Pritzker: "And what I’ll say to those who are wondering, what’s next for the Democratic Party, is this: she’s alive and well, and stronger than ever, right here, living in the great state of Illinois."
Pritzker: "Since the dawn of the Republican, political parties have won and lost elections and then won again and that’s what’s going to happen to us in 2026."
Pritzker: "The pity party, the circular firing squad, the think tank brainstorming sessions – they just need to be over."
Pritzker: "There are books and op eds and resurrected ghosts of past Democratic campaigns showing up on Fox News and on CNN; Substacks by anyone with a computer and an opinion. Tortured monologues across social media and TV..."
Pritzker: "Folks over the last six months it seems like there’s always someone who wants to dissect what went wrong for Democrats on the national stage in the 2024 elections..."
Pritzker: "It’s time to stop surrendering when we need to fight. And yes folks, we are messing with Texas."
Pritzker: "Winning elections is partly about messaging and strategy but it's mostly about values and delivering on them, and our values are exactly where they ought to be. So, it’s time to stop apologizing when we’re not wrong."
Pritzker: "Now if it sounds like I’m becoming contemptuous of the MAGA Republicans in Washington – it’s because I am. They are an affront to every value this country was founded upon."
Gov. JB Pritzker letting it rip during remarks at IL Dems event this morning: On RFK Jr.: "A weird nepo baby who once stashed a dead bear in the backseat of his car" On Pete Hegseth: "A washed-up Fox TV commentator who drank too much and committed sexual assault"
News: Sherrod Brown to run for US Senate in 2026, hoping to win back Ohio seat, CNN's Jeff Zeleny reports www.cnn.com/2025/08/12/p...
New: Mamdani launches tour of New York City with a message linking Cuomo to Trump www.cnn.com/2025/08/11/p...
New over the weekend: Republicans reprise anti-transgender ‘Kamala is for they/them’ ads for the midterms www.cnn.com/2025/08/09/p...
Republicans are reprising a key attack line from last year’s presidential race for elections this year and next – betting that anti-trans messaging will help them counter Democrats running on GOP-led cuts to Medicaid and other parts of Trump’s policy megabill.
NEW: Republicans reprise anti-transgender ‘Kamala is for they/them’ ads for the midterms www.cnn.com/2025/08/09/p...
New: Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke said Wednesday that he is raising funds for Democratic members of the state legislature who left Texas to stall a GOP redistricting push. O'Rourke: “The election of 2026 is going to be decided in the summer of 2025." www.cnn.com/2025/08/06/p...
Abbott: "There's one way to cure that, and that is if they get back to the state of Texas and make quorum today at a hearing that we have at the three o'clock, they can cure themselves of any quid pro quo that would subject them to potential bribery charges."
Abbott on state Dems: "I believe they have forfeited their seats in the state legislature because they're not doing the job they were elected to do."
Abbott: "So the facts will have to come out. But I think based upon comments made by legislators themselves, they face a possibility of facing bribery charges, which is a second degree felony in the state of Texas."
Abbott also warned of potential bribery charges against Democrats who left the state in an effort to block the redistricting push: "It would be bribery if any lawmaker took money to perform or to refuse to perform an act in the legislature."
Abbott: "...and Donald Trump proved in these Hispanic-created districts that Hispanics, as well as other people in those districts, they want to vote Republican."
Abbott: "We have the authority, legally, under redistricting law, to draw districts that align with the voter preferences of the voters of the state of Texas..."
Abbott: "When you look at the outcome of the most recent presidential election, all these districts that are being added are districts that were won by Trump."
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, on Fox, says that "gerrymandering can be done, or drawing lines can be done, on the basis of political makeup, as in Republican versus Democrat, and there's nothing illegal about that."
Hochul: “This will have implications, not just in Texas, but for our entire nation and its future...The gloves are off, and I say, bring it on.”
NY Gov. Kathy Hochul at press conference this AM: "I'm exploring with our leaders every option to redraw our state congressional lines as soon as possible”
NEW: Democrats are pumping out content of themselves, pumping iron: "People want to see vigor, they want to see action, that you’re prepared to do the job, doing more than sitting behind a podium regurgitating a litany of nonsensical acronyms" www.cnn.com/2025/07/26/p...
Buttigieg: "Look, we already know that there were Democrats, Republicans, like, there are all kinds of people mixed up with this guy. I think most Americans say, okay, let the chips fall where they may, like, we gotta know."
Buttigieg on Trump/Epstein: "So obviously, there's something there. It's not even arguable that there's something there.”
Buttigieg: "The pictures and footage that were there years ago, and not just him, like shaking hands, getting his picture taken with the guy, but like ogling women with him, right? Like dancing, like grooving with him – and now, we find out he was at his wedding."
“It's especially weird with Trump, right?,” Buttigieg said. "Because it's not -- it's not some wild liberal conspiracy plan that he was involved with Jeffrey Epstein. There's pictures, pictures still coming out now after all these years."
Buttigieg: "We should be pounding on that, even if it's not a central policy priority of the party."
Buttigieg on Trump: "He says, day one, these Epstein files are going to come out. Because at the time, it was in his interest to pretend that he was going to do that, and now it is in his interest to block those files coming out. And I don't think it's unreasonable to ask, why?”
Buttigieg: "Speaker Mike Johnson and the Republicans would rather shut that branch of government down than let the Epstein files come out."
Buttigieg: "Even if you don't give a shit about the news story or the sensationalism of it -- this now affects you, because one of your branches of government is not operational between now and September."
Buttigieg: "Look, I think there's some folks who might say this is a distraction...you think to yourself, what I care about is how the Congress is dealing with health care, taxes, etc. Okay. Well, Congress just got shut down.”
Pete Buttigieg rips into Trump & congressional GOP over Epstein files during appearance on The Breakfast Club this AM: "Republicans just shut down the United States House of Representatives for two months in order to avoid having to vote on Donald Trump blocking the Epstein files"
Let's get George RR Martin and Robert Caro in a room together and finish this
Guy who won one of the doodle auctions
Plus: -Dems looking to off-year elections in VA see promising signs -Gov nominee Abigail Spanberger is dominating GOP rival, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, in fundraising -- $10.7M to $5.9M beat in Q2 -Dems w/ 4-to-1 advantage on VA airwaves so far www.cnn.com/2025/07/16/p...
Beshear on SC's primary calendar spot: "Where South Carolina is right now makes sure that all potential candidates learn more about sometimes the unique challenges that we face, but also get invested in every single state.”
Beshear answered, "Well being a southern Democrat, I think that we need to make sure that the South is represented in the primary calendar, for the Democratic Party. For too long, the investments haven't been made in places like Kentucky and in places like South Carolina."
Toward the end of his question and answer session, Beshear fielded a pointed question about the state and its spot in the primary process, asked if it should “remain first on the presidential nominating calendar?”
Beshear is the latest 2028 contender to stoke speculation about plans with travel to South Carolina -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom swung through the state last week, while another Californian eyeing a White House campaign, Rep. Ro Khanna, is set to visit this weekend
Beshear: "I’m traveling more because I’m trying to be a common sense, common ground, get things done type of voice that can pull not just Democrats back together, but hopefully pull Republicans and Independents together too"
During Q&A after his remarks, Beshear was repeatedly pressed about the 2028 presidential race. While parrying questions about his future, he acknowledged plans to travel “more” and be a “voice” for his party.
Beshear: "At night when they’re going to bed. In the morning when they’re waking up. So making sure that we are talking to people in the same language that they do every day, Democrats can win again.”
“Take this big ugly bill. If we want to push back against it, if we want to try to undo it, we can’t say it’s going to lessen food assistance, or that it’s going to make more people food insecure – what it’s going to make people do is go hungry,” Beshear said.
The red-state Dem’s remarks were also threaded with advice for his party, still grappling for a unified message following losses in 2024. He pushed back on what he called “advocacy speak,” saying that “the language that we use is a big part of” what the party needs to improve.
Beshear: “We have to make sure Americans know that right now, Trump Republicans are decimating Medicaid and food assistance, and that this big, ugly bill is the most anti-worker, anti-job, anti-rural, and anti-health care piece of legislation that we have seen in our lifetimes."
Throughout remarks at an AFL-CIO gathering in Greenville, Beshear touted his record in KY as a model for the country – promoting union membership, health care expansion, and taking shots at the landmark GOP policy bill passed last month, referring to it as the “big, ugly bill."
Beshear: "I’m also traveling more, I’m traveling more because I’m trying to be a common sense, common ground, get things done type of voice that can pull not just Democrats back together, but hopefully pull Republicans and Independents together too."
Beshear: "I’m looking forward to it, it’s in Charleston, he’ll play three to five games - my son is sixteen, and one of my joys in life is watching him play baseball; my daughter rides horses, that’s the most expensive sport ever known to man."
Beshear asked , "Are you here ... because you’re running for president in 2028?" "I’m here in South Carolina this week for three reasons: the AFL invited me, the Georgetown Dems invited me, and my son has a baseball tournament here at the end of the weekend, in South Carolina."
2028 preview -- Andy Beshear takes a shot at JD Vance, during swing through SC today: "I won areas in eastern Kentucky, Appalachia, that normally vote for Republicans by large margins. That includes Breathitt County in Appalachia, which is the county JD Vance pretends he’s from."
Q2 FEC deadline takeaways: -Vulnerable House Republicans next year building significant cash reserves -Early indicators in Democratic primaries for open US Senate seats -Potential 2028 contenders from Congress showing fundraising strength www.cnn.com/2025/07/16/p...
Background: www.cnn.com/2025/06/10/p...
McIver was first elected in a special election in September 2024, so her fundraising history doesn't go back that far, but it's the most she's ever reported in a single quarter.
Rep. LaMonica McIver, the New Jersey Democrat who was arrested during a confrontation with immigration officers in May, saw a big fundraising surge in Q2, raising just over $750k, w/ $467k coming from small dollar donors. That's up big from the $65k total she raised in Q1.
Curtis Sliwa's team frantically drawing up a GRWM video premised on the hat
NEW: Gavin Newsom embarked Tuesday on a two-day swing through rural South Carolina as the high-profile Democrat seeks to position himself as a leader for a party in rebuilding mode while stoking fresh speculation about a potential 2028 presidential bid: www.cnn.com/2025/07/08/p...
For months, more than a dozen Hill Republicans have been sounding the alarm about the steep Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trump’s sprawling agenda package, which is now just hours away from becoming law.
Republicans on Medicaid changes: Rep. Tim Burchett: "If you’re able to work, you ought to work" Rep. Nicole Malliotakis: "Nobody loses benefits if they choose” Rep. Chuck Edwards: "I don’t see a situation at this time where anyone that is entitled to Medicaid would be losing it"
NEW: The battle to sway voters over Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ begins: “It’s 2018 all over again” "This is really a bad vote" "It’s up to the GOP to sell this bill" www.cnn.com/2025/07/04/p...
I’m dealing with a farmers tan so severe it may be permanent. Can’t wait to go to a pool party tomorrow.
Lots happening but if I'm following this right Damian Lillard and Pat Connaughton have been traded for $80 billion in solar energy tax credits and an additional $120 billion in deficit reduction (?)
gun to my head I cannot put the H in Thom Tillis' name in the right spot
Schumer: "We’re going to be in their states in every way. We are going to organize, we are going to have all the people who are hurt organized. You are going to see a constant constant battle in those states, reminding people, day in and day out, of what happened."
More: "Tillis spoke truth to power. Unfortunately not any other Republicans have the courage to do that...And it’s not just him who said it, it’s lots of people who said it. But of course what Thom Tillis said will reverberate around America. And we’re going to make sure of that."
Schumer: "This bill is so irredeemable, that one Republican literally chose to retire rather than vote yes and decimate his own state. But there were many, many senators who felt like he did."
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer comments on passage of Republicans' landmark policy bill: "We Democrats fought very, very hard, we won a remarkable number of cases with the Parliamentarian, over and over and over again."
How campaigns announce fundraising numbers:
NEWS: Senate GOP passes Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ after eleventh-hour scramble, setting up high-stakes fight in the House
I want to be clear that everything I know about Mr. Beast I have learned against my will
At 36 hours... I'll introduce 535 US Representatives!
I put 100 US Senators and dozens of reporters in a room for 28 straight hours - last to leave wins reconciliation!
Republicans' landmark policy bill is moving through Congress after a marathon overnight session -- follow the latest updates here: www.cnn.com/politics/liv...
Elections that saw the most ad spending in the first half of the year, per AdImpact data: NJ Gov primaries: $88 million WI Supreme Court: $80 million NYC Mayoral primaries: $38 million Plus: GA SEN 2026 has already seen more than $10 million worth of advertising through 6/30
“We so often hear of members concerned about their general reelection efforts, but that is all for naught if you can’t get through a primary,” said John Thomas, a Republican strategist and ad maker. “Break rank with Trump and there is a price to pay.”
“We so often hear of members concerned about their general reelection efforts, but that is all for naught if you can’t get through a primary,” said John Thomas, a Republican strategist and ad maker. “Break rank with Trump and there is a price to pay.”
NEW: A ferocious advertising campaign is underway with passage of Donald Trump’s landmark policy bill hanging in the balance, as political groups & business interests spent at least $35M just this month to try to sway key key votes: www.cnn.com/2025/06/29/p...