ReportWire

Tag: 2026 elections

  • The Editorial Board’s big predictions for North Carolina in 2026

    [ad_1]

    We usually have opinions. Today, we have predictions.

    What’s ahead for 2026 in North Carolina? The Editorial Board has some thoughts. We’re sure you do, too. Send them our way, and buckle up for a consequential year.

    Post-Helene politics change NC landscape

    A botched federal response to Hurricane Helene will translate into political backlash in the 2026 elections.

    Western North Carolina counties have long been Republican strongholds, but now many in the region are frustrated with the Trump administration’s neglect of hurricane relief. The inflationary effect of Trump’s tariffs, rising Affordable Care Act premiums and looming cuts in Medicaid and food assistance under Trumps’ “big beautiful bill” may add to the sour mood.

    While Republican state lawmakers may be safe within gerrymandered districts, there could be GOP problems elsewhere. In the 11th Congressional District, Republican incumbent Chuck Edwards will face a strong challenger in Democrat Jamie Ager, a farmer and western North Carolina native.

    But: NC’s ‘blue wave’ might look more purple

    Nationally, 2026 has the potential to be a “blue wave” election, and Democrats are hoping they can harness anti-Trump backlash to gain back some of the ground they’ve lost in recent cycles. In North Carolina, Democrats have their sights set high. They’re aiming to win their first U.S. Senate election in 18 years, defend and flip some gerrymandered congressional seats as well as reelect one of the last Democrats standing on the N.C. Supreme Court bench. They’ve also contested every single state legislative seat in hopes of keeping Republicans well short of a supermajority next year.

    But in recent election cycles, North Carolina hasn’t done the best job at mirroring national trends. In the 2022 midterms, Democrats performed worse in North Carolina than they did across the country, and in 2024, North Carolina didn’t shift quite as far to the right as other states did. The state’s voting patterns are pretty calcified and not as likely to change with the political tides.

    Does that mean that Democrats are doomed? No, but it does mean that the outcome will be about as unpredictable as it always is, and any expectations for a dramatic political shift should be somewhat tempered. There’s a good chance that North Carolina’s blue wave will look more purple.

    A lopsided (so far) US Senate race

    Roy Cooper has had a fortunate run. A flawed Republican candidate allowed him a comfortable reelection as North Carolina governor in 2020 despite his state voting again for Donald Trump as president. Now, as the certain Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, he’s avoiding incumbent Thom Tills, who decided against reelection.

    Instead, Cooper is likely to face Michael Whatley, the former North Carolina GOP chair who has inspired few people beyond Donald Trump, who gave Whatley his endorsement. Cooper, a popular governor, is a skilled, disciplined politician who is unlikely to make the kind of blunder that gives Whatley’s candidacy life. The national economic and political climate isn’t likely to bring the turnout Whatley needs. Whatley’s campaign feels fatally flat, which might be why GOP firebrand Michele Morrow announced she’s entered the Republican primary.

    A lot can change, including the economy. Save that, Cooper will be North Carolina’s next U.S. senator.

    NC Republican infighting continues

    Tensions among Republicans in the General Assembly have made it difficult for the House and Senate to agree on a state budget — North Carolina is the only state in the country that will enter the new year without a comprehensive spending plan.

    It’s not just the budget, either. The past couple of years have been some of the least productive since Republicans took control of the General Assembly in 2011, at least in terms of the number of laws passed. There’s been more finger-pointing, more subtle jabs and more gridlock. Even with a near supermajority, Republicans have struggled to get some things done.

    That may not resolve itself anytime soon. Even if Republicans do finally agree on a budget, the rifts and ideological differences that caused the delay will remain. There’s also some growing discontent with Republicans in Raleigh, which has led to an unusually high number of GOP incumbents facing primary challenges. In some cases, those primary challengers are backed by the incumbent’s own colleagues. Depending on how many of those challenges are successful, it could change the dynamics in Raleigh. That may force lawmakers to break the gridlock, but it also may deepen the divide.

    Heatwaves ahead

    Summer keeps getting hotter in North Carolina and summer 2026 will be another scorcher broken by more rain.

    The National Climate Center forecast for June through August calls for temperatures and precipitation across the Southeast to be above normal.

    North Carolina’s 2025 summer was among the five hottest on record. In Raleigh, it was the hottest, largely because night temperatures stayed well above normal. In Charlotte, it was the second-hottest summer.

    Climate change skeptics are still out there, but after a rare hurricane in the mountains and Outer Banks houses falling into the sea, the effects of warmer air and oceans are becoming clear.

    Next NC sports turnaround

    Which team will follow the Carolina Panthers and go from bad to something less than bad? It could be the University of North Carolina football team, which had a chaotic first year under head coach Bill Belichick. College turnarounds are easier in the NIL era, but for that to happen at UNC, it would take Belichick acknowledging that coaching brilliance doesn’t get you as far as you think. It’s been a long while since he showed that kind of humility, as New England Patriots fans would be happy to tell you.

    We think the next NC sports turnaround will come in Charlotte, where the NBA’s Hornets are doing a lot of the right things. They’ve made quietly strong trades and have promising draft capital. They have an exceptional rookie and fledgling leader in Duke’s Kon Knueppel. The framework is there for success, perhaps sooner than later if the team changes its culture and starts treating more games as big games instead of opportunities for extra rest and healing. It’s time.

    [ad_2]

    the Editorial Board

    Source link

  • No signs California won’t move forward with redistricting despite a court blocking similar plan in Texas

    [ad_1]

    After a panel of federal judges in Texas this week struck down that state’s recently redrawn congressional maps, voters in California might be wondering if that means the Golden State will halt its own mid-decade redistricting plan.

    After all, when Gov. Gavin Newsom and other California Democrats began talking about redistricting early on, they framed it as a counter to the gerrymandering in Texas that was meant to benefit Republicans there. In selling the idea to voters that California should adopt new maps that benefit Democrats, Newsom said, just before he signed a bill to call the special election, “We’re responding (to) what occurred in Texas; we’re neutralizing what occurred.”

    However, now that Texas may not be able to move forward with its redistricting plan — the recent decision could still be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court — some voters may wonder if California ought to proceed with its new maps.

    Newsom’s office confirmed that California can still go forward with its plan because it is not contingent on what happens in any other state.

    That’s because on the day the California Legislature passed bills to call for a special election and put new maps before voters, language that said California’s new maps would be implemented “only if Texas, Florida, or another state adopts a new congressional district map” was removed. At the time, a spokesperson for Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas said that wording was removed because Texas had, by then, voted to redistrict.

    “Because Texas Republicans have voted,” spokesperson Nick Miller said in an August email, “the original trigger language in our measure is no longer necessary.”

    “To make sure the measure is clear to California voters when they have the final say, it has been removed,” he added.

    Some voters may still be surprised, though, thinking California would only move forward with redistricting if Texas does. The title of the ballot measure had stated that Proposition 50 “authorizes temporary changes to congressional district maps in response to Texas’ partisan redistricting.”

    “There is more than one reason that Californians may feel misled, including the reason for (our) lawsuit,” Mike Columbo, the lead attorney in a case challenging the state’s new congressional maps, said in an email.

    That lawsuit — brought by California Republicans, and which the U.S. Department of Justice later joined — alleged California’s maps are unconstitutional because districts were racially gerrymandered. A spokesperson for Newsom previously expressed confidence that the state will prevail in court.

    Asked if California still plans to redistrict in light of this week’s ruling on the Texas maps, Newsom’s office responded with a statement from the governor: President Donald Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott “played with fire, got burned — and democracy won. This ruling is a win for Texas, and for every American who fights for free and fair elections.”

    To be clear: Texas has filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the 2-1 decision by the federal district court judges. Should the nation’s highest court ultimately side with Texas, the maps that Abbott is pushing for could be implemented after all.

    Meanwhile, irrespective of the Texas case, there’s still the matter of the Republicans’ lawsuit challenging California’s maps.

    With that case still pending, voters and candidates alike may be asking what this means for California and the 2026 midterm elections. When will they know what the districts look like?

    After all, a key date for candidates is coming up: Starting Dec. 19, candidates who don’t want to pay the filing fee to run for a House seat can begin gathering voter signatures to have the fee waived.

    Knowing by then what the boundaries are for the district they’re running in is important, said Columbo.

    “It will create a problem for voters and those candidates if the districts change after that date,” he said.

    His team is seeking a preliminary injunction and requesting that California’s current congressional maps — used in the 2024 elections — remain in place until a final decision is rendered about the legality of those established by Proposition 50.

    A three-judge panel will hear the matter on Dec. 3, and attorneys for the plaintiffs have asked for a decision on the preliminary injunction by Dec. 5 so that if the losing side appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court would have two weeks to weigh in before Dec. 19, Columbo said.

    “The reason we are asking for such a quick decision is to avoid the confusion and disruption that would occur if we don’t have a decision by Dec. 19 and then later, the court determines that the maps are unconstitutional,” he said.

    Once it’s established which maps candidates will run on, the lawsuit challenging the Proposition 50 maps would proceed as normal through the court process, Columbo said.

    Such a plan is not unheard of.

    Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School who has taught courses on constitutional law and election law, said in these types of cases, a court generally will indicate which map shall be used for the next election while a case is still being heard.

    That happened, she said, with an ongoing U.S. Supreme Court case that centers around Louisiana’s congressional maps.

    “People need to know which lines are in place before they have to declare their candidacy,” Levinson said. “Judges will have to give some indication about whether or not the new lines can be used. That will obviously have huge implications for who runs, in which district and what the contest looks like.”

    “We just need to know which lines to use,” she added. “But the case doesn’t need to have a final resolution” yet.

    In the meantime, candidates have already started announcing their plans to run in districts based on the Proposition 50 maps. With California’s June 2 primary election just over six months away, a number of candidates have started fundraising and seeking endorsements.

    [ad_2]

    Linh Tat

    Source link

  • ‘Voters Will Be Ready for a Change.’ Ohio Democratic Party Sets Sights on Winning 2026 Elections – Cleveland Scene

    [ad_1]

    Coming off the heels of winning local races, the Ohio Democratic Party is feeling optimistic about the 2026 election. 

    Democratic mayors in Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Toledo all won reelection on Nov. 4. 

    “Our mayors are a model of what Democratic leadership can look like and represent the future of our party,” Ohio Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Clyde said during a virtual press call Wednesday. 

    Ohio voters will cast their ballot for a new governor in 2026, along with all of Ohio’s other statewide executive offices, as all current officeholders are term-limited. That includes Ohio secretary of state, attorney general, auditor, and treasurer. 

    “This cycle brings us the most opportunities for Ohio Democrats in 20 years, and we’re feeling confident that we will win these elections and take our state back,” Clyde said. 

    “Republicans in Columbus have raised costs on Ohioans and made life unaffordable for families across the state, while only serving billionaires and special interests. This election, voters will be ready for a change, while Republicans offer more of the same.”

    The last time a Democratic candidate won any of Ohio statewide executive offices was back in 2006 when Ted Strickland was elected governor, Marc Dann was elected attorney general, Richard Cordray was elected treasurer, and Jennifer Bruner was elected secretary of state. 

    “Republicans have controlled state government for nearly two decades, and all we have to show for it is rising costs and falling quality of life,” Clyde said. 

    Former Director of the Ohio Department of Health Dr. Amy Acton is running as a Democratic candidate for governor against Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. 

    The Ohio Republican Party officially endorsed Ramaswamy in May. 

    Political newcomer Heather Hill is also running for governor as an independent after leaving the Republican party. 

    Former Democratic Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan has hinted at running for governor in 2026, but has yet to make a decision. 

    Former Democratic state Rep. Elliot Forhan and John Kulewicz, a retired attorney and Upper Arlington City Council member, are running in the Democratic primary for Ohio attorney general. Current Republican Ohio Auditor Keith Faber is also running for attorney general. 

    Democratic Ohio House state Rep. Allison Russo and Bryan Hambley, a cancer doctor with University of Cincinnati Health, are running in the Democratic primary for secretary of state.

    Current Republican Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague and retired Air Force intel officer Marcell Strbich are running in the Republican primary for secretary of state.

    Current Republican Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose is running for auditor in 2026. 

    A Republican primary for the nomination for Ohio treasurer includes former state Sen. Niraj Antani, current state Sen. Kristina Roegner, former state Rep. Jay Edwards, and Lake County Treasurer Michael Zuren.

    No Democrats have yet announced their candidacy in 2026 for Ohio auditor or treasurer, but Clyde said she expects to hear announcements about those races soon. 

    Ohio Supreme Court races will be on the 2026 ballot. 

    Democratic Ohio Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner is being challenged by five Republicans competing in a primary — Rocky River Municipal Judge Joseph Burke, former Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Colleen O’Donnell, Fifth District Court of Appeals Judge Andrew King, Second District Court of Appeals Judge Ron Lewis, and State Appellate Judge Jill Flagg Lanzinger. 

    Brunner is the only Democratic judge on the 6-1 Ohio Supreme Court. 

    Republican Ohio Supreme Court Justice Dan Hawkins is up for reelection next year, but no candidates have announced they are running for his seat. 

    The filing deadline to run for office is Feb. 4, 2026, and Ohio’s primary election is May 5, 2026. 

    Also in 2026, former Ohio Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown will challenge appointed Ohio Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, who replaced JD Vance in the chamber. Husted is seeking his first election to the position.

    Originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal. Republished here with permission.

    [ad_2]

    Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal

    Source link

  • US Rep. Jesús ‘Chuy’ García not running for reelection, source says, as last candidates file for 2026 campaigns

    [ad_1]

    U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García of Chicago will not run for reelection, a source close to the congressman said Monday, apparently ceding the spot to his chief of staff, who filed to run for the 4th Congressional District seat that García has held since 2019.

    García last week filed to run for reelection next year but on Monday his chief of staff, Patty Garcia, also filed for the same spot. A source who was briefed on the matter told the Tribune that the congressman was expected to withdraw his petitions to run for another term, leaving the Democratic slate free for Patty Garcia to win and all but ensuring she’d be elected in the heavily blue Chicago congressional district.

    Rep. García would join four other members of Illinois’ congressional delegation not running for reelection next year — U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly are running to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, while Reps. Jan Schakowsky and Danny Davis are retiring. Rep. García did not return calls seeking comment.

    García, 69, is a former Chicago alderman, Cook County commissioner and state senator and twice unsuccessful mayoral candidate, including being defeated in a 2015 runoff against Mayor Rahm Emanuel and finishing fourth in 2023.

    An ally of the late Mayor Harold Washington, García has been an unabashed political progressive and supporter of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who calls himself a democratic socialist. In his runs for president, Sanders used García as a surrogate to appeal to Latino voters.

    The circumstances involving García’s apparent departure are reminiscent of how he got into Congress in the first place. Only days before the deadline for petition filing in 2017, 13-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez pulled his petitions. A day later, García announced his intention to run for the seat and won Gutiérrez’s backing.

    García won the nomination with two-thirds of the primary vote.

    Patty Garcia is no relation to the congressman. The Chicago Sun-Times first reported that the congressman would not seek another term.

    U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García, center, kicks off a reelection campaign for 2026 as he and a coalition of elected officials collect signatures on the first day of petition gathering outside the CTA Orange Line Station in Chicago on Aug. 5, 2025. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

    The sudden move by Rep. García came on the final day that petitions to run in the 2026 elections could be filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections, the end of the weeklong period for prospective March 17 primary contenders to appear on the ballot.

    In another surprise move, symbolizing the weakened state of Illinois Republicans, no one filed for the GOP primary ballot for state treasurer.

    The lack of a GOP challenger to file petitions to face three-term Democratic Treasurer Mike Frerichs represents a further breakdown in a state Republican Party that has been shut out of all statewide offices and two U.S. Senate seats. The GOP is also in a superminority in the legislature and state Supreme Court, and holds only three of the state’s 17 U.S. House seats.

    Frerichs’ campaign said the absence of a GOP primary filer marked the first time in at least 90 years that a major political party in Illinois had no candidate file to run in a primary election for statewide office.

    The Illinois Republican State Central Committee, made up of representatives from each of the state’s congressional districts, will have the ability to appoint a candidate to fill the treasurer ballot vacancy, but the appointee will be required to obtain at least 5,000 valid signatures from registered voters as a regular candidate would.

    All told, more than 630 people filed candidate petitions for the Democratic and Republican primary ballots for federal and state offices in the weeklong filing period, with Democrats facing heavily contested races due to retirements and political ladder-climbing in several open-seat contests.

    But the end of the filing period also leaves one week for the filing of objections to the candidacy petitions. And the sheer volume of candidates filing means the likelihood that some will be tossed off the ballot for lacking enough valid petition signatures or other filing mistakes.

    [ad_2]

    Rick Pearson, Gregory Royal Pratt

    Source link

  • Katie Porter Should Have Something to Say to Trump Voters

    [ad_1]

    Photo: YouTube/@CBSSacramento

    There are two big things going on in California politics right now. We are in the opening phase of what could be the most unpredictable gubernatorial election in ages, with a huge and changing field of candidates eager to succeed term-limited Gavin Newsom. Meanwhile, the governor is spearheading a loud and expensive ballot-initiative campaign to shift the state’s congressional map crucially toward Democrats, in an explicit response to Donald Trump’s efforts to grab midterm wins for Republicans via redistricting measures in states his party controls (most notably Texas).

    Unsurprisingly, when CBS News reporter Julie Watts decided to interview gubernatorial candidates, she wanted very clear answers on how they felt about the ballot fight. And for the Democratic candidates, she also wanted to know if the intense anti-Trump messaging of the “Yes on 50” campaign would make it hard for them to appeal to Trump voters in 2026. It’s not a particularly rich line of inquiry, but it’s entirely legitimate.

    So it got a lot of attention when Watts’s interview with former Democratic representative Katie Porter, who is leading the field in most of the early gubernatorial polling, went way off the rails:

    Porter objected to a question that included the premise that she might need Trump voters to win the governorship. After wrinkling her brow, Porter asked, “How would I need them to win, ma’am?” Watts responded, “You think everybody who did not vote for Trump will vote for you?” Porter affirmed, “In a general election, yes … If it’s me against a Republican, I think that I will win the people who did not vote for Trump.”

    Watts then asked, “What if it is you against another Democrat?” And Porter replied, “I do not intend that to be the case.”

    At this point, non-Californians may be confused. In a 2010 ballot initiative, Golden State voters abolished party primaries and inaugurated a so-called top-two system in which all candidates compete in an open primary, with the top two candidates — regardless of party — advancing to the general election. So it’s entirely possible that two Democrats (or in an alternative universe, two Republicans) could compete for the ultimate prize. It happened in the U.S. Senate elections of 2016 (in which Kamala Harris defeated Democratic representative Loretta Sanchez) and 2018 (when Dianne Feinstein defeated Democratic state-senate leader Kevin DeLeon). How Republican voters would deal with an all-Democratic general-election choice was of great interest in both races, though many Republicans chose to give the race a pass. In the most recent competitive statewide race, the Senate contest of 2024, Democrat Adam Schiff spent a lot of money attacking Republican Steve Garvey during the primary campaign. The goal was to herd angry Republicans into his column and make him Schiff’s general-election opponent, in the accurate expectation that Schiff would win that contest handily. And who was the third-place Democrat who was pushed out of the general election by the Schiff-Garvey squeeze play? Katie Porter. So she’s very familiar with this sort of scenario.

    With that as background, maybe that’s why Porter bristled when Watts asked, “How do you intend this (a Democrat-on-Democrat general election) not to be the case? Are you going to ask them not to run?” After a brief digression in which Porter touted her ability to win in a “purple” House district earlier in her career, she challenged Watts to restate her question, which she did, and then soon thereafter Porter announced, “I’m not doing this anymore; I’m going to call it.”

    To put it mildly, this did not go over well. Multiple Democratic rivals soon scolded Porter for losing her cool, as The Hill noted:

    Former California State Controller Betty Yee (D), who is also running for governor, said in a post on X that it is clear Porter does not have the temperament to be governor. 

    “As a candidate, I welcome the hard questions — the next governor must be accessible and transparent,” Yee wrote on X. “No place for temper tantrums. No place for dodging the public’s right to know.”

    There were plenty of safe answers Porter could have given to Watts’s hypothetical about needing Trump voters in a Democrat-on-Democrat general election. She could have pointed out that a goodly number of 2024 Trump voters were experiencing buyer’s remorse. She could have suggested that some Trump voters might appreciate the need for a counterbalance in Congress to the president’s power. And, of course, she could have said Republican voters choosing between two Democrats might appreciate her personal qualities, her drive and independence, and her determination to represent everyone. The reality is that nobody really knows what the dynamics will be surrounding a general election that’s 13 months away, so she could have answered with the equivalent of “I’ll cross that bridge when I reach it” and maybe even laughed.

    The bottom line is that this was a predictable question Porter should have been able to answer or deflect, instead of giving the impression she’s writing off 40 percent of her state’s electorate and rejecting media questions that don’t simply invite her to repeat her message.


    See All



    [ad_2]

    Ed Kilgore

    Source link

  • California Supreme Court rejects Republicans’ efforts to halt redistricting proposals

    [ad_1]

    California’s Supreme Court on Wednesday evening rejected Republicans’ efforts to stall work on Democrats’ redistricting proposals.

    Republican legislators earlier this week asked the state’s Supreme Court to intervene and hit the brakes on redistricting efforts underway in the statehouse.

    They argued, in their petition to the court, that the proposed redistricting legislation must be published for 30 days before the legislature can hear or act on it. The filing alleged that rule was “circumvented” by the legislature by replacing two unrelated bills with the redistricting proposal, a move called “gut and amend” by those in Sacramento.

    They asked the court to halt any work on the legislative package until mid-September.

    But the court said, in its order on Wednesday, Aug. 20, that the petitioners “failed to meet their burden of establishing a basis for relief at this time” under the state’s constitution.

    The full legislature is set to vote Thursday on the redistricting package, which includes newly redrawn congressional maps and a call for a special election on Nov. 4, when voters would decide whether to implement those partisan maps for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections.

    The effort has been touted by Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democrats as a way to counter plans in other, Republican-led states to enact mid-cycle gerrymandering ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

    California would only have a special election to change its congressional districts if other states also went through with partisan, mid-cycle redistricting.

    The Texas House earlier Wednesday approved new congressional maps meant to give Republicans a boost in 2026, at the behest of President Donald Trump.

    The California Republicans’ lawsuit was led by Sens. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, and Suzette Martinez Valladares, R-Santa Clarita, as well as Assemblymembers Kate Sanchez, R-Rancho Santa Margarita, and Tri Ta, R-Westminster.

    “Today’s Supreme Court decision is not the end of this fight,” the Republican legislators said in a statement. “Although the Court denied our petition, it did not explain the reason for its ruling. This means Gov. Newsom and the Democrats’ plan to gut the voter-created Citizens Redistricting Commission, silence public input, and stick taxpayers with a $200+ million bill will proceed. Polls show most Democrats, Republicans, and independents want to keep the commission, not give politicians the power to rig maps. We will continue to challenge this unconstitutional power grab in the courts and at the ballot box.”

    Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero signed Wednesday’s order.

    [ad_2]

    Kaitlyn Schallhorn

    Source link