Politalking US 
This briefing reflects reporting and polling available as of Aug. 29, 2026. Candidates, endorsements and polling can change before Election Day on Nov. 3, 2026. Why This Race Matters Rep. Don Bacon’s retirement after nearly a decade in Congress leaves open Nebraska’s most politically divided district, one that has voted for both parties at different … Read more
This briefing reflects reporting and polling available as of Aug. 29, 2026. Candidates, endorsements and polling can change before Election Day on Nov. 3, 2026. Why This Race Matters Arizona’s 1st District is an open seat in a district decided by single digits in the last three elections, and it’s one of only a handful … Read more
This briefing reflects reporting and polling available as of Aug. 29, 2026. Candidates, endorsements and polling can change before Election Day on Nov. 3, 2026. Why This Race Matters Nevada’s governor’s race pits a Republican incumbent seeking a second term against his own attorney general in a state Democrats consider one of their best pickup … Read more
This briefing reflects reporting and polling available as of Aug. 29, 2026. Candidates, endorsements and polling can change before Election Day on Nov. 3, 2026. Why This Race Matters Michigan’s open Senate seat is one of a handful of races that will decide which party controls the chamber. It pits a former FBI agent and … Read more
Republican officials in several states are reversing long-held support for data center construction as the political backlash intensifies heading into the midterms. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott paused approval of new data center connections to the state power grid this month, pending an audit of tax breaks, ownership and water use. Michigan Senate nominee Mike Rogers, … Read more
The Senate voted 90-6 on Aug. 8 to pass a bipartisan bill funding the federal government at current levels through Dec. 11, averting a shutdown when the fiscal year ends Sept. 30 and pushing the next funding deadline past the November midterms. The deal was negotiated by Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Vice … Read more
Seven months after Alex Pretti was fatally shot by two Customs and Border Protection officers in Minneapolis, his parents and sister gave their first television interview this week, telling ABC News they still do not have full answers about his death or evidence that anyone has been held accountable. Susan Pretti, his mother, told ABC’s … Read more
The U.S. Postal Service published a final rule on Aug. 21 that would restrict mail-in ballot delivery to states that share voter data with the federal government, carrying out part of President Trump’s March executive order on mail voting. But the rule cannot take effect for this year’s midterms because two separate federal court injunctions … Read more
Lawmakers from both parties have spent months criticizing Flock Safety’s automated license plate readers, but as of this week, no bill in Congress would ban the cameras outright. President Trump weighed in publicly for the first time this week too, telling a reporter the technology has “pros and cons” and that his administration is studying … Read more
A federal judge has struck down the Trump administration’s suspension of immigrant visas for nationals of 75 countries, ruling that Secretary of State Marco Rubio exceeded his legal authority when he ordered consular officers to refuse the visas regardless of individual eligibility. U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas issued the 61-page ruling on Aug. 21 in … Read more
A federal judge has blocked the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA from requiring the city of Salem, Oregon to comply with anti-DEI and gender-policy conditions in exchange for disaster relief funding. U.S. District Judge Michael McShane granted Salem’s request for a preliminary injunction on Aug. 13, then published a 29-page opinion on Aug. 20 … Read more
The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed only a small fraction of the noncitizen voter registrations it publicly claimed to have found in Nevada. In a private virtual meeting on Aug. 13, DHS officials told state election administrators they had confirmed just 185 potential noncitizens through manual review. That figure is far short of the … Read more
