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Republican Primary for Georgia Governor Will Go to a Runoff

May 20, 2026Center Left

The state’s lieutenant governor, Burt Jones, will face a billionaire health care executive, Rick Jackson, on June 16 to decide the party’s standard-bearer to succeed Gov. Brian Kemp.

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Dems' 2028 primary schedule angers some progressives

Axios

2 hours ago

Dems' 2028 primary schedule angers some progressives

Some progressive Democrats are fuming that the party's new schedule for 2028 presidential primaries could make it harder for one of their own to win the party's nomination.A powerful Democratic National Committee panel voted Friday to kick off the primary in South Carolina — the state where progressive icon Bernie Sanders suffered landslide losses in the 2016 and 2020 primaries.Why it matters: The panel's decision came with Democrats already divided over a wave of contentious 2026 primaries that have pitted an insurgent left against the party's more moderate establishment.Zoom in: From Wisconsin to Michigan to Maine, top Democrats are trying to halt the left wing's momentum in the run-up to this year's midterms, favoring relatively centrist candidates they see as more electable.Some progressives view the elevation of South Carolina on the party's 2028 primary calendar as part of that effort.South Carolina edged out Nevada for the first spot on the primary schedule, stinging progressives because Sanders won the primary in the Silver State in 2020.Puck reported that some DNC members were concerned that making Nevada the first state to vote would boost another socialist candidate.But even some DNC members were angry with the decision to put South Carolina first.A member of the DNC's Rules & Bylaws panel, which preliminarily OK'd the calendar, told Axios that "the public is swinging left, and the establishment is trying to fight the winds of change."The panel member added that putting South Carolina first could "shut down" a progressive presidential candidate, which is "not a strategy for winning the electorate."Branko Marcetic, a writer for the socialist magazine Jacobin, posted on social media that "the whole rationale is stopping a left-wing insurgent." Leftist streamer Hasan Piker snarkily suggested that South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn had too much power over the presidential nominating contest.The other side: South Carolina Democratic Party chair Christale Spain told Axios that a progressive candidate such as New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez "absolutely" could win the state's primary."I hate that the narrative kind of seems like 'Well, a progressive can't win in the South,'" said Spain, who worked for Sanders' 2016 campaign. "The work that you have to do in the South is retail politics."Between the lines: The debate between progressives and traditional Democrats over South Carolina has at times been racially fraught partly because Sanders, who's white, twice fared poorly in a state where a sizable chunk of Democratic voters are Black.At the same time, Black Democrats viewed South Carolina's victory in the debate over the primary schedule as overdue recognition of their importance to the party.The DNC panel's decision on the primary schedule still must be ratified by the full DNC.Whether progressives can break through with Black voters on a national scale is perhaps the most important question facing them ahead of the 2028 presidential primary.The left has had more recent success with Latino voters and Black voters under 50, especially in the Northeast, but it's not clear that would be enough to carry a presidential primary in which older Black voters across the South are a key constituency.Sanders performed well with Latinos and young Black voters, and it wasn't enough.The intrigue: Some progressives believe the new calendar could work to their advantage — but not necessarily because they think they could win in South Carolina.The state previously played a decisive role as the final contest before the traditional string of primaries on Super Tuesday. Now, they argue, South Carolina may serve more as a culling mechanism than a kingmaker.A former Sanders senior campaign aide said the senator "might have been unstoppable" in 2020 if the Democrats' new calendar had been in place then.

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'Don't know when they are going to learn': Republican laments MAGA election wins on MS NOW

Raw Story

3 hours ago

'Don't know when they are going to learn': Republican laments MAGA election wins on MS NOW

A former Republican lawmaker lamented recent election victories by MAGA candidates in Arizona during a new interview on MS NOW, warning that it could lead to a world of hurt for the party in the midterms. Charlie Dent, a former Republican lawmaker from Pennsylvania, told MS NOW's Alex Witt that the recent victories of candidates like gubernatorial candidate Andy Biggs, a Republican congressman who supported President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and Mark Lamb, a Trump-endorsed candidate to replace Biggs in the House who faced a sexting scandal ahead of the primary, could weigh on the party going forward. "It doesn't help, and it makes it much harder for ... not just Arizonans, but Republicans generally to win general elections," Dent said. Dent's comments came at a time when Republicans are gearing up for a tough midterm season. Democrats have won a slew of statewide races since Trump's second term began, prompting some analysts to suggest the party could win back both the House and Senate in November. However, some analysts also worry that Trump may be trying to blunt those gains through illicit means. For instance, Trump recently gave a national address about alleged foreign interference in the 2020 general election, which some saw as the president laying the groundwork to contest the upcoming election results if Republicans suffer steep losses. Dent said the recent MAGA election victories put Republicans in a position to lose more than they gain. "Arizona has done this before, by the way, with Kari Lake and other nominees who are simply repulsive to a lot of, I'll say. To mainstream voters, those more centrist voters, independents, [they are a] total turn-off," Dent said. "So, election deniers, they might please the president in some elements of the base. But republicans end up losing far more than they gain." "I never quite understood it," he added. "I don't know when Arizona Republicans are going to learn their lesson. They haven't had a lot of success statewide since Governor [Doug] Ducey. And so, it looks like they're [going to] have another bad year."

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The four most high-stakes primaries left with 100 days until midterm elections

Washington Examiner

7 hours ago

The four most high-stakes primaries left with 100 days until midterm elections

With the 2026 midterm elections just 100 days away, several important races have yet to hold their primaries, with national implications. The 2026 primaries have largely been characterized by two trends — President Donald Trump’s hold on the Republican Party being cemented through successful endorsements, and the Democratic Party’s left-wing being strengthened through victories of […]

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Top election predictor confirms it: Republicans are in a rough spot

Alternet.org

9 hours ago

Top election predictor confirms it: Republicans are in a rough spot

President Donald Trump is going to be the main issue in the 2026 midterms, but experts disagree as to whether the impending electoral disaster will be experienced by the Republicans or the Democrats. Now an election expert is shedding light on the situation.“It’s a competitive situation in both the Senate and the House,” DDHQ’s chief elections analyst Geoffrey Skelley told The Hill's Julia Mueller on Sunday. He later added that “the big question is: will the Iranian conflict … will people being concerned about that ratcheting up, is that going to create reverberations in things like the generic ballot that signal ‘OK, Democrats’ advantage is growing again’?”Skelley also pointed out that Democrats’ lead increases when there is bad news about Iran and gas prices go up, but shrinks when the conflict subsides and gas prices drop.“The challenge for Republicans is the Iranian conflict is heating up again,” Skelley argued. Mueller reported, “Democrats are favored to win the House but are slight underdogs in the fight for the Senate with 100 days to go before the midterms, according to the latest forecast from Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ).”She added, “Both parties are dealing with headwinds as they head into the home stretch of the high-stakes election.” While Republicans are worried about the Iran war, oil prices and lingering high inflation, Democrats have their own internal issues with which to grapple.“Wins by democratic socialist and antiestablishment candidates in House primaries across the country have sparked concerns from centrists that their party will be characterized as too extreme,” Mueller reported. “It’s a line of attack being emphasized by President Trump and GOP leaders in Washington working to convince voters not to hand power to the Democratic Party.”She continued, “The result is a situation 100 days out that gives both parties reasons to be hopeful and worried.”The polls are similarly concerning for the Democrats.“At this point in the 2018 cycle, when Democrats won big in the so-called blue wave, the generic ballot showed Democrats up by an average of 7 points or 8 points, DDHQ said, which is double the current edge,” Mueller wrote.She added, “With just more than three months until Election Day, the tight forecasts make races like the Michigan Senate fight must-wins for both parties, adding urgency to the handful of toss-up contests that could decide control on Capitol Hill.”The New York Times similarly reported on Democrats’ perceived incompetence on Sunday.“At the center is Ken Martin, the 53-year-old party chairman, who has found himself increasingly isolated, gripped by the fear that he will lose his job and relying on a vanishingly small circle of people he trusts, according to interviews with more than two dozen Democrats, including current and former D.N.C. officials and members,” wrote The New York Times’ Shane Goldmacher and Reid J. Epstein on Sunday. “Most of them spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the party’s troubled state of affairs.”Goldmacher and Epstein continued, “Mr. Martin’s fraying nerves are showing. In a pique of frustration in early July, he threw his phone at the desk of a junior aide while upbraiding the person. The phone-tossing incident resulted in a formal complaint to the D.N.C.’s human resources department.”

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Republicans in panic mode over 'scary' signs their base won't show up

Alternet.org

10 hours ago

Republicans in panic mode over 'scary' signs their base won't show up

Republicans are once again in panic mode over the 2026 midterms, according to The Washington Post, as "scary" new data about their voters' enthusiasm gap shows that they might not care anymore.According to the Post's new report from Sunday morning, GOP pollsters and strategists "are raising the alarm" about the party's voters, warning that they are feeling "listless and demotivated" at a time when the party needs them to be energized for the midterms. This comes at a time when the GOP already had ample reason to worry about getting wiped out by Democrats."A raft of discouraging data from polling, door knocking and focus groups is unsettling Republicans as their party heads into a midterm election season that would be challenging no matter what, given President Donald Trump’s low standing in polls and the fact that the party in control in Washington almost always loses seats," the Post explained. "The lack of enthusiasm is reaching deep into Republicans’ loyal base, spreading to the party’s most consistent voters — who have shown up to vote in all of the past four primaries and general elections, according to an analysis done by Americans for Prosperity Action, a conservative super PAC that was founded by billionaire Charles Koch. This new issue with the base adds to the party’s more enduring problem of turning out less-frequent voters who support Trump but often skip midterm elections."The report continued: "About 1 in 5 reliable Republican base voters are at risk this November, according to Nathan Nascimento, executive director at AFP Action. Those voters in Iowa, Ohio, North Carolina, Montana, New Hampshire and Michigan are either saying they may stay home or are weighing voting for Democrats, according to their data, which is based on polling and extensive efforts to engage targeted Republican voters by knocking on their doors. The voters are primarily worried about inflation and the economy."“This is a big chunk,” Nascimento said. “This is a scary number.”Nascimento further noted that this issue appears to be separate from another problem the party has faced over the last decade: the significant chunk of "low-propensity" voters who only show up to vote Republican during presidential elections when Trump is on the ballot. The president's pull on these voters as a candidate has been described as "mythical" by some observers, but has created a major problem for the GOP during off-years and midterms, as well as a grave problem going forward, now that he is term-limited.“We have a high-propensity base problem,” Nascimento added.The Post's report also quoted Lance Sulentic, a 56-year-old three-time Trump voter from Iowa who called their past support of the president "the worst three mistakes I’ve ever made in my life," lamenting his failure to keep his 2024 campaign promises and the new pain he is feeling at the pump.“We voted for Trump, and he did the opposite of what he said he was going to do,” Sulentic said. “Gas prices were going to be two dollars, food was going to be cheaper, energy prices was going to be in half, we were going to get two rebate checks to the American people, and we weren’t going to have any new wars, and we were going to build a wall and deport 30 million illegal aliens, and he did none of it.”

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To save capitalism from Gen Z, Republicans must steal socialism

Washington Examiner

11 hours ago

To save capitalism from Gen Z, Republicans must steal socialism

The recent rise of the Democratic Socialists of America is shocking to many, but its rise in popularity coincides with Generation Z’s turnout and involvement in politics. Gen Z was the backbone of the mayoral election of Zohran Mamdani in New York City, with nearly 75% of Gen Z voting for Mamdani, a DSA-backed candidate. […]

Center Right

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The fight for female sports: Progress at the Supreme Court and in culture, a long way to go in blue states

Washington Examiner

11 hours ago

The fight for female sports: Progress at the Supreme Court and in culture, a long way to go in blue states

The video of Kallie Keeler, a high school sophomore wrestling in an all-girls tournament last December, is just 22 seconds long. But it might demonstrate the 54-year history and purpose of Title IX as much as any lengthy lawsuit filing. Taken by Kallie’s mother, Stephanie, video footage shows the 16-year-old wrestling an opponent who appears […]

Center Right

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