With just a few primary elections to go, the competitive Senate map keeps shifting

For Democrats to take control of the U.S. Senate, they have to flip 4 seats currently held by Republicans. Republicans, meanwhile, are playing defense and pickup opportunities are harder to find.

Dems' 'Working Class' Candidates Are an Elite Con

Data on Zohran Mamdani, Graham Platner and Abdul El-Sayed show their 'working class' base is really Democrats' most educated, highest-income voters.

Fetterman Lets Loose on Dems Over Wild DSA Video

WATCH: Hakeem Jeffries pivots when confronted over illegal voting Dems swore was not happening

'Unfortunately, what we have seen from Donald Trump is that, in this particular case, Republicans have adopted voter suppression as an electoral strategy'

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.

Troy Jackson Crowned As New Maine Senate Nominee

GOP senator says Thune ‘being too cautious’ in talks with Senate Democrats to avoid shutdown

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) on Sunday said that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is “being too cautious” in his talks with Senate Democratic leaders in an effort to avoid a government shutdown at the end of September. “Look, I mean no disrespect. I love John Thune. He’s my leader. He’s got a big brain.…

'People are scared': MAGA senator lashes out at Trump over 'hair trigger' tensions

A MAGA Senator took to the airwaves to call out President Donald Trump for hypocrisy. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) admitted on "Face the Nation" Sunday that he was not "comfortable" with Trump's newly announced and already problem-laden nuclear deal."We're bombing a country to keep'm from getting a nuclear weapon," said Kennedy. "But we're signing a deal with another country...that the world perceives as possibly, someday leading to a nuclear weapon."The countries, of course, are Iran — which Trump ostensibly started to dismantle their nuclear program — and Saudia Arabia, the nation Trump wants to allow to enrich uranium.The U.S. struck the deal Wednesday but hit a snag over the Saudi government's relationship with Israel. Less than 24 hours after announcing the deal, Trump added a condition that the Saudis normalize those relations. Experts warn the deal could trigger a cascade of nuclear ambitions across the Middle East, The Wall Street Journal has reported, and critics note the Saudis gave Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner's private equity firm $2 billion."Face the Nation" host Margaret Brennan noted Sunday that any deal would have to be approved by Congress, which prompted Kennedy to list off his concerns. "The world's on a hair trigger," Kennedy said. "The world looks at what's going on in Ukraine, the Middle East, the world looks at America's relationship now with Europe."He added, "People are scared." The Louisiana lawmaker is hardly the first U.S. senator to vent frustration with Trump this week. White House demands that Majority Leader Sen. John Thune (R-SD) do more to pass the SAVE America Act — a non-citizen voting ban critics describe as redundant and dystopian — have infuriated GOP members of the Senate. "Instead of pointing the finger at Republicans," Thune said, "they might think about going after the people who are stopping it on the floor, which is the Democrats."Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) added, "I have 1000 percent confidence in Thune, and anybody in the White House who thinks he's not a good leader isn't qualified for their job.""This idea that he can just command members of the Republican conference to get in line is just a fantasy," responded Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). “It’s creating a circular firing squad for Republicans.”Kennedy himself added, “John can’t put a gun to people’s heads."