Tag: 2026 elections

Multiple Biden officials bash former Cabinet official, gobsmacked by their rise CA governor race

Former Biden officials are anonymously taking aim at one of their own, ex-HHS Sec. Xavier Becerra, as he appears to ascend in the California gubernatorial race.

Becerra has emerged as a leading Democratic candidate in California’s jungle primary for governor after Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell’s dramatic exit from the race last month.

His rise, however, is mystifying his former Biden administration colleagues, according to a report from Politico.

“Six former Biden administration officials, all of whom were granted anonymity to speak candidly about a former colleague, acknowledged the subject of Becerra’s unlikely rise has come to dominate their group chats and conversations,” Politico reported Thursday.

“‘It gets the biggest laugh every time we send around a poll,’ the first former official said, describing the perception across the administration that the former HHS secretary was ineffective on the COVID response, a migrant health crisis at the border and other matters,” Politico continued. “‘He ran one of the most consequential agencies in government at the height of the pandemic. But he took a backseat to Dr. Fauci and his team, didn’t visibly lead on implementation and had to go through layers to get to POTUS even as a Cabinet member.'”

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Cory Booker Admits Dems Are Coming for Supreme Court if They Win Midterms

Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, said this week that Democrats are still eyeing major changes to the Supreme Court if they win the Senate in November.

During a Tuesday appearance on “All-In with Chris Hayes” on MSNOW, Booker openly discussed “reforming” the court.

Host Chris Hayes noted that many Democratic voters increasingly believe “something has to be done” about the court’s conservative majority.

He asked Booker whether going after the court had become a priority for Democrats seeking to regain power in November.

“The Supreme Court is another example of an area where most Americans agree,” Booker claimed.

Booker then argued in favor of imposing term limits on Supreme Court justices.

“In addition, most Americans agree that Supreme Court justices shouldn’t sit on those benches until they’re so ailing,” Booker said.

“So, yes, we have to think hard about how we’re going to reform the court and bring it back into alignment,” he added.

He also accused the court of having eviscerated “years and years and years of progress” by ruling last week that states cannot gerrymander districts based on race.

Booker’s threat comes after years of Democrats and liberal activists openly floating proposals to restructure the court.

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Billionaire Steyer’s spending binge dwarfs rival campaigns in California governor’s race

In the wide-open race for California governor, billionaire Tom Steyer is on a spending binge.

The hedge fund manager-turned-liberal activist is using his personal fortune to saturate TV screens and mobile phones with advertising, while his competitors accuse him of trying to use his vast wealth to buy the state’s most powerful job.

Steyer’s ads — in which he promises to bring down household costs or rails against federal immigration raids — appear inescapable at times in heavily Democratic Los Angeles, the state’s largest media market. Data compiled by advertising tracker AdImpact show Steyer has spent or booked over $115 million in ads for broadcast TV, cable and radio — nearly 30 times the amount of his nearest Democratic rival.

If he makes it through the June 2 primary election, Steyer could easily eclipse the 2010 record set by Republican Meg Whitman, who spent $178.5 million in a losing bid for governor, much of it her own money. At the time, it was the costliest campaign for statewide office in the nation’s history.

Even when ad buys from all his major competitors are combined, along with ad purchases by independent committees supporting candidates, Steyer is outspending the field by tens of millions of dollars.

“Billionaire money is flooding our state in an attempt to buy this election,” former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, one of Steyer’s chief rivals, warned her supporters this month.

Mail-in ballots are set to go out to voters next month. Steyer is among a crowd of candidates hoping to seize a spotlight after former Democratic U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell’s dramatic departure from the race following sexual assault allegations that he denies.

But while Steyer has ticked up in polling amid his spending splurge, he has not broken away from the field, leaving some wondering if he’s getting value for his dollars.

“If your first round of ads doesn’t move you dramatically (in the polls), the third, fourth, fifth, six, seventh and eighth rounds won’t either,” said veteran Democratic strategist Bill Carrick, who for years advised the late Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. “There is something inherently holding Steyer back.”

In recent prior campaigns for governor, at this stage a leading candidate was taking control of the race. This year, voters appear to be shrugging at a contest that lacks a star candidate among seven leading Democrats and two Republicans.

“Somehow the campaign is frozen,” Carrick added.

History shows that money doesn’t always translate into votes.

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14-Year-Old Kid Runs for Governor of Vermont and Will Appear on the General Election Ballot

A 14-year-old kid has now qualified to appear on the general election ballot for Governor of Vermont this November.

Dean Roy, a freshman at Stowe High School who also works part-time at his parents’ pizza shop and served as a legislative page at the Vermont Statehouse last year, has become the first teenager under 18 to qualify for the state’s general election ballot for governor.

He did it by founding his own third-party outfit called the Freedom and Unity Party.

“I know it sounds crazy, a 14-year-old running for governor,” Roy said in a video posted to Instagram. “But honestly, look at the people in charge right now. They’ve been doing this forever and things still aren’t working.”

During an appearance on Fox & Friends Weekend this morning, Roy laid out a no-nonsense platform.

“Yeah, so the platform that I’m running on mainly focuses on housing, energy, healthcare, and education.

For housing, it mainly revolves around deregulating with regard to Act 250 and increasing taxes on short-term rentals, which are a very prominent problem in Vermont.

For energy, it’s nuclear power. If we were to reopen a nuclear power plant, we would secure energy independence.

And for education and healthcare, it’s auditing those systems, which are very inefficient in Vermont, and making sure that we get them to be efficient once again—and that they’re at a standard where Vermonters can both afford them and lower their tax bill.”

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WHAT’S IN CALIFORNIA’S WATER? Katie Porter, Another California Democrat Governor Candidate, Is Haunted by Serious Abuse Allegations

The race for the next California governor has been thrown into turmoil after Rep. Eric Swalwell’s campaign effectively collapsed under the weight of mounting sexual assault allegations and a complete loss of party support.

With every major Democrat endorsement now withdrawn, the race has rapidly shifted focus to the remaining candidates. At the top of that list for Democrats is former Representative Katie Porter—but her own record is now facing renewed scrutiny.

As previously reported by TGP, Swalwell’s political standing deteriorated almost overnight, leaving a sudden vacuum in a race he once led. That shift has elevated Porter into a leading position among Democrat contenders. However, unlike the narrative being pushed by much of the media, Porter’s background is not without controversy.

Porter has faced longstanding allegations stemming from a contentious divorce with her ex-husband, Matt Hoffman. According to court documents and reporting, both Porter and Hoffman filed domestic violence restraining orders against each other following a 2013 altercation.

Hoffman made serious accusations at the time, alleging that Porter engaged in physical and verbal abuse. His claims included allegations that Porter struck him, caused injury during domestic disputes, and engaged in degrading behavior.

Among the most widely cited claims were that Porter allegedly dumped a boiling pot of potatoes on him during an argument and shattered household items in a way that caused injury.

People make allegations against each other after messy divorces quite often, but if Hoffman, Porter’s ex-husband, was lying, it would not add up. Specific stories, like a boiling pot of potatoes, are much harder to fabricate and consistently maintain than general claims. At the same time, they would still be difficult to definitively prove.

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Eric Swalwell paid illegal Brazilian live-in nanny under the table with campaign funds, complaint alleges

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell — a frontrunner in the California governor’s race — has been accused of violating immigration and employment law to keep his illegal live-in Brazilian nanny in the country, according to a pair of recently filed complaints.

When his South American babysitter’s temporary work authorization was about to expire in 2022, he and wife Brittany Swalwell lied to the feds to keep Amanda Barbosa working for them, a new complaint filed Tuesday with the Department of Labor claimed.

Another complaint, filed to the Department of Homeland security in February and previously unreported, accuses Swalwell of paying the nanny under the table with campaign funds for a period of two years when she didn’t hold valid work authorization.

Barbosa appears in numerous social media photos with the Swalwell family throughout 2023 and 2024, indicating continued close association and ongoing childcare responsibilities despite the absence of known lawful work authorization,” the complaint to DHS, dated Feb. 16, alleged.

The embattled California gubernatorial hopeful first hired Barbosa, 33, in the fall of 2021 to look after his three children.

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Swalwell Caught Paying His Wife with Campaign Cash for Child Care in 2026 California Governor’s Race

If you were a donor to Eric Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign, how would you react to learning that your contributions were used to pay his own wife to watch their children?

As Swalwell now runs for governor of California, a troubling pattern of campaign spending is drawing scrutiny, one that now includes direct payments to his spouse for “childcare.”

These payments do not stand alone. They come after years of similar child care expenditures through his congressional campaign, which are already the subject of my formal complaint before the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

A New Round of Payments—This Time to His Wife

Recent disclosures from Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign show multiple payments made directly to “Swalwell, Brittany” for child care: $2,301.00, $2,026.50, and $1,740.50.

These are not minor reimbursements; they are substantial, repeated payments to a candidate’s spouse.

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The Flailing GOP’s Biggest Advantage This November Is Democrats Are Still Obviously Crazy

BETTER TO BE INCOMPETENT, THAN OBVIOUSLY CRAZY

Things aren’t going well for Trump among the electorate. He’s slipping in nearly every metric. He just hit his highest national disapproval rating yet.

Functionally speaking, the midterms look bad. I’m not sure why Trump doesn’t appear more urgent other than his striking penchant for inexhaustible confidence. Losing the House would be sad but predictable, while losing the Senate would be catastrophic.

The House of Trump is teetering. The brothers have been doing all sorts of … deals. It hasn’t escaped the notice of other Republicans even. It won’t escape the notice of new Senate leadership. Impeachments are the least of it.

Imagine Biden’s foreign grift but 1000x worse.

And what’s the upshot of all this? What’s propelling Trump’s confidence?

In part, despite the cascade of disappointments, it has to be that the electorate still has a dimmer opinion of Democrats. Dim is a bit understated.

As conservative economist Stephen Moore put it, “Voters may not love Republicans, but increasingly, they fear Democrats.”

Machiavelli coined the term, “better to be feared than loved.” He elucidated further by saying that constant fear would eventually lead to instability, but you get the point.

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Pelosi Says Trump and Republicans May Hack Into Voting Machines to Rig Vote Count in 2026 Midterm Elections

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed President Trump and the Republicans are going to go into the voting machines and change the vote count to steal the 2026 midterm elections.

Pelosi, who previously announced she will be retiring after decades in Congress, sat down with MS NOWS’s Ali Vitali to discuss the 2026 midterm elections, Joe Biden, the partial government shutdown, female candidates for president, and other topics.

“I always thought the American people were much more ready for ‘Madam President’ than Congress was for ‘Madam Speaker,’ because it is a marble ceiling,” she said. “It’s not a glass ceiling; it’s a marble ceiling,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi took a swipe at Kamala Harris and said Hillary Clinton was the most qualified person of our generation to run for president.

“She turned out so many more people than who would have voted,” Pelosi said.

At one point, the conversation turned to election integrity and the 2026 midterm elections.

Nancy Pelosi said Trump and the Republicans may try to hack the voting machines and steal the midterms by altering the vote count.

“We always have concerns, but with this president and the Republicans who have no commitment to the rule of law and doing things the appropriate way- we’re ready,” Pelosi said.

She continued, “We have to make sure the elections are safe…. We have to be on guard as to what [the Republicans] may try to do to the technology. They may try to creep into the technology and create a false count,” Pelosi said.

MS NOW’s Ali Vitali entertained Pelosi’s claims.

“How do you guard against that?” she asked Pelosi.

“That’s a challenge,” Pelosi said.

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Embattled Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales Bows Out of 2026 Runoff Race After Explosive Affair Scandal With Staffer Who Later Took Her Own Life

Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) suddenly announced Thursday that he will not seek reelection to Congress amid a rapidly growing scandal involving an alleged affair with a staff member, which has shaken Washington and prompted a House Ethics investigation.

The Texas lawmaker, who serves the 23rd Congressional District along the southern border, said he will complete his current term but will not run in 2026 after weeks of increased pressure from Republican leaders and grassroots conservatives.

In a social media statement, Gonzales stated he had made the decision “after deep reflection and with the support of my loving family” not to pursue another term in Congress.

“At 18, I swore an oath to defend our nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic. During my 20 years in the military and three terms in Congress, I have fought for that cause with absolute dedication to the country that I love.

From confronting the border crisis to standing with my communities after the worst school shooting in Texas history, my philosophy has never changed: do as much as you can, and always fight for the greater good.

After deep reflection, and with the support of my loving family, I have decided not to seek reelection, while serving out the remainder of this Congress with the same commitment I have always had to my district.

Through the rest of my term, I will continue fighting for my constituents, for whom I am eternally grateful.

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