Tag: 2026 elections

Establishment Democrats warn socialist candidates could cost the party the midterms

As Democratic Socialist candidates and their candidacies are gaining steam, establishment Democrats connected to the Clinton and Obama administrations are sounding the alarm, warning that the rise of radicals is threatening the party’s chances of winning the upcoming midterms. 

“There is emerging evidence that Democrats are being harmed by perceptions that the party is drifting towards socialism,” wrote Douglas Schoen and Carly Cooperman, partners at the public opinion company Schoen Cooperman Research.

Schoen is a veteran of Democratic President Bill Clinton’s 1996 campaign as well as Hillary Clinton’s 2008 bid for the party’s presidential nomination.

Alarming to these Democrats is the fact that President Donald Trump’s low approval ratings have not translated into the expected polling advantage for Democratic candidates heading into the midterms in November, in which control of the House and Senate will be decided. 

Trump’s approval rating is underwater, hovering under 40% since May. However, in the most recent YouGov/Economist poll, in late July, Democrats outperformed Republicans by only 4 points. For comparison, Democrats consistently polled 7 to 13 points ahead of Republicans ahead of the 2018 blue wave election. 

Such a “narrow lead,” Schoen and Cooperman say, “suggests that heightened focus on the socialist-progressive candidates of late severely hurts Democrats’ ability to capitalize on widespread anti-Trump sentiment.”

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has become the face of the Democratic Socialist movement. Earlier this year, he clashed directly with the Democratic Party establishment in the city in order to remake its congressional delegation in his image. Mamdani backed three progressive socialist-aligned candidates who were successful in unseating incumbents or their establishment-backed opponents.

One of those winners, Darializa Avila Chevalier, who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), has drawn scrutiny over past social media posts expressing support for communism and Marxist ideology, including sympathy for Soviet figures. 

Democratic Socialists or their ideological allies have also surged in Colorado, Maine and Michigan. Schoen and Cooperman believe the party is “running bigger risks” by considering these candidates because it will fuel the Republican efforts to paint the Democratic Party more broadly as unpopular socialists. 

In Maine, scandal-ridden Graham Platner – who was closely tied to the Democratic Socialist infrastructure of Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and Mayor Mamdani – had to drop out of the race. 

But, the state party chose Troy Jackson to replace him. Though not directly affiliated with the DSA, Jackson is backed by the organization and shares many of its policy goals. The DSA even endorsed Jackson for his earlier failed bid for governor.

In Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary Tuesday, the frontrunner is Abdul El-Sayed, who is backed by democratic socialist Sanders and New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Though not affiliated with the DSA, he also espouses policies similar to the organization’s goals.

To Schoen and Cooperman, an affiliation with the DSA is not necessary to hurt the Democratic Party.

“Republicans do not need every Democrat to be Democratic Socialists of America members to brand all Democrats as socialists. They simply need enough high-profile Democrats on the party’s left-wing fringe to make the caricature stick,” they said in a Monday op-ed published in The Hill.   

Making matters worse, DSA co-chair Megan Romer took to cable news on Sunday to fully embrace that “caricature.” 

In an interview with Fox News’ Shannon Bream, which circulated widely on social media, Romer publicly embraced the most radical DSA proposals for the country, including abolishing the Senate, the presidency, the Supreme Court, national borders, immigration enforcement, prisons and defunding the U.S. military.

Romer made clear she views the DSA as ascendant and the establishment Democrats as outdated. 

“We run on the Democratic ballot line where it makes sense,” she said. “We run independents sometimes where that is a viable possibility, but it’s a ballot line. What matters is what the voters think, and the voters are overwhelmingly choosing our candidates.” 

Beyond Schoen, other Democrats are raising the alarm about the growing influence of socialists in their party and warning that it could lead to disastrous consequences for the midterm elections as the party’s popularity continues to sag. 

This month, former Chicago Mayor, Obama Chief of Staff and Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emmanuel said that Democratic Socialist “Bernie Bros” could “spoil” the midterm elections for Democrats. 

“Ultimately, this is about policy. It was socialists who led the charge to defund the police, open the borders, abolish prisons, release violent criminals onto the streets and degrade the flag. We know those are electoral losers,” Emmanuel wrote last week.  

He argues that these positions often held by more radical candidates running in deep blue areas make it more difficult for Democratic candidates running in swing districts vital for winning the House.  

Republicans are jumping on the success of the DSA to associate Democrats with the organization’s policies. 

President Trump and the GOP have launched a campaign arguing the Democratic Party has been infiltrated with communist candidates as the November election nears, Just the News reported on Wednesday. 

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Musk’s America PAC Reportedly Plans $120 Million Midterm Blitz, Setting Stage For Renewed Left-Wing War On Elon

The New York Times reports that Elon Musk’s America PAC plans to spend as much as $120 million to help Republicans in November’s midterm elections, signaling that the world’s richest man is preparing to reenter the political game with fewer than 100 days until voters head to the polls.

America PAC’s spending surge will likely spark a coordinated opposition campaign from Democratic groups and left-wing NGOs, ranging from protests and activist pressure to sustained negative press coverage of Musk, as well as attempts to damage his brands, including Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI.

The Democrats’ playbook could resemble their coordinated pressure campaign against Musk when he was involved with DOGE and the dismantling of most of USAID. This sparked street demonstrations by left-wing and far-left activist networks supported by left-wing NGOs, along with an aggressive left-leaning media campaign that sought to make him the public face of the administration’s agenda.

The NYT report is based on “two people briefed on the plans,” and like many stories run by left-leaning corporate media. Musk usually denies the reports on X, but if this report is correct, it says Musk authorized America PAC to build a field operation across at least eight states, targeting Senate races in Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, and Ohio, while considering contests in North Carolina, Georgia, and Texas.

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Software vendor disputes NJ governor’s ‘glitch’ claim, says state approves foreigners on voter roll

ust hours after New Jersey Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherril blamed a software glitch for thousands of non-citizens being registered to vote, the software company involved issued a statement disputing the claim.

IDEMIA, the software vendor for the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, issued a statement saying it was the responsibility of the state government, which is completely controlled by Democrats, to verify eligibility to vote.

“IDEMIA works with the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, and has for more than 40 years, to support the process through which eligible individuals may indicate their interest in registering to vote when applying for or renewing a driver’s license or state-issued identification card. IDEMIA’s role is to transmit information through the motor vehicle system,” IDEMIA said in a statement to Just the News. 

“The voter registration information is transmitted to the New Jersey Department of State, Division of Elections, which is ultimately responsible for verifying eligibility to vote. Information submitted by IDEMIA must still be validated and adjudicated by the Division of Elections.”

Sherrill blamed the software company on Tuesday, Just the News reported, saying the glitch allowed 6,660 non-citizens to register to vote. She also said that as many as 400 of those non-citizens has in fact voted in a recent election, though she claimed those who voted “were registered as Democrats, Republicans and Unaffiliated voters and were scattered across the state.” It is unclear for which candidate the non-citizens voted.

“These individuals answered ‘no’ when asked on a keypad whether they were a U.S. citizen when applying for drivers’ licenses and identification cards, but through no fault of their own, the system registered them anyway,” Sherrill said.

Sherrill also said the error occurred under the previous administration of Gov. Phil Murphy, also a Democrat.

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Far-Left Activist First Circuit Judges Block Trump’s Historic Election Integrity Executive Order in 23 Blue States — Protecting Mail-In Ballot Chaos Ahead of 2026 Midterms

A Biden-appointed majority on the First Circuit Court of Appeals handed President Donald Trump a major setback Saturday, refusing to lift an injunction blocking key election-integrity provisions of his executive order in 23 states and the District of Columbia.

The three-judge panel denied emergency stay requests filed by the Trump administration and 12 Republican-led states, leaving in place a lower-court order that prevents the Department of Homeland Security from distributing federal citizenship lists and blocks the U.S. Postal Service from applying new mail-ballot requirements in the plaintiff states for elections held on or before November 3, 2026.

Judges Gustavo Gelpí and Julie Rikelman, both appointed to the First Circuit by Joe Biden, formed the majority.

Trump-appointed Judge Joshua Dunlap concurred in part and dissented in part, arguing that the states lacked standing to block DHS from merely providing citizenship information.

The ruling is not a final decision on the administration’s appeal. Instead, the 20-page court order denies the administration’s request to suspend the injunction while the appeal proceeds.

The administration could now seek emergency relief from the U.S. Supreme Court.

President Trump issued Executive Order 14399, titled “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections,” on March 31 to enforce existing federal law that reserves federal elections exclusively for U.S. citizens and to bring basic accountability to the chaotic, fraud-prone mail-in ballot process.

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Over 148,000 Mail Ballots Rejected In California’s Primary Election, Data Show

Election data that was provided by California state officials for last month’s primary elections show that more than 148,000 mail-in ballots were rejected, an uptick of more than 40,000 from the 2024 primary.

All in all, 148,241 were rejected in the state’s June 2 primary election, according to data released by the California Secretary of State’s office, which manages elections. The figure represents 1.73 percent of all mail-in ballots.

According to the data released earlier this month, more than 93,000 mail-in ballots were rejected by officials because they arrived too late. Another 8,300 were rejected because there was no voter signature on the ballot, and nearly 44,000 were rejected due to a non-matching signature.

Meanwhile, some 580 weren’t used because no photo ID was provided, more than 740 were rejected because the voter had already voted, around 640 were rejected because the ballot was missing from the envelope, and roughly 450 were flagged as having multiple ballots in each envelope, the election figures show.

The data provided by the office did not list the rejected ballots by party registration.

The rejection rates varied by county, with Tulare County having the highest rate at 3.52 percent. Alpine and Merced counties saw 3.36 percent rejection rates, according to the data. The lowest was reported in Placer County, with a 0.93 percent rejection rate.

Los Angeles County, the county with the highest population and most voters, reported a 1.34 percent rejection rate, while San Diego County saw a 1.37 percent rate, the figures show.

The 2026 primary rejection figures are up from the 2024 primary, when 108,982 mail ballots were tossed, representing a 1.56 percent increase, according to the California Secretary of State’s office.

Kim Alexander, the head of the California Voter Foundation, told media outlets this week that ballot rejections during the primary election last month were largely due to them being mailed too late.

“Ballots rejected due to lateness are caused primarily to being postmarked too late to count, not because they arrived too late to count,” Alexander told The Associated Press.

Following last month’s primary, President Donald Trump criticized California’s election system. At one point, he questioned results showing Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt falling to third place behind two Democrats.

“Not possible for Spencer Pratt to have lost the L.A. runoffs after the big lead he had,” Trump wrote on social media at the time. “Rigged Elections!”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office has sought to counter claims made by Trump that elections are being mismanaged in the state, including a post issued on X last week.

“California law is clear: You MUST be a U.S. citizen to vote state and federal elections,” the post said. “Voter fraud is EXTREMELY RARE – and almost always committed by U.S. citizens.”

Newsom added that the Trump administration has “provided NO evidence to support” recent claims of non-citizens being registered to vote in California. It came as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said on July 17 that around 250,000 non-citizens were registered in New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and California.

The Trump administration has sought to tighten rules around mail-in ballots, issuing an executive order that would create a voter list regarding who could get a mail-in ballot during elections that was blocked by a judge in late June. Trump has long said, especially in the lead-up to and after the 2020 election, that voting by mail leads to fraud and irregularities.

On Thursday, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers called on the U.S. Postal Service to address delays in the state in April.

“Hundreds of absentee ballots received by the Postal Service before Wisconsin’s Spring Election were delivered after Election Day, preventing them from being counted,” the two Democrats wrote to U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner.

The California Secretary of State’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.

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MSNOW Suggests Trump Will Try to Steal the 2026 Midterms – Then Completely Dismisses Massive Voter Fraud Uncovered in New Jersey

During a recent broadcast, MSNOW pushed the Democrat narrative that Trump is going to try to steal the 2026 midterms, and explained that Senate Democrats are taking the threat so seriously that they’re actually wargaming various scenarios over it.

Minutes later, the same host talks to another guest and the two of them completely dismiss the very real voter fraud that was recently uncovered in New Jersey, where it was discovered that as many as 4,000 illegal immigrants were registered to vote and that hundreds of them had voted.

This is an example of something that could only happen on MSNOW.

NewsBusters has details:

The segment opened with correspondent Ali Vitali interviewing House Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on his “doomsday plans” for if Trump made a move against free elections. Vitali summarized Schumer’s concerns:

Schumer feels there is enough information to go off of from the president’s own statements, not just in recent weeks, but in recent years, casting doubt on elections that Republicans lose. To Schumer’s mind, it says that Democrats have not just an edge going into the midterms, but that they need to be able to have some reflexes to draw upon if there are attempts to sow disinformation or send federal troops to polling places. Those are just some of the fears that he has.

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Far-Left Activist First Circuit Judges Block Trump’s Historic Election Integrity Executive Order in 23 Blue States — Protecting Mail-In Ballot Chaos Ahead of 2026 Midterms

A Biden-appointed majority on the First Circuit Court of Appeals handed President Donald Trump a major setback Saturday, refusing to lift an injunction blocking key election-integrity provisions of his executive order in 23 states and the District of Columbia.

The three-judge panel denied emergency stay requests filed by the Trump administration and 12 Republican-led states, leaving in place a lower-court order that prevents the Department of Homeland Security from distributing federal citizenship lists and blocks the U.S. Postal Service from applying new mail-ballot requirements in the plaintiff states for elections held on or before November 3, 2026.

Judges Gustavo Gelpí and Julie Rikelman, both appointed to the First Circuit by Joe Biden, formed the majority.

Trump-appointed Judge Joshua Dunlap concurred in part and dissented in part, arguing that the states lacked standing to block DHS from merely providing citizenship information.

The ruling is not a final decision on the administration’s appeal. Instead, the 20-page court order denies the administration’s request to suspend the injunction while the appeal proceeds.

The administration could now seek emergency relief from the U.S. Supreme Court.

President Trump issued Executive Order 14399, titled “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections,” on March 31 to enforce existing federal law that reserves federal elections exclusively for U.S. citizens and to bring basic accountability to the chaotic, fraud-prone mail-in ballot process.

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Democrats Vote to Make South Carolina the First 2028 Primary State – And Here’s Who Will Benefit

Democrats are set to make South Carolina its first 2028 primary state.

The Democrat National Committee panel on Friday voted to make South Carolina – a state with a large black voting bloc, their first presidential primary state.

“So they will emerge as the first contest in a body of work that will have a plethora of good contests for these candidates to really vie for,” the panel said.

This is a major shift away from Iowa and Nevada – states with fewer black voters.

Recall that Joe Biden pushed for the Democrats to move its first voting state to South Carolina because that is where he made his ‘come back’ in 2020.

Joe Biden requested the change going into the 2024 election after he took a punch to the gut in Iowa and came in 5th place in the New Hampshire 2020 primaries.

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Minnesota Democrat AG Keith Ellison Sparks Alarm as He Apparently Reveals His Party’s Scheme to Steal the Midterm Elections

Crooked Minnesota Democrat Attorney General has gone viral for apparently saying the quiet part out loud regarding the Democrats’ scheme to obtain power at all costs.

While speaking at a rally in Minneapolis on Monday for far-left Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, who is running for the Senate, Ellison seemed to reveal the Democrats’ game plan to seize the midterms.

Ellison bragged that not only were Democrats going to get every person who was not old enough to vote in 2024, but also those who were not naturalized citizens.

This later admission appears to suggest that he either wants even non-naturalized citizens to vote this time or to grant people citizenship in exchange for votes.

Ellison also bragged that the Democrats would win over every voter who sat out the Presidential election.

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Democrats Nominate Anti-ICE Candidate Accused of Mortgage Fraud and Throwing a Bottle at a Woman for Maine Senate Race

Democrats in Maine have selected former state Senate President Troy Jackson as their nominee for the Senate seat currently held by Republican Susan Collins.

Jackson supports abolishing ICE, Medicare for All, and expanding the Supreme Court.

The new candidate will replace Graham Platner, who withdrew from the race amid sexual misconduct allegations.

Jackson secured overwhelming support in county delegate elections over the weekend, winning majorities in nearly every county.

This gives him a commanding lead heading into the Democratic nominating convention scheduled for July 25.

Several rivals, including Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and former state CDC director Nirav Shah, have already dropped out and endorsed Jackson.

Jackson, a logger from Allagash, previously served as Senate President from 2018 to 2024.

He ran unsuccessfully for governor and has long been aligned with progressive causes, including labor unions.

An ethics complaint was filed against him in 2023 regarding a 2019 home purchase in Augusta using an FHA loan.

Jackson allegedly signed documents stating the Augusta property would be his primary residence but continued to claim Allagash as his residence for legislative and other purposes.

The politician claimed he “never really read” the mortgage documents and relied on his broker.

The Maine Ethics Commission reviewed complaints but did not pursue further action.

Additionally, the group Progressive Victory has warned that Jackson once threw a bottle at a female colleague, describing the incident as an “open secret” in Maine politics.

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