Just for members: The latest Inside Elections. This issue focuses on key races where independent candidates have a chance of winning or could play a spoiler role. Join now to continue reading. Members get exclusive analysis, bonus features and no advertising. Learn more. If you’re already a member, sign in to your account.

“Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Thursday that he has been discharged from a rehabilitation center, nearly two months after he was hospitalized,” CBS News reports.

“Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) called for embattled Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) to drop his reelection bid amid allegations from his ex-wife that he abused her and their young daughter,” Mediaite reports. Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) called Miller a ‘degenerate sociopath’ in a statement urging him to exit the race released shortly before Husted’s comments.”

“President Donald Trump has privately complained in recent days that disclosures on the dwindling U.S. munitions stockpile make the United States look weak at a critical juncture, senior U.S. officials said, as he repeatedly threatens additional military action to try and motivate Iran to agree to a deal,” CNN reports.

“The Senate is searching for a deal to speed up consideration of a number of priorities as a handful of outstanding issues, including on funding the government and confirming Todd Blanche as attorney general, stand between them and their August recess,” CBS News reports.

“Sen. Mitch McConnell wasn’t at the Agriculture Committee’s markup of the farm bill Thursday, but the Kentucky Republican was casting tie-breaking votes on partisan issues,” NOTUS reports. “Yet his absence is why the bill did not advance to the Senate floor.” “McConnell, who hasn’t been seen in public for almost two months while on medical […]

“A legal cat-and-mouse game has played out over whether the president can use various obscure, untested provisions to impose tariffs. Now, Congress appears on track to give him a big, new — and explicit — tariff authority,” Axios reports. “Why it matters: A bill on Russia sanctions, named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, has […]

“President Trump on Thursday publicly defended Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and said reporting suggesting any friction between the two was ‘treasonous,'” Axios reports.

“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s blocking of promotions for high-ranking women in the military has contributed to the lowest percentage of such nominations for women in at least 25 years, according to a New York Times analysis,” the New York Times reports. “Eight of 201 candidates for high-ranking posts this year have been women, or 4 […]

President Trump went on the attack against Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, him of hating Jews and being “full of shit,” the Detroit News reports. Said Trump: “He doesn’t love everybody. Put him in office, you’re going to find out what he loves. He doesn’t love Israel. He doesn’t love Jewish people. He hates […]

“Two Republican mayors from the reddest parts of Georgia are breaking ranks to back Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff’s reelection bid, telling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the Democrat’s work for their communities outweighs partisan differences.”

“Senate Agriculture Committee Democrats rejected a GOP-led farm bill Thursday in a vote that highlights deep partisan divisions over nutrition aid cuts and leaves Congress without a clear path toward reauthorizing the long-overdue bill,” Politico reports.

“As the custody battle between Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) and his ex-wife Emily Moreno seems to grow nastier by the day — and play out in the public eye — Miller’s ex-father-in-law Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) said he moved his wife, daughter, and granddaughter to a ‘secure location out of state’ until they ‘feel safe,'” […]

Washington Post: “Trump — more than any president in recent history — is relying on wealthy donors and political loyalists to fill ambassadorships at U.S. embassies worldwide.” “It comes as the president has overseen a broader shake-up at the State Department, marking a shift away from apolitical norms that have guided American foreign policy for […]

“When Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the progressive Democrat who was declared the winner of the Senate primary in Michigan today, strode to the lectern for his victory speech, he did not exactly look like himself,” the New York Times reports. “After all, he was wearing a suit.” “It was a notable departure from the tight, black […]

“The Trump administration’s sweeping grant cuts are hitting sexual abstinence programs long favored by Republicans,” Politico reports. “Earlier this summer, the administration abruptly terminated tens of millions in funding for groups teaching children and teenagers about how to prevent pregnancy and sexually-transmitted infections.”

“President Donald Trump has periodically spoken by phone with Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh since he took the role, the latest sign of Trump’s effort to exert greater influence over the central bank,” Bloomberg reports. “Trump and Warsh have spoken multiple times since the latter was confirmed in May, with Trump inquiring about Warsh’s forecasts […]

“President Donald Trump won an 11th-hour court reprieve Thursday that temporarily blocks the BBC from obtaining detailed records on the finances and ownership of his business empire as part of his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the British broadcaster,” CNBC reports. “The emergency stay, granted in Miami federal court, pauses a looming Thursday deadline that […]

“The next great First Amendment battleground is just six inches high and is attached to about a million motor vehicles in Virginia alone. It is the vanity license plate, and courts are splintered over whether and how states can censor the messages the plates convey,” the New York Times reports. “The latest decision landed Friday. […]

“The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first mRNA-based flu vaccine, paving the way for a new type of shot that will be available for adults 50 and over looking to get immunized against the respiratory illness,” the Washington Post reports.

“The Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal the national broadcast ownership cap and replace it with a case-by-case review, approving the measure by a 2-1 margin on Thursday,” The Wrap reports. “The cap, which was implemented by Congress in 2004 to prevent monopolization, limits entities from owning or controlling broadcast television stations that, in the […]

Coming this fall: How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents by Sen. Thom Tillis. According to Politico, Tillis describes Donald Trump’s advisers as “MAGATS” in his book, saying they “are not giving the president honest advice and putting us in positions that we could avoid.”

For months, the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan was framed as a looming civil war — a proxy fight over the party’s future that would leave deep scars. Instead, it ended with something much less dramatic: Democrats acting like a political party. Join now to continue reading. Members get exclusive analysis, bonus features and no […]

“When Qatar donated a Boeing jet for use as a temporary Air Force One, President Trump said the luxury plane would come with him when he left office — but only as a display at his presidential library,” the New York Times reports. “Those plans appear to have changed.” “A White House official, speaking on […]

“We’re gonna win this election whether we resolve the Iran situation before the election or not.” — Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), quoted by Politico.

“It was hardly the first time that someone on social media called someone else fat. But it may have been the first time that a vice president of the United States did so,” the New York Times reports. “Peeved at a conservative columnist who criticized his position on Iran, Vice President JD Vance jabbed on […]

Jonathan Chait: “When left-wing insurgents defeated a trio of progressive House members in New York, the House Democratic leadership suffered merely an embarrassment. Last night’s primary election in Michigan, by comparison, is an outright catastrophe for the party’s leaders. The Democratic Senate nominee, Abdul El-Sayed, who defeated the four-term Representative Haley Stevens, has attacked the […]

“President Donald Trump declared Thursday that the U.S. has a ‘massive’ munitions stockpile and ‘treasonous’ leakers are ‘being hunted down’ after reports emerged claiming the U.S. Army has burned through nearly all of its stockpiles of two of its primary long-range precision weapons,” Fox News reports. Said Trump: “The U.S. has massive amounts of ‘munitions,’ […]

“The U.S. DOGE Service, the cost-cutting group spearheaded by Elon Musk, consistently overstated its savings in online posts, taking credit for lease cancellations initiated before the group existed, according to a report from a government watchdog to be released Thursday,” the Washington Post reports. “DOGE also claimed contracts were terminated that had not been and […]

One of the strangest primary results of the cycle came this week in Michigan. Navy veteran Amir Hassan (R) had the backing of President Trump, Republican leaders and the advantages that usually come with establishment support. Join now to continue reading. Members get exclusive analysis, bonus features and no advertising. Learn more. If you’re already […]