All articles tagged with #2026 election
President Trump's high-profile endorsements face a setback in August as six of his backed candidates for the House and governor lost their primaries, denting his near-sterling endorsement record and setting up two more tests next week.
Wyoming’s 2026 governor primaries unfold with Gov. Mark Gordon term-limited. Republican Eric Barlow leads the GOP field (about 45% in early returns) ahead of Megan Degenfelder and Brent Bien, with roughly 35% of votes counted. Democrat Kenneth Casner wins the Democratic primary uncontested. As county results trickle in (Barlow already leading in counties such as Campbell), the GOP nomination appears headed for the general election once all votes are tallied.
Gov. Kathy Hochul leads Bruce Blakeman by 10 points in Siena College’s first poll of likely voters (49-39), with Hochul at 46% favorable to 49% unfavorable and Blakeman at 33-26 favorable/unfavorable. Hochul dominates New York City (64-19); Blakeman leads the suburbs (49-41); upstate is nearly even (Blakeman 46, Hochul 45). Independents favor Blakeman 45-40. The poll also shows a 16-point Democratic edge on the generic ballot; 811 likely voters were surveyed Aug. 3-6 with a margin of error ±4.2 points.
Victor Marx, a first-time candidate, narrowly defeated state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer in Colorado’s three-way Republican gubernatorial primary, earning a November showdown against Attorney General Phil Weiser. The victory, aided by Marx’s national social media following and unconventional campaign style, comes amid questions about his fitness for office and Kirkmeyer’s fundraising challenges, with no GOP statewide win in Colorado since 2016 and the general election a high-stakes matchup for the party.
Rep. Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey, out since March due to an undisclosed health issue, will return to the House on June 30, 2026, after 117 days away, a move that matters for Republicans in a tight race against Democrat Rebecca Bennett; the digest also reports on GOP reactions to the Iran peace deal, the NO FAKES Act advancing in the Senate, and questions surrounding Jay Clayton’s nomination.
Rep. Mike Collins won Georgia’s Republican Senate runoff and will face incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff in November; Collins, a businessman and former chair of a major Georgia credit union, ran on a conservative record, while Ossoff criticized him in response to the result.
Reality-TV star Spencer Pratt surged in the Los Angeles mayoral race with rapid momentum and high-profile campaigning, but he ultimately fell short of victory.
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden will face businessman Toby Doeden in a July 28 GOP primary runoff for a full term after neither cleared 35% in Tuesday’s vote. Doeden led with about 31%, Rhoden had 25%, followed by Rep. Dusty Johnson at 23% and former House Speaker Jon Hansen at 21%. Trump did not endorse; Doeden markets himself as a political outsider and Trump ally, while Rhoden touts property tax cuts and crime reductions. The Republican nominee is favored in the general election in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat governor since the 1970s, and Trump carried SD by 29 points in 2024.
Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey resurfaced after a month-long absence, stating he’s recovering from an illness and plans to disclose more health details; Speaker Mike Johnson said Kean sounded optimistic about a quick return, and Kean told the New Jersey Globe he expects to vote and campaign again within weeks and will seek a third term in 2026, with doctors saying there are no long-term or cognitive issues.
Former Detroit mayor Mike Duggan ends his unaffiliated bid for Michigan governor, saying the current political climate favors Democrats and leaving the race to likely feature Democrat Jocelyn Benson against Republican John James. Duggan cited polling and fundraising shortfalls as well as the national mood, noting he won’t be a spoiler and acknowledging he’ll be outspent by party machinery.
Facing slipping approval ratings, Trump told reporters that gas prices are “peanuts” and he isn’t focused on them, instead tying his agenda to stopping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon while recalling cheaper gas days amid a noisy East Wing construction backdrop.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville won the Alabama Republican gubernatorial primary and is positioned as the favorite to win the general election this fall, aiming to replace term-limited Gov. Kay Ivey. Trump endorsed Tuberville, and the state has not elected a Democrat as governor since 1998, with Democrat Doug Jones winning the Democratic primary for governor in the race.
Tennessee asks the Davidson County court to deny the NAACP’s emergency bid to block the newly drawn U.S. House map, arguing state officials enjoy immunity and that no imminent harm exists, even as the NAACP contends the special-session process and changes to residency rules were improperly enacted ahead of the 2026 election.
Democrat Chedrick Greene defeated Republican Jason Tunney in Michigan’s 35th Senate District to replace Kristen McDonald Rivet, securing a 20-18 Democratic majority in the state Senate. The race drew high-profile visits from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Pete Buttigieg, and Greene led by about 22 points with 55% of expected votes counted, reflecting a broader pattern of Democrats outperforming Harris in 2024 in that district.
State Rep. James Talarico raised $27 million in the first quarter of 2026 for his bid to flip Texas in the U.S. Senate, the largest quarterly total for any Senate candidate in any state in an early election year. The haul pushes his total this race to over $40 million from more than 540,000 individual donors across 246 of Texas’ 254 counties, and he has outpaced other Democratic contenders as Democrats push to win a statewide race in a state with 20 media markets.