October 2026
At the Races: Seeing red in Minnesota?
Welcome to At the Races! Each week we bring you news and analysis from the CQ Roll Call campaign team. Know someone who’d like to get this newsletter? They can subscribe here. By Mary Ellen McIntire, Daniela Altimari and Niels Lesniewski Campaigning some thousand miles away in Ohio this week, President Donald Trump urged Minnesotans to vote […]
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz faces sex trafficking lawsuit
Republican former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida is facing a lawsuit accusing him and others of sexually trafficking and abusing two women from 2017 to 2019. The lawsuit, filed anonymously by a pair of women in Florida federal court and docketed Thursday, alleges that Gaetz and coconspirators coordinated to pay for travel, sex and illicit […]
Calling off livestream of execution was right call, members say
Members of Congress expressed relief Thursday after President Donald Trump overturned a Pentagon plan to livestream the execution of a man convicted of a deadly 2009 shooting spree at a Texas Army base. On Oct. 8, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a broadcast interview, announced the department’s plan to air the Dec. 3 execution by […]
Amid ‘time of transition,’ Freedom Caucus sees room to grow its influence
The House Freedom Caucus is poised to look very different next year, with several stalwarts of the hard-line conservative bloc moving on. Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Byron Donalds of Florida and Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin are all running for governor. Alabama Rep. Barry Moore is favored to win election to the Senate. Reps. Ralph […]
Justices wrestle with video privacy law from VHS era
The Supreme Court on Wednesday grappled with how far a law Congress passed to cover video rentals in the 1980s should stretch to cover the modern advertising-supported internet. The case turns on the justices’ interpretation of the Video Privacy Protection Act, first passed in 1988 and last amended in 2013, and the protection it is […]
Political ad rates case frozen through midterms
The Supreme Court in an unsigned decision Wednesday sided with Republicans in a dispute over expanding discounted television advertising rates beyond political candidates ahead of the midterms. The unsigned order from a majority of the court paused a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals from the 4th Circuit that could have allowed the courts […]
Social Security benefits set for a boost next year
Social Security benefits will increase by 3.6 percent in 2027, a jump from the 2.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment provided this year, the Social Security Administration announced Wednesday. Monthly benefits for nearly 72 million recipients are set to increase by an average of $75 for all retirees beginning in January, the agency said. Increased payments to […]
Omar home search raises fears about election season probes
A search of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home has sent shockwaves through electoral politics weeks before the midterms, as experts said it appeared to flout longstanding norms meant to keep prosecutors out of elections. While the Minnesota Democrat herself has been on a glide path to reelection in a deep-blue district, some worry it could set […]
These states could elect their first female governors this year
Minnesota and Tennessee appear set for a political breakthrough this year, with each state poised to elect its first female governor. The major-party nominees in both states are women, and Congress could see two of its own take over those governorships with Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee favored to win […]
Democrat bets on anti-corruption pitch in Pennsylvania swing district
SCRANTON, Pa. — In this corner of northeastern Pennsylvania, the Democrat running for a battleground House seat sees parallels between her race and Donald Trump’s first election in 2016. Paige Cognetti, who has led Scranton as mayor since 2020, is challenging Republican freshman Rob Bresnahan Jr. in the 8th District, where she hopes to ride […]