Campaigns

For both parties, the bare-knuckle battle for control of the House winds through California.  Recent primaries in the Golden State provided an early look at how major themes shaping the midterm elections are playing out: ideological debates roiling the Democratic Party, a redrawn map that threw together two GOP incumbents and pressure on aging Democratic […]

Spurned by President Donald Trump, Republican Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman both fell short Tuesday in their bids to become South Carolina’s next governor.  With no candidate taking a majority of the vote, the GOP primary to succeed term-limited Gov. Henry McMaster is heading for a June 23 runoff between Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, […]

by Lori Robertson ANALYSIS —Ohio voters are witnessing a battle of campaign television ads as each Senate candidate tries to tie the other to Jeffrey Epstein — by way of donations from those with some link to the late convicted sex offender. Democrat Sherrod Brown’s campaign charges that Republican Sen. Jon Husted “took more money […]

Welcome to a special edition of At the Races! Throughout the 2026 primary season, watch for these updates from the CQ Roll Call campaign team on what you need to know for Election Day. Know someone who’d like to get this newsletter? They can subscribe here. By Mary Ellen McIntire and Daniela Altimari Maine is central […]

President Donald Trump has yet to embark on a robust midterm campaign schedule, and his handful of initial rallies have been far from targeted messages talking up GOP candidates. In the most recent two trips to districts that could help determine whether Republicans retain control of the House, the president opted for the meandering signature […]

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 Daniela Altimari and Mary Ellen McIntire  Democrats are sounding the alarm on mystery super PACs with ties to Republicans that are meddling in Democratic primaries. […]

South Dakota Rep. Dusty Johnson was the early favorite in the state’s gubernatorial race, but in the run-up to Tuesday’s primary, a poll found his edge eroding. The four-term Republican wound up finishing third, behind Gov. Larry Rhoden, who filled the vacancy left by former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and businessman Toby Doeden, a […]

ANALYSIS —After Donald Trump’s election in 2016, there was a narrative that the typical rules about elections were extinct. But Texas Sen. John Cornyn’s recent fate has proved that many of the political laws of gravity still apply.  Last fall, national Republicans were excited that Cornyn had closed the initial gap between himself and state […]

Democrat Rebecca Bennett will face New Jersey Rep. Thomas H. Kean Jr. this fall in a closely watched battleground race that could help determine which party wins control of the House.  Bennett won the Democratic primary for the 7th District on Tuesday, securing 47.8 percent of the vote when The Associated Press called the race […]

Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek, a two-time Paralympic gold medalist who bills himself as a “commonsense prairie populist,” won the Democratic nomination for the state’s open Senate seat Tuesday. Turek beat state Sen. Zach Wahls in a contest that symbolized some of the party’s ideological divisions. Wahls ran as an anti-establishment outsider who rejected Senate […]