by Elise Jordan | Sep 24, 2026 | Analysis
For the first installment of MS NOW’s “The Voter Files,” we brought together two groups of Maine voters in the Lewiston and Auburn area who have supported federal candidates from both parties to discuss how they are planning to vote in the 2026 Senate race, or why they are still undecided.
For the first group, we heard from 10 working-class voters from Maine’s 2nd Congressional District who identified themselves as moderates or leaning toward Republicans, but sometimes defect. Five had voted for Donald Trump and three for Kamala Harris in 2024, while nine voted for Maine Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, who represents one of the most conservative House districts in the country.
The discussion took place on Sept. 15, and the group was composed of registered voters who told us they plan to vote in November in the congressional elections.
For the second group, we heard from 10 Lewiston and Auburn area women who identified as independents and voted for Republican Sen. Susan Collins in previous elections. Seven of these women voted for Harris in 2024. Collins is running in a tough re-election contest against Democrat Troy Jackson that is key to whether Republicans can maintain Senate control after November..
The discussions were designed to mirror how a campaign would conduct focus groups. We hired a non-partisan outside firm to help gather the right voters and I led the wide-ranging conversations covering personal experiences, political leanings and impressions of candidates that influenced the participants’ decision-making in the Senate race.
Alongside polling, the findings illuminate the tensions, information and reasoning process driving these likely voters as they head to the ballot box in just
by Akayla Gardner | Sep 20, 2026 | Analysis, News Analysis, White House
I barely slept Friday night after President Donald Trump issued his threat.
The president posted on Truth Social that he intended to ban MS NOW, CNN and Politico from the White House. But neither he nor his staff explained exactly how it would be implemented or enforced.
My colleagues were able to stay on the White House grounds Friday until about 8:30 p.m. before all reporters were required to leave around 10. I was scheduled to work the weekend shift, and I knew there was a chance my press badge would be confiscated. So I prepared. I stayed up until 1 a.m. thinking through what I would need for live reporting in the morning. I woke up at 6:30, half an hour before our photographer was due to arrive.
At 7:02 am., he texted: “They took my pass and I’m back outside.”
“I’m rushing over,” I texted back.
My producer and I decided to walk into the White House together. As we entered a security checkpoint, I didn’t recognize either of the Secret Service officers on duty. We exchanged “good morning” pleasantries and the two men continued having a casual conversation.
We walked down Pennsylvania Avenue, which has been closed to the public amid heightened security precautions and increased threats on the president. When we arrived at the press entrance on the North Lawn, we noticed two media cameras set up at the end of a path designated for passholders, perhaps anticipating our arrival. I flashed my badge and was waved through, as usual. Inside, I greeted the officers and placed my phone into a bucket and through the conveyor belt to be screened.
Then I scanned
by Vaughn Hillyard | Dec 16, 2025 | Analysis, News, News Analysis
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has systematically abandoned one of the most elemental duties of the American presidency: offering solace and unity in moments of tragedy — even when the victims are his political critics.
Repeatedly on Monday, Trump downplayed the killings of film director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner — both major Democratic donors — due to their past political activism. In doing so, he crystallized a defining feature of his leadership: a willingness to withhold empathy from those Americans he views as adversaries and, at times, to seemingly mock their suffering.
Rob and Michele Singer Reiner were killed in their Los Angeles home on Sunday. Their 32-year-old son, Nick, has been booked on suspicion of murder.
In a social media post Monday morning, Trump asserted that the couple was killed “due to the anger [Rob Reiner] caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”
Those remarks were met with backlash, including from a number of prominent conservatives.
Asked about that on Monday afternoon, Trump declined to reconsider his statement. “I was not a fan of Rob Reiner at all,” the president said from the Oval Office. “I thought he was very bad for our country.”
Trump offered no condolences for the family.
The president’s response fits within a pattern of behavior documented over several years in which he has declined to express sympathy for victims of violence or tragedy when those individuals represented opposing political viewpoints.
In November, Trump brushed aside explicit threats directed at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican and onetime MAGA loyalist who had recently begun to publicly
