by Sydney Carruth | Jul 5, 2026 | 2026 election, elections, News
The Democratic groups built to elect women have spent decades hoping to unseat Maine’s five-term Republican senator, Susan Collins. Now, they have a real shot — and to take it, they will have to help a man dogged by allegations about his treatment of women get elected to the U.S. Senate.
The man is Graham Platner, the oysterman and political newcomer whose profile has rocketed to national attention, driven by the combination of his unorthodox background and magnetic stage presence.
That appeal, however, has been shadowed by his conduct toward women. Platner has been accused of writing derogatory posts on Reddit about women and victims of rape (he has apologized for those comments, and asked voters not to judge him by “the worst thing I said on the internet on my worst day 14 years ago”). He has admitted to sexting women other than his wife early in his marriage (which, he said, spurred him to seek counseling). And he has been accused by past girlfriends of demeaning them, including at least one accusation that he physically threatened her, which he has denied.
None of it has been enough to stop his campaign. On June 9, he won Maine’s Democratic primary in a landslide.
That has left Democratic women in Maine with a choice that, for some, feels like a compromise no matter how they make it: line up behind a man accused of mistreating women, or withhold their support and risk handing a sixth term to the senator many blame for the loss of federal abortion rights.
“Susan Collins is someone who has talked for decades, you know, in her career in the Senate
by Jake Johnson | Jul 1, 2026 | AIPAC, big tech, Colorado, Democratic Party, Democratic Socialist, Democratic Socialists, Diana DeGette, elections, News, primaries, super PAC spending, Super PACs
Melat Kiros, a 29-year-old democratic socialist and first-time candidate, defeated 15-term incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette on Tuesday in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District primary, the latest signal that progressive momentum and backlash against the Democratic establishment are spreading nationwide. “We won tonight, but this is also something so much bigger than this moment,” Kiros…
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by Ebony Davis | Jul 1, 2026 | 2026 election, elections, News, Politics
Democratic socialist Melat Kiros scored a major political upset Tuesday, defeating longtime Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District Democratic primary.
Kiros’ victory ends the incumbent’s three-decade tenure in Congress. DeGette has represented the Denver-based district since 1997 and has served 15 terms.
Kiros, 29, also defeated University of Colorado Regent Wanda James in the three-way contest, capitalizing on growing calls for generational change in one of Colorado’s safest Democratic districts.
With the district heavily favoring Democrats, Kiros is expected to enter the November general election as the overwhelming favorite.
The 29-year-old attorney and first-time candidate built her campaign around a message that the district needed fresh leadership after nearly 30 years represented by the same member of Congress. Running as a democratic socialist, she called for Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, expanded affordable housing and stronger labor protections. She also made U.S. policy toward Israel a central issue of her campaign, calling for an end to all U.S. military aid to Israel and describing the war in Gaza as “the moral question of our time.”
Her campaign gained momentum in its closing weeks with support from progressive organizations, including Justice Democrats and the Democratic Socialists of America, while attracting thousands of small-dollar donors and volunteers.
“They can’t stop us from building this movement,” Kiros told MS NOW on Sunday.
The race became one of Colorado’s most closely watched primaries as progressive groups invested heavily in their effort to defeat one of the state’s longest-serving Congress members. The contest reflected broader ideological divisions within the Democratic Party, where younger, left-wing challengers have increasingly targeted veteran incumbents.
Despite advantages in fundraising, endorsements and name recognition, DeGette struggled to overcome an anti-incumbent mood
by Maximillian Alvarez | Jun 29, 2026 | elections, midterms, Politics and Movements: US, Racial Justice, video, Voting Rights
After an April decision by the US Supreme Court gutted the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Tennessee became the first state to redraw its Congressional district maps, resulting in the 9th District—a solidly Democratic seat representing the only majority-Black district in the state—being erased. We speak with Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson, who has been running to represent Tennessee’s 9th District in the US House of Representatives, about why he is still running despite Republicans’ attempts to rig the electoral process, and what is at stake for Tennessee and the country this midterm election season.
Additional links/info:
Philip Wang, Time, “They gerrymandered away the district he’s campaigning to represent. He’s still running”
Leigh Cuen, The Tennessean, “Photojournalist shares story behind viral TN redistricting photos”
Credits:
Videography: Stephen Janis, Maximillian Alvarez
Post-Production: David Hebden
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible.
Maximillian Alvarez:
We’re here in Philadelphia at the 2026 Net Roots Conference and I’m sitting with Representative Justin Pearson from the Tennessee House of Representatives who is now running for the US House of Representatives. Representative Pearson, thank you so much for joining us. I know you only have a few minutes and we got so much to talk about, so I kind of want to just throw a couple things at you and let you go, right? I got you. Tennessee was the first state to redistrict its congressional maps after this Supreme Court hearing. So you were at the center of that. What the heck can people do about this attempt to rig the midterm elections and everything moving forward? Second, you are in Memphis, one of
by Dion Nissenbaum | Jun 29, 2026 | Arizona, Department of Homeland Security, DHS, elections, Georgia, News, noncitizen voting rights, SAVE database, Texas, Trump Administration, Voters, Voting, Voting Rights
A few days ago, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s use of a revamped immigration database to identify noncitizens who have registered to vote across the country. The pointed 75-page ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle Sooknanan said the federal government’s actions threatened Americans’ privacy and voting rights. But what does it mean for the estimated 24,000…
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by Julianne McShane | Jun 28, 2026 | elections, News
Rep. Julia Letlow won Louisiana’s Republican Senate primary runoff Saturday, defeating former Rep. John Fleming.
Her win comes as a victory for President Donald Trump, who has endorsed her repeatedly throughout the race — including before she was even officially running.
Letlow made history in 2021 when she became the first Republican woman to represent Louisiana in Congress. In that special election, she won the seat that her late husband, Luke Letlow, had won prior to dying of complications related to Covid-19 in December 2020.
Letlow had no political experience prior to running for her late husband’s seat. She holds a doctorate in communication from the University of South Florida and worked as an administrator for Tulane University and the University of Louisiana, according to her LinkedIn page. Nonetheless, she won the special election House race with nearly 65% of the vote.
In Congress, she has served on the appropriations and education committees, and has been a reliably MAGA Republican.
Letlow’s win also comes as a rebuke to Fleming, who loaned himself more than $11 million, according to the Federal Election Commission, and tried running for the same seat in 2016 only to finish in fifth place in the nonpartisan primary. (Letlow did not loan her campaign any money, and took in more than $5.35 million compared to Fleming’s more than $12.1 million, FEC filings show.)
Trump has played a key role in the race. In addition to backing Letlow early on, the president also helped tank Republican incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy’s re-election campaign in last month’s primary, based on the senator’s record of bucking his party and voting in favor of Trump’s second impeachment. In the
