by Hunter Woodall | Aug 12, 2026 | News Analysis
Connecticut congressman John Larson has been in the U.S. House since before the turn of the 21st century.
A lengthy career in a reliably blue district like this would normally become a safe path to continue serving in Congress. But not this year, when a growing anti-incumbent fervor seems to be gripping the country, dealing blows to Democratic House members and Republican senators alike during a bruising primary season.
So far this year, 10 House members, seven Democrats and three Republicans, along with two Republican senators have fallen, for a total of 12 defeated incumbents.
So far this year, 10 House members, seven Democrats and three Republicans, along with two Republican senators have fallen, for a total of 12 defeated incumbents.
The latest to lose is Larson, who after turning 78-years-old last month was defeated in a Democratic primary by Luke Bronin, who is decades younger and the former mayor of Hartford.
“If we are going to fix this mess that we are in, we need to build a Democratic Party that is bringing a whole new energy to this fight,” Bronin said to an energetic crowd in Hartford, according to the Associated Press.
He said if the party won’t adapt, “then the changes are going to come from the ground up. And that’s a message the party needs to hear.”
That loss, coming after a reckoning within the Democratic Party about age highlighted by Joe Biden’s presidency as the then- oldest president ever, points at a generational tension between the party’s senior statesmen and a younger, frequently more partisan class of candidates who generally want to fight President Donald Trump more aggressively. Some of
by Dean Baker | Aug 8, 2026 | Donald Trump, Insider Trading, News Analysis, Trump Administration, Truth Social
You may not have heard about this latest tax from Trump. That could be because he’s not going through Congress to get it. Also, this scam could get buried in the middle of his many other grifting schemes. Trump is starting a new special subscription service to his social media platform, Truth Social, where big investors will pay $100,000 a month for advance access to Trump posts that can move…
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by Ohood Nassar | Aug 8, 2026 | Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, Gaza, Genocide, Israel, News Analysis, Palestine
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya is not only the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza; he is one of the medical voices that brought the suffering of patients and the wounded to the rest of the world. He has dedicated his own life to saving the lives of others and caring for children and patients. He refused to leave Gaza even amid Israeli attacks, choosing instead to remain beside his patients…
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by Austin C. McCoy | Aug 8, 2026 | AI, big tech, data centers, Deportation, Detention Centers, grassroots organizing, News Analysis, Surveillance, Technofascism
On July 13, residents of Neptune Township, New Jersey, voted to ban AI data centers and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) jails from being built in their town. While protests against the construction of AI data centers and ICE facilities have increased since Donald Trump’s reelection, the Neptune Township ordinance is the first in the U.S. reflecting a connection between the deportation…
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by Victoria Valenzuela | Aug 7, 2026 | Activism, Delaney Hall ICE Jail, Hunger Strike, Immigrant Detention, Immigrant Rights, News Analysis
When Dilmer “Loba” Lovos Mendez learned about the protests inside the Dilley Detention Center in Texas, they were not surprised. While being held for two years in California immigration jails from 2024 to 2026, Lovos Mendez had seen firsthand how common such organized acts of resistance actually are, and was themself directly involved with three protest actions during that time.
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by Hunter Woodall | Aug 5, 2026 | elections, News Analysis
Abdul El-Sayed was vastly outspent. He didn’t have the backing of the Senate’s top Democrat and has lost in a statewide primary before. He ran a starkly progressive campaign in a state Donald Trump won narrowly two years ago.
In short, by the party’s own traditional measure of electability he had no business winning.
While votes are still being counted in the race and margins remain thin, El-Sayed entered Wednesday as Michigan’s likely Senate Democratic nominee after a contentious primary with Rep. Haley Stevens.
Progressives like El-Sayed, in the Bernie Sanders mold, have angled for more influence in a party struggling to meet the moment. That’s an easy case to make in the bluest parts of the country.
It’s far harder in a state as politically divided as Michigan. With Sen. Gary Peters retiring, this is a seat Democrats have to hold in order to maintain a reasonable chance to flip control of the Senate this November. Trump won Michigan in 2024 by around 80,000 votes. No Republican has won a Senate race here in 30 years, but the margins have been close enough that no one in either party can treat the seat as safe.
El-Sayed is now on track to face Republican Mike Rogers in November. Rogers, a former mid-Michigan congressman, was also the GOP’s standard-bearer in the 2024 Senate race, when he lost to Democrat Elissa Slotkin by about 20,000 votes. But he may represent conservatives’ best opportunity to flip a Democratic-held Senate seat, given a tough midterm environment for Trump’s party.
An MS NOW analysis of federal campaign finance records found that at least $59 million was spent by super PACs and other
