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A democratic socialist unseats a 15-term congresswoman in Colorado
With her victory over Rep. Diana DeGette, 29-year-old Melat Kiros is the second democratic socialist to beat an incumbent progressive Democratic House member this month.
Melat Kiros shocks 15-term incumbent Diana DeGette, winning Colorado’s 1st CD Democratic primary
In the equivalent of a political earthquake, 29-year-old Democratic socialist Melat Kiros defeated 15-term U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado’s Denver-based 1st Congressional District primary, according to unofficial election results Tuesday night. The Associated Press called the race at 10:03 p.m., with Kiros leading DeGette by just under 6 points with 78% of the vote […]
Mamdani comparisons follow Colorado Democrat into pivotal House race after primary win
Manny Rutinel wins the Democratic primary in Colorado's eighth district, setting up a high-stakes challenge against incumbent Rep. Gabe Evans.
Insurgent progressives and veteran incumbents compete for Colorado Democrats' votes
Colorado’s Democratic primaries on Tuesday will help answer a question the party has increasingly faced nationally: Are voters gravitating toward a younger, more progressive generation of leaders or sticking with established veterans?
Two Dan Sullivans will be on the ballot in Alaska
The incumbent senator accuses his challenger of being a Democratic plant set up to confuse primary voters, but fellow Republican Dan J. Sullivan has said his desire to run is genuine.
Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow wins Louisiana Senate primary runoff
Letlow defeated state Treasurer John Fleming in the GOP runoff, NBC News projects. Incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy did not make the runoff.
GOP candidate with same name as senator can stay on Alaska ballot, judge rules
Supporters of incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan say a challenger with the same name is not running in “good faith,” but a judge says that is not an issue.
After ousting Bill Cassidy, Donald Trump faces fresh test of his sway with GOP voters in Louisiana’s Senate runoff
Louisiana Republican voters already rejected an incumbent senator who was crossways with President Donald Trump. In a primary runoff on Saturday, they’ll decide whether to follow Trump’s lead in choosing a new nominee.
Democratic candidate challenging Rep. Lawler on her bid to ‘tear down political silos’
New York U.S. House candidate and combat veteran Cait Conley (D) joins Meet the Press NOW following her primary win. She faces incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Lawler in one of November’s most closely watched races as Democrats try to flip the House.
Heastie brushes off growing DSA influence, defeat of incumbents in Albany
Heastie sought to put the results into context while speaking with reporters at an unrelated event in Schenectady on Thursday.
Making Our Own Luck
We are cross-posting a piece that former NIH official Kris Willis wrote for Macroscience. Kris is now the President and Founder of the Woodley Park Institute, for which I’m a board member. Picking winners or hedging bets? Federal science agencies have long wrestled with the question of how to ensure their billions of dollars of grants and contracts result in maximum benefits for Americans. On the surface, it might seem that a goal-oriented, interventionist style of management would be the best policy: prioritize our most pressing problems and distribute funding accordingly.This top-down strategy creates a unique hazard, though: bad choices can send resources in the wrong direction, resulting in slow progress that impedes the delivery of tangible benefits to citizens. Moreover, if decision makers pursue an applied advance when the underlying scientific principles remain poorly understood, they risk costly failures and a loss of support for the research enterprise at large. Examples include Nixon’s 1971 War on Cancer, undertaken on the premise that a cure could be achieved in less than a decade, the drive to build an operational commercial fusion plant by the mid-1990s, and the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease, which failed to produce the effective treatments and prevention strategies promised by 2025. The contrasting laissez-faire approach is to hedge your bets. If the path to an advance is impossible to predict, then the wisest choice might be to distribute funding to as widely as possible. The main risk of this strategy is that spreading funding thinly may limit the resources available to the most promising research, resulting in the same negative outcomes as the interventionist approach: limited support for the most promising topics, slow progress, and delayed returns. In reality, at science agencies like the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health, program managers navigate between these two extremes, setting some funds aside to target high-priority areas and using the rest to cover the widest possible range of meritorious proposals. This middle path seems like the most rational way to proceed, but it still requires making choices. How much should be set aside for high priority topics? What should those topics be? How should we define merit? Expert opinion can provide a helpful guide, but leading experts can have remarkably different opinions about what matters and what should be prioritized. Moreover, experts and administrators alike can be risk averse, giving an edge to high-profile, well-established concepts. What’s really needed is a data-driven framework to help guide decision-making, one that doesn’t simply repackage prestige or incumbency. Recognizing breakthroughs years in advance Many breakthroughs fail to attract funding or recognition at the earliest stages of development. Katalin Karikó, for example, spent years struggling to win grants for work on mRNA that would eventually win her and Drew Weissman a Nobel Prize. Similar stories can be told about Jim Allison’s groundbreaking studies leading to the development of cancer immunotherapy, Stan Pruisner’s demonstration that prions can self-replicate without DNA, or Robin Warren and Barry Marshall’s proof that Helicobacter pylori, not stress, causes ulcers. Yet at some point, the scientific community recognizes and responds to transformative breakthroughs like these. How does that change happen? And what if science funders could identify the areas that are on the cusp of a breakthrough? Those questions led my collaborators and me to study how scientists responded to past breakthroughs. Based on patterns in that data, we developed a means of predicting future breakthroughs, using biomedicine as a proof of concept. It’s worth taking a moment to describe how our approach works. Briefly, our prediction process begins by grouping the 18 million or so peer-reviewed papers in PubMed, the authoritative database of biomedical research, into roughly 50,000 unique topics. A small subset of these topics are so widely acclaimed as breakthroughs that they have been recognized with a major prize like a Nobel or a Lasker Award. We theorized that studying the development of these outliers over time, especially before they gained acclaim, was the key to identifying future instances of them. After defining topics, we chose 21 representative breakthroughs and asked what they looked like before they won prestigious prizes. To answer that question, we re-ran our topic-mapping algorithm repeatedly, winding back the clock one year each time, stringing together the years to follow the progress of each field as it grew and advanced. We found that in each case, the years leading up to a discovery followed a pattern: a burst of papers on a new, rapidly evolving topic, many of which quickly became influential. These characteristics—the percent of papers that are new, the percentage of papers that are brought in from other topics, and the influence of each individual paper—can all be measured separately for any given topic. Together, they act as a predictive signal that is detectable an average of five years before a transformative discovery is made, and up to thirty years before the discovery receives a major prize. Scanning the current research landscape for topics that display this signal allows us to predict what work will likely produce a future breakthrough. Each year we analyzed includes four or five signals, a number that appears to have remained constant across a twenty year time frame. In their classic work on the sociology of science, Bruno Latour and Steve Woolgar established that the desire to participate in a major discovery is an important motivator for scientists as they consider whether they should take up (or abandon) a research problem. Although further work is needed, the simplest explanation for our results is that this behavior is widespread enough to detect at scale. A foundational advance, or something like it, draws the attention of scientists and causes them to change the direction of their research. They vote with their feet, staking their own reputation and careers by publishing on and citing the new idea. That upswell of interest is the foundation of our breakthrough signal. What kind of research does our model identify as a breakthrough? After building a model based on the patterns in our 21 preselected breakthroughs, we tested it by identifying all early signals of discovery from 1994 through 1997. Of the 18 signals we found in that time period, 17 can be traced forward in time to a breakthrough. Examples include super-resolution fluorescence microscopy (see the image above), the directed evolution of proteins and enzymes (Chemistry Nobel, 2018), and sequencing the human genome (National Medal of Science, 2008). The discovery of the role of leptin signaling in obesity is a particularly interesting case study. Around 1950, scientists noticed the existence of a type of lab mouse that suffered from a unique inherited form of obesity. When given the freedom to choose their own diet, these mice ate more than normal and preferred food that was high in fat. Researchers had few clues as to why the animals overate; early experiments pointed to the existence of a soluble ob factor found circulating in the bloodstream that regulated appetite, but its identity was unknown. In 1994, Jeffrey Friedman and colleagues identified and sequenced the ob gene, noting that the protein it encoded appeared to fit the profile of a circulating factor. A year later, a trio of high-profile publications demonstrated that ob was a hormone that regulated body weight and fat deposition by regulating appetite. One of these was co-authored by Friedman, who christened it leptin from the ancient Greek word for thin. Using our model, the data from 1996 make it clear this advance would become a breakthrough. Scientists had flocked to study the biology of the new hormone, generating the flurry of new papers and citations required to produce a signal. One of these demonstrated that serum leptin concentrations reflected the amount of adipose tissue in the human body, providing clinical validation of the earlier mouse studies. Before the identification of leptin, scientists were unable to point to a specific molecule that controlled appetite and adiposity, so that it was impossible to rule out non-physiological causes of obesity; its characterization fundamentally changed our concept of weight gain. In 2010, Friedman and fellow pioneer Douglas Coleman were awarded a Lasker for the discovery. Our work also identifies breakthroughs in clinical practice and behavioral and social sciences, even though these areas are less likely to draw the attention of major prize committees. One example that falls into this category is the introduction of endovascular aneurysm repair, a minimally invasive surgical procedure for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm, a leading cause of death among Americans over the age of 65. Relative to the previous standard of care, it reduces in-hospital mortality by almost four-fold. In 2017, Timothy Chuter received the American College of Surgeons’ prestigious Jacobsen Innovation award for his multiple refinements to the technique. Another under-recognized breakthrough identified by our model is the development of standardized survey instruments to assess the quality of life for HIV+ patients. The antiretroviral cocktails introduced in the mid-1990s reduced AIDS mortality, but treatment came with serious side effects. The new evaluations showed that patients whose disease progressed had worse physical functioning than Americans with other chronic diseases, while those who were asymptomatic maintained a health-related quality of life on par with the overall US population. This evidence made it possible for patients and activists to argue that even in the absence of a total cure, and in spite of the side effects, alleviation of symptoms was a worthwhile priority for clinicians. My colleagues and I have failed to identify any significant recognition for the physicians and health policy experts who pioneered this advance, although in 2016, researchers called for the World Health Organization to set targets for good health-related quality of life as part of its framework to end the AIDS pandemic. From forecasting to funding How should science funders use our predictions? Any serious discussion of what we should do with this new capability needs to begin with an understanding of its limitations. We can’t (and shouldn’t) invest all of our resources in the small number of topics predicted to produce breakthroughs. Innovative new fields are born from existing ones; they rarely arise de novo. If funders don’t maintain a diverse portfolio, the breakthroughs of tomorrow will have no antecedents. Think of this as eating the seed corn, or killing the goose that lays the golden egg. There are also multiple goals of funding beyond basic scientific discovery, including translating discoveries into clinical practice, developing new technologies, supporting economic development, and training new scientists. The investments needed to accomplish these goals are likely different from those required to support emerging breakthroughs. Finally, we must be aware that we may not capture every instance of a breakthrough. The concept is fuzzy, and not every significant discovery is recognized with a major award. Further, breakthroughs are rare, meaning that our dataset is, by necessity, small. This makes formal estimates of accuracy challenging. Although our overall success rate appears to be high, any one signal may turn out to be a false positive. We found one apparent example: the development of the third generation COX-2 inhibitors, Vioxx and Celebrex, which were much celebrated in the early 2000s as effective but non-addictive pain relievers, meets all the algorithmic criteria of a breakthrough. Five years after it received FDA approval, researchers demonstrated that Vioxx was associated with serious cardiovascular complications, and the manufacturer voluntarily pulled the drug from the market. Celebrex remains available, although like other NSAIDs, it carries an FDA warning for increased cardiovascular risk. Decision makers who were overly focused on the breakthrough potential of this research might have wasted substantial resources nurturing an area that ultimately proved to be a failure—but so would those who relied on expert opinion at the time. That said, the potential benefits of funding the next mRNA vaccine or cancer immunotherapy years earlier than we might have are large. When we can’t assume the outcome of an action, it’s worth conducting an experiment. Can targeted support for areas that are poised to produce a breakthrough increase the return on scientific investment without cannibalizing future advances? With the necessary administrative infrastructure in place, conducting this experiment would be straightforward. First, identify all the breakthrough signals between 2018 and 2023, select half at random, and commit to a decade of investment. For biomedicine, a six year window should yield about 30 topics with the potential to produce a breakthrough. Providing strong support to half of these might be accomplished for $300 million a year. That’s roughly half of the recent annual budget of the NIH Common Fund or around 20% of the fiscal year 2025 budget for ARPA-H. After five years, then again at ten, compare to see which group — the one that was actively managed, or the control — produced more breakthroughs, and on what timescale. Although we used biomedicine as an example, the same experiment could just as well be run for physics, materials science, or any other discipline. Any attempt to undertake such an experiment should keep three points top of mind. First, we can predict the topic of future breakthroughs, but the people and vision for how to move the work forward are still important. In practice, this means success requires active program managers with the expertise to develop the science and the authority to do so, including by recruiting investigators. Second, we would be wise to learn from the failures of past attempts to fund transformative research. High among these are funding modestly repackaged work, confusing the genuinely novel with the merely unfamiliar, and relying too much on incumbent investigators. All of these risks can be mitigated by thoroughly and intelligently integrating high quality data into portfolio management. Finally, we need to have patience. Even with strong funding support, producing a breakthrough takes time. If supporting breakthroughs is the best way to nurture the birth of new fields, we also need to accurately describe and properly manage the other two stages, so that we invest wisely throughout the productive lifetime of ideas and divest once they reach the point of diminishing returns. We would benefit from more study of all of these phases, especially the transition from one to another. More research could answer questions like: When does a breakthrough become an established field? How do the availability of funding, the size and characteristics of the available workforce, and the accumulation of evidence that disagrees with prevailing models affect a field’s decline? Exactly how do old ideas give birth to new ones, and can we speed up the process? The more we understand about the dynamics of scientific progress, the better we can maximize the odds that our curiosity leads to results. I’d call that finding a way to make our own luck.
From the Beginning, Politics Triggered Broadcasting
Media scholars argued that politics, not technology, shaped American broadcasting from 1927 on, repeatedly shielding incumbents from competition.
Mamdani's sweep in New York a 'political earthquake' among Democrats
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani scored a massive political victory on Tuesday when his trio of insurgent congressional candidates toppled two incumbents and the establishment favorite in an open seat, results some described as "a political earthquake" for Democrats.
Winners and losers emerge after socialist earthquake rocks NYC primaries
Mayor Zohran Mamdani's socialist slate swept NYC Democratic primaries, defeating incumbents like Reps. Espaillat and Goldman in a major shift.
The new power broker: How Zohran Mamdani muscled NYC’s Democratic establishment
New York politics and the Democratic Party have a new power broker after Zohran Mamdani’s picks swept three US House primaries. Hakeem Jeffries, the Brooklyn-based House Democratic leader, is losing two incumbent members and facing an ascendant band of agitators. And the people long in charge in Democratic politics, including the ones who for decades thought of themselves as the insurgents, aren’t happy about it.
Veteran District 39 Sen. Nancy King trails political newcomer Amar Mukunda in primary election
Other Democratic incumbents with challengers appear set to return to Annapolis next year
Chevalier celebrates projected New York primary win
Democratic candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier celebrated her projected win in the Democratic primary in New York's 13th District after defeating incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat. Chevalier was joined by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani who she was endorsed by.
Utah GOP Rep. Trevor Lee, known for inflammatory posts, ousted in GOP primary
Bob Stevenson beats incumbent state Rep. Trevor Lee in the Republican primary for Utah's House District 16 race.
Mamdani slate sweeps Democratic primaries in New York, ousts 2 incumbents from Congress
Top allies of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani have defeated establishment-backed Democrats in New York's congressional primary elections.
Bill Ferguson wins Maryland state Senate primary after opposing Democratic redistricting plan
Incumbent Bill Ferguson defeated activist Bobby LaPin in the state legislative race in Baltimore, The Associated Press projected.
Mamdani's political gamble pays off as his endorsed candidates sweep their primaries
All three progressive candidates backed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani — including two who took on Democratic incumbents — won their primaries in safe seats almost guaranteeing their election in November.
Mamdani's political gamble pays off as his endorsed candidates sweep their primaries
All three progressive candidates backed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani — including two who took on Democratic incumbents — won their primaries in safe seats almost guaranteeing their election in November.
Cait Conley wins Democratic primary to face Rep. Mike Lawler
The Army vet will now try to oust the Republican incumbent in a district that favored Kamala Harris in 2024.
5 vulnerable incumbents to watch in tonight’s primaries: From the Politics Desk
Plus, the DOJ’s voter fraud struggles and a Elon Musk-related controversy in Michigan.
Mamdani’s Effort to Shape Democratic Politics Gets Its First Test
In today’s NY primaries, the mayor seeks to unseat some incumbents
Two rich Democrats were friends. Now they are spending millions to attack each other.
Wine mogul David Trone is spending millions in a comeback bid as wealthy incumbent April McClain-Delaney aggressively defends her seat.
Small Business Owners Back 11 Candidates for Kansas Legislature in August Primary
NFIB Kansas PAC endorses 11 pro-small business incumbents ahead of August 4th Primary
The State of Politics: Race for Wisconsin Attorney General Could Be Very Close. Again
Rematch of Eric Toney against incumbent Democrat Josh Kaul will be hard fought.
Up Close: Incumbent congressman, Mamdani-backed community organizer run in NY-13 primary
Up Close: Liz Cho speaks to the Democratic candidates running for NY-13 and the ABC News political team about the week in politics.
Mamdani won New York opposing Israel. Now, his movement wants power in Congress.
Across New York, a set of candidates backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani are challenging incumbents they say are not progressive enough on Israel.
Candidates make closing arguments in race for NY-10
Incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman faces Mamdani ally Brad Lander.
Socialist Surge: Mamdani flexes growing political muscle as he takes on Democratic Party establishment
Mayor Zohran Mamdani teams up with Sen. Bernie Sanders at a Brooklyn rally to boost progressive candidates challenging Democratic congressional incumbents.
Alaska boots second Dan Sullivan from Senate race
Republicans alleged he entered the competitive race to syphon votes away from the incumbent, Sen. Dan Sullivan.
Senate candidate with same name as incumbent Dan Sullivan ineligible for ballot, official rules
A top Alaska election official has ruled that a U.S. Senate candidate with the same name and party affiliation as Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan is ineligible to appear on the state’s primary ballot in August.
DA District 23: Incumbent Adam Panter, Mayor Daniel McClure clash over politics, experience
In Lincoln and Pottawatomie counties, incumbent DA Adam Panter faces a June 16, 2026, GOP primary challenge by McLoud Mayor Daniel McClure.
Alaska election official threatens to disqualify challenger Dan J. Sullivan in race against Sen. Dan Sullivan
A top Alaska elections official has threatened to disqualify from the state’s August primary a US Senate candidate who shares the same name and party affiliation as incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan.
Florida Chamber rolls out first wave of legislative endorsements
The pro-business group largely backed incumbent Republicans alongside a handful of Democrats.
Poll: Voter cynicism remains a potent threat to incumbents across the globe
New research from London-based Public First suggests many of the grievances that fueled the widespread anti-incumbent backlash in 2024 remain entrenched.
For FIS, whose sports drive the Winter Olympics, a contentious election arrives
Star athletes are calling for change. The incumbent isn't giving up easily. And it comes at a critical time for the future of winter sports.
This Bernie Sanders-endorsed Democrat will try to oust California’s toughest GOP incumbent
Voters rejected establishment politics in a Central Valley primary. Randy Villegas, a political newcomer, beat moderate Jasmeet Bains by focusing on change
Sanders-Backed Progressive Advances in California Swing District Against Valadao
Randy Villegas will face the incumbent, David Valadao, a Republican who has survived numerous challenges in a competitive district.
The other Dan Sullivan in Alaska’s Senate race says candidacy is not a sham
Alaska U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan acknowledges that sharing a name and party affiliation with the incumbent Republican gives him “an instant megaphone" in the crowded primary race.
Will Platner Scandals Dampen Democratic Vote? What to Watch in Tuesday’s Primaries.
Any indication of tepid support for Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate for Senate in Maine, will be seen as a warning sign about his chances against Senator Susan Collins, the Republican incumbent.
Nithya Raman, not Spencer Pratt, will advance in the LA mayor race and face off against incumbent Karen Bass in November
Nithya Raman advances over Spencer Pratt to face L.A. Mayor Karen Bass in a runoff
NBC News projects Bass, the Democratic incumbent, and Raman, a City Council member, will face off in November after receiving the most votes in the all-party first-round election.
CFHLA endorses 4 incumbents in Orange, Osceola and Seminoles races
Mike Scott, Viviana Janer, Jay Zembower and Amy Lockhart picked up the endorsements.
Graham Platner gets a lift from friendly Maine crowd
The Democratic primary is still seen as Platner's to win, but he is facing questions about his past that could make it difficult to defeat longtime incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Nithya Raman, Spencer Pratt locked in tight race for LA mayor runoff
The race was still too early to call on Sunday as the vote tally showed Raman moving into second place behind the incumbent Bass
Nithya Raman and Spencer Pratt locked in tight race to make runoff for Los Angeles mayor
Days after California’s primary, Nithya Raman and Spencer Pratt are still waiting to see who makes the November runoff for Los Angeles mayor against incumbent Karen Bass | News-Talk 1380 WAOK
Nithya Raman and Spencer Pratt locked in tight race to make runoff for Los Angeles mayor
Days after California’s primary, Nithya Raman and Spencer Pratt are still waiting to see who makes the November runoff for Los Angeles mayor against incumbent Karen Bass.
Nithya Raman leaps past Spencer Pratt in tight, unresolved race to make L.A. mayoral runoff
NBC News has not yet projected who will join incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in the November runoff election.
City council member is challenging an incumbent senator in Utah County. Here’s where they stand.
In Senate District 21, incumbent Sen. Brady Brammer is facing Ceder Hills City Council member Kelly Smith for the Republican nomination. Here is how they responded to seven questions about the most pressing issue Utah is facing.
2026 primary election results: Here's how your neighborhood voted for Los Angeles mayor
In the race for Los Angeles mayor, incumbent Karen Bass secured a place on the November ballot.
AG race could focus on crime lab backlogs. Here's what to know
The ballot is officially set for Wisconsin's attorney general race, featuring a rematch between incumbent Democrat Josh Kaul and Republican Eric Toney.
Robinson to face incumbent Smith for Iowa House seat
Matt Robinson defeated Eli Licht for the Democratic nomination in Iowa House District 72 on Tuesday, gaining 56% of the voters’ favor.
Incumbent Karen Bass Advances to L.A. Mayoral Election in November
Her opponent remains undetermined.
New Jersey Democrats pick opponent in district where US Rep. Tom Kean Jr. has been absent
Democrats testing their chances in a right-leaning New Jersey battleground district are picking their nominee in a House primary to take on Republican incumbent Tom Kean Jr., who’s been absent for months from Congress as he deals with an unspecified medical issue
Andy Beshear says ‘Texas is in play’ after Ken Paxton wins Senate GOP primary
Paxton, Texas’ attorney general, defeated incumbent John Cornyn in the Republican Senate primary last week.
Nigeria’s Obi to Run for President in 2027, Splitting Opposition
Nigerian politician Peter Obi will run for president in the West African nation’s January elections, ensuring that the opposition to incumbent Bola Tinubu will once again be fragmented.
Dan Sullivan vs. Dan Sullivan: GOP blasts clone candidate as lookalike enters Alaska Senate race
A Democratic strategist allegedly deployed a candidate named Dan Sullivan to challenge the incumbent Republican senator in Alaska's ranked choice system.
Trump Lame Duck Status May Have Already Arrived
Trump’s moves against GOP incumbents and his lack of focus on pocketbook issues may hasten his political decline.
Internal poll shows Leela Gray in statistical tie with Anna Paulina Luna
The PPP poll found the Democrat at 39% to the GOP incumbent's 41%.
Midterm redistricting has placed millions in new voting districts. Here's where 6 state efforts stand
President Donald Trump hopes the unusual mid-decade redistricting can help Republicans retain control of the closely divided House, despite negative approval ratings and historical tendencies for the incumbent's party to lose seats
Analysis | Trump is liberating his Republican critics in Congress
President Donald Trump, by endorsing challengers of Republican incumbents, is creating lame-duck senators who owe him nothing.
Paxton hails Trump’s endorsement as ‘most powerful force in politics’ after Texas runoff win
Victor who secured Republican nomination for Senate seat praises president after defeating incumbent Cornyn
Texas Democrats pick lieutenant governor nominee to challenge GOP incumbent Dan Patrick
Texas voters selected a Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in Tuesday's primary runoff to challenge Republican incumbent Dan Patrick in November.
Christian Menefee beats Al Green in Democratic primary runoff in new TX-18, according to AP
The race was an election rarity: two incumbents of the same party facing one another. Its outcome could prove to be a bellwether for Texas Democrats.
House Dem who repeatedly tried to impeach Trump toppled in heated Texas race
Texas redistricting forced Reps. Al Green and Christian Menefee into an incumbent-on-incumbent Democratic runoff in Houston's 18th District.
Texas primary election runoff results 2026
Ken Paxton and John Cornyn are competing in the GOP primary runoff for U.S. Senate. In the Houston region there are multiple U.S. House runoffs, including two Democratic incumbents facing each other in District 18.
Texas Senate primary runoff election: Incumbent Cornyn faces off against Trump-endorsed Paxton
The Latest: Paxton aims to defeat Cornyn in runoff for GOP Senate nomination
Texans are voting in a U.S. Senate primary runoff where incumbent four-term Sen. John Cornyn is facing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in an expensive, drawn-out race that has caught President Donald Trump’s attention.
5 Races to Watch in Texas Runoffs on Tuesday
All eyes will be on the Republican Senate runoff between the incumbent John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton. But Tuesday’s runoffs in Texas will feature other key contests.
5 Big Moments in the Texas Republican Senate Race
The contest between the incumbent John Cornyn and his challenger Ken Paxton will culminate in a Tuesday runoff. Here are the developments that shaped the campaign.
WATCH: Republicans shrug off fears that Trump targeting GOP incumbents could backfire on agenda
House Republicans brush aside fears over Trump backing primary challengers against GOP incumbents after Rep. Thomas Massie's Kentucky defeat.
Politics Unplugged (Full Episode) May 23, 2026
This week on Politics Unplugged, Colton Shone talks with former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez about his run for Congress and taking on Rep. Eli Crane in the fall. Then, consultants Marcus Dell’Artino and Chuck Coughlin discuss the incumbents ousted in Tempe and nationwide, with a Democratic Socialist elected to the Tempe City Council. Finally, Marcus and Chuck break down the investigation into former sheriff Mark Lamb, accused of inappropriate conduct with women online.
David Brock Smith wins GOP primary for US Senate in Oregon, will face Democratic incumbent Merkley
David Brock Smith has won the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Oregon
Nine incumbent candidates lost primary races Tuesday. Most were hardline conservatives
Nine Republican incumbents lost their primary races Tuesday in contests spanning the state of Idaho. In most cases, losses stemmed from seats held by hardline conservatives, according to unofficial election
Paxton makes his final pitch in the Texas Senate race against Cornyn, buoyed by Trump's endorsement
Republican Ken Paxton is riding high as the Texas attorney general heads into the final days of the U.S. Senate primary runoff against incumbent John Cornyn, now with the weight of President Donald Trump's backing.
Full Debate: 3 Democratic candidates for state comptroller face off in debate
The candidates that participated in the debate were incumbent Thomas DiNapoli, Raj Goyle and Drew Warshaw.
Spencer Pratt calls Jesus Christ his political role model
Spencer Pratt named Jesus Christ as his top political role model in an interview as he campaigns for Los Angeles mayor against incumbent Karen Bass.
Susan Collins brings federal dollars to Maine. She's hoping that's worth it to voters
As Maine's Senate matchup is all but set, incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins urges voters to pick her over Democrat Graham Platner because she can fund state priorities due to her seniority.
Bo French talks more about DEI than oil and gas. But he could soon regulate the industry in Texas.
The battle for the Republican nominee for the Texas Railroad Commission, the state’s oil and gas regulator, is underway. Incumbent Commissioner Jim Wright is running for a second second term against Bo French, former chair of the Tarrant County GOP.
‘The president has the strongest endorsement in the history of politics.’ Speaker Johnson on Trump incumbent primary takedown
Idaho Gov. Brad Little speaks at primary election party
Incumbent Brad Little speaks as early election results show him in the lead in the Republican primary for governor. Little is running for his third term as governor.
Polls have closed in Idaho Legislature races. Here’s what we know
In many districts, more-moderate Republicans challenged far-right incumbents for their seats. See how they did.
Gallrein supporters celebrate win over Massie in Kentucky's 4th District
Supporters of Ed Gallrein celebrate at his election night party after the Associated Press called the race for KY-04 in his favor. With the support of President Donald Trump, Gallrein unseats incumbent Rep. Thomas Massie.
Idaho Democrats choose small business owner in uphill race against incumbent GOP governor
Idaho Gov. Brad Little will face Democrat Terri Pickens in the general election as he vies for a third term in a solidly Republican state this November.
Republican Senators Are Livid at Trump’s Endorsement of Paxton
News that President Trump had snubbed Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the four-term incumbent, was met with shock, anger and fear that the G.O.P. could lose his seat.
Who Is Ken Paxton, Trump’s Pick in the Texas Senate Race?
Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, seems poised to defeat Senator John Cornyn, a four-term incumbent.
Trump picks scandal-plagued Texas AG Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in Senate GOP primary
Trump endorses Paxton, upending Senate GOP plans in Texas race
President Donald Trump on Tuesday endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in his primary challenge to Sen. John Cornyn, dealing a massive blow to the incumbent with major implications in the fight for the Senate majority.
Incumbent, predecessor clash in Texas’ 33rd District Democratic runoff
U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson, D-Dallas, and former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred are now exchanging critiques as they vie for voter attention.
MarketInk: After 50 years of covering politicians, ex-KUSI news director Steve Cohen is running for Congress
Cohen is challenging longtime incumbent Scott Peters in California’s 50th Congressional District.
Letlow, Fleming advance to runoff in Louisiana GOP Senate primary, CBS News projects
Incumbent GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, who had occasionally broken with the Trump administration, did not advance to the runoff, CBS News projected.
‘You Can Hear My Politics in My Answers.’ Ingrid Gunnell Incumbent, GUSD Trustee, Area B
The GUSD Trustee, Area, B is unapologetic about her support for diverse cultures. The incumbent is unapologetic about her support for diverse cultures.
Trump disparages incumbent Sen. Cassidy and tries to propel his challenger in Louisiana GOP primary
Trump endorsed U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow over Cassidy, in an unusual attempt to dislodge an incumbent senator. Cassidy voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial.
Should Your Subscription Business Use Auto-Renew?
Subscription businesses obsess over pricing and churn, but the most consequential strategic choice may be far simpler: whether subscriptions auto-renew or auto-cancel. Drawing on a 1.4 million–person field experiment with a major European newspaper, the authors show that while auto-renewal boosts short-term retention, it suppresses trial sign-ups so sharply that auto-cancel ultimately produces more paying subscribers and higher-quality customers over time. The right approach depends on two factors—whether customers are naturally loyal or variety-seeking, and whether a company is an incumbent defending share or a challenger trying to acquire it—making renewal defaults a competitive strategy decision, not merely an operational setting.
California's Democratic incumbents face primary challenges from political newcomers
The challenges are part of a national wave reshaping the debate over generational power and the direction of the Democratic Party ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Costa Rica’s paradox of political continuity
Across Latin America, voters have punished incumbents and rejected traditional parties. Costa Rica appears to be an exception.