Republicans and the White House are seeking to ease growing anxiety around potentially widespread midterm losses following Democrats’ redistricting win in Virginia on Tuesday. Virginia’s referendum could give Democrats as many as four more House seats by this fall. That will force Republicans to try to counter those gains by helping Florida’s GOP-controlled state Legislature… Source link
A Meta data center in Ashburn, Va., in 2025. Virginia is the state with the most data centers. Lexi Critchett/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Lexi Critchett/Bloomberg via Getty Images Fifteen minutes after Susan Bourgeois was appointed to lead Louisiana Economic Development, the state agency responsible for strengthening business growth, she got her first data center pitch. “I was pulled aside in the lobby of the Hilton hotel by the CEO of Entergy Louisiana, who said, ‘We have a project and need to talk,’” Bourgeois said. It was a proposal from Meta to build one of the largest-ever AI data centers in the world. Bourgeois jumped on it. Data centers, which are large warehouses full of servers that power parts of the internet and increasingly artificial intelligence, infuse massive amounts of capital into communities and are much needed in rural areas where populations are declining, she said. That was in 2024. Since then, the demand for AI and the colossal computing power it requires has only grown. Technology companies are building data centers …
Washington, DC – United States President Donald Trump has been unambiguous about his desire for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, a sweeping voting law that supporters say will boost election security and that detractors say risks disenfranchising millions of voters. The push has gained new urgency, with the US Senate continuing debate on the law following a two-week recess. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list The president has said the bill, which at its core would create higher documentation standards for proving citizenship when registering to vote and casting a ballot, is his top priority ahead of the midterm elections in November, which will determine which party controls the Senate and the US House of Representatives. The bill has near-total support from Republicans, with Democrats remaining largely unified in opposition. It passed in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives in February along party lines. The measure has since remained stalled in Congress, where Republicans control 53 out of 100 seats, short of the 60 votes it will likely need to pass. That is, …
The US Capitol during a rainstorm in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, March 4, 2026. Graeme Sloan | Bloomberg | Getty Images Funding from AI groups is becoming a flashpoint in the 2026 midterm elections, as a major political action committee that launched in 2025 with support from AI companies announced its latest fundraising haul. Super PAC Leading the Future will announce Wednesday it has raised $15 million in the first quarter of 2026 across all of its entities, bringing the group’s total haul for the 2026 election season to $140 million. The group’s backers include venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, SV Angel founder Ron Conway and AI software company Perplexity. The group has backed candidates of both parties in the midterms. It also recently endorsed five House Democrats: Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Sam Liccardo (D-Calif.), Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) and Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.). But a coalition of groups led by The Tech Oversight Project, an advocacy group that seeks to break up big tech companies, is pressuring those same Democrats to …
The real national emergency is the prospect that Trump, his administration and his supporters will declare an electoral emergency and either rig or try to overturn the midterm results. The history of midterm elections and Trump’s tanking poll numbers are motivation. Source link
Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Artificial intelligence remains deeply unpopular with the American public. One poll found it’s even more reviled than ICE, which is no small feat given the mass protests that erupt whenever the agency’s goons march into another US city. A few political action groups are hoping to turn that around. Going into the 2026 midterm elections, the Financial Times reports, newly-formed PACs with major tech industry backing are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to shape how voters think about AI regulation. Some of the groups cast a wide net, like Leading the Future, a super PAC backed by Trump donors and AI barons like OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, and tech venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz. Founded in August of 2025, Leading the Future has raised over $125 million to back pro-AI candidates who oppose state-level regulations, according to the FT. Others, like the pro-regulation PAC Public First Action, serve as vehicles for individual AI …
Virtually all of the different battles simmering inside the Democratic Party this year are on display in Tuesday’s primaries in Illinois, where retirements by key House Democrats and the state’s senior senator opened new theaters for intraparty hostilities. Deep disagreements over issues like immigration and Israel policy, tactical battles over how best to take on the Trump administration, questions about age and whether to empower a new generation of leaders, and the enduring tug of war between progressives and moderates for influence in the party are all at the forefront as Illinois Democrats weigh potential successors for retiring Sen. Dick Durbin and a quartet of Chicago-area House members leaving their districts. Follow live updates From left, Rep. Robin Kelly, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton at a Democratic Senate debate in Chicago last month.Nam Y. Huh / AP file Meanwhile, an onslaught of tens of millions of dollars in outside spending is shaping those contests, too. Groups tied to the cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence industries are involved, as are several that have successfully …
U.S. President Donald Trump points his finger as he arrives to deliver remarks on the U.S. economy and affordability at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, U.S. December 9, 2025. Jonathan Ernst | Reuters November’s midterm was always supposed to be about affordability. Then, the bombs began falling in Iran. The expanding U.S. war in the Middle East threatens to scramble the cost-of-living narrative that has so far defined the contest for control of Congress. The election, now less than eight months away, will determine whether President Donald Trump retains his iron grip on Washington or spends his last two years in office fending off Democratic congressional majorities. Both parties have sought to capitalize on kitchen-table issues, as Americans struggle to keep up with the rising costs of ordinary goods and services. The war in Iran now threatens to exacerbate those concerns — and Democrats are seizing on the opportunity to pillory Trump and Republicans for beginning a conflict that could make life even more expensive for ordinary Americans. “Because there was …
Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson takes a selfie with protesters at a “No Kings” protest on October 18, 2025 in Memphis, Tenn. Pearson is looking to unseat his former boss, Rep. Steve Cohen. Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images Stay up to date with our Politics newsletter, sent weekly. More than 10 years ago, as a teenager, Justin Pearson interned for Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat representing his hometown of Memphis. Now, Pearson, a member of the Tennessee state house, is running to unseat Cohen, and he’s outraising the 10-term incumbent more than two times over. “We need someone who has new ideas, new energy and a new perspective to be an advocate for our community,” said Pearson, 31, who is looking to defeat Cohen, 76, in the state’s 9th Congressional District. “I’m not running against a person, I’m running against the problem, and the problem is the status quo.” Pearson is part of a growing wave of younger candidates who are challenging older members of Congress — especially House Democrats …
Christian Menefee and Al Green. Al Drago | Sergio Flores | Reuters The first round of primary elections is showing how this year’s midterms will be taking place on shifting political ground for incumbents. That was particularly true in Texas — the first state to redraw its congressional districts last year — where incumbent members of Congress have been pushed to runoffs and another has been scuttled from the House altogether. Former Rep. Colin Allred, who abandoned his initial U.S. Senate run to pursue Texas’ 33rd Congressional District, is headed to a runoff with Rep. Julie Johnson, who holds the U.S. House seat that used to be his. Democratic Rep. Al Green, an outspoken liberal who has twice been ejected from President Donald Trump’s State of the Union addresses for protesting, and newly elected Rep. Christian Menefee will compete in the May 26 runoff for a Houston-area district. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Republican and former Navy SEAL with an independent streak, faced attacks from the party’s hard right that he was not in lockstep with …
