DAY AHEAD - My Daily Editorial Note
August 5, 2026
Sometimes goodbyes are easy.
Sometimes goodbyes are brutal.
When a problem neighbor or co-worker moves on…. Goodbye is a joy.
Dropping a kiddo off at college for the first time… that can be brutal.
The day ahead will include some goodbyes.
The big questions:
How many? And what type? Easy goodbyes? Or the difficult kind?
It appears there’ll be a tough goodbye for Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), who is trailing in the US Senate Democratic primary in Michigan Tuesday. NBC News has projected Abdul El-Sayed as the winner of the race against Stevens.
Stevens would become a lame duck and her Congressional service would end – at least for now – in January. Not an easy goodbye at all for her colleagues and many of her suburban Detroit constituents.
Stevens, who once helped swing a battleground Michigan U.S. House seat from red-to-blue, billed herself as the most “electable” Democrat in the race for Michigan’s pivotal U.S. Senate race.
But Abdul El-Sayed harnessed an energy in his party and pulled away quickly Tuesday night. On MSNOW this morning, El-Sayed said, “We look forward to defeating Mike Rogers in November.” (Rogers is the GOP nominee)
The ripple effects from Michigan could be spread far and wide today. Are Democrats poised to say goodbye to the priority of institutional “electability”?
Stevens outside donors said goodbye to an awful lot of money in her primary. And they’ll have little to show for it.
The party might need to tap into the electricity coursing through campaign like El-Sayed’s, instead of trying to usher it out the door.
Michigan’s state Democratic party is launching a rally for all of the top nominees on Friday in Detroit.
Pete Buttigieg will join the event - seeking to unify, after the blistering fight between El-Sayed and Stevens
Will Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) say goodbye to his re-election campaign today? Many Republicans are keen on replacing Miller on the ballot in Ohio’s competitive 7th district race, south and west of Cleveland.
Miller’s Democratic challenger Brian Poindexter, a union ironworker and local city councilman, isn’t swimming in campaign money. He had $312k cash on-hand last month. But Poindexter is nevertheless an increasingly prohibitive favorite against Miller, amid the cascading accusations of domestic violence against Miller.
In the day ahead, Miller will likely face growing calls to quit from fellow Republicans here in Washington, including his former father-in-law, who unloaded a very frank takedown of Miller on Tuesday at the Capitol.
Here’s Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) speaking with reporters at the Senate on Tuesday, via C-SPAN:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/3245721368946631
If Miller sought to save his campaign – and his job – with his lengthy interview on CNN, it doesn’t yet appear to have worked.
This exchange has gone viral.
Miller has asked for a House Ethics Committee review of the allegations He argues the probe will help clear his name.
But asking for an Ethics Committee review to promptly clear one’s name, is like trying to ride a unicycle to Disney World. You ain’t gonna get there anytime soon. The House Ethics Committee moves slooooooooow.
I explained on NewsNight with Abby Phillip
Miller said President Trump spoke with him. And he said Trump hasn’t specifically requested Miller say goodbye to the US House race. But Miller’s departure would be a very, very *easy* goodbye for his fellow Republicans in the House.
Say goodbye to the Congressional campaign of Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC), who is immersed in controversy and increasingly vulnerable in his western North Carolina district. Two days after the House Ethics Committee released a scathing report, which accuses Edwards of improper actions and behavior with young female staff. The bipartisan ethics committee report recommends a censure of Edwards.
It’s a humiliating way to say goodbye... With a 3:30am tweet:
US House Democrats would love to say goodbye to the careers of another dozen incumbent Republicans. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has released a new memo, which expands their battlefield for November. The party’s House campaign arm has added 12 more GOP-held Congressional districts to their list of “in-play” seats.
Some seem remarkably ambitious, including seats in Indiana, Arkansas and Tennessee. But Democrats are smitten by the 8-point advantage they’re carrying in the so-called “generic ballot” polling, which measures voters’ preferences for the parties.
My new enterprise report on the Democratic campaign memo posted here on SUBSTACK very early this morning. Take a look:
Democrats Expand Battleground for 2026 Midterms into Redder States
With just 90 days until Election Day, Democratic campaign operatives are expanding their target list. They’re setting their sights on redder and redder real estate.
More threads I’m pulling as the day begins
1) We’ll see if Jeanine Pirro makes it through another day as the US Attorney for the District of Columbia. She appears to be on a very short leash with Trump, but there was no move against her last night.
Trump was asked overnight if he’s going to fire Pirro. His response: “I haven’t made a determination.”
But the Reflecting Pool drama continues nonetheless.
In a new court filing here in Washington, D.C., the Cultural Landscape Foundation asks judge to allow its legal team to get access to Reflecting Pool.
The education and advocacy group has filed a lawsuit challenging Trump’s ongoing renovations at Pool
They argue the Interior Department is blocking access to the Pool for the group’s attorneys. The Cultural Landscape Foundation argues Team Trump is potentially spoiling evidence in the case, in the meantime.
Here’s the filing:
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.292242/gov.uscourts.dcd.292242.28.0.pdf
2) Trump’s west coast trip includes a stop at Red Rock Casino in Nevada later today. There’s a rich history of rocky GOP political events at that resort. Rudy Giuliani staged a fundraiser there for his troubled 2008 presidential campaign.
Mitt Romney gave his victory speech at the casino after winning the 2012 Nevada GOP primary, en route to his defeat against President Obama.
3) Here’s the contempt of Congress resolution against Dr. Anthony Fauci that the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee will consider tomorrow.
It’s four-pages long:
https://www.paul.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/ROM26376.pdf
The committee chairman, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), is going to argue that Fauci committed contempt of Congress by defying to answer questions which fall under the protections of Fauci’s Jan. 19, 2025 pardon by President Biden.
I’m checking today for an early glimpse of some of the statements Senators plan to give during tomorrow’s meeting.
4) This morning the NAACP is blasting the state of Texas and local officials for scaling back on polling locations in populous Tarrant County, where Democrats and Black voters are concentrated. There was a heated meeting on the issue Tuesday.
Here’s the dropoff: They’ll cut back from 316 sites used during the 2022 midterm election to 176 sites for this year’s midterms.
The statement from the NAACP’s president Derrick Johnson says, “Cutting nearly half the places where people can cast a ballot doesn’t save democracy money, it costs voters their voice. Tarrant County is home to a significant number of Black and Latino voters and is a majority people-of-color county. There is no question that this plan strips away polling access on a scale that will hit Black and Brown voters hardest. That is not a coincidence. It’s an intentional assault on our ability to make our voices heard and we will push back with every tool available.”
Early voting sites will be scaled back too.
Texas is worth increasing national attention.
Here’s the latest round of polling in the state’s US Senate race. It’s from Texas Southern Univ:
Democrat James Talarico continues to lead in polling. Though narrow, this is a notable improvement in the party’s standing in polling from 2018.
At 5pm central time in Houston, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Gina Hinojosa gives remarks about the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act.
Hinojosa’s camp is also unveiling a cable ad campaign in the Dallas-Fort Worth-area this week.
5) Only one of the 10 US House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump is on the ballot in November. The other nine have either retired or been defeated.
Democrats are targeting the last of the 10: Rep. David Valadao (R-CA), who represents an enormous, frontline district in California’s Central Valley. There is a large number of Spanish-speaking voters in the California 22nd.
In an announcement today, an outside progressive group will detail a new wave of bilingual ads hitting Valadao, in the homestretch to the election.
6) AFFORDABILITY WATCH: It’ll fly way below the radar, but a group of small business owners speak at a Senate panel today about the economy, regulations and their ability to withstand inflation.
The hearing is at 2:30pm.
I’ve reviewed an advanced copy of the testimony of a book store owner from Pasadena, California, who’ll detail how the Eaton Fire disaster continues to pummel businesses and families in the region.
She’ll testify, “As the news coverage has faded and locals are being forced to relocate to cities far away due to rising housing costs, we find ourselves in a vulnerable position. Sales are down 34% post fire.”
Other business leaders will talk about the impacts of taxes, tariffs and costs.
The Senate is wise to hold a hearing on this topic. But the wave of Trump Administration controversies and the overloaded Senate calendar obscures Congress’s attempts to speak to the genuine concerns of voters.
7) AFFORDABILITY WATCH (MORE) - This morning’s front page in Decatur, Alabama tells the tale. Utility costs are so crushing, the paper is plastering this headline. The July heat wave boosted electric use by 3%.
That’s gonna further jack-up the monthly bills for families.
And here’s the front page of the Montgomery Advertiser, where toilet flushing and trash pickup costs are the lead storyy.
And here’s the Lansing State Journal
At 3:30pm eastern today, Gov. Josh Stein (D-NC) has a public event scheduled in Durham, NC, in which Stein will discuss the state’s summer nutritional program for children. Stein’s advisory said his “budget will keep more than 1 million children across the state fed through the hungriest months of the year by fully funding SUN Bucks for 2026-2027.”
Stein is drilling down into a topline issue for voters: Food affordability and access.
8) In the meantime, Team Trump continues to plow forward with pricey and regal vanity projects. The cost and inflation crisis could transform the proposed Monumental Arch, Gold plated statues and Ballroom into malignant political vulnerabilities.
The public comment period has closed for the massive Monumental Arch project.
A newly-published catalogue of National Park Service reviews of the project show dozens of impacts on historic landmarks in the nation’s capital, including the vistas and view of major monuments and landscapes near Arlington National Cemetery.
As for the newly gold-plated statues near the Lincoln Memorial, I offer a close-up look at the public-funded glitz here:
9) At 9:45am, Gov. Maura Healey (D-MA) signs legislation to limit access to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to courthouses, schools and hospitals in Massachusetts.
Healey will argue the legislation will provide the “strongest protections in the country” against any abuses by I.C.E.
The event is being held in Chelsea, Massachusetts.
10) Congress is launching another probe today into how Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Trump Administration are reporting casualties in the War in Iran. In a memo this morning, Democrats on the US House Oversight Committee have demanded a series of records and answers about the Pentagon’s public reporting of war deaths.
The memo alleged “The DOD removed four American soldiers from the official casualty count of President Trump’s illegal war with Iran, then quietly moved them into a vague new category which may have been designed to evade the War Powers Resolution and cover up the human cost of this war.”
Here are the records the panel is seeking by an August 18 deadline.
11) Trial begins in March 2, 2027 in the civil case filed by Rob Bonta, the state Attorney General of California, against the Paramount - Warner Bros/Discovery mega media merger. That’s four months later than Paramount had hoped to begin the trial. Every day in which the merger languishes, Paramount loses money. The layoffs from an eventual merger are increasingly likely to be prodigious.
I’ll see you at 12pm for a SUBSTACK LIVE with Heather Cox Richardson
We have MUCH to discuss, amid the cascading scandals dogging the Trump Admin. I’ll unfold some of my latest reporting.
are democrats poised to say goodbye to the priority of funding isreal
You are greatly apprecitated Scott!