Democrats/progressives – September 2026

Robert Reich: The Twin Evils: Unaffordability and Corruption
Democratic candidates are connecting the affordability crisis to corruption. If Dems get the chance to govern, they’ll need to attack both.
The two are inseparable. In large part, prices are rising faster than paychecks because so much of the economy has become subject to political bribery, Trump Republican pay-to-play schemes, and kickbacks to Trump and his cronies.
… The Democrats’ agenda if they retake control of Congress
If Democrats regain control of Congress, they will need to focus not only on alleviating high prices but also on eliminating the causes of those high prices. It will be impossible to do the former without attacking the latter.
In addition to ending Trump’s war and his arbitrary tariffs, they must reform campaign financing, and help reduce the influence of big money in politics. One method would be to match public financing with small-dollar donations.
They’ll also need to resurrect the systems of accountability Trump has dismantled —the independent civil service, independent inspectors general, the Office of Government Ethics, and the Federal Election Commission.
Under Trump and his Republican enablers, the richest Americans and biggest corporations have made out like bandits. Average working Americans are paying dearly for what the bandits have stolen. The grift and the graft must end.

26 September
House Democrats plan vast oversight of Trump administration. Impeachment is an option
(AP) — House Democrats are preparing a vast oversight agenda, with investigations of President Donald Trump, his family and his administration if the party sweeps control of the chamber from Republicans in the November elections.
The undertaking is as robust as it is daunting, spanning several House committees. With majority power comes bigger budgets and staff, and the ability to investigate, subpoena and potentially course-correct what the Democrats say are widespread corruption and abuses of power. Impeachment of the Republican president and Cabinet officials is not off the table.
“There is a cost to the American people of the out-of-control corruption,” said Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who is in line to become House speaker if Democrats win control at the Capitol.
Congress has enormous ability to conduct oversight of the executive branch as part of its power as a coequal branch of government, and a road map for the Democratic-run investigations has already been set by the almost daily letters lawmakers send to the administration and in amicus court filings.
Democrats are asking about the money-making by Trump and his family, whose wealth has grown dramatically since he returned to the White House in January 2025. They are investigating the potential civil rights violations of Americans killed protesting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations and of detained immigrants being deported to faraway countries. They have fought the closing of the Kennedy Center, launched investigations into private funding of the America at 250 celebrations and tracked the shuttering of federal operations, including the U.S. Agency for International Development.

23 September
The Senate is in play. These 10 seats are most likely to flip.
Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
Here’s my assessment of the races.
(WaPo) 1. North Carolina -The Tar Heel State leans Republican in federal elections and has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 2008. But most statewide races there are close, and the Democrats nominated popular two-term former governor Roy Cooper, who has led in polling all year. …RealClearPolitics has Cooper at 49.3 percent, and as long as he remains around the magic 50 percent mark, it will be hard for Whatley to win.;   2. Ohio -Democrat Sherrod Brown appears on track to reenter the Senate two years after he was defeated by Republican Bernie Moreno. 3. Maine – Republican Sen. Susan Collins remains popular with the state’s independents, which explains why she trails by only two points in the RCP average. One to watch, but Democrat Troy Jackson is the favorite. 4. Michigan -Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed’s well-known weaknesses give Republican Mike Rogers a shot to pull off a blue-to-red upset. The big unknown: Will Michiganders who vote Democratic in other races abandon El-Sayed knowing his defeat could cost the party control of the Senate? It’s a good sign for El-Sayed that his support has been steadily rising since he won his primary, but the race is far from over. 5. Alaska -…another case of a good Democratic candidate combining with a good environment. 6. Texas -Democrat James Talarico has been ahead in the last nine polls, but his lead still averages under three points. 7. Iowa -According to the polling, the race between Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson and Democrat Josh Turek is a dead heat. … It’s still a toss-up, but I join most raters in thinking Hinson is likelier to prevail. 8. New Hampshire -…polls consistently show former senator John E. Sununu running ahead of expectations in this light-blue state. … New Hampshire is a highly educated, moderate state that has elected only one Republican to the Senate since President George W. Bush’s first term. It would be extremely strange if Sununu, who lost his reelection bid in 2008 to outgoing senator Jeanne Shaheen, can buck that trend in such a Democratic year. 9. Minnesota -Recent polling shows Minnesota close. The Democratic candidate, Peggy Flanagan, is very progressive, and as the sitting lieutenant governor she can be tied to the benefits-fraud scandal that destroyed Gov. Tim Walz’s career. Republican Michele Tafoya …is a talented campaigner… But it’s very rare for a candidate from a party likely to do poorly in a midterm to capture a seat in the opposing party’s column. 10. Georgia After a narrow runoff win in 2021, Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff has turned himself into a fundraising powerhouse and dark-horse presidential contender. Meanwhile, Republican Rep. Mike Collins has had trouble raising money and has been stalked by a series of controversies involving problematic staffers. Georgia is Republican enough that the GOP is spending to try to elevate Collins, but don’t be surprised if he gets cut off — triaged, in political parlance — in October.
New 2026 Georgia Poll: Ossoff leads Senate race; Governor race in dead heat
(Yahoo!) According to a new YouGov poll conducted Sept. 15–18 among 3,447 registered Georgia voters, [ Democratic U.S. Sen Jon] Ossoff leads Republican Rep. Mike Collins 51% to 41% in the 2026 Senate race, with 6% undecided. Voters in both camps show high certainty, with 94% of Ossoff supporters and 96% of Collins supporters stating their minds are made up.

17 September
Why Democrats might choose to impeach Cabinet members
(The Atlantic) … Regardless of the results in November, Democrats are unlikely to get enough votes in the Senate to convict and remove him, meaning that a third impeachment would hit the same dead end as the first two. …and an impeachment might give him a way to rally his remaining base around him—which would only strengthen his power and resolve.
But what if House Democrats impeached Trump’s Cabinet members instead? The power to impeach secretaries and other executive-branch officers is explicit in the Constitution but perhaps not well known, because it’s been used only twice in history.
A Democratic House could plausibly launch impeachment inquiries into several administration officials, many of which would dovetail with investigations that representatives say they already have planned. In some cases, Democratic representatives have already filed articles of impeachment against Cabinet members, including Hegseth, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, but those have gone nowhere in the GOP-led chamber. A new Democratic majority could change that. …

4 September
El-Sayed split Michigan Democrats. Whether they unify could decide Senate control
(NPR All Things Considered) .. Michigan Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin did not endorse in the Senate primary, but now is among the Democratic leaders trying to help the party heal and make sure that El-Sayed joins her in the Senate, rather than a Republican who she says would be beholden to President Trump.
Slotkin is a moderate. El-Sayed leans much further left. Slotkin …says El-Sayed, like her, is willing to buck the old ways of doing things and fight. If he wins, Slotkin notes Michigan will be the only delegation where neither senator has accepted corporate PAC money.
… A new generation of progressive insurgents, some affiliated with the Democratic Socialists, defeated several incumbents backed by Democratic heavyweights. … Now campaigns are trying to unify their parties after some bruising primaries — and amp up efforts to woo independent, undecided and irregular voters. Healing those fissures inside the Democratic Party is proving more complicated in some battleground states, like Michigan. …

3 September
Here’s a look at ‘reach’ election races where Democrats hope to pull off House upsets
(AP) — … Democrats are dreaming of pulling off upsets in what might be called “reach” House districts, where Republicans usually win and likely will again — but where races could tighten if a rare political wave gains strength in November.
The party in power traditionally suffers losses during midterm elections. Democrats managed to avoid a predicted 2022 “red wave,” but they saw Republicans flip both chambers when President Donald Trump was reelected last cycle.
Now, with an unpopular war in Iran and lingering concerns about inflation, Democrats are hoping that this year could be a replay of 2018, when a backlash against Trump changed the balance of power in Congress.