Don’t Listen to the Corporate Media; Progressive Candidates Are on a Roll By Sam Rosenthal
July 20, 2025
Introduction:
(Common Dreams) On July 15, Adelita Grijalva won the Democratic primary for Arizona’s special election to fill the 7th congressional district seat. Grijalva will now go on to almost certain victory in the September election to fill the vacancy left by her late father, Raúl, who died in March.
Grijalva, whose father was a former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, ran on a progressive platform advocating for the construction of affordable housing, rights for trans people and other members of the LGBT community, and a recognition of equal rights for Palestinians and Israelis. She was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), as well as by a slew of left-leaning organizations and labor unions.
For The New York Times, though, Grijalva’s win was evidence of a seemingly unrelated phenomenon: the limits of Zohran Mamdani’s brand of politics. Baffingly, coverage of a special election in Arizona, in which the favorite candidate of the progressive ecosystem claimed a decisive victory, began with this sentence: “The Mamdani momentum withered in the deserts of southern Arizona on Tuesday night.”
The author of the piece, Jack Healy, went on to draw a false equivalence between Mamdani and another candidate in the race, Deja Foxx, whose age—Foxx is 25, while Mamdani is 33—apparently, de facto, aligned her with the Mamdani wing of the Democratic Party. Never mind that Grijalva and Mamdani shared scores of endorsers and substantial overlap in their platforms. For the Times, Grijalva’s victory was yet more evidence of Mamdani’s flailing candidacy, personal shortcomings, and general unfitness for office.
Minneapolis Democrats Follow Mamdani Trend with Left-wing Pick By Alia Shoaib
July 21, 2025
Introduction:
(Newsweek ) Minnesota state Senator Omar Fateh has won the endorsement of the Minneapolis Democratic Party for the city's upcoming mayoral election, becoming the latest progressive candidate to gain traction within the party.
Fateh has drawn comparisons to New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who won the party's nomination for New York City mayor last month.
Why It Matters
Fateh has become the latest candidate to the left of the Democratic Party's mainstream to rise within the party's ranks, which could be seen as a growing willingness among Democrats to support more progressive viewpoints.
What To Know
Fateh won the endorsement for the mayoral election from the Minneapolis Democratic–Farmer–Labor (DFL) Party—a branch of the statewide Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, which is affiliated with the national Democratic Party—at the group's convention on Saturday.
The result was a surprise upset over two-term incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey, and it marked the first time in 16 years that the Minneapolis DFL backed a candidate in a mayoral race.
Democrats Expand Lead in 2026 Generic Congressional Ballot Preference July 22, 2025
Introduction:
(Rasmussen Reports) The next midterm elections are still more than a year away, but the Democratic Party has widened its lead over Republicans in the battle to control the House of Representatives in November 2026.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that if the elections for Congress were held today, 46% of Likely U.S. Voters would vote for the Democratic candidate, while 42% would vote for the Republican. Four percent (4%) say they would vote for some other candidate, while another eight percent (8%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
That marks a net three-point gain (in the Rasmussen poll) for Democrats since May, when they led by a single point, 45% to 44%. Perhaps more troubling for Republicans, they now stand a net seven points worse than they did before last November’s election, when they led by three points (48% to 45%) and won just a razor-thin House majority.
The survey of 2,288 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted on July 13-17 and 20, 2025 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 2 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
caltrek’s comment: A lot of states covered, hence the lack of an extract or introduction as such a citation would leave out too much. Better to just read the whole article as is.
Number of Democratic voters who are 'extremely motivated' to vote in next election skyrockets
Source: The Independent
Sunday 27 July 2025 22:49 BST
Nearly three-quarters of Democratic voters say they are “extremely motivated” to cast their ballots in the 2026 midterm elections, a dramatic uptick from four years ago, polling shows.
Just six months after Republicans took control of the White House and Congress, 72 percent of Democrats and Democratic-aligned voters say they are “extremely motivated” to vote in the next election, a CNN poll conducted by SSRS this month found. By contrast, only 50 percent of Republicans say the same.
Democrats are now looking to enter midterm elections in 2026 under similar circumstances as 2018 in an attempt to break up the GOP’s control of both chambers of Congress and the White House. During the 2018 elections, voters dealt a massive blow to President Donald Trump’s first-term agenda, with House Democrats gaining 23 seats to take control of the House.
In October 2022, two years into President Joe Biden’s term when Democrats narrowly controlled the trifecta, just 44 percent of Democratic voters expressed the same motivation to vote in the midterm. That figure was just slightly higher for Republicans, with 48 percent saying they were eager to vote.
NC-SEN: Wiley Nickel (D) suspends NC Senate bid, endorses Cooper
Former Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-N.C.) is ending his campaign for North Carolina’s Senate seat and endorsing former Gov. Roy Cooper (D), a day after Cooper launched his much-anticipated bid.
Nickel said in a statement Tuesday on the social platform X that working alongside Cooper while he served in the state Senate and in Congress was an “honor,” and Cooper’s “steady, bipartisan leadership” has made a difference.
“And for many of us, including me, he’s been an inspiration to step up and serve,” Nickel said. “I proudly endorse Roy Cooper for US Senate and look forward to doing everything I can to help him flip this Senate seat from red to blue.”
Nickel’s decision was expected after Democrats notched a major recruitment win in getting their ideal candidate to run for the seat held by retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R). Cooper brings a long background in North Carolina politics and a track record as a popular former two-term governor.
Democrat Edges Out Incumbent Florida Republican In New Poll By Andrew Stanton
August 5, 2025
Introduction:
(Newsweek) A new poll from Kaplan Strategies regarding Florida's 27th Congressional District showed GOP Representative Maria Elvira Salazar trailing a potential Democratic rival ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Why It Matters
Democrats are hoping to retake control of the U.S. House of Representatives in next year's midterm elections. Historically, the party outside of the White House performs well in the midterms, fueling Democratic optimism about a 2018-style blue wave.
Florida's 27th Congressional District, which Salazar represents, has not been viewed as particularly competitive, but the latest survey of the race suggests Miami Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava could put the congresswoman in a close race if she chooses to run. The district contains areas around Miami.
It's one of the heavily Latino districts that has shifted rightward in recent elections. Democrats' performance in the district and others like it will be a key test about whether they are able to win back support from Latino voters who once backed Democrats but supported President Donald Trump last November.
What To Know
The Kaplan Strategies poll published on Monday showed Levine Cava with an early, but narrow, lead over Salazar.
Democrats' Chances of Flipping Joni Ernst's GOP Senate Seat in Iowa By Andrew Stanton
August 5, 2025
Introduction:
(Newsweek) Democrat Jackie Norris jumped into the Iowa Senate race to challenge GOP Senator Joni Ernst on Tuesday in a race Democrats are hoping they can make competitive next November.
Bryan Kraber, Ernst's campaign manager, told Newsweek Iowans will "reject this Obama-era bureaucrat" in a statement responding to Norris' candidacy.
Why It Matters
Democrats are facing a challenging Senate map ahead of the midterms, despite hopes that President Donald Trump's diminishing approval rating could fuel a 2018-style "blue wave" across the country.
The party has to turn to states like Iowa, a former battleground that has shifted rightward over the past decade, as potential flip opportunities if they have any hope of taking back control of the upper chamber.
Iowa has not elected a Democratic senator since 2008 and backed Trump in each of his three presidential bids—including by 13 points last November, an indication of how Republican the state has become. Nonetheless, Democrats remain hopeful that a strong national environment, as well as backlash over Ernst's recent Medicaid comments, can make the race more competitive than expected.
