Congress

Democrats revamp their midterm playbook for GOP’s anti-trans attacks

Published

7 minutes ago

September 11, 2026

A fresh wave of Republican anti-transgender messaging is driving Democratic operatives to coach candidates on how to avoid falling into the political traps of prior elections.

Their advice: don’t ignore the conversation, state your position clearly and move on to issues voters care about.

“Silence is deadly on these issues and that’s the playbook we tried in 2024,” said Lanae Erickson, senior vice president at center-left think tank Third Way.

“Democrats have to be super clear that we want fair rules in sports made by sports associations and parents to be in charge of their kids’ health care,” Erickson said.

“Nip the issue in the bud and then turn things back to the main issue of costs and things that impact voters’ lives more,” she said.

Republicans offered a preview this week of familiar election messaging they hope will animate their base in November: Democrats support transgender athletes in women’s sports and gender-affirming care for children.

Those messages in 2024 appeared to galvanize voters, with Republicans spending over $110 million in ads on the issues, and then-candidate Donald Trump spending more on ads criticizing supporting transgender rights than on any other subject in the final lead-up to the election.

The majority of speeches by top Republicans at the GOP’s midterm convention in Dallas highlighted the issue, including by Vice President JD Vance, Speaker Mike Johnson, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Tim Scott, National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Housing Secretary Scott Turner and Trump.

“It’s one of our great soundbites of all time,” Trump said Wednesday as he described anti-trans attacks as best deployed against Democrats in the final days of the election. “I’m doing it much too early.”

America PAC, Elon Musk’s super PAC, also invested in a round of new digital ads this week airing across states with key Senate races, including Texas and Iowa, criticizing Democrats’ past support for trans rights.

Ross Hemminger, president of Log Cabin Republicans, a prominent Republican lesbian, gay and bisexual group, who attended the convention, called the GOP approach “a winning message” that will motivate “people who don’t always come out to vote in every election.”

Matt Angle, a veteran Democratic strategist based in Texas, said he’d encourage candidates to model their response to anti-trans attacks on James Talarico, the state’s Democratic nominee for the Senate. Many Republican speeches this week focused on Talarico’s past comments on gender.

“James should continue to respond the way he has, very disciplined,” Angle said. He pointed to a Wednesday FOX News interview where Talarico said he “will oppose trans athletes playing in girls’ sports if it risks safety or fairness.”

“Republicans are trying their best to change the subject and divert attention away from a profound failure, but it’s not shaking James’ focus on gas prices and what it costs to make a living,” Angle said.

Congress

Capitol agenda: Trump tells Republicans to vote or ‘go to hell’

Published

7 minutes ago

September 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

He’s promising to pay you $5,000. He’s asking you to swear an oath. He’s telling you you’ll “go to hell” if you don’t vote November 3.

President Donald Trump spent the last two days in Dallas trying every which way to convince his GOP base to turn out for the midterms and re-elect a Republican Congress.

We’ll know in 53 days if it worked.

Republicans who attended the party’s midterm convention said they hope it drives Americans to the polls this November. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer said in an interview he’s confident the GOP holds the House majority but acknowledged it’ll come down to Republican voter turnout.

“Do we have some headwinds? Absolutely. Is this the greatest environment we’ve ever run in? No,” Emmer said. “If our people show up, we’ll do just fine. If they sit back at home, we’re going to have some bumps that we got to deal with.”

Trump began the convention by surprising even senior Republicans with a pledge to distribute $5,000 checks to Americans if they re-elect a GOP House and Senate majority. Republicans are now left grappling with the practicality of the proposal and whether to make promises to voters on the campaign trail.

Then the president ended evening No. 2 leading the crowd in swearing an oath that they would bring their family and friends to the polls to vote for Republicans in November.

“You know what happens if you don’t vote? You go to hell,” Trump told Dallas’ American Airlines Center. “Go out and vote, go out and vote!”

Republicans’ messaging heavily focused on painting Democrats as a socialist party the country can not afford to elect into power. It was reminiscent of Democrats’ message going into the 2024 election warning Americans they couldn’t afford to elect Trump again, rather than leaning into specific policy agendas.

Obviously, that didn’t prove to be a winning strategy — and Republicans are hoping they don’t make the same mistake.

“That’s a good question,” Rep. Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania said at the convention when asked if he’s worried the party is too focused on its opponents. But he was confident GOP policies on taxes, regulations and education that were enacted in the past two-years are drastically different from what Democrats are proposing.

“We’ll see, but I do think you got to do all the above,” Rep. Jim Jordan responded to the same question. “We did what we said we would do.”

What else we’re watching:

— GOP LEADERS CAVE TO DATA CENTER VOTE: House GOP leaders will put legislation on the floor next week marking Congress’ most significant step yet to regulate data center infrastructure that’s driving bipartisan outrage nationwide. Leaders had been weighing whether or not to move forward with the measure — known as the Ratepayer Protection Act — on the floor, with Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s office claiming late last month that some of his members had problems with the proposal that still needed to be worked out. That Scalise and others have now caved is a sign of the political pressure the party is feeling on the matter as Election Day draws near.

— RAND PAUL’S PRICEY FLIGHT — One of the Senate’s biggest fiscal hawks has spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on private jets. Six staffers for Sen. Rand Paul traveled by private jet as part of a bipartisan congressional investigation over several months in 2024 into the attempted assassination of then-presidential candidate Trump — costing taxpayers nearly $18,000, according to Senate expenditure records reviewed by Blue Light News. The expense is not illegal or against Senate rules, but it fits a pattern Paul has shown over the years of spending lavishly on travel while simultaneously crusading against out-of-control federal spending.

Meredith Lee Hill, Jason Beeferman, Kelsey Brugger and Chris Marquette contributed to this report.

Congress

Rand Paul and his staff travel by private jet with taxpayer dollars while preaching fiscal restraint

Published

22 minutes ago

September 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Six staffers for one of Capitol Hill’s most outspoken deficit hawks traveled by private jet as part of a bipartisan congressional investigation into the attempted assassination of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump — costing taxpayers nearly $18,000.

The aides for Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, then the top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and now the chair, flew in a chartered plane from Washington to Pittsburgh in the days after Trump was shot at a campaign rally in nearby Butler, Pennsylvania, according to Senate expenditure records reviewed by Blue Light News.

The $17,827 flight, billed to New Flight Solutions Inc., constituted over 18% of the total amount the committee spent on travel and transportation between April 1 and Sept. 30, 2024. It came as other staffers on the committee secured travel accommodations for a fraction of that price — by driving or flying commercial — to investigate whether the Secret Service could have done more to protect Trump from a rogue gunman.

Traveling to Butler by car from Washington can take as little as five hours, while a direct flight is just over an hour.

Hiring a private jet for committee business is not against Senate rules, but it stands in stark contrast to Paul’s reputation as a fiscal conservative whose crusade against out-of-control federal spending and perceived government waste has repeatedly put him at odds with members of his own party.

It also fits a pattern Paul has shown over the years of spending lavishly on travel, both through his personal office and accounts linked to his Senate campaign and leadership PAC — all while routinely voting against government funding legislation and grinding legislative business to a halt in protest of bills that would add to the debt.

A Paul spokesperson defended the use of the private plane in a statement.

“The Committee launched a year-long investigation into the Secret Service failures that let the attack happen, which included several trips to talk to participants and visit the scene,” said the spokesperson, Drew Carmichael.

“This was the most efficient and effective means for the entire investigative team to participate in the investigative activities that day and followed all Senate rules and regulations,” he said, adding that there was “careful consideration of all available options.”

A spokesperson for New Flight Solutions did not respond to a request for comment.

An aide to Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who was at that time the committee chair, spent less than $700 to travel to Butler for the same fact-finding trip. Aides for the top Democrat and Republican on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations — Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin — spent just over $900 and less than $700 on travel, respectively.

Two of Peters’ senior staffers each traveled on commercial flights to Pittsburgh for the same trip for under $400 each, Senate records show.

“Senator Peters is committed to the responsible use of taxpayer dollars, and staff used commercial air or standard ground transportation while conducting the bipartisan investigation,” a Peters spokesperson said in a statement.

Spokespeople for Blumenthal and Johnson declined to comment.

Carmichael would not answer specific questions about why Paul’s office believed flying private for a relatively short journey was the most cost-effective option, and what efforts were made, if any, to find a cheaper mode of transportation.

He also would not say whether Paul personally signed off on the arrangements or if the senator traveled on the charter plane along with his staff. The official roster of travelers listed in the Senate expenditure report included his staff director, chief counsel, research assistant, operations director, press assistant and professional staff member.

One former longtime investigative staffer for a House committee, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said of the private plane expense, “I’ve never done that, and I haven’t heard of a similar situation before.”

An ex-Trump administration official familiar with congressional travel logistics, also granted anonymity to speak freely, agreed it was “highly irregular for a private jet to be used by any committee staff.”

The official added, “They would have to come up with a significant justification for any sensitive matter and it would need to be highly defendable. Oversight shouldn’t create its own oversight.”

Homeland Security and Governmental Reform Committee staff went to Butler on July 26, 2024 for a walk-through of the Butler Farm Show grounds — where Trump was delivering a speech at the time of the attack — and the adjacent American Glass Research building — where Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was killed by authorities at the scene, climbed up to the roof and fired eight rounds from an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle.

Staffers received briefings from local law enforcement officials who supported the Secret Service at the July 13 rally where Trump was targeted. They also interviewed four local law enforcement officers who provided backup, two people who attended the rally and the president of the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, of which Crooks was a member.

The findings of the investigation were included in a bipartisan interim report released that fall.

Carmichael, in defending the use of the private jet, said in his statement that “the results of this thorough investigation speak for themselves.”

But using taxpayer dollars for staff to use private planes should rise to the level of scrutiny, said Kedric Payne, vice president of the Campaign Legal Center.

“Congressional ethics rules allow the use of official funds for official travel, but it is very rare for such expenses to include private airfare for staff,” Payne said in a statement. “Private jet travel for staff raises many questions, and if this happened, the lawmakers involved owe taxpayers answers.”

Paul also has a history of using private planes for official travel through his personal Senate office, though those flights — unlike the Pittsburgh flight — appeared to allow him to travel to multiple cities in his home state that are not conveniently served by commercial flights.

According to Senate expenditure records, Paul arranged a trip in mid-October 2024 through New Flight Solutions, a company that also does business as New Flight Charters, costing taxpayers $17,847. The line item states that Paul began his journey in his hometown of Bowling Green and from there went to Henderson, Marion, Calvert City, Paducah, Fulton and back — all cities in Kentucky.

Paul arranged for a $24,371 private jet to take him later that same month to other parts of the state — from Bowling Green to London, Middlesboro, Harlan, Prestonburg, Pikeville, Jackson, Ashland, Maysville and Mount Sterling.

In early June 2025, his office listed an expenditure for a New Flights Charters plane for a Kentucky trip coming out to $4,732 for Paul’s transportation and for three staffers to fly private for a total of $14,198 from Bowling Green to Somerset to London and on to Washington.

Later in the month, another charge of $13,351 is listed for Paul to travel from Bowling Green to Frederick, Maryland. In late September 2025, he flew on a charter plane from Bowling Green to Ashland for $6,990.

In a statement, Carmichael explained that “Senator Paul strives to visit as much of Kentucky as possible and meet with as many constituents as he can during state work periods. One way to accomplish this is by helping him travel between locations more quickly, allowing him to attend more events and spend more time engaging directly with constituents.”

He also defended Paul’s stewardship of taxpayer dollars: “Senator Paul has returned more than $9.2 million from his official office budget to the U.S. Treasury,” Carmichael said.

Paul has also come under scrutiny in the past for his spending through non-official channels. His campaign committee and leadership PAC combined has, since 2012, spent more than $113,000 on private jets through New Flight Solutions.

He spent tens of thousands of campaign dollars on hotels, restaurants and travel on a fundraising trip in Europe, the Kentucky Lantern reported in 2024.

Congress

How Republicans are privately talking about their Senate map at the convention

Published

9 hours ago

September 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

DALLAS — Top Republicans are scrambling to shore up their Senate map in Alaska, Texas and other red states — and are privately acknowledging they could very well lose in Georgia and North Carolina.

As GOP lawmakers, candidates and party officials gather for their midterm convention in Dallas, their conversations reveal how the party is thinking about their chances in the battle for the upper chamber, less than two months from Election Day.

THE TOP TARGETS

Senate Majority Leader John Thune ticked through a handful of battleground states he’s confident about in a closed-door lunch on Thursday — he’s particularly focused on Alaska, Maine and Michigan.

The meeting was hosted by the Senate Leadership Fund, the Senate’s top GOP super PAC, and was used to rally Republican donors, according to two people in the room who were granted anonymity to share details of the private discussions.

Republicans are bullish about their chances of holding their seat in Maine after the Democratic side devolved into chaos over the summer, when Graham Plater suspended his campaign following an allegation of sexual assault, which he denies. Now, a largely untested, progressive Troy Jackson is looking to unseat five-term GOP Sen. Susan Collins.

In Alaska, Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan is locked in a tight race with Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, but they are optimistic about his prospects in the state that President Donald Trump won by double digits in 2024.

Michigan is another opportunity: Republicans have been leaning into attacks warning of the takeover of socialism this cycle. They are spending heavily to boost Republican Mike Rogers, who is running against progressive Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee who’s backed by the Democratic Socialists of America and who has become a boogeyman for Republicans.

TEXAS IS FOR TRUMP

Senior Republicans also indicated they would continue to leave shoring up imperiled Ken Paxton in Texas largely to Trump, given that he helped unseat Sen. John Cornyn by backing Paxton in the primary.

Trump said in his convention speech Wednesday night that he would help boost Paxton. His affiliated super PAC, MAGA Inc. has already started spending in Texas to shore up the Republican. Senate Leadership Fund, which publicly backed Cornyn during the GOP primary, has not announced any spending in Texas.

THE PROBLEM CHILDREN

Georgia, where Republican Rep. Mike Collins is facing rising Democratic star Sen. Jon Ossoff, didn’t come up in the SLF meeting with Thune, according to the people. One of the people who was in the room later told Blue Light News that North Carolina would be “tough.”

Republicans have been increasingly worried about Collins falling behind in Georgia and Michael Whatley, a former RNC chair, in North Carolina. Public polling shows both candidates trailing their Democratic opponents. They are also both being outraised on the candidate level, but Republicans have a substantial overall fundraising advantage — buoyed in large part by Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC.

Sen. Rick Scott, a former NRSC chair, said in an interview at the convention this week that if the Georgia GOP gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson “runs an unbelievable race in Georgia, he gives Mike Collins an opportunity possibly to beat Ossoff.” He also painted North Carolina as “probably one of the hardest ones,” given that Whatley is facing popular former Gov. Roy Cooper for an open seat.

Democrats need to hold onto all of their seats — including defending the open seat in Michigan — while also flipping four GOP-held ones to gain control of the upper chamber. Republicans are also eager to boost John Sununu in New Hampshire after his primary win this week, as they work to beat back serious challenges in Ohio and Iowa.

Collins and Whatley both welcomed additional financial support coming into the final stretch of their races in interviews during the convention.

“Listen, we’ll always make a case for more money,” Collins told Blue Light News he left a closed-door meeting with the NRSC, SLF head Alex Latcham and top Senate Republicans on Wednesday.