Politics
How to keep a soccer team alive in exile
Farkhunda Muhtaj has spent years fighting to keep the Afghanistan women’s national soccer team alive after the Taliban banned women from sport following President Joe Biden’s chaotic withdrawal of American forces from the country. That campaign reached a breakthrough this year when FIFA agreed to establish an official Afghan women’s national team.
The 28-year-old Afghan-Canadian, born to refugee parents from Kabul before her family settled in Toronto, helped lead the evacuation of Afghan soccer players after the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Since then, she has lobbied FIFA, organized a team in exile and worked to ensure Afghan players are ready to compete again — while playing as a midfielder for Calgary Wild of the Northern Super League in Canada.
The captain of the Afghanistan women’s soccer team, Muhtaj spoke with Blue Light News from her home in Calgary.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The World Cup is sometimes described as one of the few genuinely global events left in a world that is being shaped by war, polarization and rising nationalism. Do we ask too much of sport to solve society’s problems?
Sport can still drive social change in a positive way, but when we look at the World Cup and competitions on a global scale, we often think that it’s going to solve geopolitical tension — and it doesn’t, unfortunately. But what I can say is fans that watch the World Cup definitely have a different perception compared to what they have learned in the past about certain regions. That’s a huge positive because you are able to come to conclusions on your own around what different cultures look like and you are able to understand that you have some biases toward certain communities that are not true. So, from a fan perspective, it definitely has the power to unite.
You helped lead the evacuation of Afghan soccer players from the country when the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Did that experience teach you anything about international solidarity — or a lack of international solidarity?
I’ve had incredibly positive experiences with American citizens that were able to help me with this evacuation. Whereas if we look at the government, perhaps I wouldn’t have received the same level of support or care from that perspective, just because unfortunately it was a failure from the U.S. government, what happened in Afghanistan.
It’s important to understand that you can’t underestimate your impact. You have to take things one step at a time and doors will open up, but you need to remain persistent. Throughout the whole journey hopefully things will end up the way you imagined, which in that case was helping evacuate these young girls and their family members.
What’s the set-up for the Afghan women’s football team right now?
Since 2021, unfortunately, the Taliban has banned women’s sport participation, which meant that the Afghanistan Football Federation also could not continue supporting the national women’s team. And so it no longer existed in 2021. During that time, when I helped evacuate the Afghan youth national team players to Portugal, I actually created the official Afghan youth national team as a result and the goal was really to make sure that we were in a state that we could continue to train and compete, albeit without any funding from FIFA or the Football Federation.
At the FIFA Congress in Vancouver this year, President [Gianni] Infantino actually announced that we were going to start the official national team. So they adjusted their governance just so that we could be a national team. That refugee pilot project was until June 30, which just passed, which means moving forward the goal is to make sure that they can build a sustainable program for this official national team program.
Do you feel like FIFA, national governments and other stakeholders are doing a good job to make sure people in your situation and your team are not forgotten about?
It’s difficult to say because it’s taken them many years to finally be able to recognize us when this is something that we had advocated for right from the beginning in 2021. So I am grateful that we have this opportunity now and we do have an independent national team and can rebuild. But I also feel like the longer we wait, the more difficult the situation gets. From a national team perspective, we haven’t been active for five years.
We really need to catch up and we’re not going to be on international standards right away, but it is a process and we are going to get there and I do truly believe in this group and the tenacity of Afghan women. But it would have been fantastic had this happened sooner and from a governmental perspective, unfortunately, the way geopolitics works, there’s always going to be something else that everyone focuses on.
How have events of the last few years changed what it means to represent your country?
Growing up, for me, football has always been bigger than just sport. My dad was introduced to football through being a refugee and he passed that on to us as well. As I came to Canada when I was two years old and my family were immigrants here, football is something that really united us, helped us integrate into society, built confidence and transferable life skills that definitely benefit us to this day.
And we give back through the game as well. We have a nonprofit organization called Scarborough Simbas that I’ve co-founded, which uses sports to help ease the settlement and journey of refugees and newcomers to Canada through the power of football.
If there’s a young girl out there watching the World Cup today, growing up in a country that’s affected by conflict or repression, what would you want her to know about the role sport can play?
I would go back to my speech at One Young World, which is a platform that unites the world and has people coming together, sharing each other’s stories, to discuss what’s happening around the world. I would argue the World Cup is like that, where it gives people different perceptions. You hear different stories about players, the challenges that they went through and it really humanizes the experience of those players, because, at times, I think we can feel so distant from a professional footballer.
But what I said in that speech, as well, was the fact that sport is so much more than a game, it was an opportunity. And for me when you are in those situations, it’s an opportunity to change gender norms and perceptions around your country as well, but also to understand that your impact is so much greater than the circumstances that you are in. So I would say to that young girl that gets involved in sport: compete … but give back to the game as well.
I am fully aware that it’s not as easy as what I’m saying. But I hope that they can understand that football and sport will give them so much more than they would have ever imagined.
Sen. Jon Husted became the latest battleground Republican this week to call for a quick end to the Iran war, as panic grows over how high gas prices and President Donald Trump’s agenda could imperil the party’s chances in November.
“The war needs to come to an end as quickly as possible so that we can lower gas prices,” the Ohio senator told Blue Light News, in his furthest comments yet on the matter.
Coming after Iowa Senate nominee Ashley Hinson, who broke from Trump over the war on Monday, and Michigan Senate nominee Mike Rogers, who followed suit hours later, Husted’s comments are another example of the pressure he and other Republicans are under to address prices at the pump. Several candidates are creating some distance from Trump, as voters continue to blame the president for the current economy and the Iran conflict for high costs of living.
Husted said in the interview that he still thinks Iran needs to reach a deal with Trump to end the conflict, but added: “I don’t know anybody that doesn’t want the war to come to an end.”
He has a finer line to walk with Trump in his state, and Republicans close to him say he can’t and won’t completely break with the president. Husted does not plan to support the Democratic-led war powers resolution when it comes up for a vote in the Senate this week, a spokesperson said. And Trump and Vice President JD Vance are expected to visit the state in the coming weeks to shore up his campaign and drive GOP turnout.
Husted is staring down a tight race against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, where millions in spending and recent polling have put Brown slightly ahead. Top Hill Republicans and Senate GOP operatives have said the Ohio Senate race is among their primary concerns in the battle to keep control of the chamber.
But Ohio is just one in a series of battlegrounds where rising gas prices have become a defining issue. Beyond Hinson and Rogers, a growing number of Republicans are starting to call for emergency actions like a diesel export ban to lower gas prices, including Iowa GOP Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks.
“Hinson broke the dam,” said one GOP operative, who was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), who is locked in an incredibly competitive race, called Tuesday for a diesel export ban to provide voters relief. He didn’t mention the Iran war.
The panic is being felt most acutely in the Midwest, as high gas and diesel prices and Trump’s tariffs hammer families, truckers and farmers just a few weeks ahead of the peak harvest season with no relief in sight.
By Sunday night, Rogers had filmed an ad at a grocery store decrying high prices and, straight to camera, breaking with Trump to call for an end to the Iran war, according to two Republicans involved in the matter, granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations.
Rogers’ team was putting the finishing touches on the ad Monday morning when Hinson posted her break with Trump over the war directly on social media.
“The war’s just gone on too long. Mike still thinks Iran shouldn’t have a nuclear weapon, but we originally thought this would take six weeks,” said one person with direct knowledge of the conversations in Rogers’ camp about the move. “Voters have been paying for it at their kitchen tables for too long.”
Michigan’s GOP nominee for governor, Rep. John James, also said Tuesday the Iran war needs to end “quickly.” And Rep. Tom Tiffany, Wisconsin’s GOP governor nominee, said Tuesday he believes “we should be exiting Iran, that it’s time to move on, we’ve degraded their nuclear facilities, we’ve degraded their military … time to come home, take care of business here in America.”
Trump, for his part, told reporters Tuesday that he asked his team to consider a diesel export ban, and that his administration is mulling it.
But the move is rife with internal GOP fighting behind the scenes: Trump’s team is getting an earful from GOP lawmakers in oil states who oppose the move, according to four people with direct knowledge of the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. That makes any decision before the midterms highly problematic with at least one corner of the party.
Both the top House GOP leaders — Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise — have opposed similar measures from the past to protect their oil state of Louisiana. The Texas GOP delegation is also “strongly opposed,” according to another Republican.
Husted told Blue Light News on Tuesday that he supports his state legislature suspending Ohio’s gas tax for a period. Democrat Amy Acton, who is running for governor, called for a gas tax suspension Monday. Her GOP opponent Vivek Ramaswamy and a broader swath of Republicans called for the state legislature to convene and pass legislation to suspend the state’s gas tax hours later.
“I think in the long run we are going to have lower gas prices,” Husted said, citing the war in Ukraine as a factor for spiking diesel costs as well as the war with Iran. “It’s taking longer than any of us wish it would. So in the interim, while those things are concluding, the idea of providing relief from the gas tax for Ohioans for a short period of time is a reasonable thing for Governor [Mike] DeWine to consider.”
LOCAL INPUT: Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing fresh backlash over sidelining key stakeholders from talks about developing thousands of housing units on top of a Queens rail yard.
The Sunnyside Yard project landed back in the headlines yesterday when Mamdani and President Donald Trump emerged from a chummy meeting at Gracie Mansion to announce they’d agreed to bring conversations about the long-stalled housing plan to “a new level.” The unlikely duo first announced at a White House meeting in February they were looking into reviving the project, which would be contingent on billions of dollars in federal funding and involve constructing a platform over the rail yard, on top of which 12,000 housing units would be built.
But Council member Julie Won — who represents Sunnyside and voiced concerns in February about not being included in the talks — said today she continues to be troubled by the fact that the mayor and the president aren’t consulting her or other local community voices.
“Since the last discussion on Sunnyside Yard months ago between the mayor and president there is no funding from Congress nor any public meetings to move this project forward,” Won said in a statement. “There is no federal, state, or city bill allocating funding for this project. There is still no timeline. Congress would have to fund it, and the State and City Legislature would have to approve it. Our neighbors in Sunnyside yet again were not part of yesterday’s conversation, and there still has been no meaningful engagement with the public.”
Farah Salam, Won’s chief of staff, said City Hall’s continued lack of engagement with her office flies in the face of a commitment Mamdani’s team made in February.
Salam recounted how, in a meeting with Won’s team at the time, Mamdani aides told the Council member’s staff they would keep them in the loop on any Sunnyside Yard-related updates. Nonetheless, Salam told Playbook that Won and her team haven’t heard a peep from Mamdani’s administration since then, and she added that Won only learned of the latest twist from watching Mamdani’s post-meeting press conference with Trump yesterday.
A Mamdani spokesperson declined to respond to Salam’s comments.
Won is a member of the Council’s Progressive Caucus, which has generally been supportive of the mayor, lending more weight to her Sunnyside-related rebuke. Still, she may have some political sour grapes with the mayor, given that she campaigned unsuccessfully this summer for Congress in a race that was ultimately won by Mamdani-endorsed Assemblymember Claire Valdez.
Won isn’t the only local politician concerned by Mamdani’s Sunnyside dealings with Trump, though.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards told Playbook it would be more fruitful for Mamdani to focus on securing federal funding from Trump for housing developments where shovels can hit the ground on a short timeframe. Inevitably, Sunnyside Yard would need to go through years-long review and permitting processes before construction could begin, and Richards argued Jamaica and Long Island City are better suited for immediate, federally-backed projects, given that both areas recently underwent neighborhood-wide rezonings.
“I’m not saying give up on Sunnyside Yard, but let’s first move somewhere where we can actually get shovels in the ground now,” he said. “We are in a housing emergency.”
Richards also said he’s skeptical Trump will actually make good on his Sunnyside musings. “I have trepidations about how fast the Trump administration is going to move on this — forgive me if I have my trepidations about them,” he said. “Anything you deal with the Trump administration on has to be show and tell, and I don’t have much confidence even with the president’s remarks yesterday.”
When asked about the comments from Won and Richards at a press conference today, Mamdani avoided any direct response. Instead he simply reiterated the merits of the project, which he said would include a significant share of affordable housing.
“I will do everything in my power to build more housing in this city,” Mamdani said. “And working with the president to fulfill an idea that has existed for 50 to 60 years — that to me is clearly an example of what could be done.”
It remains to be seen how much Trump and Mamdani can actually get done on the Sunnyside project. Though they said yesterday their respective housing policy teams are initiating technical talks about the project, there are no funding commitments on the table, and local community concerns remain.
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan in 2015 to build housing on top of Sunnyside Yard, but that iteration of the project never went anywhere because of the COVID pandemic and local pushback. — Chris Sommerfeldt and Joe Anuta
From the Capitol
IT GUY GONE: The top official at the state’s Office of Information Technology Services was removed this week by Gov. Kathy Hochul after she lost confidence in him, her administration said today.
ITS Director Dru Rai held the job since September 2023, and his removal was effective immediately. Jenson Jacob will take over the role in an acting capacity. The office manages the state’s information technology, data centers and hardware infrastructure while providing digital services for state agencies and local governments.
“The administration has informed Dru Rai that the Governor no longer has confidence in his ability to effectively represent this administration and he was removed from his position as head of ITS,” a Hochul spokesperson said in a statement. “Jenson Jacob has been named Acting Director of ITS. Governor Hochul remains committed to holding employees to the highest leadership and ethical standards, and ITS will continue to deliver technology solutions and services for New Yorkers, our agencies and partners.”
Read more from Blue Light News Pro’s Nick Reisman.
BLAKEMAN BRUSHES OFF GRACIE GATHERING: Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman is downplaying the significance of Trump’s cordial Monday meeting with the mayor.
“Not at all,” he said when asked if Trump’s visit undercut Blakeman’s focus on Mamdani’s radicalism.
“The president is a government official. He’s the highest government official in the United States. And the mayor’s a government official, so I expect that the two of them would talk.”
Blakeman has attacked the mayor he refers to as “Commie Mamdani” while campaigning in every corner of the state. Would he similarly meet with Mamdani? “Depends what he was serving for lunch,” he said.
The Nassau County executive was in Albany today to receive the NYS Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association’s endorsement. Prison guards have had an icy relationship with the state in recent years, due to Cuomo-era limits on solitary confinement and Hochul’s strict crackdown on guards who engaged in an illegal strike last year.
It’s the first time NYSCOPBA has endorsed a gubernatorial candidate.
“Kathy Hochul, I want you to think about that: 95 percent of your employees voted to endorse me, a democratic vote,” Blakeman said. “What does that say about your leadership? You should be embarrassed that 95 percent of your workers didn’t think highly enough of you to endorse you.” — Bill Mahoney
FROM CITY HALL
LEFT ON READ: City Council members — including the mayor’s allies — laced into Mamdani’s administration today at a Council hearing on the use of influencers in city government communications.
The central focus of their displeasure? Team Mamdani declined to send any representatives from the appropriate agencies to testify.
The oversight hearing comes on the heels of news that programs run by city agencies paid influencers to promote city policies. The hearing’s stated purpose: to begin to establish guidelines for how city officials communicate with influencers and disclose such communications.
Emilia Rowland, the mayor’s director of new media, skipped the hearing, despite being invited to testify. Earlier this month, a working paper from the Columbia University Initiative for Policy Dialogue reported that Rowland oversees a Signal group chat with more than 200 hand-picked influencers. In her place, the mayor’s office sent Tascha Van Auken, commissioner of the mayor’s Office of Mass Engagement, and Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz, commissioner for the Department of Records and Information Services — neither of whom had much to offer on the administration’s use of influencers.
While pressing the two during their testimony, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams expressed disappointment that the communications officials who “should be here are not.”
“I don’t know that anything was done wrong, but there were questions that were raised by this article that I believe the public should hear answers to, so that they can feel sure that nothing wrong occurred,” Williams said. “The fact that the correct folks aren’t here doesn’t really help that story.”
Williams, a progressive Democrat, found himself in agreement with Council Minority Leader David Carr, the Republican who sponsored legislation that would require explicit disclosures on city-funded or directed influencer communications.
Carr pressed Van Auken and Smith-Cruz on specifics about the relationship between City Hall and third-party influencers — such as the number of influencers the administration has worked with, how much has been spent on the social media campaigns, how budgets are determined and how influencers are selected.
Van Auken and Smith-Cruz acknowledged they didn’t have fulsome answers to any of Carr’s questions, in stark contrast with the mayor’s characterization of the situation earlier today.
“I am confident in the testimony that our administration is providing today, that it will be sufficient in answering the council’s questions,” Mamdani told reporters this morning.
Taiwan Green, a Queens-based influencer with more than 50,000 followers, testified he was contacted a year ago by then-candidate Mamdani’s social media team. He said he’s never been offered pay for any content about the administration, though, and that he was never directed as to how to message his videos.
“I believe it’s my responsibility to sacrifice my time and my resources to educate myself and my followers on the political process,” said Green, who goes by the handle @mrfingaz. “Traditional press may not have the time to ask questions that are related to southeast Queens, but I will use this opportunity to do just that.”
Green left abruptly after about 90 seconds of testimony and didn’t take questions from council members.
It wasn’t the first time relevant officials from the mayor’s office skipped a Council oversight meeting. Last month, lawmakers slammed Mamdani’s administration for opting out of a hearing on the city’s controversial pied-à-terre tax rollout. At that hearing, Council Members Gale Brewer and Linda Lee read out 11 pages of questions to a row of empty chairs. — Molly Reinmann
SO MANY GAVELS: The city’s Conflicts of Interest Board fined Council member Mercedes Narcisse $2,500 for filming a reelection campaign video inside City Hall.
In one portion of the video, Narcisse is sitting in the Council chambers at the speaker’s chair, where she strikes a gavel. In another, she sits behind her nameplate in a separate committee room and … also strikes a gavel.
Narcisse is then filmed speaking (though not striking a gavel) at an official Council podium.
Because these areas of City Hall are off limits to the public, the board found Narcisee was using her government perch for personal gain. In a settlement agreement, the Brooklyn lawmaker said she did not intend to break the rules, but admitted wrongdoing. — Joe Anuta
FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
AOC IN BUF: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is planning to hit Buffalo Thursday to meet with Mayor Sean Ryan and host an organizing training aimed at inactive voters.
The trip comes amid speculation about whether she’ll run for the White House or Senate in 2028. In comments to The New York Times published on Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez said she’s thinking about how her identity will factor into the campaign she chooses to mount.
“There’s an argument that some make that this is a very unique political window and, oftentimes in politics, you do only get one shot,” she told the Times. “And you don’t — and just in life in general — life doesn’t wait for you to be ready for things. Sometimes life just makes things ready for you.”
The Buffalo trip is part of an upstate swing that is also set to include Syracuse and Ithaca, the Times reported last week.
Ocasio-Cortez has been leaning into the curiosity surrounding her next political endeavor — but said she’s keeping her focus on the midterms as she stumps across the country boosting candidates. — Madison Fernandez
TAKING THE STAGE: Candidates for governor, state attorney general and comptroller will debate next month.
Spectrum News NY1 announced Tuesday that Hochul and Blakeman will debate on Oct. 13. Attorney General Letitia James will face off against GOP challenger Saritha Komatireddy on Oct. 8, and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Republican Joseph Hernandez will debate on Oct. 1.
Each of the debates will air live at 7 p.m.
Playbook previously reported that Hochul intended to debate Blakeman, even though she is not required to do so since her campaign declined to participate in the new public campaign finance system. — Madison Fernandez
IN OTHER NEWS
— ZO + BIBI: Mamdani doubled down on his criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of his speech at the U.N. this week. (CNN)
— SCHUMER ON AI: Sen. Chuck Schumer demanded Trump completely block China’s access to U.S. artificial intelligence technology ahead of the president’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping tomorrow. (Punchbowl)
— MENIN + THE MET: City Council Speaker Julie Menin expanded on her condemnation of the Met Gala’s now-walked back decision to honor John Galliano, who has a history of racism and antisemitism. (New York Magazine)
Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.
Republicans are playing defense deep in their own territory as voter anger over price hikes puts more House and Senate seats in play in the midterms.
New rounds of big spending, visits from Trump administration officials and private conversations among top GOP officials overseeing the battle for control of Congress reveal a party rushing to shore up red seats and states President Donald Trump won handily in 2024.
In the House, the fight has expanded far outside the few-dozen seats considered the most competitive as Republicans start to unleash their massive warchest: Since Aug. 1, more than $110 million in ad bookings have gone toward Republican-held districts so red that Trump won them by double digits.
In the Senate, Republicans are racing to shore up Ohio GOP Sen. Jon Husted as the Midwest struggles under the weight of Trump’s tariffs and high diesel prices. Trump and Vice President JD Vance are both expected to travel to the state before the midterms to boost Husted, according to four people familiar with the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss not-yet-public plans.
GOP leaders are also trying to keep a handle on contests in Iowa and Kansas — and they’ve quietly begun deprioritizing Georgia and even North Carolina, which a growing number of Republicans are privately bracing for Democrats to flip.
“We need to stop the contagion,” said one senior GOP official, who, like others, was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the midterm landscape.
“The map is hilariously big right now,” said one national Republican pollster.
Since Aug. 1, nearly two-thirds of advertising funds in House races have been booked or spent in races with GOP incumbents, according to a Blue Light News analysis of data from AdImpact, which tracks political advertising.
That includes nearly $18 million to embattled Rep. Max Miller in Ohio’s 7th District; $14.6 million to Texas’ 15th District where Monica De La Cruz faces a challenge from Tejano Singer Bobby Pulido; $9.6 million in Alaska where Rep. Nick Begich faces a challenge from independent Bill Hill; and millions more to other districts that Trump carried by double digits two years ago.
The GOP holds a massive cash advantage over Democrats — which, for now, means they can afford to spend more broadly. Republican groups are dividing up the spending deluge in the final weeks ahead of the midterms, with Trump’s MAGA Inc. affiliated super PAC spending heavily to shore up safer red seats and deter Democrats from pushing into those races.
“The voter enthusiasm [for Republican voters] is not where it needs to be but that’s where a money advantage can make a really big impact,” said Mark Bednar, a GOP strategist and former communications director for then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Republicans have adjusted their Senate map expectations: They’re still bullish about Maine, Michigan and New Hampshire. They’re not as optimistic about North Carolina — which Trump won in 2024 — but they are hoping to force Democrats to spend more there.
Republicans are more concerned about Alaska and Texas. And their worries about Ohio have escalated amid soaring diesel prices and backlash to tariffs — challenges they’re also confronting in Texas, Iowa, Michigan and Kansas.
Already two battleground candidates have called for ends to the Iran war, pointing to the high prices: Iowa GOP Senate nominee Ashley Hinson, whose team has grown increasingly wary of the tight race and Michigan GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers. Both Hinson and Rogers use top Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio to guide their campaigns.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Hinson’s and Rogers’ remarks.
Senior GOP operatives’ own internal polling shows Trump’s approval underwater in deep red states across the country. And an Iowa poll conducted last week by a Democratic-leaning pollster found Democrat Josh Turek with a one-point lead in the Senate race and Trump’s approval at 43 percent in the state he won by more than 13 percentage points in 2024, according to a copy of the poll obtained by Blue Light News.
“As more races come online, it very clearly is a defensive map for Republicans across the country,” said a national GOP strategist working on multiple battleground races.
In Ohio, Republicans are optimistic that their attacks on former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown’s voting record are starting to break through, based on recent internal polling. But they’ve been conveying to outside groups for weeks that they need help reinforcing vulnerable incumbents like Husted. On Monday, the pro-crypto super PAC Fairshake said it planned to unleash $30 million against Brown, who was the top Democrat on the Banking Committee before losing reelection in 2024 — fueled in part by more than $40 million against him from Fairshake that year.
“The stakes go far beyond one Senate seat,” Amy Natoce, a Husted campaign spokesperson, said in a statement. “Control of the Senate will determine which agenda moves forward in Washington: Sherrod Brown’s out-of-touch socialist agenda, or Jon Husted’s agenda of lower taxes, a secure border, and an economy that rewards hard work.”
One Michigan Republican acknowledged the immense weight of the tariffs in races across the battleground state — including in the marquee Senate contest between Rogers and progressive Abdul El-Sayed, as well as across competitive House races.
“Everywhere we go, we are getting hammered on it,” the Michigan Republican said. “It’s crushing us.”
Even skeptical Republicans have been quietly checking in with their colleagues to see if the panic in redder territory is borne out in reality on the ground or just overblown polling. One GOP lawmaker who spoke to Hinson and her campaign team was somewhat surprised by their answers.
“It’s real,” that House Republican told Blue Light News.
And Blue Light News overheard a senior member of Kansas’ Republican party leadership complaining about their state’s tighter-than-expected race at the GOP’s midterm convention in Dallas earlier this month. GOP Sen. Roger Marshall, the person said, was in some trouble even as Republicans tried to dismiss the seriousness of his Democratic challenger, Adam Hamilton.
Trump and Vance, meanwhile, continue to travel to states they won by double digits in 2024 to stump for Republican candidates, as Trump-aligned super PACs hammer the airwaves in far more red territory than blue.
Recently-formed super PACs aligned with MAGA Inc. — Trump’s main spending vehicle that holds more than $400 million — have spent in 42 House districts so far, 30 defensive and 12 offensive. On average, they are spending in areas that voted for Trump by 7.9 points in 2024, according to a Blue Light News analysis.
The PACs are even spending in some districts Trump carried by 15 points as a way to shore up Republicans and deter Democratic advances, according to Republicans involved in the conversations.
Major Republican super PACs, including the Trump aligned-super PACs and party-linked groups, have spent in more than two dozen GOP-held seats where Trump won by at least 5 points in 2024.
“Republicans aren’t taking anything for granted this cycle and will deploy whatever resources necessary to protect our majorities and prevent Democrats from taking control,” RNC spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre said in a statement.
The NRSC argued that “Democrats lack quality candidates and a clear path to victory,” so the party is “feigning optimism” and looking to candidates who have lost before, including Brown, “to somehow deliver [a] majority.” The NRCC said their opposition is “too broke to fight back.”
The geography of the Senate map still favors the GOP this cycle: Democrats have to defend all of their seats, while flipping four Republican-held ones, to take control of the upper chamber.
Republicans believe they have a real shot at flipping New Hampshire, and public polling shows Minnesota’s Senate race closer than expected, forcing Democrats to pay some minor attention to a state Kamala Harris won in 2024.
And Republicans are still hopeful that their mid-decade gerrymandering push could still give them a structural advantage as they fight to defend the House. Republicans won the redistricting war that erupted last summer and will likely net at least six seats from it.
But as economic concerns continue to dominate — with little relief in sight — Democrats are growing increasingly bullish.
“You know, I look at places like Kansas where I never thought we’d have a chance, or South Carolina or even Mississippi, these places are longshots, but they look like they’re competitive,” Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) said.
For their part, senior Republicans have been working the problem from two ends, trying to gently persuade Trump in private conversations to back off some of his recent policy moves and wind down the war in Iran — while also organizing a wave of cash reinforcements across the growing map to try to stem the bleeding.
GOP lawmakers pressed Trump officials at their Dallas convention and since then to take emergency actions around fuel prices and refinery capacity. A band of House Republicans led an unsuccessful attempt to vote on a federal gas tax suspension until after Election Day. And, over the weekend, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) posted several direct appeals to Trump, asking why he hasn’t put an embargo on diesel exports.
But many are convinced the bleeding won’t stop until voters get some relief at the pump.
“The question is: How much longer can we go?” one senior House Republican said.
- As midterm prospects grow bleaker, Senate Republicans wonder what they can do about it
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- GOP Armed Services chair blasts White House welcome of Chinese leader
- Sen. Jon Husted: Iran war ‘needs to come to an end as quickly as possible’
- Mamdani and Trump face frosty reception in Queens over Sunnyside Yard plan
- Trump says decision on possible diesel export ban to come ‘fast’
- Appeals court’s Capitol steps ruling may signal trouble for Trump on media ban
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Politics2 years agoBlue Light News’s Editorial Director Ryan Hutchins speaks at Blue Light News’s 2025 Governors Summit
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The Dictatorship1 year agoMike Johnson sums up the GOP’s arrogant position on military occupation with two words