Congress

‘I’m glad I’m not on the ballot’: Senate GOP worries about its midterm edge

Published

6 months ago

March 14, 2026

Senate Republicans are growing anxious about the midterms.

They once felt like they had a glidepath to keep or even grow their majority in November, unlike in the House, where GOP control is razor-thin and members have become increasingly on edge about Democrats returning to power.

But the mood is shifting, according to interviews with 10 GOP senators and aides, as the U.S. engages in open-ended war in the Middle East, rising oil prices threaten to slow the economy and President Donald Trump stokes intra-party divisions over an elections overhaul bill known as the SAVE America Act.

Some GOP senators are now openly predicting a tough battle to hold onto control as their party struggles to keep the focus on affordability policies that lawmakers want to make the centerpiece of their midterm campaign. The Senate passed a major housing bill this week but it faces an uncertain future in the House. Trump himself told Republican lawmakers Monday that housing is not a top concern for voters.

“I’m glad I’m not on the ballot,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), a close Trump ally, said in an interview when asked how he was feeling about the November elections.

Republican senators are warning that the party writ large needs to hammer home cost-of-living measures — despite apparent disinterest and distractions from Trump, who they hope will lean into the housing bill fight. Recent polls have shown the Iran conflict and the resulting rise in prices are major worries for voters, even as the president downplays affordability concerns.

“Energy prices are high. Everything’s high,” said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), another Trump ally. He added that Republicans should “take some votes to lower the costs.”

Democrats have to net four seats to win back control of the Senate — a tall order that still gives Republicans an inherent edge. But Republicans are playing defense in Maine and North Carolina, the two races widely viewed as the most likely flips, and they’re facing a messy Trump-fueled primary in Texas. Republicans view Michigan and Georgia as potential pick-ups, though Democrats think they’ve also been able to put states like Ohio and Alaska in play through strong candidate recruitment.

Asked about Trump’s claim that the party will be in trouble if it doesn’t pass the SAVE America Act, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters this week that he believed the election is instead “going to be about the economy, and that’s why I think we’re focused on that.”

He also said that midterms are “always a little dicey” during the second term of a presidential administration.

But under pressure from Trump and a fervent base, Thune is teeing up what will likely be a multi-week debate on what the president calls his “No. 1 priority” — the SAVE America Act legislation that would institute tough new citizenship and photo ID requirements in order to cast a ballot. Trump wants to expand this legislation even further to prohibit gender-affirming surgery for children and restrict mail-in voting.

The bill lacks the votes for Senate passage, yet Thune and his conference are being lobbied hard by the right flank to revamp or eliminate the filibuster as a means of jamming the legislation through — a strategy that also doesn’t have the votes.

This intra-party tension is on full display in Texas, where Sen. John Cornyn is facing a May runoff against Texas Attorney General and MAGA favorite Ken Paxton. The elections bill has taken centerstage as Cornyn and Paxton vie for Trump’s endorsement, with Cornyn this week throwing his support behind scrapping the filibuster to pass the legislation.

Trump’s pressure campaign over the bill, including his decision to use the Texas race to make a play for its passage, has privately infuriated a broad swath of Senate Republicans, according to two people granted anonymity to speak candidly.

Republicans have privately conveyed to Trump that the voting measure can’t pass, while Thune has also publicly warned against linking a possible Cornyn endorsement to the bill.

Trump, however, told Fox News Radio Friday that he still intends to endorse in the race, but the “main thing I have to do is find out who’s going to get the SAVE America Act approved.” Senate Republicans are fearful that if Cornyn fails to win his runoff, the best-case scenario will cost the party hundreds of millions of dollars to defend against Democratic nominee James Talarico.

The election bill fight has spilled beyond Texas, as GOP senators are being flooded with public warnings from high-profile figures on the right that voters won’t turn out in the midterms or donate money unless the legislation passes. Trump has said passing the bill will “guarantee the midterms.”

White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said in a statement Friday that Trump “is the unequivocal leader of the Republican party, and he is committed to maintaining Republicans’ majority in Congress to continue delivering wins for the American people.”

“It’s clear that he has delivered for Americans with a secure border, cooling inflation, working-class tax cuts, new trade deals, new drug pricing deals and trillions in investments,” Wales added. “The White House is keen to tout these victories in the months ahead as we continue to work to Make America Great Again.”

In the meantime, recent polls show that it’s the unfolding Iran conflict and cost-of-living issues that voters care most about.

Just over half of voters oppose military action against Iran, compared to 40 percent who support it, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this week. Nearly three-fourths said they were either very or somewhat concerned the war in the Middle East will lead to higher oil and gas prices.

In contrast, a Marist Poll also released this week found that 59 percent of Americans, when asked to consider November’s elections, said they wanted to ensure that everyone who wants to vote can do so — compared to 41 percent, who said their priority was making sure that no one who is ineligible can vote.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said in an interview that he gives the president credit for making a “tough decision” on Iran but that “it’s not going to be necessarily good for the midterms.”

“Do I feel confident? I never feel confident,” he said. “It’s going to be a tough midterm.”

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) when speaking to reporters this week urged patience on rising gasoline prices but acknowledged if they persist into the summer, “that’s always bad.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), one of the GOP conference’s louder Trump critics, was more blunt during a Fox News interview this week, saying it could be a “disastrous election” for the party if the war drags on. Trump announced Friday evening that the U.S. military had carried out a major bombing operation in an apparent attempt to pressure Iran into reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway which carries roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil.

Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), whose state is very much in play with his exit, said he’s seeing parallels to 2018, when Democrats won the House amid deep dissatisfaction with Republican leaders on Capitol Hill and in the Trump White House.

Tillis, who frequently vocalizes the concerns many of his colleagues express privately, said some Republicans have asked him, “‘why are you saying this out loud?’”

“Democrats are going to … take advantage of the increase in energy and drive the affordability message and we’ve got to have an answer for affordability,” he explained.

“We’ve just got to be realistic about it,” Tillis added. “We’ve got a voter enthusiasm gap that we need to address.”

Congress

Urgent motion filed to stop carving of Trump’s name into US Institute of Peace building

Published

5 hours ago

September 18, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Ousted board members of the U.S. Institute of Peace are asking a federal court to block the imminent carving of President Donald Trump’s name on the headquarters of the nonpartisan institution he sought to dismantle shortly after taking office.

Members of the board who were removed by the administration filed an emergency motion Thursday in Washington in a dispute that has echoes of Trump’s effort to place his name on the Kennedy Center.

The motion was filed as an emergency petition, alleging that a contractor has already been selected to carve Trump’s name into the Constitution Avenue headquarters that the administration sought to shutter as part of the Elon Musk-led DOGE effort to shrink the government.

The former board members said in their motion that they had asked Kenneth Jackson, the DOGE official serving as acting president of the USIP, to ensure the carving would not happen as they pursue litigation to preserve an independent nonprofit created by Congress under President Ronald Reagan to provide research and training aimed at promoting democracy around the world.

“The building — which was largely funded by private donations to USIP as a tax exempt nonprofit corporation — is a work of expressive architecture designed to be ‘symbolic of USIP’s’ independent ‘mission,’” the emergency motion said. “Alteration of the design to impose a different message would cause irreparable harm.”

Trump’s name was added to the exterior of the building in December, shortly before the president hosted a signing ceremony at the institute with the presidents of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The bolted-on affixture is removable, and is featured next to the institute’s name, which is engraved into the facade.

The institute has been locked in a legal battle with the Trump administration as it hopes to reinstate its former president ousted by Trump last year. In May 2025, a federal judge ruled that the administration’s actions to dismantle the nonprofit was “unlawful” but the ruling was stayed by a federal appeals court panel a month later.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The USIP’s emergency motion comes days after Trump announced the Kennedy Center would be closing following a court ruling that blocked his name from being added to the building. Trump has threatened to tear down the center, and was seen on Wednesday viewing a large printout that appeared to say “Kennedy Center DEMOLISH.” The Kennedy Center, which USIP referred to in its motion, is seen as a bellwether for other institutions that Trump has sought to rebrand in his image.

“Notwithstanding the importance that the President and his supporters place on attaching his name to notable buildings,” the motion said, “Appellants will suffer no harm or prejudice whatsoever if they are precluded from carving the President’s name into the USIP building unless and until this litigation concludes in their favor.”

Congress

Republicans give Warsh room on interest rates

Published

10 hours ago

September 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Federal Reserve just made congressional Republicans’ lives even harder in the run-up to the November midterm elections. But they’re holding their fire on Fed Chair Kevin Warsh.

The Fed this week hiked interest rates for the first time since Warsh took over as the central bank’s leader. The central bank’s unanimous decision to increase borrowing costs threatens to worsen the growing problems Republicans face around voters’ views of the economy and the high cost of living.

But some GOP lawmakers indicated they were relieved to see Warsh’s willingness to buck President Donald Trump after he faced withering criticism during his confirmation process from Democrats, who said he would do the president’s bidding in the role.

“The Fed has to be independent. They showed that they were independent,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican who is up for reelection. “That should give confidence to the markets.”

Republicans’ willingness to give Warsh room — despite its potential political downsides for them — highlights their deference to the new Fed chief.

“It’s not good,” said Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican who lost a primary earlier this year to a Trump-backed opponent. “But it’s a fact that they need to get inflation under control. But the timing is not optimal.”

The decision to hike rates comes amid an uneasy dynamic where the Fed is taking action to tamp down rising inflation while Trump wants to see the economy boosted by cheaper borrowing costs. Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, are caught between supporting Trump’s economic agenda and voicing confidence in Warsh’s ability to bring inflation under control.

Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), a staunch supporter of the president who sits on the Senate Banking Committee, said that while she and Warsh “may have a different opinion on how we achieve a place where ultimately interest rates are low” and that she’d “love to see [lower rates],” she “trust[s] what [Warsh] is doing, and appreciate[s] the independence of the Fed.”

Warsh was tapped by Trump for the job in January with the hope that he would lower rates. However, since he was nominated, the U.S. entered into a conflict with Iran, high tariffs continued and gas prices soared, among other inflation and affordability concerns.

Trump-aligned lawmakers are cautioning against moving too aggressively to increase borrowing costs — but they are doing so gently.

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) said in an interview that Warsh is “under a tremendous amount of pressure,” pointing to other Fed officials’ support for a hike.

“I understand the concerns about inflation, but I do think there’s a significant component of inflation that will be addressed as we address the situation in the Middle East,” Hagerty said.

Congress

Senate Democrats press Hegseth for Iran war price tag

Published

11 hours ago

September 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Forty-six members of the Senate Democratic caucus are demanding that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provide a detailed accounting of the Iran war’s costs, arguing that the Pentagon has failed to explain how it has spent, and plans to spend, tens of billions of taxpayer dollars.

The letter, led by Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, was signed by every member of the Senate Democratic caucus except Sen. John Fetterman. Independent Sens. Bernie Sanders and Angus King, who caucus with Democrats, were also included.

The senators asked the Pentagon to provide a breakdown by Sept. 30 of all direct and indirect costs incurred to date in the conflict, as well as a breakdown of the administration’s $67 billion supplemental request. The senators also sought a detailed plan for how $34 billion of leftover funds allocated to the Pentagon in Republicans’ Big Beautiful Bill will be spent.

The letter also requests that the department specify which portions of the requested funds are intended to reimburse past expenses, and which are meant for future operations.

“Despite asking for tens of billions of additional taxpayer dollars, you have so far failed to provide basic information on how this money has and will be spent,” the senators wrote. “Congress must have access to this information to carry out our oversight responsibilities. It is the bare minimum that any American would expect in balancing their own household budget.”

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The demand comes as the war enters its seventh month with no agreement to end the conflict. On Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office said the conflict would reach about $2 billion to $3 billion a month, noting that the first five months cost the U.S. $38 billion — the most comprehensive look at the conflict ahead of the midterm elections.

Fetterman has repeatedly broken with his party over the conflict, supporting President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran in February and voting against a measure seeking to limit Trump’s war powers. His distance from Democrats was underscored last week when he made a surprise video appearance at Trump’s Republican midterm convention in Dallas.

Fetterman’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.