Politics
Not everyone wants a day off
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is already considering adding an extra bank holiday to the calendar if England wins a World Cup final. But shutting the country down for a day to celebrate a national high might not be the political winner he thinks it is.
While rank-and-file citizens may thrill at getting a break to celebrate, sober up or sleep in, key political interests — from business groups that fear a disruption to commercial activity to social services that have to trudge on regardless — can balk at an instant holiday.
Countries have a long history of celebrating major on-field victories with off days. Uruguay marked victory in football’s inaugural World Cup with a public holiday in 1930, and Panama gave workers the day off for qualifying to its first-ever World Cup in October 2017. Just beating Argentina in a group-stage game seems a particular reason to celebrate: Cameroon did so on a national holiday over 1990, and Saudi Arabia ordered a nationwide day off for public servants, private sector workers and students alike in 2022.
This year two countries have already redrawn their national calendar after World Cup wins. Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared a public holiday for June 26 after his side upset Germany to reach the knockout rounds, thanking players and coaches who had endured “criticism, insults and tough times” before bringing “immense joy” to the country. His post ended with two words: “Tomorrow, holiday!”
Days later, Paraguayan President Santiago Peña did the same after his country’s stunning penalty shootout victory on June 29 over Germany propelled the South American underdogs into the World Cup round of 16. Posting a picture of himself signing the decree, Peña acclaimed the expression of Paraguay’s “grit, faith and strength.” The accompanying decree argued the triumph had gone far beyond sport and that “the government cannot remain indifferent to this tremendous achievement,” making it necessary to allow Paraguayans to celebrate together.
Peña’s government had laid some necessary groundwork for the move. A law adopted in 2025 allows the president to declare up to three temporary public holidays each year by decree for special occasions, including sporting achievements. The measure had been drafted with the World Cup in mind, and was first used after Paraguay qualified for the tournament last September.
But some in Paraguay were not cheering at Peña’s declaration. Even as Paraguay celebrated one of the biggest victories in its football history, business groups — particularly representing micro, small and medium-sized enterprises — complained that the holiday had been announced with virtually no notice, disrupting commercial activity and work schedules. Peña later admitted the decision had been spontaneous.
“I’m very honest. I didn’t think about that before the game,” the president said, acknowledging criticism from the business community. “It was a spontaneous decision.”
Asked this week by reporters on Wednesday whether England winning its first World Cup in 60 years would merit a day off, Starmer replied: “I think I don’t want to jinx it, but ask me again if we get to the final.” The remark fueled speculation that Friday, July 24, could become a one-off holiday if England goes all the way. The decision, however, would likely fall to Starmer’s expected successor, Andy Burnham.
Not everyone is convinced. A Good Morning Britain poll on X found 60.4 percent supported a World Cup bank holiday. Among the minority opposed replies was a user identifying herself as a supermarket worker, who pointed out that essential workers including National Health Service employees would still be on shift while many others enjoyed a long weekend. “Don’t think it’s very fair,” she wrote.
Successive British governments have also generally resisted calls for additional bank holidays, repeatedly pointing to the economic cost. A 2022 Department for Culture, Media and Sport impact assessment estimated that an additional bank holiday would reduce U.K. gross domestic product by around£2.4 billion — a figure ministers continue to cite when responding to calls for extra holidays, including if England were to win this year’s World Cup.
If the Three Lions make history over the next week, Downing Street may discover that deciding whether the country deserves a day off proves almost as politically contentious as winning football’s biggest prize itself.
Politics
It might take ‘a lightning bolt from God’ to get these Senate Democratic hopefuls to bow for independents
Democrats vying for a pair of deep-red Senate seats are facing increasingly desperate calls from within their party to step aside for more promising independent candidates.
But they say they won’t drop out — unless there’s divine intervention.
Democrats Alani Bankhead of Montana and Julian Beaudion of South Dakota both told Blue Light News they have no plans to exit the race, despite pressure from national — and even some state — Democrats to step aside. Numerouspolls, coupled with strongerfundraising and campaign operations, show independents Seth Bodnar and Brian Bengs have a stronger — if still muddied — path to victory in November.
If the Democrats stay on the ballot, it will be almost impossible to claw these seats away from Republicans in Mountain West states that President Donald Trump dominated in 2024.
“I’m a person of faith. If a lightning bolt from God struck me and was like, ‘Alani, get out of the race,’ sure,” Bankhead told Blue Light News when asked if anything would change her mind. Otherwise, she said there’s “absolutely nothing.”
Beaudion has a similar resolve: “To be clear, we are not considering dropping out of the race,” he told Blue Light News.
By digging in, the Democrats could imperil their party’s hopes of regaining Senate control in an already uphill cycle. There’s broad agreement across the many factions of the Democratic Party that a crowded race relinquishes any hope of victory. Bengs has argued that Beaudion remaining on the ballot jeopardizes his chance of winning this fall against GOP Sen. Mike Rounds. Bodnar has maintained he has a viable path either way, and he could be helped out if the Libertarian candidate in the race pulls votes from Republican Kurt Alme.
The deadline to withdraw in South Dakota is Tuesday, and Montana’s is shortly after, on Aug. 10. Democrats across the ideological spectrum in Washington and their home states are calling on Bankhead and Beaudion to step down to help their party bank-shot a Senate majority, with the idea that a victorious independent candidate could caucus with a future Democratic majority — or at least not party up with Republicans.
“The math is inescapable. If it’s impossible for a Democrat to win, it is vital that the Democrats step aside and give the independent at least a shot of beating the Republican,” said Matt Bennett, a co-founder of the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way. “Beating the MAGA Republicans is priorities one, two and three. Who we beat them with is pretty far down the list.”
Democrats have already had some luck setting up one-on-one independent vs. Republican matchups in other Trump-won states. The Democratic candidate in Nebraska withdrew to pave the way for independent Dan Osborn — though an ongoing court case from a Democratic anti-abortion pastor could complicate things. And Idaho’s Democratic nominee recently dropped out in favor of independent Todd Achilles.
“Knowing that your campaign is not gonna break through, and just being able to recognize that is probably the hardest thing of all,” Achilles said of Democrat David Roth’s decision to step down. “I do appreciate what David did in Idaho.”
Bankhead and Beaudion insist they can win, even despite the headwinds. Bankhead expects to ride the anti-incumbency and pro-outsider wave into office, and Beaudion credits his relationships with voters throughout the state.
“Nobody ever knows what’s actually going to happen in an election,” Bankhead said. “The people decide on November 3.”
But Idaho and Nebraska Democrats reached a conclusion that Bankhead and Beaudion did not: The party’s brand is so tarnished in their states that the “D” label on the ballot line provides no viable path to victory.
“I am a professional partisan Democrat, and I have every incentive to be on the Democrat’s side here,” said Pat Dennis, president of American Bridge 21st Century, an opposition-research firm. “But ultimately, the priority is to take the Senate majority away from Republicans. In some states, that path is very difficult to impossible for a Democrat. In those cases, it is both strategically and morally correct to take the path that is most likely to achieve the goal we’re going for.”
Faiz Shakir, a longtime adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), did not go as far as to call for Bankhead and Beaudion to step aside. But he agreed that there’s real opportunity for independents who aren’t stuck with the Democratic brand’s baggage.
“Being someone who’s not associated with the two-party system right now helps you greatly in many parts of this country, particularly those that have much more rural and conservative tendencies,” said Shakir. “There’s frustration and anger with Trump, and there’s not as much of a love and appreciation for the Democratic Party.”
Shakir also said that competitive races in these red areas — even if the independents can’t pull off a win — could force Republicans to pull much-needed resources out of battleground races in order to defend their turf.
But he also offered a warning to his party: Talking too much about the independents’ strong fundraising and establishment backing risks tying them to the “donor class” and turning them “into a worse version of what people assumed of a Democrat.”
“You gotta give them the space to be both independent in mind and in spirit,” he said. “The argument for them is truly that they are building a movement in the state that people are hungry for, and that in the support of those people, they’re finding resonance. And that would be the argument for a Democrat to step aside.”
Republicans, meanwhile, are working to paint the independents and Democrats as one and the same. They’re also trying to elevate the Democrats in an attempt to stop the independents from gaining more traction: Trump on social media attacked Bankhead in July, ignoring Bodnar entirely.
“Democrat-backed independents all support the same socialist policies and middle-class tax hikes that made Democrats toxic across the country,” Joanna Rodriguez, the communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement. “Republicans will defeat them in November.”
The inside calls for Beaudion and Bankhead to step aside aren’t just coming from Washington. Many local Democrats in Montana and South Dakota have said publicly they should not continue their campaigns. Nancy Keenan, the former executive director of the Montana Democratic Party who has endorsed Bodnar, wrote in a June op-ed that “there is not a viable path for a Democratic victory in this race.”
Bennett, the Third Way co-founder, went further, saying if Democrats fail to flip the Senate in November, the blame would lie at the hands of Bankhead and Beaudion.
“If we fumble away a majority because these no hope candidates are too vain to get out of the race, that’ll be a political calamity,” he said. “These people need to understand that they will become pariahs.”
Bankhead doesn’t see it that way.
“I’m not swayed by it because I’m not here for power and money,” she said. “It’s still the old, rich D.C. powerful political circles that are trying to keep more progressive candidates out of the fight so they can maintain the status quo.”
FCC chair Brendan Carr on Trump, free speech and his threats against broadcasters
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Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and his team are discussing dropping out of the crowded Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
The conversations come as Democratic officials in the state brace for damaging media reports about Barnes expected to hit in the coming hours. Barnes and his team have been on calls Thursday to discuss how to proceed, according to the people, granted anonymity to share private details.
The primary had become increasingly messy as more moderate leaning Democrats like Barnes have tried to stave off Democratic socialist Francesca Hong’s rise, worried her victory could boost presumed Republican nominee Tom Tiffany. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ endorsement of David Crowley — who reentered the race in the final stretch — further complicated the moderate coalition.
A spokesperson for Barnes’ campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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