Congress
Tim Scott to top donors: 2026 will likely break spending records
Senate GOP campaign chief Tim Scott previewed his 2026 game plan over the weekend to some of the party’s top donors at a retreat in Palm Beach, Florida. His main takeaway: It’s going to be mighty costly.
Scott, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said his team believes the battleground map will include six states — three offensive targets in Georgia, Michigan and New Hampshire and three defensive ones in Maine, North Carolina and Ohio.
The top 2026 races, Scott told donors, will likely break spending records, according to a person who attended the meeting and was granted anonymity to share private details from it. And protecting the three red seats, held by Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Jon Husted (R-Ohio), will require a massive effort.
“Winning is expensive, so cash is king,” Scott said, according to the attendee, adding both parties would likely spend over “$1 billion combined” on “just two of our Republican-held states.”
He estimated Republicans and Democrats would spend “$400-600 million in Maine and $700 million in North Carolina. And in Ohio, Bernie Moreno’s race cost $550 million last year. We need to win there again with Jon Husted.”
Collins is the only Republican up in a state that Kamala Harris won, but she is a formidable incumbent, and many Democrats in the state are loath to take her on. Tillis, meanwhile, could face a serious primary challenge in addition to a competitive general election. But Ohio is quickly trending out of competitive territory.
Last cycle Moreno ousted Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown by 4 points in the state. Husted was tapped by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to fill the seat of Vice President JD Vance, and he will have to run again in a 2026 special election. But Brown was largely viewed as one of the last Democrats capable of winning statewide in Ohio, and he hasn’t indicated he’s eager to make another bid.
A version of this story first appeared in Blue Light News’S Weekly Score newsletter. Sign up to get it every Monday.
Senate Budget Committee Republicans will meet Tuesday morning to talk about advancing a fiscal blueprint for a new party-line spending bill.
Chair Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) declined to say , in an interview Monday if he plans to introduce a resolution this week, noting that he was “working with leadership” and that the “first priority” is to pass a stopgap spending bill. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a panel member, said he didn’t expect the Senate to take up a budget resolution this week because “I don’t think my leadership wants to do it.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune hasn’t ruled out taking up a budget resolution but has been frank about the challenges it faces among GOP senators.
The Senate’s stopgap funding bill to avert a shutdown on Oct. 1 has cleared the first procedural hurdle, putting it on track for passage before lawmakers leave for the August recess.
Senators voted 89-4 to advance the measure, which would fund federal agencies through Dec. 11 at current levels, with some exceptions.
In order for a passage vote to happen ahead of the summer break, Senate leaders will need to strike a bipartisan time agreement to fast-track the measure to a final vote.
“It is a strong bipartisan piece of legislation, and I hope it will receive overwhelming support from both parties in the Senate,” Majority Leader John Thune said in a Monday floor speech.
Senate passage would up a potential battle with the House, because the stopgap measure the House passed two weeks ago has key differences from the Senate version. Identical versions must be passed to actually avert a shutdown at the end of the fiscal year.
The Senate measure includes language to bar the Trump administration from putting into action a plan to make political appointees in charge of approving grants, a prohibition that would last for the length of the stopgap. It also has language sought by Democrats to ensure Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement don’t get any new funding under the patch.
“The bill allows us to continue negotiating a budget that won’t leave working families behind,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday.
The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment about if President Donald Trump supports the Senate measure. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), an appropriator and administration ally, said Monday he had spoken to Trump earlier in the day and believed the president is “comfortable” with the Senate bill.
Jordain Carney and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.
Jack Smith, the former special counsel who brought criminal charges against President Donald Trump, has been invited to testify Sept. 22 before the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to an invitation from Chair Chuck Grassley reviewed by Blue Light News.
Smith previously testified before the House Judiciary Committee in January, but Grassley (R-Iowa) and his team have been probing Smith and his investigations for months.
Grassley recently revealed that Smith obtained text messages that 44 members of Congress sent to White House officials during the waning months of Trump’s first term leading up to and around the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
Grassley’s texts were among those accessed by Smith’s team, along with Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).
“In the process of a deeply flawed, weaponized investigation, Jack Smith subpoenaed phone toll records from a dozen senators, scooped up text messages from over 40 members of Congress, and subpoenaed the private communications and financial records of hundreds of other Republican entities and individuals,” Grassley said in a statement.
“He needs to answer directly to Congress for his actions,” Grassley added. “Smith has requested to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and our committee looks forward to hearing from him as part of Congress’ investigation into Arctic Frost and his time as Special Counsel. Smith must be honest and forthcoming in his answers, because the American people deserve nothing less than full transparency and accountability.”
Lawyers for Smith did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During the January hearing, Republicans focused on technicalities of how Smith investigated the probe into Trump’s election interference, such as whether he properly signed his oath of office and whether he was sufficiently versed on the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause that protects members of Congress from criminal investigation for their lawmaking actions.
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