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Justice weighs political future, talks Senate control
RAVENSWOOD – U.S. Sen. Jim Justice has enjoyed being in the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate, but the November midterm election could see control flipped to the Democratic Party
The editors: Make it safe to lose elections
Today’s political rhetoric depicts electoral defeat as apocalyptic. If this leads to a rejection of the rule of law, it places the constitutional order itself at great risk.
Rogers and El-Sayed are set for their first debate in Michigan's Senate race after sparring online
Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, competing for an open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan, are set for their first campaign debate Thursday after weeks of sparring both online and in advertisements that are flooding the state in one of the nation’s most closely watched races.
Cost Concerns Dominate as Public’s Economic Ratings Turn More Negative
The costs of many household essentials are a top economic concern for most Americans – much as they were four years ago on the eve of the last midterm election.
With Americans in a Sour Mood, Democratic Voters Are More Engaged in Midterms
The 2026 midterm election comes amid deep public dissatisfaction with the state of the nation and near-record low approval ratings for Trump.
Sandwiches to socialism: How a DSA chapter in Austin is building political power
The Democratic Socialists of America’s membership has more than doubled to 126,000.
Trump emails Medicare enrollees about $90 payment, touts his policies
The unusual move, which comes weeks before the midterm elections, has been derided by Democrats and advocates as a stunt.
No new attack on Iran before the midterm elections, Trump says
The president has acknowledged sometimes using public statements about negotiations and military planning to keep adversaries off guard.
5 House districts where Republicans are looking to turn the tables as Democrats eye big midterm wins
Here's a look at places where a cash bump and prime issues might help the party hold their own on election night.
Trump says he will not attack Iran before the midterm election
President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he has no plans to strike Iran before the midterm election.
Same Class, Different Views: Rethinking political division on campus
With one month until the midterm elections, Americans must confront a deeply divided political system and growing ideological tensions. College students remain uniquely positioned to explore, rather than avoid, this political reality. That opportunity is worth preserving now more than ever. Students living away from home for the first time experience many new opportunities, and...
Supreme Court asked to weigh political ad rates
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to step into a lower court dispute over television advertising rates paid by political candidates and joint fundraising committees weeks before the midterm elections. The application asked the justices to set aside a 2-1 ruling issued Wednesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th […]
US, Zambia sign $2.49B health financing pact after removing data and specimen-sharing terms
The U.S. and Zambia have signed a $2.49 billion health financing deal after removing clauses on specimen-sharing and patient data.
A Connecticut report shows uptick in AI campaign ads nationally
More politicians are using Artificial Intelligence in campaign ads leading up to this year's midterm elections.
Editorial: What would socialist policies mean for the middle class?
With Election Day less than a month away, voters should look beyond campaign slogans and ask what the policies on the ballot would mean for families who built their lives
2026 Election Preview: Billionaires, AI, and Generational Change
A panel of top political reporters unpack the key races and issues shaping California’s 2026 election.
Meet the Candidate: Jerry Schillinger
There are two candidates for Montana House District 34 on the general election ballot: incumbent Jerry Schillinger, a Republican, and Jasmine Erickson, a Democrat.
Republican megadonors dominate 2026 midterm election as crypto and AI money surges, CNBC analysis finds
Fourteen of the 20 biggest donor groups CNBC analyzed are Republican-aligned as crypto, AI and betting money reshapes 2026 midterm spending.
Democrats, with House majority, would go big on healthcare
House Democrats are promising immediate action on healthcare next year if they flip control of the chamber in the midterm elections. Party leaders say health costs are a foremost priority of their …
Analysis | The October Surprise isn’t what it used to be
The idea of one news story remaking an entire election in the final weeks of the campaign might be from a bygone era.
Pa. election 2026: Where Josh Shapiro and Stacy Garrity stand on health care, abortion, trans rights and more
Pennsylvania’s governor will face a challenging health care environment next year as hundreds of thousands lose coverage.
Alaska found a way to elect more moderates. Now voters might end it.
Alaskans will decide in November whether to ditch a system that allows four primary candidates, regardless of party, to advance to the general election.
The Midterm Elections Won't Keep Trump From College Football on Saturday. A Hurricane Might
WASHINGTON (AP) — The midterm elections are looming and the first hurricane of the Atlantic Season is menacing the Gulf Coast. But President Donald Trump is really, really hoping the weather doesn’t stop him from going to another big college football game — this one in Alabama on Saturday night.
Takeaways from the first Iowa Senate debate
Donald Trump’s shadow looms over every contest in November’s midterm elections — but on an Iowa debate stage Wednesday night, the president’s name was rarely mentioned.
Rising gas prices could influence some North Carolinians before Election Day
AAA reports the statewide average for regular gas was about $4.12 per gallon Wednesday
House Democrats hold 'shadow hearing' on election security in Queens
With fewer than four weeks until Election Day, House Democrats say the stakes are far greater than political power.
House Democrats hold 'shadow hearing' on election security in Queens
With fewer than four weeks until Election Day, House Democrats say the stakes are far greater than political power.
Vermont’s ‘slopaganda’ problem
After a successful challenge of Vermont's AI political media law, computer-generated election satire continues to make waves.
CBS News to launch election night "nerd show" for politics junkies
The special streaming show will begin at 5pm ET, a few hours before CBS News' official election broadcast.
WATCH LIVE: Shapiro, Garrity to engage in Pa. governor\'s debate
The two major-party candidates for governor of Pennsylvania will meet in Harrisburg tonight for the only scheduled debate in this year's general election.
Wisconsin voters will consider 'equality amendment' on Election Day
The constitutional amendment is one of three that will be on ballots across the state in November.
TENNESSEE VOLS BASKETBALL: 2026-27 season starting to take shape
The Southeastern Conference announced Wednesday afternoon the game times, network designations and final date selections for the upcoming 2026-27 men's basketball season.
Analysis | The extraordinary amount of money pouring into the midterm elections
How much is too much?
Crowley, Tiffany offer opposing health-care plans | Election 2026
Health care costs are squeezing Wisconsin families — and the candidates for governor have very different ideas about what to do.
Political LTE: Mia Feroleto supports Tom Charlton - The Vermont Journal & The Shopper
My name is Mia Feroleto, and I am supporting the reelection of Tom Charlton. Here are my thoughts.
Don Davis in tough re-election fight after redistricting
One of the most closely watched congressional races in the country is happening in eastern North Carolina.
Trump floats firing top political advisers after report they helped a pro-Russian government
President Donald Trump distanced himself on Wednesday from two of his top political advisers — less than 30 days before the midterm elections — writing that if their outside work presents a conflict, “I will terminate them, immediately!”
Encinitas is paradise. Why can its politics get so hostile?
In 2024 Encinitas elections, the mayor and two City Council members won by promising to fight development. What will voters do in 2026?
'Creator Rally' Aims to 'De-Risk' Politics for Influencers Ahead of Midterms
The goal of the virtual confab: to give creators, both budding and established, a framework for how to talk politics ahead of the midterms.
US Agency Considers Allowing New AI Political Robocalls Before Election
WASHINGTON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - A Democratic member of the Federal Communications Commission urged the agency on Wednesday not to approve a petition to allow political AI-generated robocalls from conservative political group Club for Growth. The group, which is spending millions of dollars ...
Jimmy Kimmel threatens to call the FCC on Trump for suggesting Iran should bomb California
Jimmy Kimmel threatened to call the FCC on Donald Trump after the president suggested Iran bomb California during a midterm election rally.
FCC Considers Allowing More Political Robocalls Before Midterms, Including Those Created With AI
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Communications Commission is considering a request by a conservative group to loosen rules on political robocalls, including those with artificial intelligence-generated voices, before November’s midterm elections. Federal law currently bans most robocalls to cellphones ...
Eagles RT Lane Johnson retires to focus on mental health
The six-time Pro Bowl selection was a key component of an Eagles offensive line that helped win two Super Bowls.
UMBC Poll Part 2: Marylander's views on primaries and redistricting
Part two of the UMBC Institute of Politics poll was released on Wednesday and asked Marylanders about the state's primary elections as well as redistricting.
Cantwell unveils AI safety framework as Congress stalls ahead of election
As AI races ahead, Sen. Maria Cantwell is pushing federal safety standards as industry leaders call for overnight and experts warn Congress is out of time.
How has Oct. 7 reshaped Israeli politics?
The Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas has forced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fight for political survival ahead of elections later this month.
ICE reviewed tens of millions of voter records looking for noncitizen voters, records show
The Department of Homeland Security’s sweeping election-fraud operation has drawn on tens of millions of records, scrutinized dozens of nonprofit voter-registration groups and considered deploying undercover agents to investigate organizations suspected of helping noncitizens register to vote, according to newly obtained internal documents.
BridgeUSA brings peaceful political conversations to VCU
In August, a new student-led organization called BridgeUSA at VCU was added to the university’s long list of groups. They focus on empowering students to participate in politics with confidence, including encouraging students to vote in upcoming elections and holding political debates.
Michigan voters to decide on political spending by major utilities
Supporters of the ballot proposal argue Michiganders are tired of a "pay to play" system in Lansing. Opponents argue loss of voice.
Weeks before Election Day, the nation's campaign finance regulator can't enforce the law
As concerns over health costs mount, Trump tries cash
With the midterm elections a month away and Republicans struggling to respond to voter frustration over healthcare costs, President Trump is handing out cash. Last week, Trump pledged $90 to more t…
Why election officials are pushing voters to ‘use the drop box rather than the mailbox’
Drop boxes have become a more important tool than ever to ensure that all ballots get returned on time, some officials say.
Israelis scarred by Oct. 7 attack weigh Netanyahu’s political future
Some survivors of the deadliest day in Israel’s history see this month’s election as a long-delayed reckoning for the officials in charge when the country dropped its guard.
Why Political Polling Seems So Unreliable
Veteran pollster Stefan Hankin points to several factors wrecking political polling’s reputation ahead of the midterm elections.
Former Penguins Executive Says They Nearly Drafted Matthew Knies
As the Pittsburgh Penguins were preparing to be called to make the 58th overall selection in the 2021 NHL Draft, they were getting ready to call out a name that would quickly make an impact in the NHL: Matthew Knies. The only problem was, one pick before the Penguins were on the clock, the Toronto […] The post Former Penguins Executive Says They Nearly Drafted Matthew Knies appeared first on HEAVY.
Nevada 2026 election: Your guide to voting in Clark County
Clark County voters can register, vote early Oct. 17-30, vote on Nov. 3 or return a mail ballot. Here’s how to check registration, find polling sites and track your ballot.
Election prediction moves NC left + Will AI drive voters to the polls?
Plus, where do Cooper and Whatley stand on AI?
Current Sandcreek Township board member, business owner seek for open trustee seat
The two candidates running for the Sandcreek Township trustee in the Nov. 3 general election are Republican David A. Darnall and Democrat Steve Schoettmer.
Battle of ideas looming in British politics, Badenoch to say
The Tory leader has been seeking to reframe the way the public views her party, which has yet to recover in the polls since the last election.
Battle of ideas looming in British politics, Badenoch to say
The Tory leader has been seeking to reframe the way the public views her party, which has yet to recover in the polls since the last election.
Can $1 billion buy victory in the midterm elections? Some Republicans fear the answer is no
Republicans are facing anxiety as they enter the final month of the midterm campaign.
Can $1 billion buy victory in the midterm elections? Some Republicans fear the answer is no
Republicans are facing anxiety as they enter the final month of the midterm campaign.
Trump’s ‘for you’ presidency became all about himself. It’s hurting the GOP
The ad that defined the 2024 election said “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”
University of Dubuque Fall Band Concert to Explore Intersection of
DUBUQUE, IOWA (October 6, 2026) — Science demonstrations and musical selections will come together for a mystifying evening during National Chemistry Week at the Fall Band Concert at 7PM, Friday,
Quagge, Reynolds tout legal experience in judicial race
Alex Quagge and Judge Jacob Reynolds are competing for Clark County’s Department 29 judgeship, citing varied legal and public service careers.
Seneca gaming compact fight spills into New York governor’s race
New York election officials can now choose to use an expanded federal database to verify the citizenship of people on voter rolls.
Seneca gaming compact fight spills into New York governor’s race
New York election officials can now choose to use an expanded federal database to verify the citizenship of people on voter rolls.
Hochul, AOC stump on data center ban common ground
Less than a month from Election Day, Hochul needs better numbers among city voters, according to recent polls.
Hochul, AOC stump on data center ban common ground
Less than a month from Election Day, Hochul needs better numbers among city voters, according to recent polls.
ABC and Trump's FCC battle in federal court over free speech and jurisdiction issues
A lawyer for ABC on Tuesday asked a federal judge to prevent the Trump administration from conducting an unusual, early review of its broadcast licenses, likening it to a looming execution by guillotine that was already chilling the network’s editorial decisions just weeks before the U.S. midterm elections.
Democrats eye political shift as key US Senate races take center stage ahead of midterms
A ‘Special Report’ panel discusses energy costs amid the war in Iran, Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign and key races ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Trump Journeys to Where He Is Still Popular
Usually presidents hold rallies to get voters excited about an upcoming election. Last night in Nebraska, the roles felt reversed.
WATCH: Gov. Wes Moore, GOP challenger Dan Cox face off in Maryland governor’s debate
Gov. Wes Moore, a possible 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, is set to face a familiar GOP opponent, former state Del. Dan Cox, in a debate Tuesday, as he bids for a second term as Maryland’s chief executive.
Capitol Context: What are the rules in Texas on AI in political ads?
With less than a month until the midterm elections and with political advertisements flooding the airwaves, KXAN took a look at the current rules when it comes to artificial intelligence and these ads...
KFF Health Tracking Poll: Health Care Issues in the Lead-Up to the 2026 Midterm Election
Affordability worries continue to top the public’s list of midterm election issues, with health care and gas costs tying as the top economic concern, finds KFF’s new Health Tracking Poll conducted on the SSRS Opinion Panel. Overall, voters trust Democrats more than Republicans to handle health care costs and the cost of living. A quarter...
Republicans to spend $5 million in South Carolina Senate race as Trump plans trip there
The primary Senate Republican super PAC is sending reinforcements to South Carolina as President Donald Trump prepares to visit and boost Sen. Darline Graham | Newsradio 1140 WRVA
Republicans focus on tough-on-crime message before difficult midterm elections
The effectiveness of this strategy remains uncertain, with some Republicans skeptical about its impact on voters.
Thune presses Trump for more funding toward battleground races red
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) on Monday revealed he is pressing President Donald Trump for more funding toward battleground races in the midterm elections, as Republicans fight to stave off losses in November. Thune said that he’s been emphasizing the question of resources for candidates during conversations with Trump and the president’s advisers, in […]
Pulse of Politics: Less than a month until Election Day
Detroit News Columnist Kaitlyn Buss joins FOX 2 Detroit Live Host Aaron Jordan to discuss the races for senate and governor, with less than a month to go until Election Day.
Most Americans support switch to Medicare for all health insurance
NEW YORK >> Most Americans now favor government-paid health insurance for all, according to a new poll, as voters across party lines see major healthcare reforms as a priority less than a month before midterm elections to decide control of Congress.
Amid protests, Kosovo’s political deadlock raises prospect of new elections
Kosovo faces tensions as protests against former rebel leaders’ convictions coincide with the prospect of new elections.
Rating the Governor Races: The States Where Democrats Are Poised for Victory
Election Day this year will determine who holds the keys to influential executive mansions across the country. Thirty-six states have gubernatorial contests on the ballot, and the results in November will determine whether Democrats control a majority of the nation’s governorships for the first ...
US Supreme Court orders another look at how Washington state political maps are drawn
Monday’s action will not affect next month’s election. But it could lead to the state’s legislative district boundaries changing before they’re next scheduled to be redrawn in 2031.
Troy Jackson is racing against time in his bid to unseat Susan Collins
Jackson became the party’s nominee in late July after the campaign of Democratic primary winner Graham Platner fell apart.
Rating the Governor Races: The States Where the GOP Is Poised for Victory
Election Day this year will determine who holds the keys to influential executive mansions across the country. Thirty-six states have gubernatorial contests on the ballot, and the results in November will determine whether Democrats control a majority of the nation’s governorships for the first ...
Ousting a Republican from a Kamala Harris district may not be as easy as it sounds
Mike Lawler is one of the most vulnerable Republicans in Congress this election cycle, one of only three representing a district that Kamala Harris won in 2024.
Tom Tiffany, David Crowley making final push as Election Day nears
In less than one month, voters will head to the poll to determine the direction of Wisconsin for the rest of the decade.
Midterm Election Update: Vaccines
Federal vaccine policy has shifted toward fewer recommended routine childhood vaccinations, more emphasis on individual decision-making, and greater skepticism about the safety and efficacy of some vaccines. The changes coincide with declining childhood vaccination rates, rising exemptions from school vaccine requirements, and a major measles resurgence.
City of Laredo kicks off political forums for 2026 elections
The City of Laredo is kicking off “Laredo Votes 2026” Tuesday, Oct. 6, hosting political forums for City Council Districts 1 and 6.
Where Ballard and the other secretary of state candidates stand on election reform
When Greg Ballard stepped before reporters for another news conference at the Statehouse last week, he announced his newest proposal for what has become a key issue in his campaign:
Kemi Badenoch: I'd rather have another election than do a deal with Reform UK
The Conservative Party leader also pledged to cut the cost of hiring 21 to 24 year olds.
Far-right AfD wins first state parliament speaker post
The AfD has become the first far-right party since World War II to secure the post of speaker in a German state parliament. The breakthrough came in Saxony-Anhalt after the party's landslide election victory last month.
Separatists win Quebec local elections
Quebec's separatist Parti Quebecois has returned to power in a minority government. The result revives the issue of Quebec independence and presents a fresh political challenge for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Democrat Hickenlooper takes aim at Iran war in 1st general election ad
U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper ties soaring fertilizer and fuel costs to what the Colorado Democrat calls President Donald Trump’s “illegal war” with Iran in the first general election TV ad, released on Tuesday by his campaign. In the 30-second spot, made available first to Colorado Politics, Hickenlooper links costs stemming from of the 31-week-old conflict […]
Brazil: Lessons from a Disaster
By Antonio Martins (Outras Palavras) Defeats become deeper and more prolonged when we misunderstand what caused them, avoid correcting course, and embrace “solutions” that only compound our mistakes. Lula’s government and the Brazilian left suffered a disaster in Sunday’s election. Contrary to every poll, the president finished the first round 2.2 million votes behind Flávio Bolsonaro—and, more significantly, 3.4 million votes below his total four years ago, when the machinery of the state was working against him and in favor of his opponent. His vote share declined in 98 percent of Brazil’s municipalities. The PL, the main party of the far right, elected 121 deputies and 28 senators, becoming the largest caucus in both houses of Congress. The parties aligned with the Centrão—Brazil’s bloc of transactional center-right parties—were somewhat diminished, but will still hold roughly 250 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 35 in the Senate. That will make it easier to assemble the majorities needed to amend the Constitution or impeach Supreme Federal Court justices. If elected, Flávio Bolsonaro could appoint four members of the Court, substantially altering its internal balance of power. What produced these results? How can the far right be prevented from consolidating them into a prolonged political hegemony? And what is the essential change of direction the left now needs? Explaining the Disaster Across the commercial media and the exuberant chaos of digital platforms, interpretations are multiplying. Some focus on specific episodes: Lula’s absence from the Globo debate, his very close relationship with Alexandre de Moraes, or his emphasis on issues supposedly remote from most people’s everyday concerns, such as rare earth minerals. Among the more systemic interpretations, three seem especially questionable. One argues that the principal defeat was not the left’s, since its congressional representation declined only slightly. The decisive movement captured at the ballot box, according to this view, was a shift within the right itself—from the more moderate and transactional forces of the Centrão toward the more ideological and radicalized forces of the PL and Novo. A second interpretation holds that the nature of electoral and political processes has changed. The material interests and aspirations of society, it argues, no longer play the central role they once did; they have given way to forms of subjective self-identification that the left has yet to understand. And a third concludes that, because of these two developments, we should expect a political winter: a prolonged period in which the far right and the broader right dominate Brazilian political life. There are important elements in all three interpretations. The problem lies in what they deny or leave out: Lula’s third government was a small-bore government. It offered the majorities that elected it neither a clearly better life nor reasons to believe again in politics and its power to transform society. These failures flowed from two fatal accommodations, which I will examine below. As a result, the government suffered a slow but steady erosion of support. And, as has happened in so many Western countries, it gave the far right the opportunity to present itself as anti-system and to benefit from popular frustration and distress. The interpretation that emphasizes the migration of votes from the center-right and traditional right toward the far right has been advanced, among others, by the courageous journalist Leonardo Sakamoto. In his UOL column on Monday, October 5, he highlights the miserable behavior of the traditional conservative parties. Over the past four years, they repeatedly joined forces with the “neo”-fascists, helping to “normalize” them—a criticism that could equally be directed at almost the entire corporate media. Believing they could use the far right as a stepping stone, they instead ended up partly devoured by it. This was especially true in the Senate, where the PL’s gain of 13 senators and Novo’s gain of two came at the expense of the PSD, which lost nine; the MDB, which lost two; the PSDB, which lost two; and the PP, which lost one. Sakamoto’s observation is accurate and necessary, but it leaves uncomfortable questions unanswered. Why did the erosion of the Centrão benefit the far right rather than, for example, producing growth for the left—as has happened so many times before, both in Brazil and elsewhere? The answer is not difficult. Throughout its four years in office, Lula’s third government was almost invariably associated with the Centrão. Here lies its first accommodation: accepting the limits imposed by conservative institutions; avoiding, as much as possible, any attempt to strain those limits through popular pressure; and believing only in the modest changes that could be squeezed through openings in Congress. The failure of the campaign to end the six-day workweek is emblematic. Lula could have electrified the presidential race by pairing it with a popular campaign for passage of the measure. Instead, he chose to place his hopes in the hands of Senate president Rodrigo Alcolumbre. He generated no mass mobilization, did not force his opponents onto an uncomfortable defensive, and won no victory. In September 2025, the government squandered the greatest of its many opportunities to shake up conservative power in Congress. Popular opposition to the so-called Shielding Amendment—which, if approved, would have restricted criminal proceedings against members of Congress—brought crowds into the streets, mobilized primarily by artists and social movements. This opened the possibility for a broader political education: a campaign that could begin exposing the limits and dysfunctions of Brazil’s political system while putting Bolsonaro’s movement on the defensive for its predictable support of political privilege. The amendment was defeated. But the executive branch then backed away from the fight. It remained associated with an institutional world widely seen as corrupt, elitist, and indifferent to ordinary people’s struggles. In doing so, it forfeited its credibility as a vehicle for the protest vote. On Sunday, it reaped the bitter fruits. Are We Doomed? Taking a different approach from Sakamoto, the philosopher Moysés Pinto Neto and other writers have drawn attention, in their first analyses of October 4, to the fragmentation of the public sphere produced by Big Tech platforms. Through their algorithms, these platforms present each person with a different view of social reality. As a consequence, it becomes much harder to identify common material problems and demands—for example, the fight for labor rights or for a properly funded public health system. Voters no longer embrace such demands, these authors argue, because they no longer see themselves as part of a collective. Instead, they tend to value the identities assigned to them by neoliberal subjectivity—the role of the entrepreneur, for example. On this interpretation, the left’s possible error lies in clinging to outdated illusions. Moysés’s warning is highly relevant and resonates with arguments such as Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor’s “Apocalyptic Fascism and the Billionaires’ Bet.” Unlike a century ago, the far right no longer promises a radiant future. It concentrates instead on resentment—especially that of young men. “They belong to a generation that fears it may never own a home, but compensates with the pleasure it gets from constantly provoking progressives online. Convinced their future has been stolen, they share memes romanticizing historical authoritarian regimes,” the authors write. But Moysés seems to confuse this danger with inevitability. He fails to see that the left’s answer cannot be adaptation. On the contrary, it must strengthen the possibility of politics as collective action. Nor does he recognize that precisely such a reversal is already becoming possible in some of the most promising mobilizations of the twenty-first century: the election, at the end of 2025, of the young Muslim Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York, on a platform centered on the intensely material fight for an affordable city; the Left Party’s victory in Berlin two weeks ago, built around the demand to expropriate private real-estate corporations; and the very recent wave of demonstrations in Spain—including an occupation of Madrid’s Puerta del Sol—in which tens of thousands of young people mobilized by the Tenants’ Union have demanded limits on rents. By putting itself in the straitjacket of the “fiscal framework” in the first months of 2022, Lula’s third government adopted the second fatal accommodation of its term. Faced with conservative institutions and a country devastated by four years of Bolsonaro, increased public investment was the government’s remaining weapon for offering a more dignified life to the majority and forging an anti-conservative pact with them. The same state that disburses 1 trillion reais a year to enrich a small class of rentiers could instead spend money to extend the Family Health Strategy to every Brazilian, at a cost of 30 billion reais; provide full-day public schooling and childcare to all adolescents and children—and, especially, relief to their mothers; achieve universal sanitation while cleaning up polluted urban rivers; multiply metro systems; begin transforming the urban peripheries; and undertake many other urgently needed projects. In April 2023, an article in Outras Palavras warned that the fiscal framework could “shrink the Lula government and preserve the forces that condemn the country to inequality and regression.” A year later, another article showed that restraints on public spending were strangling policies vital to ordinary people and undermining the president’s popularity. In November 2024 came a reality check, in the form of the government’s humiliating defeat in the municipal elections. Even then, the fiscal lock was neither removed nor loosened. On the contrary: throughout the government’s four years, fiscal restraint remained central to its political narrative. The administration proudly proclaimed that it had “put the state’s accounts in order,” without grasping either how misleading that phrase was—given the payment of 1 trillion reais in interest—or how badly the message was hurting it politically. Lula finally woke up in September 2026. The increase in Bolsa Família benefits, after four years of being frozen; the announcement that anti-obesity drugs would be offered through Brazil’s public health system; and the ban on online betting showed that the state has the power to act decisively on behalf of the majority when those in government are willing to confront obstacles. The huge marches that closed the campaign in Fortaleza, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo on the eve of October 4 showed how such initiatives can mobilize activists and the broader public. But it was too late—and too little to change the outcome of the first round. History has not ended The possibility of a turnaround in the three weeks leading up to November 25 cannot be ruled out. It will not be simple or easy. Lula must not only make up a deficit of 2.2 million votes; he must also offset the movement of voters who backed other right-wing candidates in the first round, most of whom are likely to move toward Flávio Bolsonaro. Pulling that off will require a broad, grassroots effort to win over voters, potentially reinforced by new initiatives from Lula. The coming hours and days will be decisive. If Bolsonaro’s movement also wins the presidency, the result will create a high-risk situation for Brazilian sovereignty and democracy. The enormous challenges posed by such an outcome would require the left to reexamine, in depth and with a genuine willingness to engage in self-criticism, its political projects—or its lack of them—and its practices. But would that mean we are condemned to the long winter of far-right hegemony that some analyses are beginning to forecast? It is far too early to say, suggests a recent text by Álvaro García Linera, the thinker who served as vice president of Bolivia under Evo Morales. His central hypothesis is that this political current will prove short-lived. At a moment when the entire world is once again talking about sovereignty and protecting national economies, the far right offers a stale, recolonizing neoliberalism. Its submission to the United States is as blatant and pathetic as Flávio and Eduardo Bolsonaro’s overtures to Donald Trump. Its project amounts to something like every man for himself: greater inequality, capitalism without limits, devastation, and supremacism. Will it work? In the United States, just two years into his second term, Trump himself is reaching record levels of unpopularity and may be on the verge of losing Republican control of both the House and Senate in November. Every new beginning is difficult. Whatever the outcome of the second round, the defeats of October 4 show how profoundly the Brazilian left will have to rethink and rebuild. But just as it would be foolish to underestimate the seriousness of its mistakes, it would be equally foolish to conclude that rebuilding a political project is no longer possible. History has not ended. The times are moving faster than ever. Originally published in Portuguese by Outras Palavras. English translation by Eric Blanc; I’ve added the subtitles. More We can’t stop the far right at home or abroad without a revitalized labor movement, which is yet another reason why you should become a sustaining supporter of the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) — one of US labor’s pivotal bright spots. Relatedly, Jacobin published a short piece of mine reflecting on a decade of Bernie Sanders inspiring a whole new generation of young worker organizers.
Amazon Prime Big Deal Days Offers Major Discounts on AirPods, iPads, and Much More
Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days has officially kicked off, offering shoppers the first chance to save on holiday shopping from a major retailer. Similar to last year's fall Prime Day, it will last for two days, and you can find a large selection of deals across Amazon's storefront, covering savings on tech, clothing, video games, groceries, and much, much more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon.
