Tensions between progressive and moderate camps of Democratic party on display in key Senate race in Michigan

The Israel-Gaza war created gaping divisions in the Democratic party and contributed to a resounding loss in a critical presidential election year in 2024. Two years later, the issue continues to dominate races across the country, as progressives try to seize on Israel’s falling popularity and a broad anti-war sentiment ahead of November’s midterms.

A recent debate among two Democrats vying for one of the most competitive US Senate seats in the country openly displayed the tension between progressive and moderate camps of the party.

President’s dismemberment of Election Assistance Commission called a ‘brazen attempt’ to control elections

• US politics live – latest updates

Donald Trump has been accused of trying to “rig” the upcoming US midterm elections after he fired the last three members of an independent federal commission.

Trump’s extraordinary move to paralyze the US Election Assistance Commission (EAC) wipes out the only federal agency devoted solely to election administration months before the US midterm elections.

Platner’s former backers are seeking ‘real progressive’ to prevent nomination going to establishment Democrat

• US politics live – latest updates

Progressive groups and lawmakers who rallied behind Graham Platner’s insurgent bid for a US Senate seat are now racing to decide where to transfer their support after his withdrawal from the Maine race following yet another allegation of sexual assault.

The scramble and apparent heartbreak underscores the uncertainty facing the coalition surrounding Platner’s anti-establishment message, and the response from more centrist Democrats to proceed with caution. Organizations, voters, volunteers and elected officials that once saw him as a vehicle for a more populist progressive agenda are now weighing whether to unite behind a successor, or hold back until the party’s replacement process plays out.

Democrats have until 27 July to pick a new candidate to face Susan Collins in November – here are the options so far

A month after he won Maine’s Democratic primary, Graham Platner, the oyster farmer turned insurgent candidate, has suspended his campaign after being accused by a former girlfriend of severely sexually assaulting her in 2021 – an allegation he denies as “categorically untrue”.

Now that Platner has said he will file paperwork to withdraw from the race, Maine Democrats have until 27 July to select a replacement to face Susan Collins, the Republican incumbent, in a race widely seen as pivotal to control of the Senate. The state party said on Wednesday it would hold a nominating convention to pick a new candidate.

Trump administration requested pause on lower court’s ruling after Trump’s name was removed from facade in June

Weeks after workers pried his name from the Kennedy Center’s facade, Donald Trump lost another round in his fight to get it back. A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected the administration’s argument that the removal was damaging the arts institution’s finances.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the US ⁠court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit denied a request from the Trump administration to pause a ⁠lower court judge’s order in a lawsuit brought by Joyce Beatty, a Democratic representative and Kennedy Center board ‌member. Trump’s name was ‌removed from the iconic Washington theater center’s facade and signage last month. ‌US district judge Christopher Cooper ordered the removal in May, and also blocked Trump’s plans to close the center for two years of renovations starting on 4 July.

Daily realities of healthcare, prices and Gaza driving wave of anti-establishment sentiment among Democratic voters in closely watched contest

In Macomb county, Michigan – a blue-collar Detroit suburb that twice voted for Barack Obama before backing each of Donald Trump’s three runs for the US presidency – residents are exhausted.

Time and again, township trustee Shannon King, a Democrat still making up his mind, hears similar complaints. “You’re going backwards in your paycheck. You’re going backwards in your healthcare,” he said. “You go to work every day. You might have a side hustle. Your significant other has a side hustle, too. And you’re still struggling to do childcare.”

Sanders, one of Platner’s earliest and most influential backers, is latest to call on him to withdraw from Maine race

The progressive senator Bernie Sanders called on Graham Platner to withdraw from the US Senate race in Maine, citing “very serious allegations” of sexual assault, hours before the embattled nominee faced another claim of sexual misconduct.

While Platner has denied the new allegations, reported by Politico, and later by the Washington Post, the initial report prompted a wave of prominent Democrats to urge him to stand aside as the party’s nominee in the consequential Senate contest.