Considered Republican frontrunner for presidential election, Vance is cozying up to the movement – as it splits

JD Vance, widely considered to be the Republican frontrunner for the presidential election in 2028, is aligning himself with the Make America Healthy Again (Maha) movement as some say it is shedding its grassroots supporters in favor of political and corporate interests.

The US vice-president has positioned himself as the inheritor of Make America Great Again (Maga), and attaching himself to Maha, which many in the Trump administration believe helped to win the 2024 election, signals a greater overlap between the two movements as the administration’s popularity plummets amid the war in Iran and rising prices.

The idea of universal health coverage in the US is embraced by party’s left but is often considered a liability by centrists

Last week, 1,500 unionized nurses gathered in a large conference room at the Marriott Marquis in San Francisco to cheer for a cause they’ve championed for years: Medicare for All.

Considered a radical and even fringe idea for decades, interest in sweeping healthcare reform has surged as progressive Democrats have won a series of primary victories ahead of November’s crucial midterm elections. Most prominent among its advocates is Democratic US Senate nominee from Michigan Abdul El-Sayed – who took the lectern before these nurses.

Calyton said AI was a ‘gamechanger’ but it also posed ‘a threat’ during his DNI Senate confirmation hearing

Donald Trump on Sunday named Jay Clayton, the director of national intelligence, to serve also as the new White House AI czar.

Clayton, who leads the US’s 18 intelligence agencies, previously served as the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan and led the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump’s first term.

In a district shaken by the deaths of 11 workers, Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez faces a stiff challenge to keep her seat

On a misty morning in May in south-west Washington state, Laura Oltmann, a 41-year-old dietitian, had barely clocked in when an unfamiliar overhead announcement echoed through the hospital.

“We get overhead pages for different types of emergencies. But this one, we don’t get very often,” recalled Oltmann.

A statewide initiative pairs climate-focused coursework with community service – and is spreading to other states

As a student at a high school not far from Denver’s main airport, Anthony Muñoz wondered whether the jet fuel from airplanes flying above his campus was harming living things.

An avid gardener, Muñoz partnered with a local university to create a garden on the campus of his charter school, Vista Academy, filling it with native plants that could detect ground-level ozone pollution. He also worked with climate scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a federal office in nearby Boulder, who directed Muñoz on what data to collect, what the condition of leaves reveals about air quality and why milkweed matters for monarch butterfly migration.

Efforts to consolidate the Black vote here were frustrated, handing the Democratic nomination to a white party insider

A major plot line of the hyper-partisan, mid-decade redistricting arms races – launched at the urging of Donald Trump – has been the elimination of traditionally Black congressional seats in the south. In the midst of that battle, a subplot emerged: a challenge to one of those Black seats from inside the Democratic caucus itself as the veteran congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose own district was splintered, chose to seek re-election in Florida’s 20th congressional district, which had been represented for decades by a Black legislator.

Her candidacy and primary win raise prickly questions about the value of lived experience as a prerequisite for effective representation of minority communities, about how Black Democratic candidates should deal with friendly fire from non-Black opponents, and about internal economic vulnerabilities of so-called Black seats which are in districts where candidates generally raise less money than others.

Rallies have been mainstay of president’s brand but even some in his own party fear voters are sick of the sight of him

“Get your asses in that car.” That was Donald Trump’s order, he later recalled, to his motorcade after foul weather grounded Air Force One in Texas on Thursday. The 85-mile dash to Oklahoma at nearly 100mph was proof that nothing can keep Trump from a Trump rally.

Which might not be the good news for Republicans it once was. As the US president embarked on a 32-day campaign blitz aimed at helping them defend narrow congressional majorities in next month’s midterms, some fear that he is driving them towards an electoral wipeout.

Trump supporters may be surprised to learn the state takeover of means of production is not driven by the left

Americans will never accept the Democratic party’s slide to the left, or so desperate Republicans are hoping.

With the midterm elections fast upon us, Zohran Mamdani’s promise of a few city-run bodegas in New York City will scare the bejeezus out of middle America. Disgust over the democratic socialists’ unicorn-and-puppy promises of a world without capitalism will keep the Republicans in power.

The US president has taken credit for far-right victories across Latin America, but those wins have had more to do with fears of gang crime than his meddling

Donald Trump has enjoyed very few foreign policy victories since returning to power. From failed wars to failed peace processes, his second term in office has been marked by one costly blunder on the world stage after another. In Latin America, though, the US president has a different story to tell.

His administration’s national security strategy outlined how the US wanted to “restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere”. It was a brazen document, laying out how his government would interfere in the political life of countries it considered part of its sphere of influence, rewarding governments and movements that are “broadly aligned with our principles and strategy”.

Former Tory minister defends UK decision to enter war in podcast with US rightwinger and Putin sympathiser

The former Tory minister Jacob Rees-Mogg has found himself defending Britain’s decision to fight against Adolf Hitler after inviting the US rightwinger and Vladimir Putin sympathiser Tucker Carlson into his home for an interview.

During the encounter, Carlson repeatedly suggested the west was to blame for inviting aggression from Russia and said of the prospect that Britain could have lost to Hitler: “Who cares?”

Bobby Pulido has a strategy: show up at the 15th birthday parties that are a rite of passage in the Texas borderlands – and flip a key House district for Democrats

It took all of two minutes for Bobby Pulido’s electoral stealth weapon to come into play. The Tejano music star turned Democratic congressional candidate had barely begun canvassing in the high school football stadium in Edinburg, Texas, when a 15-year-old girl came rushing up to him.

“Señor Pulido! Señor Pulido!” she cried. A few months ago, she told him, he had made a surprise appearance at her quinceañera, the coming-of-age girls’ 15th birthday party that is a rite of passage in these US borderlands.

Alito, 76, delivers comment in rare interview with CBS News scheduled to air on Monday

Samuel Alito, the conservative US supreme court justice, has said “I think I have to” contemplate retiring every year at his age.

Alito, 76, delivered that comment in a rare interview with CBS News scheduled to air on Monday, a little more than six months after a widely publicized hospital visit invited speculation about his potential retirement.

Mariann Budde gained national attention for calling on US president to consider immigrants and LGBTQ+ people

Rev Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington DC who gained national attention when she called on Donald Trump to “have mercy” on the country’s immigrants and LGBTQ+ community after his second inauguration, is resigning.

Budde shared in her resignation letter that she will be leaving her post on 3 June 2028 after the consecration and ordination of the new diocesan bishop.

US president urges Americans to call Tom Cotton to support bill to make daylight saving time permanent

Donald Trump on Saturday put pressure on the US senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas to support a bill to make daylight saving time permanent, urging Americans to call what appeared to be the personal cellphone number of his fellow Republican and the chair of the Senate intelligence committee.

The Sunshine Protection Act passed the House in July, but it faces roadblocks in the Senate, where some Republicans are strongly opposed to it. Proponents, including the president and his administration, argue that the change would provide more daylight during the times that Americans are most active. Detractors said permanent daylight saving time would lead to darker and potentially more hazardous winter mornings when children will be waiting for school buses and parents will be driving to work in darkness.

Life onboard the aircraft carrier near the strait of Hormuz as it conducts military operations against Iranian targets

Frank Strada leaving position as state launches independent investigation into what went wrong

Tennessee’s top prison official is stepping down in the aftermath of the failed execution of death row prisoner Christa Pike, the state’s governor Bill Lee announced Saturday.

Frank Strada, the department of correction commissioner, will leave his position later in October as the state launches an independent investigation into what went wrong during Wednesday’s botched execution of Pike, according to Lee.

TSA says rule change is meant to keep officers ‘alert’, but union says it ignores safety and ‘common decency’

US airport security officers who verify boarding passes and IDs ahead of security checkpoints will no longer be allowed to sit down while working.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was moving forward with this change in policy to keep officers “alert”, the agency confirmed recently.

President says payments, to be sent in early October, are meant to offset cost of monthly insurance premiums

Donald ⁠Trump has said the US government will send a one-time $90 payment to more than 20 million Americans enrolled in Medicare, the ⁠health insurance program for ⁠elderly people, ​to help offset the cost of their monthly medical insurance premiums.

The president said on social media late on Friday that the ⁠payments would come from the Medicare Improvement Fund, which he said was given $2bn by Congress to improve the Medicare fee-for-service program.

Black voters reveal a generational divide, with younger voters drawn to the Democratic Socialists of America, and older voters focused on what can realistically be achieved

One of the most heated debates in the Democratic party is how left it should go – especially after a year that has seen several democratic socialists win their primary races. Moderate Democrats worry that left-wing candidates will struggle to win general elections, while progressive voters want fresh solutions to healthcare and the rising cost of living. But largely left out of this debate is one of the most critical bases of the party: Black voters.

A Pew Research Center study found that among Democrats, only 21% of Black voters are likely to positively view candidates who align with democratic socialists, compared to 40% of white, 30% of Asian, and 20% of Hispanic voters.

Frank Strada will leave role next month after uproar over execution attempt, which sent Pike to hospital in critical condition

Tennessee’s prison chief is resigning after the failed execution of Christa Pike, which lawyers say was the fifth “botched” execution under his leadership across two states since 2022.

Frank Strada, the commissioner of the Tennessee department of correction, has faced mounting questions about the state’s highly secretive death penalty protocols since Wednesday evening when Pike became the first death row prisoner in the US to to be injected with lethal drugs and survive.

As the Illinois governor seeks a third term, his growing national profile has fueled speculation about a possible White House bid

• Send us your questions about how the Iran war will affect US voters in the midterm election

When Donald Trump returned to power, 20 long months ago, some state leaders wrung their hands, worrying what explicit resistance might cost their citizens – and their careers – during the second term of a vengeful president. JB Pritzker was not among them.

Two days after Trump’s re-election, the Democratic governor of Illinois warned the president would need to “come through me” to reach the people of his state. He waited all of 30 days after the inauguration before drawing a comparison with Nazi Germany.

Sailors’ relatives are relieved as the ship is expected to dock in San Diego this week after a record-breaking 250-plus days at sea

A mother in San Diego is counting down the days until her son comes home.

“I had a big sign made, welcoming him back,” she said. “I can’t wait to see him.”

John Steinbeck’s hometown of Salinas is the least affordable city in the US for the middle class, a recent Brookings Institution analysis found

Nestled between two mountain ranges at the crook of central California’s coastline sits a valley known as the “salad bowl of the world”.

Farm workers stoop over neatly lined rows of crops off Highway 101 to harvest more than half of the nation’s supply of lettuce and nearly a third of its strawberries. The soil here is so rich that author John Steinbeck made the Salinas valley the promised land in his literary depictions of people chasing the American dream: immigrants, farm workers, westward-moving hopefuls, hungering for a better life.

When the new ‘department of government efficiency’ sent young techies to disrupt federal agencies, not everyone complied. Here’s what happened when one worker fought to protect immigrant data

In the early hours of Saturday 22 February 2025 the following email landed in the inboxes of the entire US federal workforce:

From: HR hr@opm.gov

Plan to install barriers through popular national park sparked outrage from advocates and politicians alike

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from expanding the border wall and other security infrastructure across the Big Bend region of west Texas, where contentious plans to build roads and vehicle barriers through a popular national park have led to furious backlash and public protests.

US district judge Kathleen Cardone’s ruling after a Friday hearing in El Paso deals a major blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to expand the border wall through west Texas at breakneck pace, while riding roughshod over the objections of local business owners, landowners, public land advocates and politicians from both parties.

Kevin Warsh’s predecessor had been investigated over cost overruns related to central bank renovation project

The US ⁠justice department is not reopening a criminal investigation into former Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell ⁠for cost overruns ⁠related ​to the central bank’s building renovation project, a department spokesperson said on Friday.

Attorney general Todd ⁠Blanche – in comments to Bloomberg News, which first reported the development – said he has not ruled out ⁠continuing to look into the project’s oversight and potentially take ​action if evidence of ‌wrongdoing came to ‌light.

Dozens of residents testify to legislature’s redistricting committee in heated hearing, the last of eight

Hundreds of people gathered across from the Mississippi state capitol building on Thursday evening to rally against the aggressive Republican efforts to draw maps that favor their own party.

Shortly after the US supreme court’s decision in Louisiana v Callais, which severely weakened section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, Tate Reeves, the Mississippi governor, moved in lockstep with other Republican governors and lawmakers to call for a special session to redraw maps. However, before that special session could occur, Reeves canceled it and wrote on X that he expected “lawmakers to redraw congressional lines BETWEEN NOW and 2027 elections!”

Senate Leadership Fund is redirecting ad spending from Michael Whatley’s campaign to support other candidates

A major Republican political action committee pulled the plug on financial support for its Senate candidate in North Carolina, Michael Whatley, according to multiple reports, as the party begins to triage resources amid increasingly dire midterm polling.

The Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), the campaign arm of the Senate majority leader, John Thune, has withdrawn its ad spending in North Carolina to redirect support to other candidates, Semafor reported on Friday. The New York Times, CNN and other publications have confirmed the report with sources close to the fund.

Ceremony will not be hosted at its traditional home for the first time since awards began in 1978

The Kennedy Center Honors will take place away from its traditional home this year for the first time in its history as the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts remains in jeopardy amid Donald Trump’s ongoing battle to have it named after himself.

The Capital One Arena in Washington DC is now set to host the ceremony on 7 December, a Kennedy Center spokespersonsaid. The list of honorees this year has not yet been announced.

Support for 37-year-old Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins could upend the governor’s race in the heavily Republican state

This July, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins spent four days and 450 miles (725km) wending his way down the Yukon River in a 24ft Alweld skiff, a flat-bottomed aluminum boat built for shallow Alaska rivers.

Starting in Koyukon Athabascan country, he passed through Indigenous Deg Hit’an communities like Anvik, before ending among the Yup’ik villages of the lower river, Russian Mission and Pilot Station among them. The boat carried him through 11 villages – some only reachable by water or small plane, and most with fewer than 300 residents, and fewer still who could recall the last time they had seen a candidate for Alaska governor, Republican, Democrat or independent.

Trump has repeatedly acted to boost like-minded and authoritarian leaders across Latin America using funds allocated for the European defense against Putin

The case of the Siders family illustrates major shortcomings among Ohio’s political and administrative authorities

In June 2025, Jody Walker stood in front of Ohio lawmakers at a senate finance committee meeting in Columbus. As the head of South Central Ohio Job and Family Services, he was desperate for help.

“I have been a county director since 1999, yet I have not seen such a challenging time in the child welfare system as I do today,” he said, “specifically in terms of the needs of our children.”

These graphics explain what the Democrats would need to do to flip the Senate and House of Representatives

A turning point in Donald Trump’s second term will soon arrive. On 3 November, voters across the US will decide whether to keep the president’s Republican allies in control of Congress, or return Democrats to the majority.

Many indicators of voter sentiment suggest the Democrats are favored to take back control of the House of Representatives, and potentially the Senate. Winning either would be a significant victory for the party and give it the power to block Trump’s legislative agenda and more aggressively investigate his administration.

Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico is surprising everyone, as polls have him leading his Republican opponent, Ken Paxton, in the Republican-led state of Texas.

Jonathan Freedland speaks to James Henson, founder and executive director of the Texas Politics Project, about why a blue wave in the Lone Star state would be seismic