Long Hot Summer

Today’s notice: What to think about the busy primary season that is underway. Redistricting is hard even for the folks it’s supposed to make life easier for. U.S.-Iran talks “hit a wall.” Plus: What comes next for reconciliation.

THE LATEST

The two election seasons. Summer midterm campaigning is nearly upon us, but the parties still cannot decide what this election is about — and what each wants to do about it.

Democrats are still arguing about what general election voters want. NOTUS’ Elena Schneider reports from the outer edges of the party’s 2026 hopes: Iowa, where the idea of a credible statewide Democratic candidate would have been unthinkable a year ago. Now, it’s thinkable.

The stars may be aligning over Iowa, but what do they point toward? Elena writes about how state Rep. Josh Turek and state Sen. Zach Wahls are arguing in the Democratic primary for a U.S. Senate seat.

Wahls says voters in November will be swayed by a candidate who will channel their rage at everyone. He’s promising to oppose another leadership bid by Sen. Chuck Schumer, for example. Turek suggests pure rage is not going to flip a seat in Iowa: “You’ve got to inspire people, and I think you’ve got to give them hope,” he told Elena. When an undecided voter asked Turek why she should support him within Elena’s earshot, he replied, “electability.”

There’s a long, bumpy primary road for Democrats still ahead. Iowa is next month, but there are a slew of House primaries in Pennsylvania tomorrow and a couple of tough Senate primaries still to come.

Republicans are no longer arguing about being close to Donald Trump. Sen. Bill Cassidy came in third in Louisiana’s Republican primary over the weekend with his message of supporting the president conditionally. Trump’s preferred candidate, Rep. Julia Letlow, goes to the runoff against state treasurer John Fleming with a huge lead.

There’s still a little drama left in Kentucky, where Republican primary voters will decide tomorrow if Rep. Thomas Massie should be sent packing by a MAGA-backed opponent. There’s a lot of money and attention on that one.

Other Republican primaries this week are sleepier. AL.com reports that few in Alabama expect heavy turnout Tuesday despite a couple of open statewide primaries there, including for U.S. Senate.

Open tabs: U.S. Trade Rep Appears To Walk Back Trump’s Taiwan Arms Sales Stance (NOTUS); Trump’s More Than 3,700 Trades Astonish Wall Street Insiders (Bloomberg); U.S. eyes attack-drone threat from Cuba (Axios); W.H.O. Declares Ebola Outbreak a Global Health Emergency (NYT)

From the White House

Back to reality. Trump’s trip to China last week was a pomp-and-circumstance-filled break from a domestic political situation that is mostly not great for the president, his primary victories and redistricting wins notwithstanding. More signs of that slog appeared yesterday, with a big CBS News poll confirming what other polls have shown: More Americans feel concerned about the economy than last year, and many blame Trump.

Negotiations stalemate. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday that Trump’s talks with Iran had “hit a wall.” He made the comment before the president issued a familiar threat, telling the country’s leaders to “get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left.” Graham, a longtime Iran hawk, called on the president to follow through on his controversial threat to destroy critical energy infrastructure as a way to pressure Iran into accepting better terms.

From the states

“A top-down strategy” is how Rep. Scott DesJarlais, a Republican whose Tennessee district is being redrawn, described to NOTUS how the GOP’s redistricting process works. NOTUS’ Manuela Silva and Em Luetkemeyer report on how the rapid push for new district lines in the South is buffeting some Republican incumbents. They all say the same thing: I had nothing to do with this.

A good summary of the vibe comes from Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, another Tennessee Republican. The lines will be what they will be, he said, and he will deal with it. But overall they create a “renewed sense of optimism” among Republicans.

From the Hill

The Extenders. Friday was the federal deadline for members of Congress to file their annual personal financial disclosures. But by NOTUS senior editor Dave Levinthal’s count, only 43 out of 100 senators made the deadline. The rest? They requested and received filing extensions — most for the legal maximum of 90 days. That means it’ll be mid-August before we get a full picture of their household assets, debts, side gigs, book contracts and the like. (Here’s to you, Sens. Kevin Cramer and Jeff Merkley, for being the first Republican and Democrat to file, all the way back in March and April, respectively.)

A bipartisan effort to lower drug prices. Democratic Rep. Eric Sorensen and Republican Rep. Stephanie Bice plan to reintroduce their bill today aimed at making it easier for generic prescription drugs to come to market, we’re told. The pair is pushing to reform the “citizen’s petition” process at the FDA, which critics have long claimed allows patent-holders to unnecessarily delay cheaper generic options from becoming available. The pair tried to pass this last Congress, too.

NEW ON NOTUS

Republicans will have to rewrite the portion of their reconciliation bill that provides $1 billion for Trump’s ballroom after the Senate parliamentarian over the weekend rejected the line item as written. Republicans will have another shot at allocating the funds, NOTUS’ Al Weaver and Igor Bobic report, but the delay gives Democrats more time to point and shout.

Republicans say they can take it, and that a string of parliamentarian rulings will not prevent them from pushing through the party-line bill. “Despite what Budget Dems would like folks to believe, the sky is not falling,” Ryan Wrasse, a spokesperson for Senate Republican leader John Thune, told NOTUS on Saturday.

More: Rep. Tom Kean’s Father Provides Update on His Mysterious Absence, by Jenna Monnin

NOT US

• Why Neutral Maps Could Empower Black Voters as Much as the Voting Rights Act, by Nate Cohn and Eve Washington for The New York Times
  
• Trump Begins Branding America’s 250th Anniversary as a Christian Celebration, by Dan Friedman for Mother Jones
  
• Suspicious Betting in Washington Is on the Rise—and Authorities Are Playing Catch-Up, by Dave Michaels, Joel Schectman and Brian Schwartz for The Wall Street Journal

WEEK AHEAD

Today

• JD Vance travels to Kansas City, Missouri, for a speech on American manufacturing.
  
• Democratic primary candidates for D.C. mayor face off in a debate at Georgetown.

Tuesday

• Primary Election Day in Oregon, Idaho, Kentucky, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Alabama.
  
• Several potential members of the nascent 2028 Democratic presidential field appear at the Center for American Progress Ideas Conference in D.C., including Sens. Ruben Gallego and Cory Booker and Govs. Gavin Newsom and Wes Moore.

Wednesday

• Trump delivers a commencement address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
  
• Sports betting trade association leaders appear at a Senate Commerce hearing.

Thursday

• Possible Supreme Court opinion release day.

Friday

• CBS Radio News shuts down.

BE SOCIAL

What, like it’s hard?

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