\n<\/p>\n
The 2026 primary season, in which voters in the United States determine which candidates will represent the major Republican and Democratic political parties in the November midterm elections, has begun in earnest with votes in Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas.<\/p>\n
The polls kicked off just four days after the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran, sparking a regional war that has seen Iran launch retaliatory strikes across the Middle East. The fighting has so far left hundreds dead, including at least 787 in Iran, six members of the US military, and several civilians across the Gulf.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n At the same time, the war has touched on several issues expected to dominate the US midterm season, with Democrats hammering concerns over US affordability and Republicans seeking to square US President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cAmerica First\u201d vows with the latest military adventurism.<\/p>\n The outcome of Tuesday\u2019s election will give an early temperature of the US electorate ahead of the midterm vote, which will determine whether Republicans maintain their slim control over both the US Senate and the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n One of the biggest tests will be in Texas, where Democrats have long hoped to win a statewide office, something they have not done since 1994.<\/p>\n Some watching politics have suggested a match-up between Democratic hopeful James Talarico, who has pitched himself as a Christian liberal and centrist seeking to speak directly to Trump\u2019s voters, and Republican challenger Ken Paxton, who has hewed closely to Trump, could give Democrats the best shot at turning a seat in the US Senate.<\/p>\n Talarico, a seminary school student, has walked a careful line on Iran\u2019s war, posting following Saturday\u2019s strikes: \u201cNo More Forever Wars\u201d, a reference to Trump\u2019s own campaign pledge.<\/p>\n In a subsequent speech, Talarico referenced the US military members killed since the war began, but otherwise avoided wading deeply into the politically charged subject.<\/p>\n His primary election opponent in the Senate race, Democrat congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, has taken a more confrontational approach, in line with a fiery, forthright style she has said the party needs in the age of Trump.<\/p>\n \u201cThe question is, how many more lives will have to be lost before people will heed the warnings?\u201d she said in a video response to the strikes, pointing to the high population of US veterans in the state.<\/p>\n \u201cThis president has engaged in lawlessness since the day that he took office, and unfortunately, it is us \u2013 us Americans \u2013 that are going to suffer.\u201d<\/p>\n Paxton, the current attorney general in Texas, has defended Trump\u2019s attacks \u2013 but with an apparent eye towards growing unrest from Trump\u2019s \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d (MAGA) movement. In the final stretch of the race, he assured reporters that Trump was seeking a swift end to the fighting.<\/p>\n \u201cHe wants to get this over with,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Incumbent Senator John Cornyn has also said he was satisfied with Trump\u2019s justifications for the strike, with the president portraying Iran\u2019s ballistic and nuclear capabilities as an imminent threat to the US, claims for which he has provided little evidence.<\/p>\n \u201cIt takes a lot of political courage, because these things are easier to start than they are to end,\u201d Cornyn said in an interview with Face the Nation published on Monday.<\/p>\n To be sure, the war has overlain, rather than transformed, many of the issues already dominating the race, including the cost of living, immigration, artificial intelligence, housing, healthcare and civil rights under the Trump administration.<\/p>\n In North Carolina, progressive candidate Nida Allam was quick to connect the war to support received by her opponent, incumbent Representative Valerie Foushee, from defence contractors and artificial intelligence super PACs, as well as her past support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).<\/p>\n The issue dovetails with Allam\u2019s opposition to an AI data centre in her district, in a race that has become the most expensive in the state\u2019s history.<\/p>\n In an advertisement released on Monday, Allam focused on the bombing of a girls\u2019 school in Minab, Iran, that left at least 165 dead, calling herself a \u201cproudly un-compromised, pro-peace leader\u201d.<\/p>\n Foushee, meanwhile, has co-sponsored legislation to rein in Trump\u2019s ability to strike Iran, accusing the president of \u201cviolating the Constitution and risking another open-ended war with no clear objectives and no exit strategy\u201d.<\/p>\n Both parties will also select their candidates to run for the open Senate seat left by retiring Republican Thom Tillis. Democrats will be hoping for an upset in November in the so-called \u201cpurple\u201d state. having a roughly equal makeup of Democrats and Republicans.<\/p>\n Former Governor Roy Cooper, who has warned of \u201canother costly, drawn-out war that puts our troops in harm\u2019s way and removes focus and resources from needs here at home\u201d, is considered the frontrunner in the crowded Democratic primary race, which includes five other candidates.<\/p>\n On the Republican side, former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley, who has been endorsed by Trump and has vowed to remain the president\u2019s \u201cally in the Senate\u201d, is expected to take victory in a six-way Republican race.<\/p>\n A wave of Democratic voter turnout on Tuesday would be a sign of strength heading into the November polls.<\/p>\n Opposing parties typically perform well in US midterm elections, and polls have shown dismay over Trump\u2019s immigration policies, his stewardship of the US economy, and his military actions in Venezuela and, most recently, Iran.<\/p>\n Republicans have sought to seize on Trump\u2019s claims of policy success\u00a0during a first term that has stretched presidential norms and transformed the government.<\/p>\n Also closely watched will be the US Senate race in Texas between 78-year-old Representative Al Green, who was kicked out of Trump\u2019s State of the Union address earlier this month after holding up a sign accusing the president of racism, and 37-year-old Representative Christian Menefee.<\/p>\n Both incumbents have been forced to face off for the Democratic ticket following the latest round of congressional redistricting in the state.<\/p>\n Another indication of the potency of Trump\u2019s continued hold over the party could be the Texas race between Republican Representative Dan Crenshaw and challenger, state lawmaker Steve Toth.<\/p>\n Crenshaw has been a vocal supporter of many of Trump\u2019s policies, including his decision to launch a war with Iran, but has been critical of several figures in the president\u2019s orbit.<\/p>\n He is the only Republican House of Representatives incumbent running in Texas who has not been endorsed by Trump.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The 2026 primary season, in which voters in the United States determine which candidates will represent the major Republican and Democratic political parties in the November midterm elections, has begun in earnest with votes in Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas. The polls kicked off just four days after the US and Israel launched attacks on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
A test of party direction\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
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