2026 Elections

The 2026 U.S. midterm elections will take place on Nov. 3, 2026. All 435 House seats and 33 Senate seats are up for election.

Women Confront GOP Attacks in Statehouses and Demand Transparency in Congress

PUBLISHED 9/8/2025 by

As Texas escalates its war on women, survivors of Jeffrey Epstein take the fight to Congress.

There is a simple truth at the core of the current Republican agenda, and our current moment: It is unsafe to be a woman in today’s America. And that situation is by design—whether through abortion restrictions, questioning the safety of the most effective forms of contraception, or RFK Jr.’s targeting of safe and effective vaccines, and other proven public health interventions that save lives. We will all suffer the consequences—regardless of our politics. 

Keeping Score: Democrats Fight Republican Redistricting; Periods Make College Students Miss Class; Costco Refuses to Sell (Safe, Legal) Abortion Pills to Appease Antiabortion Politics

PUBLISHED 8/25/2025 by

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week:
—“I am deeply alarmed by news reports that Costco is refusing to sell safe, effective, and legal medication for no other reason than to appease the politics of antiabortion fanatics,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
—The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee called for Democrat-led state legislatures to pursue redistricting: “The DLCC refuses to allow Republicans to rig the maps to keep themselves in power.”
—“A troubling shift is underway: Women are leaving the U.S. workforce in unprecedented numbers. But this isn’t a choice; it’s a consequence,” warned Catalyst president and CEO Jennifer McCollum after a report showed 212,000 women have left the workforce since January.
—A third of college students have missed class because of their period.
—The Trump administration is planning to restrict coverage of abortion care for veterans in almost all circumstances.
—RFK Jr. takes aim at antidepressant use during pregnancy, despite American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ approving of their usage.
—Texas’ abortion ban has made miscarriages more dangerous.
—A federal court blocked the Trump administration’s restrictions on grants from the Office on Violence Against Women. Seventeen states had challenged the restrictions, and the order is a temporary win for organizations supporting survivors of domestic and sexual violence. 

… and more.

Abortion Pill Crackdown, Anti-Trans Bathroom Bill and Discriminatory Maps: Texas GOP Escalates Retaliation After Democratic Walkout

PUBLISHED 8/25/2025 by

When Texas House Democrats returned to the Capitol after walking out over the GOP’s new congressional map, they were cheered by supporters as bulwarks of democracy—then promptly bulldozed by Republicans fed up with their protest and intent on further marginalizing the minority party.

Republicans moved quickly to drive the map through both chambers of the legislature within a week of the Democrats’ return. But they also wasted no time advancing a host of conservative priorities that Democrats vehemently oppose, including bills cracking down on the manufacturing and distribution of abortion pills and requiring transgender people to use the bathroom aligned with their sex assigned at birth in government and school buildings.

Those measures stalled in the House during the regular session. And while Gov. Greg Abbott, who controls the special session agenda, had put them on the to-do list from the start, Democrats’ protest has only increased the GOP appetite to push them all through as retribution for the walkout.

“Now we’re not even going to negotiate,” said Rep. Tom Oliverson of Cypress and chair of the House Republican Caucus. “We’re just going to slam it through, too bad.”

Trump’s Stunts Hide His Real Agenda: Rigging Elections and Gutting Safety Nets

PUBLISHED 8/18/2025 by

Trump’s latest antics—from patrolling D.C. with border agents, to announcing a White House “UFC cage match”—are meant to generate headlines and distract from the real story. Behind the spectacle, his budget slashes SNAP, Medicaid and other lifelines for women and children, while Republicans escalate redistricting schemes to rig the 2026 elections.

Don’t let the chaos fool you: These moves will have devastating, lasting consequences for our democracy and our lives.

From Alligator Alcatraz to National Guard Patrols: What Is the Cost of the Trump Administration’s Cruelty?

PUBLISHED 8/13/2025 by

Reserve forces of the U.S. Army, 800 National Guardsmen, and for some reason, 120 FBI agents, are being newly assigned by El Presidente to patrol our national capital—citing crime as his motive, though it’s dropped by a third in recent (Biden) years. He’s already done this in Los Angeles for the last 60 days and predicts other cities are on his list: Baltimore, Chicago, Oakland, New York City—all places that just happen to vote blue.

Early on, the Pentagon testified it would spend about $134 million for the LA deployment, which sounds like a low-ball figure to anyone who’s recently shopped for groceries to feed 5,000 hungry young men three meals a day. And now, California’s governor is asking for the total cost to taxpayers of this “unlawful” deployment—because whether it’s political theater or not, we’re the ones footing the bill.

Trump’s Anti-Voter Agenda Crystallizes

PUBLISHED 8/11/2025 by

Will voters have the final say in 2026?  

In recent years, despite the pandemic, violence and intense pressure, American elections were secure and their results were reported accurately. Election officials worked together across party lines. The system held.

This year, however, a new threat to free and fair elections has emerged: the federal government itself.

It’s now clear that the Trump administration has launched a campaign to undermine American elections. An important new Brennan Center analysis uses the facts to connect the dots. All of this is unprecedented. It’s often illegal. It’s alarming. And it has begun to unfold in plain sight.

Ultimately, it will be up to voters. It’s harder to rig an election when people are watching—and shouting. High turnout can overwhelm chicanery.

With Democracy at Stake, It’s No Time to Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight

PUBLISHED 8/6/2025 by | UPDATED 8/12/2025 at 12:48 P.M. PT

Trump and his Republican allies are manipulating the democratic process to rig the 2026 and 2028 elections—and unless Democrats are prepared to respond forcefully, they risk losing far more than congressional seats.

This is not a moment for procedural purity or political hesitation. As history shows, the outcome—the preservation of democracy—is the test of the act.

A Power Grab in Plain Sight: Inside Texas Republicans’ Mid-Decade Redistricting Push

PUBLISHED 7/28/2025 by | UPDATED 8/12/2025 at 8:48 A.M. PT

As Texas reels from devastating floods, Republican leaders are rushing through a controversial mid-decade redistricting plan aimed at cementing their grip on power—at the direct urging of Donald Trump.

“Let’s not allow the White House to put its arms into Texas and divide our community,” said Texas state Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins at a heated and packed public hearing last Thursday.

From the Battle of Little Bighorn, to the Ballot Box: Native Resistance Then and Now

PUBLISHED 6/25/2025 by

On June 25-26, 1876, a pivotal moment in Native history unfolded along the banks of the Little Bighorn River in present-day Montana: Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors stood against Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and the Seventh Cavalry of the U.S. Army to defend their way of life.

Today—nearly 150 years later—their same spirit of resistance and determination lives on … in legislative chambers, courtrooms and school board meetings. And while the battlegrounds may have changed, the stakes remain.

(This essay is part of a collection presented by Ms. and the Groundswell Fund.)

This Week in Women’s Representation: From AOC to Alaska’s Next Governor, Women Candidates to Watch in 2024, 2028 and Beyond

PUBLISHED 3/28/2025 by

Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation. 

This week: Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris did not lose to Donald Trump because they were women; Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows announces run for governor; it’s looking increasingly likely that a woman may be elected in 2026 in Alaska; women will disproportionately feel the effect of Trump’s tariffs; and more.