September 4: North Carolina sends out mail-in ballots for November midterms
September 8: New Hampshire primary elections
September 9: Rhode Island primary elections
September 9-10: Republican midterm convention
September 11: 25th anniversary of attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon
Republicans lean on Democrats' left wing
Sept. 3 (Reuters) - One of the perks of this job is getting to travel with policymakers, and this week I was aboard Air Force Two with Vice President JD Vance. The hospitable team at Joint Base Andrews was happy to point out a change to the aircraft: It has a new paint job, the inverse of President Donald Trump's Air Force One – a white underbelly instead of navy blue, and an easy visual reminder of the White House hierarchy.
A quick programming note: Look for next week's newsletter on Friday instead of Thursday as we report from Republicans' first-of-a-kind midterm convention in Dallas.
And, this year marks the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks. A generation has come of age since, with no memory of the day itself, but in a world profoundly shaped by it. If you’re part of that generation, we want to hear how its legacy has shaped you. We may feature responses as part of our anniversary coverage.
Vance hit the road to stump for Mike Rogers, the Republican Senate candidate in Michigan's must-win race. But in Sterling Heights, about a half hour north of Detroit, he spent more time attacking Rogers' Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, whom he called "very, very evil," than boosting his fellow Republican.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had delivered a similar message moments earlier: “The socialist wing of the Democrat Party is not the heart of the Democrat Party." El-Sayed, who is not a member of the Democratic Socialists of America but proposes policies aligned with some of the group's candidates, delivered a quick retort to Vance: "Evil is making people pay more for groceries and gas while pushing for trade wars and actual war."
The comments by Vance and Duffy are part of a broader Republican strategy for the midterms: With Trump's economic record becoming harder to sell, Republicans are increasingly trying to define Democrats through the party's left wing, exploiting tensions between moderates and progressives and forcing Democrats to debate the future of their party in full view of swing-state voters.
Republican candidates have largely centered their campaigns on the president's economic message and Trump's large tax and immigration law he signed last summer. But the law's effects have been slow to appear, and many have been washed out by persistent inflation – partly caused by Trump's tariffs and the six-month-old Iran war.
One way to counter that: turn voters' attention to the infighting among Democrats over their party's future. While the left wing of the party is growing in influence, it's not clear that the Democratic base is fully on board. Nearly three in five liberal voters say they would prefer a candidate who identifies as a Democrat rather than democratic socialist, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found earlier this summer.
The tension is real, and reaching Washington. Two moderate Democrats joined House Republicans on Tuesday to advance a procedural measure that will tee up a vote on a resolution condemning socialism. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, of New York, vowed to punish the two lawmakers.
Republicans are expected to lean heavily on the socialism theme at their midterm convention next week. It is likely too late for Republicans to change economic realities before Election Day – now just 61 days away -- but they can try to change what voters are talking about.
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