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    Trump Faces the Biggest Test Yet of His Second-Term Political Power

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    If President Trump gets his domestic policy bill over the finish line, it will be a vivid demonstration of his continuing hold over the Republican Party.President Trump has gotten almost everything he has wanted from the Republican-controlled Congress since he took office in January.G.O.P. lawmakers approved his nominees, sometimes despite their doubts. They ceded their power over how federal dollars are distributed, impinging on constitutional authority. And they have cheered his overhaul of the federal bureaucracy, even as he has bypassed the legislative body’s oversight of federal agencies.But now, Mr. Trump is pressuring Republicans to fall in line behind his sprawling domestic policy bill, even though it has elements that could put their party’s hold on Congress in greater peril in next year’s midterm elections. Fiscal hawks are appalled by estimates that the bill would add at least $3.3 trillion to the country’s ballooning debt, while moderate Republicans are concerned about the steep cuts to the safety net.Yet Mr. Trump is still getting his way — at least so far. The Senate narrowly passed the bill Tuesday, with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie. The bill now heads back to the House, where the president can only lose three votes, and where anger among both moderates and conservatives about changes made by the Senate is running high.Getting the bill through the House may be the biggest test yet of Mr. Trump’s second-term political power. If he gets the bill over the finish line, it will be another legislative victory and a vivid demonstration of his continuing hold over the party.The process of driving the legislation forward has exposed deep divisions among congressional Republicans, as well as concern about the huge political risks of supporting the bill. In the end, fear of crossing Mr. Trump kept defections in the Senate to a barely manageable level.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      With Tillis Out, North Carolina’s Senate Race Will Draw Parties’ Firepower

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      A popular former Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, is expected to announce a bid this summer. The Republicans are banking on an endorsement by President Trump to clear their field.The announcement this past weekend from Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina that he will not seek re-election is renewing the focus on a Senate race that was poised to be one of the two top contests on the 2026 midterm map.For months, Democrats were eager to run against Mr. Tillis, who was being squeezed from both the political left and right as he sought to navigate life as a battleground-state senator with President Trump in the White House.Officials in both parties acknowledged that Mr. Tillis was in a weakened political state. He won his last re-election in 2020 only after his Democratic opponent was engulfed in an extramarital sexting scandal, and he has long had an arms-length relationship with the Trump base of his party.In recent months, several North Carolina Republicans have inquired about either mounting a primary challenge to Mr. Tillis or seeking the nomination with the expectation that the senator would not run again.Democrats, for the most part, have yielded to their expected front-runner, former Gov. Roy Cooper, who left office at the start of this year. During his farewell address to the state in December, he pointedly declared: “I’m not done.”Here are four key questions about North Carolina’s Senate race.Will former Gov. Roy Cooper run?Mr. Cooper is by far the most popular Democrat in North Carolina. He is undefeated as a statewide candidate, having won four elections as attorney general and two as governor. In 2012, Republicans did not even bother to put up a candidate against Mr. Cooper.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Thom Tillis, Republican Senator, Won’t Seek Re-election Amid Trump’s Primary Threats

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      The day after President Trump castigated Senator Thom Tillis for opposing the bill carrying the president’s domestic agenda, the North Carolina Republican said he would not seek a third term.Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, announced on Sunday that he would not seek re-election next year, a day after President Trump threatened to back a primary challenger against him because Mr. Tillis had said he opposed the bill carrying Mr. Trump’s domestic agenda.Mr. Tillis’s departure will set off a highly competitive race in North Carolina that could be pivotal in the battle for control of the closely divided Senate. It was the latest congressional retirement to underscore the rightward shift of the G.O.P. and the reality that there is little room for any Republican to break with Mr. Trump.“In Washington over the last few years, it’s become increasingly evident that leaders who are willing to embrace bipartisanship, compromise, and demonstrate independent thinking are becoming an endangered species,” Mr. Tillis said in a lengthy statement on his decision.The announcement came as the Senate was wading into a debate over the large-scale tax cut and domestic policy bill that Mr. Trump has demanded be delivered to his desk by July 4. Mr. Tillis announced his decision the day after issuing a statement saying he could not in good conscience support the measure, which he said would lead to tens of billions of dollars in lost funding for his state, costing people Medicaid coverage and critical health services.He was one of just two Republicans who voted Saturday night against bringing up the bill.Mr. Tillis has been privately critical of the legislation and cautioned colleagues of the political downsides for them if they back it. In a closed-door meeting with his Republican colleagues last week, he warned that the sweeping legislation could be an albatross for the party in 2026.The president’s allies celebrated Mr. Tillis’ announcement as more proof of Mr. Trump’s political strength. “Don’t Cross Trump,” Jason Miller, who served as a top adviser for the president’s re-election campaign, wrote on social media. “The voters gave him a mandate to implement a specific agenda, and they want everyone to get behind his efforts!”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Nate Morris, Wealthy Business Executive, Enters Senate Race in Kentucky

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      Mr. Morris, a founder of a waste and recycling business, describes himself as the only political outsider in the field and an unwavering supporter of President Trump.A wealthy Kentucky business executive on Thursday entered the race to succeed Mitch McConnell in the United States Senate, casting himself as the only political outsider in the field and an unwaveringly loyal supporter of President Trump.The executive, Nate Morris, announced his candidacy on a podcast hosted by the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. The race is expected to be among the biggest and most expensive Republican primary battles of 2026.While he is not as well known as two other Republican candidates — Representative Andy Barr of Kentucky, and Daniel Cameron, a former state attorney general — Mr. Morris can use the wealth he earned as a founder of a successful waste and recycling company to quickly introduce himself to voters.“You’ve got two McConnellites that owe everything to Mitch McConnell versus the outside business guy that’s running as the MAGA candidate,” Mr. Morris said in an episode of “Triggered,” the podcast hosted by the president’s son, that was released on Thursday. “I think that contrast is going to be very, very striking to Kentuckians all over the state because they’ve had enough. They’ve had enough of Mitch.”Mr. Morris, Mr. Barr and Mr. Cameron are competing for support among Republican primary voters who have soured on Mr. McConnell, 83, a political titan in Kentucky who announced this year that he would not seek re-election after serving for more than 40 years in the Senate. They are also jockeying for the president’s coveted endorsement in a state that Mr. Trump won by 30 percentage points in 2024.On the Democratic side, State Representative Pamela Stevenson, an Air Force veteran and the minority leader of the Kentucky House, is also running for Mr. McConnell’s seat. She is expected to be a major underdog in the deep-red state.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Terry Virts, Former Astronaut, Announces Texas Senate Run

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      Terry Virts, an early entrant in the Democratic field targeting Senator John Cornyn’s seat, appeared eager to take on his own party as well as President Trump’s.Terry Virts, a retired NASA astronaut, is not a household name, even in his home of Houston. But the way he announced his campaign on Monday for Senator John Cornyn’s seat in Texas, taking a swing at both political parties, may be blazing a trail for Democratic candidates in 2026.Mr. Virts’ official announcement video was revealing in two ways. It reflected the growing hunger among Democratic outsiders to take on President Trump. And it underscored how such outsiders believe the best way to do that is to also take on the Democratic leaders in Washington.“Trump’s chaos must be stopped,” Mr. Virts said in the video. “But leadership is M.I.A.,” he added over an image of the Senate’s Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York.Mr. Virts, who describes himself as a “common sense Democrat,” emphasized the point in a telephone interview on Monday. “The Texas senator should not work for the senator from New York,” he said. “I’m going to work for Texas voters.”He said he was willing to break with the national party on issues such as immigration, which he says he supports only if it is legal. “The Democratic Party, for some inexplicable reason, gaslit us and told everybody that, ‘Hey, this illegal immigration is OK,’ and voters knew that it wasn’t,” he said.Democrats in Texas, who have not won statewide office since the 1990s, have become hopeful about their chances in 2026, particularly if Mr. Cornyn is defeated in the Republican primary next year by the state’s hard-right attorney general, Ken Paxton.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Marjorie Taylor Greene Defiantly Rules Out a Senate Run in Georgia

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      In a lengthy Friday night social media screed, the Republican congresswoman savaged her party’s leaders as she declared she would not pursue a Senate run.Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, said on Friday that she would not run for Senate in 2026.The revelation — a huge relief to Republicans who feared she would challenge Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff and jeopardize their chance at defeating him — came 1,200 words deep into a screed against her party that Ms. Greene posted on social media on Friday night.In her tirade against the forces she blamed for standing in her way, Ms. Greene ripped the National Republican Senatorial Committee, G.O.P. consultants, pollsters, wealthy donors, the institution of the Senate and the Republican lawmakers who serve in it who she said “sabotage Trump’s agenda.”“No, Jon Ossoff isn’t the real problem,” Ms. Greene wrote in a post on X. “He’s just a vote. A pawn. No different than the Uniparty Republicans who skip key votes to attend fundraisers and let our agenda fail.”She added: “Someone once said, ‘The Senate is where good ideas go to die.’ They were right. That’s why I’m not running.”All eyes had tentatively turned to Ms. Greene this week after Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, the top potential recruit for the race, announced he would not run for the seat, a decision he made public at a gathering of wealthy donors in Sea Island, Ga.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Chris Sununu Skips a New Hampshire Senate Bid, Dashing Trump’s Hopes

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      The former New Hampshire governor had been seen as a top Republican recruit in the liberal-leaning yet competitive state. President Trump had said on Sunday, “I hope he runs.”Chris Sununu, the Republican former governor of New Hampshire, announced on Tuesday that he would not run for Senate in 2026, dashing the hopes of President Trump and others in their party that he would help flip a seat in the state after a Democratic senator’s retirement.Mr. Sununu, who served for four two-year terms as governor, was once a vocal critic of Mr. Trump’s — he endorsed Nikki Haley in the 2024 primary race — but the president had warmed to the possibility of luring the popular former governor into the Senate race.“I hope he runs,” Mr. Trump said on Air Force One on Sunday, noting that he had met recently with Mr. Sununu in the Oval Office. “He’s been very nice to me over the last year or so.”Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, announced her retirement last month. Representative Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, a Democrat, recently began a bid to succeed her. The other House member from the state, Representative Maggie Goodlander, has said she is also considering a run.Mr. Sununu, who has flirted with Senate campaigns for years but never actually declared a candidacy, officially pulled himself out of contention on Tuesday.”No, I’m not going to run,” he said in a radio interview on The Pulse of NH, saying it was not right for his family.He said that Republicans could still win, and that he had on Tuesday informed Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, of his decision. “It doesn’t have to be me,” Mr. Sununu said.A spokeswoman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Maeve Coyle, called it “ an embarrassing recruitment failure.”Another potential Republican candidate is Scott Brown, a former senator from Massachusetts, whom Ms. Shaheen needled after she announced her exit, telling Semafor: “He’s making noises. He’s not from New Hampshire.”The New Hampshire seat is one of three vacancies that Democrats must defend in 2026, along with Michigan and Minnesota. No Republican senators in competitive states have yet to announce retirements. More

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      Republicans Plan to Skirt Senate Rules to Push Through More Tax Cuts

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      G.O.P. leaders are planning to use the “nuclear option” to steer around the Senate’s in-house referee and allow the use of a gimmick that makes trillions of dollars in tax cuts appear to be free.For decades, senators looking to push major budget and tax legislation through Congress on a simple majority vote have had to win the blessing of a single unelected figure on Capitol Hill.The Senate parliamentarian, a civil servant who acts as the arbiter and enforcer of the chamber’s byzantine rules, has traditionally been in a position to make or break entire presidential agendas. That includes determining whether budget and tax legislation can be fast-tracked through Congress and shielded from a filibuster, allowing it to pass along party lines through a process known as reconciliation.Now, in their zeal to deliver President Trump’s domestic policy agenda in “one big beautiful bill” of spending and tax cuts, Senate Republicans are trying to steer around the parliamentarian, busting a substantial congressional norm in the process.The strategy would allow them to avoid getting a formal thumbs up or thumbs down on their claim that extending the tax cuts that Mr. Trump signed into law in 2017 would cost nothing — a gimmick that would make it easier for them cram as many tax reductions as possible into their bill without appearing to balloon the deficit.In recent days, all eyes have been on Elizabeth MacDonough, the parliamentarian, to see whether she would bless the trick, smoothing the path for the G.O.P. bill. But on Wednesday, Republicans signaled that they planned to take extraordinary action to go around her altogether.Rather than have Ms. MacDonough weigh in, they asserted that Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, as chairman of the Budget Committee, could unilaterally decide the cost of the legislation, citing a 1974 budget law. Senate Republicans on Wednesday unveiled a new budget resolution they planned to put to a vote as early as this week. And Mr. Graham declared in a statement that he considered an extension of the 2017 tax cuts to be cost-free.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Mallory McMorrow Enters Michigan Senate Race

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      The 38-year-old Democratic state lawmaker says that her party needs a generational shift.State Senator Mallory McMorrow of Michigan, a Democrat from the Detroit suburbs, jumped into her state’s U.S. Senate race on Wednesday, becoming the first prominent candidate to enter the contest, which will help decide control of the chamber next fall.The seat opened after Senator Gary Peters, a Democrat, announced his retirement, and the race — in a state that has often favored Democratic senators but twice voted for President Trump — will be among the most closely watched in the country next year.“We need new leaders,” Ms. McMorrow, 38, said in her announcement video. “The same people in D.C. who got us into this mess are not going to be the ones to get us out of it.”Ms. McMorrow won Democrats’ acclaim several years ago for defending liberal values while identifying herself as a “straight, white, Christian, married suburban mom,” and her announcement video featured national pundits remarking on the speech. She flipped a Republican-held district in 2018 and is the first woman to become State Senate majority whip, her campaign has noted, in Michigan’s history.She is unlikely to have the Democratic lane to herself for long.Democrats who have signaled that they are eyeing the Senate race include Representative Haley Stevens, a moderate from suburban Detroit; Representative Kristen McDonald Rivet, a Democrat who won a challenging House district in Michigan last year; and Abdul El-Sayed, an outgoing health director in Wayne County and a progressive who ran unsuccessfully against now-Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, in the 2018 primary.Ms. Whitmer, who is term-limited, has said she is uninterested in running for Senate. Pete Buttigieg, the former transportation secretary and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, has also taken himself out of contention.Whoever emerges from the Democratic primary, the race is expected to be competitive in the general election.Republicans who could or are expected to run include former Representative Mike Rogers, who narrowly lost to Senator Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat, in November, and Representative Bill Huizenga. Tudor Dixon, who lost the governor’s race to Ms. Whitmer in 2022, and Kevin Rinke, who lost that Republican primary, could look at runs for Senate or governor. More