Five takeaways as primaries end, Trump’s final sprint begins

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The Hill's Headlines (PM) - September 15, 2026

The Hill's Headlines (PM) - September 15, 2026

▪ Democrats riding high

▪ Fed expected to raise rates

▪ Kennedy Center board votes to close again

▪ Two longshot impeachment attempts

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The general election season has officially entered the home stretch as the last primaries wrapped up Tuesday and President Trump today is making the first of many promised campaign stops in the coming weeks.

Delaware held its primaries without much fanfare, as no major candidate faced significant opposition. But the elections still marked a symbolic turning point in the election calendar as all states can now shift their attention to November.

And Trump is heading to North Carolina to start as he seeks to boost Republicans in major battlegrounds that are critical to the party’s chances of holding onto control of Congress.

Here’s five takeaways as the election season reaches its final stretch.

Trump begins promised campaign blitz

The president earlier this month promised to hit the campaign trail for Republicans in 35 races across the country. One stop typically includes a handful of candidates.

First on the list is North Carolina, where former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley is facing a difficult contest for Senate against the state’s popular former governor, Roy Cooper (D).The state is the only battleground that Trump carried in all three of his presidential contests, but his approval ratings remains near record lows.

Trump’s approval has been on the downslope since July, according to the Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ) polling tracker. That could make Trump toxic to congressional candidates running in key races this year.

Many vulnerable Republicans have sought to distance themselves from the president in recent weeks, though party leadership is firmly behind Trump’s approach to turn out the base by asking GOP voters to act as if he’s on the ballot.

In North Carolina, the trip comes as Whatley has been consistently trailing Cooper in polls, raising alarms for Republicans trying to keep the Senate, The Hill’s Julia Manchester reports for Insider.

Polls show positive signs for Democrats

Trump’s falling approval rating is far from the only data that has boosted Democrats’ hopes that a blue wave could be achievable this year.

Democrats have held a steady lead in the generic congressional ballot for months, a margin that currently stands at nearly 7 points on average. A New York Times/Siena poll released Tuesday suggested more good news for Democrats, finding likely voters favor them over Republicans by almost 9 points.

Pollsters also found respondents said they trusted Democrats more on a variety of issues, including healthcare, the economy and immigration.

Democrats have been feeling increasingly hopeful about flipping several key Senate battlegrounds that Trump carried by double digits just two years ago. The most recent surveys have shown James Talarico (D) leading Ken Paxton (R) in Texas, results that led the election handicapper VoteHub to shift its rating of the Lone Star State from “tossup” to “tilt Democrat.”

Polls have also shown former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and former Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) ahead in their respective Senate races. Republicans got some good news this week, with Cook Political Report shifting the New Hampshire Senate race toward GOP nominee John Sununu.

Republicans’ redistricting wall in doubt

As the Senate battle becomes more competitive, the race for the House majority is only getting more difficult for the GOP. That’s in part because Republicans’ plans to build a safety net through mid-decade redistricting appears likely to yield minimal returns.

DDHQ chief elections analyst Geoffrey Skelley wrote in an analysis Tuesday on Substack that Democrats are forecast to gain an average of two seats across the nine states that redistricted in the past year.

Republicans redrew lines in states like Texas and Florida to oust a few Democratic incumbents, but some of them are favored to hold onto their seats anyhow. And the GOP suffered a blow in the past week as courts blocked a new congressional map in Missouri that would have eliminated a Democratic-held district.

Supreme Court settles mail-in voting question

After months of lingering legal and practical questions surrounding Trump’s mail-in ballot executive order, the Supreme Court’s Monday ruling settled the debate, at least for now.

The decision handed the president another defeat, as the court declined to allow his mail-in restrictions plan to go into effect in time for November’s midterm elections.

Trump’s directive to the U.S. Postal Service would have permitted the agency to only deliver mail-in ballots to those on lists of eligible voters that states would be required to send in to the federal government.

The ruling doesn’t end the legal battle over Trump’s executive order seeking to place restrictions on mail-ins, but it does essentially ensure the move can’t go into effect this year.

Trump slammed the........

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