Attribution: NATALIE HARP WHISPERING TO DONALD TRUMP by Steve Sack

[For 41 years, Steve Sack was the cartoonist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune where he won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 2013. Steve is a shining star in our profession.]

Alaska: Democrat Mary Peltola Beats GOP Incumbent In Bipartisan Ballot

Angie Nixon’s upset victory in Florida over Alexander Vindman was more than a primary surprise. She beat a candidate who had vastly more money and national visibility, suggesting Florida Democrats may have an appetite for a more populist, grassroots candidate.

Now she faces Ashley Moody, the Republican incumbent who was appointed to the Senate after Marco Rubio became secretary of state.

Nixon has an opening. Cost of living is Florida voters’ biggest concern, and Nixon is hyper-focused on housing, insurance, health care and wages. She isn’t the favorite. Not close. But after tonight’s unexpected win, this is a race worth watching.

There’s another wrinkle: turnout seems to be running well below recent primary levels in the strongest Trump counties — about 13-20 points lower than in 2024 and 2022. If that pattern holds statewide, and Trump’s approval stays underwater, tonight might not be the only upset in Florida this year.

ALASKA IN PLAY

Washington Post: “Alaska has emerged as a pivotal battleground in the fight for control of the Senate. The incumbent Republican senator Dan Sullivan is running for a third term in a state that President Donald Trump won by more than 13 points in 2024. He has raised more than $11 million and has more than $7 million in the bank as of the end of July. But Democrats are optimistic that Mary Peltola, who represented the state’s at-large House seat from 2022 to 2025, can attract enough crossover appeal to flip the seat. She is running on a moderate message of protecting the state’s fishing and energy sectors and has managed to raise more than $18 million with more than $4.6 million in the bank as of the end of July.”

We’re watching the polls close. Here’s my cheat sheet for what matters:

• Florida Governor: Byron Donalds — a win puts a Black MAGA Republican on track to make Florida history.
• Florida Senate: Alex Vindman vs. Angie Nixon — a test of the Democratic Party’s establishment vs. progressive divide.
• Florida House, FL-25: Jared Moskowitz — a redrawn district puts a Democratic incumbent in a much tougher fight.
• Florida House, FL-6: Randy Fine — a test of whether Trump-era MAGA politics can survive a messy GOP primary.
• Alaska Senate: Dan Sullivan vs. Mary Peltola — potentially one of Democrats’ best chances to flip a Senate seat.
• Alaska Senate: The other Dan Sullivan — watch how many votes the same-name challenger actually pulls.
• Alaska Governor: 17 candidates, four advancing — tonight is basically political musical chairs.
• Alaska House: Nick Begich — a Trump-backed Republican defending Alaska’s lone House seat.

Attribution: AI is rotting our brains by David Horsey

[David Horsey is a two-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning. After a long career at The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and six years as a political commentator for The Los Angeles Times, Horsey is now based at The Seattle Times.]

Todd Blanche went on national television and said the quiet part out loud. The days of an independent Justice Department are officially over. We are witnessing a radical departure from democratic norms straight back to the Nixon era where the Attorney General acts as the president’s personal lawyer. His AG ended up in prison.