SCOTUS ruling 'major setback' to 2026 Dems, could wipe out Platner and Talarico's midterm edge

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SCOTUS ruling ‘major setback’ to 2026 Dems, could wipe out Platner and Talarico’s midterm edge

By Josh Christenson Published July 1, 2026, 5:15 p.m. ET

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WASHINGTON — GOP contenders who were lagging behind their Democratic rivals in campaign fundraising are poised to see a cash infusion thanks to a Supreme Court ruling Tuesday that will allow Republicans to buy up airspace at discounted rates in the lead-up to the 2026 midterms.

The Supreme Court’s decision allowing coordinated spending between political parties and candidates delivered a blow to Democrats, members of both parties agreed, as the GOP’s best outcome would be flipping three Senate seats and winning more than a dozen House seats to increase control of Congress.

“The Supreme Court’s decision is a major setback for the Democrats’ viral fundraisers in states like Texas and Maine,” Sean Cooksey, managing director at BGR Group and former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, told The Post.

Joe Gruters holding a gavel and giving an acceptance speech. — The Republican National Committee, run by chairman Joe Gruters, already boasts a whopping $125 million campaign war chest, compared with the Democratic National Committee’s more than $14 million. AFP via Getty Images

“What would have been a significant financial advantage over their Republican opponents will be neutralized by the RNC’s war chest and its new ability to coordinate ads with candidates,” added Cooksey, who most recently served as counsel to Vice President JD Vance.

Senate Republicans are hoping to regain control of Michigan, New Hampshire and Georgia, while retaining seats in Iowa, Alaska, Ohio, North Carolina and Maine. The House GOP’s main campaign arm is also eyeing around three dozen vulnerable Dem seats.

“The map is much smaller this go around than it has been in past midterms,” a Republican National Committee official said. “That makes our money go a lot further than it has in past midterms.”

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The Republican National Committee already boasts a whopping $125 million campaign war chest, compared with the Democratic National Committee’s more than $14 million — on top of another $18 million in debt.

And the high court’s ruling will let the RNC, in addition to the GOP’s top two congressional campaign committees, make good use of that cash on hand for campaign advertising in contests where Democrats had been betting on candidates with large national profiles, according to party insiders.

Maine Senate Democratic candidate Graham Platner, for instance, has far surpassed incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins’s fundraising, with more than $16 million raised and $2 million cash on hand. Collins recorded just a little more than $310,000 cash on hand in her latest quarterly filing.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks at a primary election night watch party. — Maine Senate Democratic candidate Graham Platner, for instance, has dwarfed the fundraising of incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins. AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty

In Texas, Senate Democratic hopeful James Talarico has raised more than $40 million and recorded nearly $10 million cash on hand in his race against state attorney general Ken Paxton, who has just over $2 million in his campaign war chest and has raised more than $7.5 million, per the latest campaign finance filings.

“We’re still in primary season,” the RNC official noted. “Seeing who our opponents are gonna be matters a lot.”

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“Even for a lot of the talk recently following New York, Colorado,” the official added, referencing primary races where left-wing challengers beat Democratic incumbents, “the crazy rhetoric and ideas … despite all that, obviously, what they’re selling is very exciting to a portion of their base.”

For that reason, Democrats’ favored candidates have run higher fundraising figures for their committees, while their party’s committees are being beaten in contributions by the GOP’s major political committees.

Typically, Democrats have been able to use the fundraising advantage from individual candidates to buy ads at cheaper rates, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) noted in a Tuesday memo, but that rate, known as the Lowest Unit Charge, will now be available to party committees.

State Representative James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, speaks at a podium. — In Texas, Senate Democratic hopeful James Talarico has raised more than $40 million and recorded nearly $10 million cash on hand in his race against state attorney general Ken Paxton. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Another GOP operative added that the coordinated spending will mean that committees no longer will be making public announcements of cash reservations, giving the party a tactical edge in where they decide to send funding.

“The NRSC can spend without limit in direct coordination with all Senate campaigns on all expenditures,” the memo stated.

“Historically, most NRSC advertising was produced and distributed independently — it could not be informed by strategic conversations with the campaign about message, targeting, timing, or creative. Those restrictions are now gone.”

US Senator Susan Collins looks on during a Senate vote at the US Capitol. — Collins recorded just a little more than $310,000 cash on hand in her latest quarterly filing. GRAEME SLOAN/EPA/Shutterstock

In April, for instance, Senate Republicans’ top super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, announced $236 million in ad reservations for incumbents running in Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa and Alaska as well as challengers to Dem incumbents in New Hampshire, Georgia and Michigan.

Previously, the FEC capped spending to Senate candidates’ campaigns at around $4 million and House campaigns at around $65,000.

DNC chair Ken Martin and other party committee leaders — including DSCC Chairwoman and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) as well as DCCC Chairwoman and Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) — slammed the decision as “a win for billionaire donors and special interests who want more influence over the GOP agenda and an invitation for corruption.”

Michael Whatley, former RNC chair, speaking at a North Carolina primary election event. — Senate Republican candidate Michael Whatley formerly served as chair of the RNC. Bloomberg via Getty Images

Democratic sources added that the court win wouldn’t have been as much of a blow had the DNC been keeping up with the RNC’s fundraising totals since the 2024 election.

“You’d be really hard pressed to make the case for how they can be a really effective outfit for 2026,” the RNC official also said.

The Supreme Court ruling in NRSC v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) came after the main campaign arm for the Senate GOP filed a challenge to the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, alleging it violated the First Amendment by capping coordinated spending, which is mainly used on campaign advertising.

It’s considered the biggest decision on US campaign finance since the 2010 Citizens United ruling that allowed corporations to donate without limits to super PACs.

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The Republican National Committee, run by chairman Joe Gruters, already boasts a whopping $125 million campaign war chest, compared with the Democratic National Committee's more than $14 million. AFP via Getty Images

Maine Senate Democratic candidate Graham Platner, for instance, has dwarfed the fundraising of incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins. AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty

Collins recorded just a little more than $310,000 cash on hand in her latest quarterly filing. GRAEME SLOAN/EPA/Shutterstock

Senate Republican candidate Michael Whatley formerly served as chair of the RNC. Bloomberg via Getty Images

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Meet Melat Kiros, the Ethiopian-born anti-Israel socialist crusader who is DSA’s rising star after stunning upset in Colorado

Meet Melat Kiros, the Ethiopian-born anti-Israel socialist crusader who is DSA's rising star after stunning upset in Colorado

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Meet Melat Kiros, the Ethiopian-born anti-Israel socialist crusader who is DSA’s rising star after stunning upset in Colorado

By Ryan King Published July 1, 2026, 2:06 p.m. ET

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WASHINGTON — Democratic socialism is spreading West.

Political newcomer Melat Kiros, 29, who took down 15-term Democratic incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Col.) in a stunning primary upset Tuesday, is riding a wave of anti-Israel and anti-ICE sentiment sweeping her party.

The Ethiopian-born PhD student has pushed to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), suggested that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks were “inevitable,” downplayed suggestions that a firebombing of a Jewish rally was an act of antisemitism, and more.

Once in the House of Representatives, which is considered likely because she’s in a safe blue district, Kiros has vowed to push Democrats as far left as possible and to oppose Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) becoming speaker.

Political awakening

Kiros refined many of her far-left views in law school at Notre Dame in the early 2020s, a period she describes as her political awakening, as the country was roiled by the COVID-19 pandemic and peak wokeness.

“I literally watched the Federalist Society handpicking some of my classmates onto the judge track in their decades-long bid to pack the courts,” she complained, according to Vox. “…I just lost faith in the system; I think a lot of young people did.”

Democratic congressional candidate Melat Kiros smiles at her primary election night watch party. — The democratic socialist has been a staunch critic of capitalism, Israel, and ICE. AP Photo/Rebecca Slezak

After law school in 2022, she joined the law firm Sidley Austin in New York, where she worked as a regulatory and enforcement associate. The following year, she was fired for writing a viral open letter lambasting law firms for pushing to crack down on antisemitism on college campuses.

“By chilling future lawyers’ employment prospects for criticism of the Israeli government’s actions and its legitimacy, you are complicit in Israel’s weaponization of anti-Semitism against legitimate concerns for the right of self-determination and the livelihood of the Palestinian people,” she wrote in the missive.

Sidley Austin demanded she take the letter down, but Kiros claims she refused and was fired as a result.

“I didn’t flinch because I stood by every word and I always will,” she boasted during her victory speech Tuesday.

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That move drew headlines and boosted her name recognition in lefty circles.

After losing her law gig, Kiros moved back to Colorado, where her family had immigrated while she was just 11-months-old. Her father had been picked in America’s Diversity Visa Lottery, per her campaign website.

Back home, she enrolled in a PhD program in public policy and worked as a barista.

Then, in the middle of last year, she decided to launch a seemingly long-shot primary challenge against DeGette, who is widely considered to be a very progressive lawmaker and has served in Congress longer than Kiros has been alive.

DeGette had the backing of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Diana DeGette speaking into a pink microphone at a League of Women Voters forum. — Rep. Diana DeGette was one of the more progressive members of the House Democratic Caucus. Denver Post via Getty Images

But Kiros’ candidacy caught fire with the DSA and other lefty groups that were hunting for candidates to take on incumbent Democrats and push the party further leftwards.

One of the major differences between the two was Kiros’ tougher stance against Israel. DeGette faced grassroots pushback for supporting defensive aid to Israel.

Kiros, however, made tough talk against the Jewish state a feature of her campaign.

For example, she told notorious lefty streamer Hasan Piker that the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack was an “inevitable consequence of apartheid,” though she later clarified she wasn’t trying to say it was justified.

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Piker is a very controversial streamer, having declared that “America deserved 9/11″ and praised the “brave mujahideen” who injured Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas).

In a similar vein, she told 9News journalist Kyle Clark that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were an “inevitable consequence” of US foreign policy.

Kiros has stirred local controversy for downplaying the role of antisemitism in the June 1, 2025, firebombing attack at a weekly Jewish gathering aimed at bringing attention to the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas. One person was killed and a dozen were injured in that attack.

Melat Kiros speaking to supporters at an election-night watch party. — Melat Kiros has indicated she won’t support Hakeem Jeffries for speaker. Getty Images

The attacker, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, screamed “Free Palestine” before later stating that he “wanted to kill all Zionist people,” according to the FBI.

Kiros repeatedly declined to call it antisemitism and told NOTUS that it wasn’t “entirely obvious that it was just motivated by antisemitism.”

Many of her positions are similar to those of other DSA members, including support for Medicare for All, a modified Green New Deal, and mass amnesty. Kiros also wants a 10% slash in Pentagon spending.

“People are seeing that capitalism is responsible for a lot of the degradation that we’re seeing in our economy, that we’re seeing in our democracy, that we’re certainly seeing in our climate as well,” she claimed in a recent interview.

“They’re demanding a new way to organize our economy.”

Should she win in November, she will be the first Gen. Z woman to serve in Congress and the second Zoomer overall, after Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.)

She is riding a socialist revolt within the Democratic Party, as far-left candidates have won primaries across New York, Maine, Illinois, and elsewhere heading into the midterms.

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