Current Affairs Of Pakistan & World: GOP midterm warnings mount

GOP midterm warnings mount

Apr 30, 2026

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THE CATCH-UP

BULLETIN: The DHS shutdown is finally over. The House today approved a bill to fund all of DHS, ending the record-breaking 76-day partial shutdown — without solving any of the policy disagreements that kept the department shuttered, POLITICO’s Jennifer Scholtes and Katherine Tully-McManus report. President Donald Trump is expected to swiftly sign the bipartisan legislation.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) speaks with reporters as he emerges from the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol on April 29, 2026. (Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images)

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) speaks with reporters as he emerges from the House chamber on April 29. | Francis Chung/POLITICO

‘IT’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE EASY’: The Supreme Court just handed Republicans a win in the redistricting wars — but they’re still facing gale-force headwinds in the charge toward the midterms.

The high court’s ruling hemming in the Voting Rights Act fundamentally shifted the precedent behind racial discrimination in redistricting, offering a moment of hope for the GOP. Speaker Mike Johnson is already calling on other states to redraw their maps.

Following suit: Louisiana this morning suspended the congressional primaries it was scheduled to hold next month. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters today he would soon sign off on Republicans’ new maps for the Sunshine State. And Georgia Republicans are urging Gov. Brian Kemp to call a special session to redraw the Peach State’s maps, AJC reports.

But House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is eyeing a tit-for-tat response in the years ahead, telling POLITICO’s Lisa Kashinsky and Andrew Howard in an interview that Democrats “will be prepared to respond in states like New York, Illinois and Maryland, as well as in Colorado, in advance of the 2028 election.” Complicating that, however, is the party’s previous push for independent redistricting commissions — which looked like good government a decade ago, but turned out to be bad politics in today's era, NYT’s Reid J. Epstein reports.

New maps aside, Republicans still have an uphill battle ahead of them. Democrats have overperformed up and down the ballot in nearly every state-level election since President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year.

The blinking red lights: A top GOP super PAC warned today that the GOP Senate majority — once considered fairly safe — is now “at risk.” The anxiety is stemming in part from voters’ souring view of the economy — once one of Trump’s strongest issues — amid four-year-high gas prices as the war with Iran is set to stretch into its third month. March saw the country’s fastest inflation growth in four years, according to economic data released today. And although the economy grew at a higher rate over the first quarter of 2026 than the final quarter of 2025, it still fell short of economists’ forecasts.

Democrats have gone all-in on a cost-of-living focused campaign, propelled by the early successes of democratic socialist NYC Major Zohran Mamdani and Govs. Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger. In one stunning example of how that messaging is playing among the party’s primary base, Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a five-term incumbent backed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, this morning bowed out of the Democratic primary to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins — ceding the race to Graham Platner, a previously unknown oyster farmer who built a national brand around economic populism.

Republicans have been in damage control mode for months, and this morning top White House officials were out to defend the party’s position as the midterms loom on the horizon. James Blair, Trump’s top political hand, emphasized “We are winning” in an X post this morning — though he added: “It’s not supposed to be easy.” National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told reporters outside the White House that “very very high” gas prices are only a “temporary phenomenon.”

But those claims seem to be falling on increasingly deaf ears. Trump’s approval on the economy dropped to 30 percent in April, according to a recent AP-NORC poll, as 53 percent of respondents to this month’s POLITICO Poll ranked the high cost of living among their top issues going into November.

The White House this year has rolled out policies aimed at tackling voters’ affordability concerns, and Trump today is expected to sign an executive order to expand access to retirement plans for workers whose employers don’t offer one, Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller scoops. But Republicans still see the writing on the wall.

“Our internal polling in several battleground states and one-on-one conversations with voters show that for the first time, Democrats are more trusted on the economy and inflation,” the leaders of the Koch-aligned super PAC Americans for Prosperity Action wrote in a memo shared exclusively with Andrew.

Good Thursday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop us a line at isentner@politico.com and mgray@politico.com.

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6 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. WHAT DO YOU MEANS: Trump today pulled MAHA influencer Casey Means’ nomination for surgeon general after her confirmation faced a monthslong blockage from GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician from Louisiana who has at times pushed back against HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA agenda. The president instead is nominating Nicole B. Saphier, director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in Monmouth, New Jersey. Like several of Trump’s other nominees, Saphier is a Fox News contributor.

Trump on Truth Social thanked Means and said she “understands the MAHA Movement better than anyone, with perhaps the possible exception of ME!” He bashed Cassidy’s “intransigence and political games” and said he hopes Louisiana voters oust him from the Senate. (Trump has backed Cassidy’s primary challenger, Rep. Julia Letlow.) The president called Saphier “a STAR physician” and “an INCREDIBLE COMMUNICATOR.” More from POLITICO’s Amanda Friedman and Jacob Wendler

2. WAR REPORT: Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine confirmed to the Senate Armed Services Committee today that Russia has aided Iran in its ongoing war efforts, per AP. “He declined to go into details, citing the public nature of the hearing, but said, ‘There’s definitely some action there.’” With the war set to reach the 60-day mark on Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told senators that the timeline is standing still: “We are in a ceasefire right now, which our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses or stops in a ceasefire,” Hegseth said. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said he had “serious constitutional concerns” about that. Hegseth also faced fiery questioning from Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the top Democrat on the panel.

Trump also intensified his squabble with Germany this morning. “The Chancellor of Germany should spend more time on ending the war with Russia/Ukraine (Where he has been totally ineffective!), and fixing his broken Country, especially Immigration and Energy, and less time on interfering with those that are getting rid of the Iran Nuclear threat, thereby making the World, including Germany, a safer place!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Inside the Pentagon: Trump’s call to pull troops out of Germany shocked officials who were left scrambling to determine how serious the missive was, POLITICO’s Jack Detsch and colleagues scoop. “Trump’s social media post was the first that many had heard of a potential new push to take hundreds, if not thousands, of American troops out of Germany, according to three defense officials. It strongly contrasts a recently concluded monthslong review of the Pentagon’s global troop footprint, which did not call for major pullbacks from Europe.”

3. WHCD SHOOTING LATEST: Cole Allen, the alleged White House Correspondents’ Dinner attacker, has agreed to remain in jail as he awaits trial, per POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney. “Asking to be released would have been an uphill climb for Allen, given the grave charges against him and the evidence that he charged toward a room full of senior government officials while armed. He could challenge his pretrial detention later, as he reviews more of the government’s evidence against him.”

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4. CLEARING THE DECKS: After months of haggling and heartburn, the House passed the farm bill in a 224-200 vote, POLITICO’s Grace Yarrow reports. “The bill contains sweeping updates to food and agriculture programs in a budget-neutral package. The House’s successful vote marks the farthest a farm bill has made it in Congress since the most recent reauthorization was signed into law in 2018. The legislation still faces long odds against becoming law due to policy disagreements in the Senate.” The House breakthrough came following a vote to strip out controversial language of pesticide labeling, marking a major win for MAHA-aligned Republicans and Democrats, Grace and Rachel Shin report.

5. EDUCATION SHAKEUP: “Trump Administration Imposes Caps on Graduate School Loans,” by NYT’s Michael Bender: “The Education Department said on Thursday that new caps on federal loans for graduate school would take effect on July 1,” and will be limited to $20,500 per year and $100,000 in total.

6. KNOWING REV. ADAM HAMILTON: “Popular KC-area pastor launches challenge to Roger Marshall — with a twist,” by The Kansas City Star’s Matthew Kelly and Kacen Bayless: “One of the biggest questions looming over Sen. Roger Marshall’s first re-election bid was answered on Thursday after the Rev. Adam Hamilton officially launched a campaign to challenge the incumbent Republican — as a Democrat. … In an interview with The Star prior to the announcement, Hamilton said it was what he heard on his 18-stop listening tour around the state that convinced him to join the Democratic primary field rather than mounting a challenge as an independent.”

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TALK OF THE TOWN

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Today marks the final day in the federal career of Joe Guy, who is currently serving as a high-level aide to Kristi Noem in her new post at the State Department, POLITICO’s Hassan Ali Kanu reports. Guy is scheduled to be deposed on Monday in a suit alleging officials delegated leadership of FEMA to outside contractors, but administration attorneys recently told plaintiffs he will have to be personally subpoenaed because he is “imminently departing” his role effective May 1, according to court papers filed last night. Guy worked at USAID before going on to a dual role leading a key immigration detention oversight office while also serving as Noem’s deputy chief of staff when she was DHS secretary.

NOT IN THE PEOPLE’S HOUSE — A 56-percent majority of Americans oppose Trump demolishing the White House East Wing for his ballroom plans — and that position did not budge after Saturday’s WHCD shooting, a new Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll finds. “Reactions are split among partisan lines; about two-thirds of Republicans support the project, while 61 percent of independents and 87 percent of Democrats oppose it,” per WaPo’s Dan Diamond and Scott Clement.

HAND OVER THE SPRAY — “Mosquito forecast: A ‘whopper’ season ahead for D.C.,” by Axios’ Anna Spiegel: “Mosquito season in the D.C. region typically takes off in May — and experts say this year could be longer and buggier than usual. If you thought snowcrete killed the skeeters — bless your wishful heart. ‘I think we’re in for a whopper,’ says Douglass Miles, vice president of Mosquito Shield for the Washington region. Blame moisture. A wet winter, plus erratic yet heavy spring rains, equals perfect breeding conditions when temperatures rise. Even that big snowfall? Not a reset. ‘It makes it worse,’ Miles says.”

OUT AND ABOUT — The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center last night hosted Fred Brathwaite — better known as Fab 5 Freddy — for a conversation on hip hop and his newly released memoir, “Everybody's Fly: A Life of Art, Music, and Changing the Culture” ($32). SPOTTED: Wendel Patrick, Aaron Seeto, Tara Hall, Abby O'Neill, Ramtin Arablouie, Jeremy Beaver, Kojo Boateng, Claudia Watts, Timothy Anne Burnside and Caitlin Berry.

WHITE HOUSE DEPARTURE LOUNGE — Dan Boyle is now an SVP in Mercury Public Affairs’ Tallahassee office. He most recently was special assistant to the president and director of research in the White House Communications Office.

TRANSITIONS — Maya Valentine is now account director for Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis. She previously worked for Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.). … Sarah Dolan Schneider has joined Anthropic as a leader on the federal policy comms team. She most recently worked at S-3 Group. … Rolando Cantu is joining the Democratic Attorneys General Association as a paid media manager. He previously worked at Precision Strategies.

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