Impeachment

Louisiana heads into Nov. 3 elections for one U.S. Senate seat and several House seats under unusual circumstances. The U.S. Supreme Court's June 29 ruling in Callais v. Louisiana, which found the state's 6th Congressional District unconstitutionally gerrymandered, forced Gov. Jeff Landry to order a new open primary even after some ballots had already been cast, confusing voters about district lines. The Senate race to succeed Bill Cassidy, between Rep. Julia Letlow and Democrat Jamie Davis, will be decided outright since a May primary already occurred; Cassidy was eliminated after being targeted by state Republicans over his impeachment vote. House races featuring incumbents are expected to avoid runoffs, but open seats in the 5th and 6th Districts likely head to a December runoff. Early voting has surged, particularly among Black voters.

Illinois Democrats are split on strategy ahead of potential midterm gains that could hand their party control of the House and possibly the Senate. Some, like Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who is running for Senate, favor confrontation, including refusing to confirm Trump nominees or fund ICE and potentially ending the filibuster. Others, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Rep. Bill Foster, favor combining aggressive oversight of Trump officials and businesses with legislative wins, while downplaying quick impeachment. Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson and Trump himself, warn that a Democratic majority would mean relentless investigations and a renewed impeachment push.

The debate reflects broader uncertainty over Democratic strategy and control of Congress following the November midterms, a key variable for prediction markets tracking the 2026 elections and any renewed impeachment proceedings.

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) said during a debate against Republican challenger Rep. Mike Collins that President Trump's conduct already meets the threshold for impeachment, should Democrats win a House majority in November. Asked at the Atlanta Press Club-hosted debate whether he would support impeachment efforts and vote to convict, Ossoff said the president's "misconduct, abuse of power, and corruption already exceed any prior standard for impeachment," adding he would consider any articles of impeachment "on the merits as a juror in the Senate" if the House sends them.

Ossoff voted for Trump's second impeachment but was not in Congress during the first. Impeachment requires a House majority and a two-thirds Senate vote, both currently controlled by Republicans. The Georgia Senate race is seen as pivotal to control of the chamber in the second half of Trump's term, with polling showing Ossoff ahead of Collins less than a month before election day.

A Texas House Select Committee on Governmental Oversight hearing at the Capitol turned tense Wednesday as lawmakers scrutinized Travis County District Attorney José Garza over accusations his office is "soft on crime." Witnesses, including the Central Texas Public Safety Commission's president, cited repeated releases of violent offenders. State Rep. Mitch Little said the legislature should investigate and impeach Garza, and later moved toward subpoenaing him to testify. Garza did not appear, but his office submitted written testimony, delivered by assistant DA Stephanie Gharakhanian, defending case dismissals as following the law and citing recent murder convictions and falling crime rates. Lawmakers, including Richard Peña Raymond, pressed for more transparency on dismissed cases.

The hearing also surfaced a broader legal question: whether the Texas House has constitutional authority to impeach a local district attorney, an idea Gov. Greg Abbott has championed against what he calls "rouge DAs," separate from existing civil removal procedures requiring a jury trial.

New Jersey Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell resigned Friday, a day after Gov. Mikie Sherrill released a 61-page report from a four-month investigation, led by former Attorney General Christopher Porrino's law firm, substantiating findings of sexual harassment and repeated ethics violations. Investigators found credible evidence that Caldwell made an unwanted romantic advance toward a staffer's friend, sought a promotion for a state employee he was secretly dating, and brought unpaid guests to ticketed events despite prior warnings. Sherrill said the episode reflected a longstanding Trenton culture of overlooking sexual harassment that her administration would no longer tolerate.

Caldwell, who is Black, suggested race played a role in the allegations and disputes the report's findings, saying he resigned to avoid distracting from Sherrill's administration; days later he preached at his church about false accusations. Acting Comptroller Shirley Emehelu now oversees the Division of Elections ahead of the midterms, while Senate President Nicholas Scutari serves as acting governor when needed. Sherrill has 45 days to name a permanent replacement, with reports suggesting she may favor another Black leader, possibly a woman, for the role.

The U.S. House voted 232-147 on Tuesday to table an impeachment resolution from Rep. Al Green, D-Houston, marking the eighth unsuccessful attempt by the congressman to remove President Donald Trump from office. Green's resolution, introduced last month, cited Trump's aggressive immigration crackdown, which Green said has led to the deaths of several U.S. residents, including Houstonian Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, killed by federal immigration agents in Magnolia Park in July.

Green acknowledged the effort's slim odds but framed it as a moral obligation, arguing the Constitution has no "wait clause." His previous impeachment attempts, over issues ranging from Trump's remarks to U.S. strikes in Iran, met similar fates. Green, who lost his Democratic primary to Rep. Christian Menefee after Texas redrew congressional maps in 2025, will leave Congress in January after 21 years representing the 9th District.

The Texas U.S. Senate contest between Republican incumbent Ken Paxton and Democratic state Rep. James Talarico has turned to recycled material from past campaigns, most notably a 2018 video showing Paxton pocketing a $1,000 Montblanc pen left behind at a Collin County courthouse security checkpoint. Paxton returned the pen once notified of the mix-up, and his campaign at the time called the episode a nonstory. The clip originally surfaced in an ad from Justin Nelson, Paxton's 2018 Democratic challenger, who narrowly lost that race.

Talarico's campaign has now revived the footage and its "won't steal your pen" tagline in a new ad, adding a fresh endorsement from Joe Joplin, the pen's original owner. The ad also follows renewed attention to Paxton's past securities fraud indictment, resolved without conviction, and his 2023 impeachment by the Texas House, which ended in acquittal by the state Senate. The race is considered one of the most closely watched Senate contests in the country this cycle.

Florida Democratic Senate nominee Angie Nixon drew a sharp rebuke from the Department of Homeland Security after saying Republicans were "literally trying to kill" black Americans and calling ICE a "weaponized paramilitary force" designed to terrorize people. Nixon made the remarks on a podcast this month, days before winning her primary, citing a September 2025 ICE operation in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood that targeted suspected Tren de Aragua members and resulted in roughly two dozen detentions.

DHS called the racial-profiling allegations "categorically FALSE," saying immigration status—not race—drives enforcement, and cited a sharp rise in reported assaults, vehicular attacks, and death threats against agents. The Republican National Committee argued Nixon's comments would help GOP candidates nationally. Nixon, a Democratic Socialists of America member, defeated former National Security Council official Alexander Vindman by 12 points in a lopsided primary upset despite being vastly outspent and lacking backing from Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or the DSA, winning most major metro areas including Miami-Dade and Broward. Since winning, she has distanced herself from the socialist label despite her DSA membership, denying she supports abolishing police funding or open borders. She now faces Republican Sen. Ashley Moody in November for the remainder of Marco Rubio's former Senate term, in a race forecasters favor for the GOP.