Somewhere in the neighborhood of 140 million people watched the Super Bowl halftime show with Bad Bunny. Around 4 million watched Kid Rock’s alternative halftime show.
Obviously, it’s not a totally fair comparison. The platforms were built differently, and Kid Rock, you know, sucks. But the comparison might be apt when thinking about the upcoming midterms.
Special elections over the past few weeks have opened up a glimpse into what could be — and it’s been one Democratic rout of Republicans after another. Seats in Trump country — really, really safe seats — have gone to Dems by 30+ points. If that holds, then Republicans will have to spend lots of money and run everywhere.
Literally. Everywhere.
On this week’s Weekly Assignment, Sam Osterhout and Susan J. Demas welcomed Rachel "The Doc" Bitecofer 📈🔭 to walk us through the numbers, the trends, and the likely outcomes we’ll see this coming November. All things are pointing to huge gains for Dems.
But what about the Senate? Well … tune in to find out!
And if you don’t already … subscribe to Rachel’s Substack, The Cycle!
Republicans Want to Redraw the Maps. Let’s Redraw the Playbook.
Texas Republicans — at Donald Trump’s explicit request — are preparing to rewrite congressional maps to squeeze out up to five new GOP-leaning seats ahead of the 2026 midterms. Not because there was a census. Not because there’s been a population boom in white rural areas (there hasn’t). But because Trump told them to.

















