Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
In today’s edition, we dive into Elon Musk’s first foray into this year’s midterms. Plus, Kristen Welker digs into how voters are feeling about the Iran war six months in.
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Elon Musk enters the midterm chat
By Andrew Arenge and Ben Kamisar
Elon Musk is back.
The tech billionaire’s super PAC launched digital ads this month in three states with key Senate races: Maine, Michigan and New Hampshire.
The effort from America PAC targets specific lists of people and urges viewers to register to vote, according to a review of Meta political ad data.
Some ads are generic, featuring reminders that the Senate races in their states could decide control of the chamber. Others go on the attack against socialism, including one ad that features an image of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, warning that “if you don’t vote in November, socialism could declare victory over America.”
The campaign marks America PAC’s first significant ad spending since the April 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court election. Musk injected himself into the center of that race, spending millions of dollars and traveling to the state. But his endorsed candidate, conservative Brad Schimel, ultimately fell well short of Susan Crawford, allowing liberals to maintain their majority on the swing state court.
Musk spent a quarter-billion dollars to boost Trump and the GOP in the 2024 election. He then went on to serve as an adviser to Trump at the outset of his second term, before having an on-again, off-again relationship with the president after leaving the White House.
It remains to be seen exactly how much Musk will spend this time around. But as the Republicans prepare to face a daunting political environment this fall, any financial involvement from Musk in battleground contests will be a welcome development for the party.
Voter frustrations with Trump and the GOP reshape the midterm map
Analysis by Kristen Welker
As the war with Iran hits the six-month mark, Americans appear to have reached a consensus: They don’t support it. That was the case when the war started, and it remains so in recent polling over the last few weeks.
Poll after poll shows that President Donald Trump’s handling of the war is deeply underwater and that voters are skeptical it will come to an end any time soon. It’s a reminder of the political headwinds Trump and Republicans face across multiple fronts. In addition to this conflict, Trump continues to escalate trade wars with countries like Canada, while capturing headlines for trying to rename Lake Ontario or threatening to demolish the Kennedy Center.
We’ve spoken with voters across the country who keep making the same point — they’re laser-focused on the economy and frustrated about the war, with many worried the administration’s efforts aren’t hitting the mark.
Those frustrations are one reason why even traditionally red states like Texas — the home of one of my guests this Sunday, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz — appears to be in play this cycle. Democratic state Rep. James Talarico is waging a tough battle there against state Attorney General Ken Paxton in what’s become a major proving ground for so many of these issues.
Most recently, Talarico has blasted Trump’s effort to suspend tariffs on beef exports as part of a broader attempt to hit the GOP on the issue of rising costs. But that issue in particular has scrambled the usual party lines: A chorus of Republican lawmakers around the country has also warned the plan could hurt American farmers and ranchers.
Paxton, meanwhile, has countered with an affordability pitch of his own centered on lowering taxes, as he and Trump try to frame Talarico as too extreme on social issues. In a sign of how competitive the race has become, Trump also traveled to the state for a fundraiser yesterday.
Cruz and Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., will join me on “Meet the Press” this Sunday to discuss all of this and more.
🗞️ Today’s other top stories
- ➡️ New frontiers: ICE plans to spend as much as $2 million to purchase robot “dogs” that the agency would use in immigration enforcement operations, according to a government funding document reviewed by NBC News. Read more →
- 🏦 Fed watch: Kevin Warsh, the new chair of the Federal Reserve, said that although measures of inflation are still elevated, it is not yet clear that the central bank must take urgent action to address rising prices. Read more →
- 📨 You’ve got mail: A federal judge blocked a Postal Service regulation that would exert control over mail-in ballots ahead of the midterms in the latest setback on the issue for Trump. Read more →
- 🌌 In a galaxy far, far away: Trump signed an executive order to create a new military academy, the U.S. Space Academy. Read more →
That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner.
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