Democratic Anger and Republican Revenge: Welcome to the Primaries

Brought to you by Apple Card. Hey, you could be earning 2% daily cash back on that purchase, and that one, and even that one. That's because Apple Card users earn 2% daily cash back on every purchase, including everyday items they buy online or in store when using their Apple Card with Apple Pay. Not an Apple Card customer? You can apply in the Wallet app on iPhone. Subject to credit approval, Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City branch. Terms and more at apple.co/benefits. From New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. In primary elections across the country starting over the next few weeks, the Republican Party will test its voters' appetite for revenge, while the Democratic Party will test its voters' appetite for change. Today, Shane Goldwalker, Lisa Lehr, and Reid Epstein on how to understand key elections from Michigan to Kentucky. It's Tuesday, May 5. Lisa, Reid, Shane, welcome to the first midterm election roundtable of twenty twenty six. Thanks for having me. Very exciting. Michael, it's great to be here. Okay. We're bringing you three together for this conversation because arguably the most intense phase of the primary season is about to get underway Over the next few weeks, literally starting today, Tuesday, Democratic and Republican voters will start to pick their nominees and races all the way up and down the ballot. And on both sides, the contests are gonna start to tell us a bigger story about where the two parties are as they seek to control the country's direction in the second half of the second Trump presidency. Where do you wanna start this conversation? Well, I think it's helpful to get a sense of the overall landscape now that we're less than six months out from these midterms. And I think it's helpful to start with Republicans because, really, when you look at these races, it's not a question of whether these midterms will be bad for Republicans. It's a question of how bad they will be. Levels of badness. Levels of badness. And that is because the president is deeply unpopular. He's waging a war that is deeply unpopular and on economic issues, which was really a central reason why voters elected the Trump administration. We have no indication that voters feel better about the cost of living of basic goods. In fact, there's tons of economic data that shows they feel worse about things like housing and groceries and gas. That's for the general election. Before we get to that point, how the general election dynamics shake out and the degree of badness will be shaped by what happens in these primaries that we're now about to enter the heaviest period of. I mean, look, when I've been talking with Republican strategist, what they say about this sort of really bad moment for the party, the best thing is that it's still May, that there are many months until October and then …