Voter Turnout Showdown

So far, Democratic voters are showing a far stronger turnout than Republicans in contested statewide primaries across the country.

In the midterm elections of President Trump’s first term, Democrats came out with noticeable energy and enthusiasm, flipping 42 House seats to seize the majority. It seems we may be headed toward a similar surge again, based on how the primaries are taking shape.

“This primary season, perhaps the starkest example of Democratic enthusiasm came in Texas, a state Mr. Trump carried by 14 percentage points two years ago. Both parties had hard-fought and expensive Senate primary campaigns there this year,” reports The New York Times. “About 150,000 more people voted in the Democratic primary between James Talarico, the victor, and Representative Jasmine Crockett than in the Republican contest between Senator John Cornyn and the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, who would go on to win in a runoff.”

This is a marked change from 2022, “when there were 900,000 more votes in the state’s Republican primaries for state offices than in its Democratic contests,” adds the Times. “Even in 2018, during the last Democratic wave election, 500,000 more people voted in the Republican Senate primary than in the Democratic one.”

It’s looking like this year might be extremely good for Democratic voter turnout, if the Times’ projections are any indication: “Compare 2022 to 2026: Twenty-two states held contested primary elections in both parties for governor or Senate. Democratic turnout increased in three-quarters of those states this year over four years ago, while dropping in two-thirds of those states for Republicans.”

What can Alaska teach us? “Ten years ago, the changing geography of blue-collar jobs reshaped American politics. As the effects of the 2008 financial crisis, automation, and expanding global trade swept across the former industrial heartland, voters—male voters especially—spurned establishment figures for candidates they saw as more attuned to their concerns,” writes Jordan McGillis for City Journal. Now, “both parties have made reviving manufacturing central to their economic agendas. Yet in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, fewer manufacturing jobs exist today than when Trump rode down the escalator in June 2015.”

Rewrite:

What lessons does Alaska hold? “A decade ago, the shifting geography of blue-collar work altered American politics. As the aftershocks of the 2008 financial crisis, automation, and rising global trade swept through the old industrial belt, voters—especially men—rejected the political establishment in favor of candidates they felt better understood their concerns,” writes Jordan McGillis in City Journal. He notes that now both parties have made rejuvenating manufacturing a cornerstone of their economic plans. Yet in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, there are fewer manufacturing jobs today than at the time when Trump first appeared on the political stage in June 2015.”

So where did those manufacturing jobs migrate to? Largely overseas. Still, McGillis contends that Alaska is rich in blue-collar opportunities. Perhaps not in manufacturing per se, but in roles that require no four-year degree and offer stability and solid pay:

My analysis of Census data shows that more than 40 percent of noncollege, prime-age Alaska men working in blue-collar fields earn at least $75,000 a year. Even more striking, 9.4 percent of Alaska’s noncollege, prime-age men hold blue-collar positions and earn at least $100,000, compared to 3.6 percent nationwide, making Alaska first in the country. Among those in such roles, more than one in four earns six figures.

What drives these returns? Alaska’s ample natural resources play a big part. The median income for oil-and-gas drilling workers is a striking $191,500, while mining operators earn about $134,000, versus a national blue-collar median of $48,400. Resource extraction, like manufacturing, belongs to the tradable sector: production happens locally, but the output is sold on global markets.

But those workers constitute only a small blue-collar elite. Many more Alaskans work in transportation, construction, and equipment maintenance, and a large share of these roles also command substantial premiums, especially when tied to the resource economy.

In short, Alaska’s success will be difficult to duplicate elsewhere, yet the piece argues that the state shows there are remarkable opportunities remaining for workers without four-year degrees. McGillis maintains that the full piece is well worth reading.

Scenes from New York: “A number of New York City police officers used Flock Safety, a system of automated license-plate readers, which has faced privacy criticisms, to run searches even though the Police Department did not have a formal contract to use it,” reports The New York Times. According to public data analyses by the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project and LatinoJustice, at least two dozen officers conducted more than 1,700 searches in Flock’s nationwide database between March 2023 and December 2025. Those figures were corroborated by a New York Times review. The Police Department confirmed that a ‘handful’ of officers used the technology in the cited period. The department said it never had a contract with Flock, but officers used the tool in an ad hoc manner, the department stated.”

Put simply, representatives from Flock offered the NYPD a free trial, and officers used it to track cars believed to be stolen or involved in hit-and-run incidents. Flock Safety “boasts 120,000 cameras nationwide that alert law enforcement whenever vehicles wanted in connection with a crime appear,” the Times adds. “It lets police search its system even if the agency doesn’t own the cameras.”‘

QUICK HITS

• “SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket reached orbit for the first time on Monday morning, achieving a milestone for the program even though the mission ended early due to an engine problem earlier in the flight,” reports Bloomberg. The Starship launched at 7:49 a.m. local time from the Starbase facility in South Texas, carrying 26 upgraded Starlink satellites that were successfully released into orbit to join the existing space-based internet network.”
• “Until 1975, half of Americans said they hosted guests at their home every month,” writes Derek Thompson. “Then a shift occurred. People stopped hosting parties and, more broadly, stopped visiting one another. Between 1975 and 1998, the share hosting or attending a monthly dinner party declined by about half, and those who never entertained at home tripled.” I’m a big fan of dinner parties (and hosting them) and would wholeheartedly recommend giving them a try:

Dinner parties require effort and a bit of risk (what if it goes poorly and you blow it and the dinner stinks?), but they foster intimacy: you uncover new facets about people when you glimpse their home life, and home life reveals things that don’t surface in everyday interactions… https://t.co/MJpvKL6fP3

— Liz Wolfe (@LizWolfeReason) September 29, 2026

• “Iran insisted on Sunday that only diplomacy can resolve its conflict with the United States and Israel, after US President Donald Trump said he rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and halt fighting,” Reuters reports. “Iran announced a peace proposal last week at the UN General Assembly in New York, saying it had been transmitted to the Americans via Qatari mediators. Trump said on Saturday he rejected the plan, arguing that desperation was driving the Iranians’ push for a deal on the key waterway.”
• “Grade inflation isn’t a new trend; NAEP’s survey shows it has been climbing steadily from the 1980s to today,” writes Kelsey Piper for The Argument. “There are many drivers, including guidance to teachers not to assign zeros for unfinished work to promote equity. Yet surveys indicate the most common pressures to alter grades come from students and parents.”