Politics and views in the United States

Trump threatens to jail a reporter over an Iran leak, as GOP election officials question legality of his mail ballot executive order. Virginians decide whether to join the redistricting fight and money and institutional muscle target the midterm races.

Transcript

Welcome to 2026 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

We have to have a deal that's acceptable to me.

And part of that deal is going to be we want free traffic of oil.

President Donald Trump is again threatening airstrikes against critical Iranian civilian infrastructure unless the Strait of Hormuz reopens.

The benchmark price of oil has at times approached 50 percent higher than before the war.

Trump also threatened to jail an unidentified journalist who reported a leak that a downed airman was awaiting rescue in Iran, as well as whoever passed on the information.

It is not illegal to report secrets, but may be to refuse to say who leaked them.

A Republican swing state election official is casting doubt on Trump's controversial mail-in ballot executive order.

It would create a national list of approved absentee voters and charge the Justice Department with pursuing wrongful mail-in voting, taking authority from the states.

It's sparking numerous lawsuits, and Pennsylvania's Republican Secretary of the Commonwealth, Al Schmidt, says it's likely to be overturned.

We want voters to know that the election is going to be free, fair, safe, and secure, and that everyone knows what the rules are prior to going into this.

So confusion is never a positive thing unless you're seeking to sow distrust in the outcome of an election.

The Senate Republican Super PAC says it'll spend nearly $350 million defending seats in North Carolina, Maine, Ohio, Iowa, and Alaska.

The ad buys suggests the party expects a tough midterm as Trump's popularity continues to fall.

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee says it plans to target 300 Republican-held seats in state legislatures.

Virginia voters are going to the polls to decide on a constitutional amendment that would allow state lawmakers to redraw congressional districts, possibly the last in a wave of mid-decade redistricting efforts.

Curran Charles Dunga with Virginians for Fair Elections says if the referendum passes, the national fight may end up awash or the Democrats might end up a seat ahead.

This yes vote is about leveling the playing field.

It's about playing fair.

And you can't have other states doing mid-decade redistricting and for Virginians not to respond because Virginians can't bring a stick to a knife fight.

A Washington Post poll found likely voters are narrowly split, but whatever happens, the power of conservative rural areas in the state is already declining.

Democratic State Senator Cree Deeds says that's being seen in other states as well.

He says it means he and his rural peers will need to work harder and smarter.

When you're in a rural area, you have to make your wins the wins for people in other parts of the state, too.

You've got to make it work for everybody, and you've got to be more active and work harder, I think, if you're a rural legislator.

A new federal lawsuit questions the right of some overseas citizens to vote in Virginia.

The Justice Department is suing to stop a state law that lets citizens who were born and still live abroad, often the children of military families, to vote from a parent's last address, even if they've never lived there.

I'm Zamone Perez for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

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