U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) walked through the shelves of pasta, olive oil, tinned fish and frozen pizzas at Fraboni’s Italian deli in Monona on Thursday as part of her statewide tour assessing how President Donald Trump’s tariffs and war in Iran are affecting small businesses. 

In May, the owners of the third-generation family business said that tariffs and increased gas prices had caused the cost of fresh tomatoes to increase about 40%. That price hike included domestically grown tomatoes because tariffs that increased the cost of imported tomatoes pushed up  demand for domestic tomatoes, while higher gas prices made even nearby crops more expensive to ship.
Store co-owner Bennett Fraboni added that his deli had done its best to avoid passing the increased cost of products on to its customers. 

“We always hope that it’s going to be a temporary increase, and that we can swallow it ourselves and not have to pass it on,” Fraboni said.

The deli, which has operated in the Madison area since 1971, sells Italian grocery items and operates a popular sandwich counter. Fraboni said that as the economy has fluctuated over the past year, he’s seen the two sides of the business move independently. When money is tight, he said, people are less likely to go out to eat, so sandwich counter sales slow but the sales of grocery items increase as people look to cook at home more. 

Baldwin said that hearing these stories from businesses across the state is especially frustrating because U.S. economic struggles are “self-inflicted.” 

Traveling the state during the Senate recess, she has heard from small business owners about the challenges they are facing because of  tariffs, trade wars and Trump’s war of choice in Iran, she said. “In many ways, they describe a very chaotic environment — volatile — and recognize that a lot of these things that are causing challenges for our small businesses are choices that this administration has made.”

Democrats across the country are  pushing a message about “affordability” and highlighting voters’ worries about high prices. While Congress doesn’t usually have a simple policy solution for lowering the prices of household expenses, Baldwin said if Democrats take control they can immediately act to end Trump’s tariffs and the Iran war. 

“The type of policies that this president has engaged in are extremely harmful to the consumer and to our small businesses and to our farmers who are producing these products,” Baldwin said.

WASHINGTON — Voters throughout much of the country will cast ballots for their U.S. senator this fall, but just nine states hold the power to determine control of the chamber — setting the course for which presidential nominees can secure confirmation and what bills advance during the next two years. 

The Senate races, as well as the campaigns for every House seat, will serve as a test of Republican policies after two years of unified control of Congress. The outcome of this year’s midterm elections will also have a substantial impact on the remainder of President Donald Trump’s term. 

Republicans hold 53 Senate seats, requiring Democratic candidates to win over voters in at least four states that previously chose a GOP lawmaker.

Zachary Peskowitz, political science professor at Emory University, said Republicans have a bit of an advantage this year, but that doesn’t guarantee they’ll keep their majority. 

“I think that the Senate is a tougher map for the Democrats than the House is,” he said. “But given Trump’s approval ratings, obviously it is certainly possible that Democrats win, even in these tougher states.”

Alaska, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas could be won by either candidate, according to a top elections forecaster, giving Democrats several paths to regain the Senate. That marks an improvement in the party’s chances, though they may also need to secure wins in competitive races in Georgia, Michigan and New Hampshire.

A 50-50 split would keep Republicans in charge of the Senate with the vice president casting the tie-breaking vote.

While each Senate candidate has a different message and variations in their policy goals, big-picture issues like the war in Iran, immigration enforcement tactics and the rising cost of living are at the top of voters’ minds. That’s been clear on the campaign trail.

Immigration enforcement key in Maine

Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins, seeking her sixth term against Democratic challenger Troy Jackson, has faced several questions about immigration funding and federal officers’ actions. 

As chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, Collins was central to negotiations earlier this year over whether Congress should place new guardrails on immigration enforcement after federal officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minnesota.

She told reporters during the launch of her bus tour in mid-August that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents involved in enforcement in Maine will now have to wear body cameras. Her comments came about a month after federal officers shot and killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford. 

“I think what happened is too many of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents were sent out there without proper vetting and without proper training,” she said. 

Collins also defended her decades-long strategy after a reporter asked about her voting record and criticism from Democrats that she often aligns with Trump.

“My approach has not changed in any way,” she said. “I have worked with five presidents. I’ve supported them when I think they’re right. I have not hesitated to oppose them when I think that they’re wrong.”

Affordability concerns amid Iran war 

North Carolina Democratic candidate Roy Cooper told supporters at a campaign rally in Henderson that healthcare should remain at the forefront, noting that changes to Medicaid included in Republicans’ “big, beautiful” law won’t take effect until after the election. 

“As we say back home on the farm, you ain’t seen nothing yet,” he said. “That’s why we need to send leaders there, to make sure that we are paying attention to those who have been left behind. Making sure that people have quality healthcare.”

The former governor and state attorney general spoke about concerns military families have experienced since Trump coordinated with the Israeli government to launch a war against Iran, which drags on despite the president’s initial claims it would only take about four to six weeks.

“We know this war in Iran has no strategy and we know that it is sending prices soaring at home,” he said. “Everybody at Fort Bragg obviously is on pins and needles worrying about their deployed loved ones who are out there. But also having to face the brunt of the rising prices in their own military families.” 

Cooper then criticized his opponent, former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley, for his comments on the economy, saying he hadn’t accepted how challenging the cost of living has become for Americans.

“People are struggling and looking up at the middle class and thinking, ‘Am I ever going to get there? Is the American dream dead?’ And so many people in the middle class who are just barely hanging on, not knowing what to do next,” he said. 

The issues highlighted during those two events are reflected in nearly every Senate campaign, with each candidate positioning themselves as the best solution to Americans’ struggles. 

GOP holds ‘slimmest of advantages’ 

So far, polling and analysis haven’t indicated a clear outcome to this fall’s elections. 

The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter rates Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Ohio and Texas as toss-up races. Campaigns for Senate seats in Georgia, North Carolina and New Hampshire currently lean toward Democrats. 

Iowa and Texas had been in the lean Republican category but CPR changed that in late August, with Senate and Governors Editor Jessica Taylor writing “we see the overall battle for the Senate as a toss up, but one in which Republicans may still hold the slimmest of advantages.”

“Even though, on paper, it should be extraordinarily difficult for Democrats to flip seats that President Donald Trump won by more than 13 points, it’s increasingly hard to ignore both public and private polling showing both races to be more competitive than the Lean category reflects,” she added. 

Ratings could continue to fluctuate, possibly several times, before voting ends on Nov. 3, but the top concerns aren’t likely to change much during the next couple of months. 

A Pew Research Center poll released in late July shows voters consistently want politicians to talk about the economy, with 29% saying it’s an important issue, followed by 9% focused on ethics and reform, 7% on immigration, 5% on healthcare, 4% on foreign policy and 4% on the president. 

Democrats held a slight advantage at the time of the poll, with 43% of those surveyed saying they would vote for a candidate from that party while 37% said they were likely to support a Republican. The remaining 20% said they hadn’t decided or would vote for someone else. 

The poll showed that while voters agreed more with Republicans on crime and immigration, Democrats held an advantage on education, healthcare and environmental policy. 

Neither party outpaced the other on economic issues, with 37% saying they agree with Democrats, 36% saying they believe Republicans handle that issue better and 25% saying neither. 

Dems have enthusiasm edge

Emory University’s Peskowitz said many people will cast ballots based on party affiliation, though swing voters will decide based on the specifics of each candidate. And this year, that will likely be their economic policies. 

“What voters often do if they have negative perceptions of the economy or don’t feel great about the economy, they punish the incumbent presidential party,” he said. “The other important thing to keep in mind is enthusiasm of partisans and whether they’re willing to turn out to vote or not.” 

That trend may favor Democrats, since Republicans have held the House, Senate and White House for two years. And midterm elections almost always see the president’s party lose seats in Congress. 

Michael Traugott, a research professor emeritus at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy, said the primary elections during the last several months have shown somewhat more enthusiasm among Democrats than Republicans based on turnout.

“And we’ll have to see how much of this, you know, carries over to the fall,” he said. 

What the president says about Republican candidates in toss-up states and whether Trump decides to endorse those candidates could also become a factor, Traugott said. 

“This is not necessarily the positive advantage that it’s been in past elections because he has historically low approval ratings,” he said. 

“Mike Rogers is going to have to think a fair amount about whether or not he brings Donald Trump into the state of Michigan to campaign with him. And I think that this could be true in other states,” Traugott added. “I’m not sure that Susan Collins would like to have Donald Trump come in to campaign with her.”

Rogers, a former GOP congressman who ran unsuccessfully for a Senate seat two years ago, and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, former executive director of the Detroit Health Department, are both slated to appear on the ballot after winning their primaries. 

Democratic candidates will spend the next few months trying to sway voters frustrated or disillusioned with their party’s current focus, despite that being an uphill climb, Traugott said. 

“I think the pull of party identification is still very strong. So if there are people who voted for Trump in ‘24, say, and are unhappy with what’s happened since, I don’t think they’re going to switch to Democrats. It’s more likely they won’t vote for Senate,” he said. “Depending upon other things going on in their state, they could even stay home. So the consequence would be more in terms of turnout or not marking the ballot for the Senate race than it would be voting for a Democrat.”

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump covertly traveled across Europe in a military plane in July after Iran threatened his life, according to a bombshell report Monday night by The Washington Post that revealed press and White House officials remained on a decoy Air Force One.

The extraordinary episode unfolded July 8 after Trump boarded the former Air Force One following the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, after concerns reportedly arose about his safety on a new Air Force One, a retrofitted Boeing 747-8 jet donated to Trump by Qatar.

Trump had ordered a fresh wave of military strikes on Iran while attending the NATO summit, breaking a brief period of peace negotiations.

According to unnamed officials who spoke to The Washington Post, shortly after Trump waved to cameras as he ascended the older Air Force One, he was secretly taken to the back of a catering truck and shuttled to a nearby smaller Air Force C-32A plane.

Upon arriving at the Royal Air Force base in Mildenhall in eastern England, Trump was clandestinely ferried back into the former Air Force One and shortly thereafter descended the stairs in front of cameras. 

Press corps members who routinely travel with the president, as well as White House officials, remained on the decoy flight from Turkey to eastern England under the impression that Trump was on board, according to officials. The Post granted the officials anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the incident.

The Pentagon referred States Newsroom to the White House, which did not respond for comment.

The U.S. Secret Service did not respond to States Newsroom’s request for comment.

The catering truck

Photos taken by the traveling press pool from the tarmac in Turkey show reporters boarding the back of the former Air Force One via stairs on the right side rear of the plane. A catering truck, with its rear container raised to plane level, can be seen toward the front of the jet on the opposite side.

Once on the plane, members of the press were instructed by the Secret Service to completely close their window shades, according to a July 8 press pool report and a later press account Tuesday. 

A pool report is an official dispatch sent to thousands of news organizations to keep journalists and the public informed about the president’s whereabouts and actions.

Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that he was flying from Turkey to the United Kingdom on the old powder blue Air Force One “for old time’s sake” and so that U.S. forces stationed in England could tour the newly retrofitted Air Force One bearing a navy blue and deep red design accented by gold stripes.

According to official press reports from the night of July 8, the old Air Force One touched down at Mildenhall Air Force Base at 10:16 p.m. local time and Trump descended the stairs at 10:56 p.m. The pool report noted that neither the president or any White House officials had spoken to the press on board while in flight from Turkey.

After greeting service members, Trump then ascended the stairs to the new Air Force One and gave a wave to the cameras at 11:01 p.m. local time. The plane was off the ground at 11:14 p.m., according to official July 8 pool reports.

‘If I go, you go’

Trump spoke to reporters shortly after take-off from the United Kingdom and was peppered with questions about why he did not take the new Air Force One jet after the NATO summit concluded.

Trump denied any security concerns and said the new jet was sent early to the U.K., and “the whole base came out and saw the plane,” according to official pool reports.

When asked why reporters were instructed to keep their window shades shut on the old jet, which they were led to believe the president was also on, Trump said, “Well, yeah, because you’re probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleaze bags that we have to deal with,” he said, referring to Iran, according to the pool reports.

Reporters then pressed Trump on whether he was aware of a credible threat on his life from Iran.

“Well, I have a threat all the time. I’m number one on their list, before you. But if I go, you go. Right? Perhaps someday you want to change professions,” Trump told reporters aboard the flight according to the pool reports.

The New York Times reported on July 8 that Trump had switched planes because of a security threat related to the conflict with Iran. The Trump administration swiftly served subpoenas two days later on the reporters in a sweeping effort to learn the identities of their confidential sources.

The administration dropped the subpoenas on July 27 after a federal judge sharply criticized the investigation.

WASHINGTON — For the second time in as many weeks, a War Powers Resolution aimed at curbing President Donald Trump’s war with Iran failed to pass the U.S. Senate Thursday.

The vote breakdown, 49-50, fell along familiar lines as previous War Powers votes, with Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Susan Collins of Maine supporting the measure. 

Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted no, as he’s done in just over a dozen similar measures.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., continues to be absent while in medical rehab.

A similar War Powers Resolution to rein in Trump’s military conflict in Iran passed in the U.S. House on July 23, but failed in the Senate — both led by Republican majorities.

War heats up

The regional war reignited yet again this week after Trump ordered retaliatory strikes Tuesday, along with Saudi Arabia’s armed forces, on Iran-backed militias in eastern Iraq. The strikes on “multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites” were in response to Iranian drone attacks on U.S. forces in the region, according to U.S. Central Command.

Trump told Fox News on Wednesday, “We are going to beat the f—– s—- out of them.”

The United States launched a “heavy wave” of strikes on Iranian military sites beginning at 10 p.m. Eastern Wednesday “in response to yesterday’s attempted missile attacks on U.S. forces,” according to U.S. Central Command.

The cost of oil jumped to just over $90 a barrel Wednesday in response to renewed fighting and a continued chokehold on traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, where one-fifth of the world’s petroleum traveled prior to the U.S. and Israel launching the war in late February. 

This means Americans are again paying more for fuel. According to AAA, the U.S. national average for a gallon of regular gasoline rose to $4.09 Thursday.

Before the volley of strikes began again, Trump had announced a pause, after the U.S. and Iran traded rocket fire for nearly two weeks following the collapse of ceasefire talks. 

Service members killed

The president on July 22 attended the dignified transfer, in which the remains of soldiers are transferred from an aircraft arriving from the theater of operations back to the United States, for four U.S. service members killed as a result of the conflict with Iran.

Three of the service members were killed July 17 and July 18 in an Iranian strike at a U.S. airbase in Jordan, and a fourth was killed during a controlled detonation of an Iranian drone July 19 at a U.S. base in Iraq. 

The most recent deaths of U.S. soldiers in the conflict bring the total killed to 18, while the number of injured increased to 653.

But the Pentagon does not recognize the four most recent deaths among those in the Iran war, dubbed by the administration as Operation Epic Fury. 

Instead, the Pentagon is categorizing the latest deaths and injuries as casualties of “overseas operations starting July 7, 2026.”

The administration is asking Congress for an additional $67 billion for the war in Iran. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Senate appropriators July 21 that the war has already cost $37.5 billion.

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh promised Tuesday to “put these years of high inflation behind us” and lower prices, including mortgage rates, for everyday Americans as inflation remains at the highest level in two years.

Warsh appeared before lawmakers on Capitol Hill just after the government’s latest monthly inflation data showed a slight drop, led by falling gas prices as the war in Iran cooled. 

But routine costs like food and fuel remain 3.5% higher compared to a year ago, a level of inflation last seen in May 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index for June. The report comes as the United States and Iran again ramped up the exchange of rocket fire last week in the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for a significant portion of global oil.

The grilling by members of the House Committee on Financial Services marked Warsh’s first time before Congress since being confirmed to lead the central bank. 

The nation’s top banker faced questions not only about inflation, but also how he plans to insulate the Fed from President Donald Trump, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to increase the president’s authority over agencies.

Warsh told lawmakers he will ignore political pressure and “follow the data” when deciding monetary policy decisions.

Warsh’s appointment was made after Trump’s long and public pressure campaign on former Fed Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, and his firing of Fed Board Governor Lisa Cook. Trump also targeted Powell with a federal investigation over renovation costs, but eventually dropped the probe.

‘A potential second surge in inflation’

Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill, an Arkansas Republican, warned during questioning “a potential second surge in inflation is appearing due to factors outside the Fed. What the Fed can control is how it reacts.”

Hill said he was “encouraged” to hear Warsh commit to lowering inflation to the Fed’s target of 2%.

“Inflation affects Americans in the here and now, not in some hypothetical future composed of long-term projections. … How do you and your colleagues on the open market committee plan to accomplish that?”

Warsh said the Fed will examine interest rates and the central bank’s assets and liabilities to harness inflation.

“We have the tools to deliver that. So it’s a function of commitment, responsibility, and tools, and we’re three for three, and we’ll deliver,” he said.

Hammering on the topic of high costs of living, Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C., said “the people I represent should not have to endure another sustained period of elevated inflation.”

Warsh said he agreed with Timmons’ “diagnosis” that American households and businesses have suffered an “undue hardship.”

“What I would also say is I’m not in the business of trying to prejudge what the (Federal Open Market) committee I’m honored to lead decides,” Warsh said. “I think we need to have a continued good family fight on this subject. That’ll start again in a couple of weeks, and when we have news for you about exactly the methods of solving this problem, we’ll be very clear about what they are and so will the American people.”

Communications with public

Several questions from committee Democrats centered on how Warsh plans to communicate with the public after he announced plans to pare back press conferences and announcements. 

Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y., asked Warsh if he can “commit today to creating a fixed public standard for which (Federal Open Market Committee) decisions and procedural changes trigger a press conference rather than deciding case by case which ones might be worth it?”

Warsh said it is “immediately important to think about reforms, including communications.”

“I don’t expect any of the changing communications to be about hiding the ball,” he said.

Rep. Andy Barr, a Kentucky Republican, cited a Wall Street Journal article criticizing the “constant yammering, long policy statements and press conferences” to signal future policy moves.

“Chairman Warsh, why is it important to do away with the dot plot and end once and for all forward guidance?” Barr asked, referring to a graph displaying data as dots.

Warsh said his Fed will not share “every passing thought.”

“I think being somewhat more circumspect in our communications, at least for me, is a better way of calling balls and strikes,” he said.

Will he ‘follow the president’s wishes’?

Warsh also faced numerous questions from Democrats on his commitment to protecting the Fed from Trump’s attempts to interfere.

Rep. Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat, said “If the president publicly pressures you to pursue a different course than the one you believe the economic data supports, will you follow the president’s wishes or follow the data?”

“My commitment to you is to follow the law and follow the data, follow our very best judgment,” Warsh answered.

Meeks shot back: “Even if he publicly criticizes you for doing it? … Publicly criticizes you and tells you how disappointed he’s in you and all of that? Will you still do what the data tells you to do? … You ready for that?”

“I’m ready to follow the law, and I’m ready for the Fed to deliver on the expansive remit that you gave us,” Warsh replied.