Portland City Council approved the Moda Center term sheet 8-4 on August 12, committing $120 million toward an estimated $600 million renovation, with councilors Mitch Green, Tiffany Koyama Lane, Angelita Morillo, and Candace Avalos voting no; a Novick amendment raising the Blazers' proposed annual rent from $2 million to $3.17 million passed 7-5. In the August 11 primaries, David Crowley defeated democratic socialist Francesca Hong for Wisconsin's Democratic gubernatorial nomination by about half a percentage point, Peggy Flanagan won Minnesota's Democratic Senate primary 60-40, and Ilhan Omar was renominated in MN-05 with over 80%. Bernie Sanders asked Democratic leaders in an open letter to bar super PAC spending in party primaries, citing the $32 million AIPAC spent against Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. Green, Koyama Lane, and Morillo opened their reelection campaigns with a 200-volunteer weekend canvass ahead of the November 3 general. This is the brief's first edition.
Portland City Council voted 8-4 on August 12 to approve a nonbinding term sheet committing $120 million in city funds toward an estimated $600 million Moda Center renovation, in exchange for seeking a 20-year lease with the Trail Blazers. Councilors Mitch Green, Tiffany Koyama Lane, Angelita Morillo, and Candace Avalos voted no; progressive-caucus colleague Sameer Kanal and Council President Jamie Dunphy voted yes, with Kanal saying "I believe that if council doesn't pass a term sheet today, negotiations are done." Green told the council the city was entering into the "worst deal in the country," per the Portland Mercury.
On August 6 the council advanced the unamended term sheet on a 7-5 vote after rejecting every proposed amendment.
Portland Mercury · 2026-08-13 · on the amendment roll calls on the Moda Center term sheet
The council passed three amendments to the Moda Center term sheet on August 12; the Mercury reported that, except for Councilor Steve Novick's rent amendment, all were revamped versions of proposals progressive councilors introduced the prior week. Novick's amendment raising the Blazers' proposed annual rent from $2 million to $3.17 million passed 7-5. An amendment from Angelita Morillo and Sameer Kanal requiring the administration to report opportunity costs to the council 15 days before any financial vote failed on a 6-6 tie.
The prior week the council voted against all 11 proposed amendments to the term sheet.
Councilors Mitch Green, Tiffany Koyama Lane, and Angelita Morillo, all up for reelection in November, campaigned together over the weekend with 200 volunteers knocking doors in Districts 3 and 4, and issued a joint statement alongside the Democratic Socialists of America and the Working Families Party. Willamette Week reported that the progressive bloc, which calls itself Peacock, is seeking one more seat on the 12-member council for a seven-vote majority. Morillo said the Portland Metro Chamber "is going to do everything in their power to prevent us from having seven votes on this City Council."
Portland DSA's 2026 endorsement slate also includes council candidates Tammy Carpenter, Farrah Chaichi, and Nathan Ong Norris.
The council's five-member City Life Committee voted unanimously on August 11 to advance a proposal giving Albina Vision Trust the first chance to redevelop city-owned parcels adjacent to the Moda Center; District 2 councilors Elana Pirtle-Guiney, Sameer Kanal, and Dan Ryan jointly introduced it. Angelita Morillo voted to advance the plan but said it gave sole preference to one nonprofit: "We can just have a harder discussion at full council, because this committee is unwilling to do some of the hard work here."
The proposal goes to a full council vote later this summer.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley defeated state Rep. Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist, in Wisconsin's August 11 Democratic primary for governor by a margin AP reported at about half a percentage point; AP declared Crowley the winner after Hong's concession removed the possibility of a recount. AP reported that nearly 40% of primary voters supported Hong, who had led pre-primary polling. Crowley faces Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany, endorsed by President Trump, in November.
Crowley dropped out of the race on July 8 and rejoined it on July 18 with Gov. Tony Evers' endorsement.
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan defeated Rep. Angie Craig for Minnesota's Democratic U.S. Senate nomination; the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported the result at 60%-40% with 96 percent of votes counted. NPR reported that Flanagan had endorsements from Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, while Craig had a fundraising advantage and endorsements including Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Tammy Baldwin. Flanagan faces Republican Michele Tafoya, who won her primary the same night, in November.
Sanders said in an August 9 post that super PACs and billionaires were spending $20 million in Minnesota to defeat Flanagan.
Sanders sent an open letter Sunday to Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and DNC chair Ken Martin calling on the party to prohibit super PAC spending in its primaries, citing the $32 million AIPAC spent unsuccessfully against Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan's Senate primary and a reported $517 million in corporate PAC spending this cycle. AIPAC responded that Sanders "just wants to blacklist Americans who disagree with him."
Sanders cited reports that the pro-Israel lobby is weighing spending in support of Republican nominee Mike Rogers against El-Sayed in Michigan's November general election.
CBS projected Omar the winner over four challengers, including former U.S. attorney Julie T. Le and Latonya Reeves, with over 80% of the vote. In the Republican primary for the seat, John Nagel was projected to win with 52.1%.
In 2024, Omar won the Democratic primary with 56.2% of the vote and the general election with 74.4%, per Ballotpedia.
AP reported that after El-Sayed became the first Muslim nominated by the Democratic Party to run for the U.S. Senate, some Republicans including President Trump referred to him by his full name while depicting him as a danger, and Rep. Nancy Mace posted that every Muslim holding public office is "a Trojan horse." The article connected the political attacks to mosque disputes in McKinney, Texas; Mooresville, North Carolina; and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, where the regional Islamic Society filed suit August 3 over a January 4-1 rezoning rejection. CAIR's national deputy director said there is "a very concerted backlash" to Muslim political progress.
El-Sayed won Michigan's Democratic Senate primary over Rep. Haley Stevens on August 4.
In Jacobin, Branko Marcetic argued that Francesca Hong's 0.5-point loss to David Crowley in Wisconsin's Democratic gubernatorial primary should not be read as a rejection of socialist candidates generally, noting that five of eight DSA-chapter-endorsed candidates in Wisconsin and Minnesota won their races the same night, four more advanced to the general unopposed, and five of seven DSA-backed candidates advanced in Connecticut and Vermont. Marcetic wrote that Wisconsin socialists have gone, in the space of a few years, from no state-legislature representation to two assembly members.
The piece links an August 12 Politico article as an example of coverage reading the result as a wholesale rejection of down-ballot socialists.
In The American Prospect, Harold Meyerson argued that the DSA's roughly 120,000 members represent under 1 percent of the roughly 20 million Americans who describe themselves as democratic socialists, a gap he attributed to what he called the organization's campus-rooted culture and positions such as police abolition. He cited a late-July CNN/SSRS poll finding 34 percent of Democrats and Democratic leaners identify as democratic socialists, and a Morning Consult poll for the Cato Institute showing Americans split 37-37 on socialism's favorability.
The membership comparison draws on a late-July CNN/SSRS poll and a July Morning Consult poll for the Cato Institute.
In a Cato Institute blog post, Adam N. Michel estimated that nine of the largest proposals in the DSA's platform would cost between $71 trillion and $212 trillion in new federal spending over a decade, equivalent to between 18 and 53 percent of GDP. Michel argued that confiscating the entire wealth of the richest Americans plus all corporate profits would still leave a shortfall of $29 trillion to $169 trillion.
The DSA published the platform the estimate draws on, "Workers Deserve More," on July 14, 2026.
2026-11-03 — Portland general election; councilors Mitch Green, Tiffany Koyama Lane, and Angelita Morillo are on the ballot (source)
2026-11-03 — General elections: Wisconsin governor (Crowley vs. Tiffany), Minnesota Senate (Flanagan vs. Tafoya), Michigan Senate (El-Sayed vs. Rogers) (source)
2026-12-31 — Deadline for the Blazers and the three contributing governments to reach a final Moda Center deal; the state's contribution expires (source)