A Fox News poll of Michigan registered voters found Republican Mike Rogers at 51 percent to Abdul El-Sayed's 47, and a Badger Battleground poll found David Crowley leading Tom Tiffany 48–44 in Wisconsin's governor's race; both results are within their polls' margins of error. Florida holds Democratic primaries Tuesday, where DSA-endorsed Oliver Larkin challenges Rep. Jared Moskowitz, Elijah Manley challenges Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and state Rep. Angie Nixon faces Alexander Vindman, who has raised $16.7 million to her $625,000. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on "Meet the Press" that he does not support the DSA agenda. In Portland, Mayor Keith Wilson endorsed three incumbents and a challenger for the November council races — none of them the three democratic-socialist councilors — and Trail Blazers representatives agreed to open lease talks with city negotiators Monday. The Portland section runs thin this week; the Moda Center term-sheet vote ran in the Aug. 13 edition.
Quiet week on council — the Moda Center term-sheet fight and the councilors' joint canvass ran in the Aug. 13 edition; the fresh developments are the mayor's endorsements and the start of lease talks.
Mayor Keith Wilson endorsed Kellie Torres, a longtime Parks Bureau official, for one of three council seats representing District 3, and said he plans to soon endorse the reelection campaigns of Steve Novick in District 3 and District 4 Councilors Olivia Clark and Eric Zimmerman. The Oregonian described the endorsements as backing three incumbents and an outside challenger "who could shift the balance of power"; the three democratic socialist incumbents on the November ballot — Angelita Morillo, Tiffany Koyama Lane, and Mitch Green — were not among them.
Candidate filing for the Nov. 3 ballot closes Aug. 18 for incumbents and Aug. 25 for non-incumbents.
Trail Blazers representatives agreed to meet city negotiators on Monday, Aug. 17, to discuss terms of a 20-year lease, with the city agreeing to spend nearly $400 million to renovate the Moda Center. The term sheet setting the negotiation framework passed the council 8-4, with Mitch Green, Candace Avalos, Angelita Morillo, and Tiffany Koyama Lane voting no. Councilors asked negotiators to press for additional private investment from the team, a request the Blazers previously called a "nonstarter."
A deciding council vote on the lease terms is expected Dec. 17; the state's $365 million commitment lapses if no lease is signed by year-end.
Newsweek · 2026-08-16 · on Florida's Aug. 18 Democratic primary challenges
Newsweek reported on three candidates it described as insurgents on Florida's Aug. 18 Democratic primary ballot: democratic socialist Oliver Larkin against Rep. Jared Moskowitz in the redrawn 25th District, Elijah Manley against Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in the 20th, and state Rep. Angie Nixon against Alexander Vindman for the U.S. Senate special election. Vindman has reported raising $16.7 million to Nixon's roughly $625,000, and Manley said he has been outspent by $650,000 from two super PACs. Prediction markets priced Moskowitz at 88 to 90 percent to win his nomination and Vindman near 94 percent.
The Sun Sentinel reported Larkin is endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America; polls close Tuesday, Aug. 18.
A Fox News poll of 1,006 Michigan registered voters, conducted Aug. 6–10 by Beacon Research and Shaw & Company Research, found Republican Mike Rogers at 51 percent and Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed at 47 percent, within the margin of sampling error. The poll found 98 percent of DSA supporters backing El-Sayed, falling to 69 percent among non-DSA Democrats and independents. It also found 54 percent of the electorate concerned El-Sayed's positions are too extreme and 51 percent concerned Rogers is too close to Trump.
Trump carried Michigan in 2016 and 2024 by less than 2 points each time; Biden won it by nearly 3 points in 2020.
A Badger Battleground poll of 500 likely voters conducted Aug. 12–13 found Democrat David Crowley at 48 percent and Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany at 44 percent in Wisconsin's governor's race, a 4-point lead within the poll's ±4.4-point margin of error. Among independents, Crowley led 42 percent to 30 percent. The survey followed Crowley's primary win over democratic socialist Francesca Hong.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he does not support the Democratic Socialists of America agenda "as has been articulated by the DSA itself." Asked by Kristen Welker whether democratic socialists belong in the Democratic Party, Jeffries said individual members elected in Democratic primaries would be part of the House Democratic caucus.
The remarks followed this month's Democratic Senate primary wins by Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota.
The "Chomp the Oligarchy" rally in Fort Lauderdale on Aug. 14, sponsored by the Florida Youth Justice Coalition, Gen-Z For Change, and the Broward and Miami-Dade DSA chapters to promote candidates Oliver Larkin, Elijah Manley, and Angie Nixon, drew hundreds of attendees, with Rep. Rashida Tlaib appearing. Two venues canceled after Tlaib was added to the lineup, and the final venue's owner said he received 600 messages opposing his hosting the event. Elected officials and party leaders quoted in the piece said 300 people at a rally "does not portend sweeping change"; Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said Broward Democrats are not "moving towards embracing the fringe left."
Organizers announced Tlaib's addition to the lineup on Monday, Aug. 10, after which the rally's first two venues canceled.
The Examiner reported that the San Francisco DSA chapter is the group behind Proposition I, which would dedicate the city's transfer tax on property sales of $10 million or more to a House SF Fund — a shift the City Controller put at nearly $120 million a year. Mayor Daniel Lurie and the city's police and firefighter unions said the measure would create "an unaccountable slush fund." The chapter's dues-paying membership rose more than 28 percent this year to 1,506, and the national organization said in July it had reached 120,000 members.
The transfer tax had raised $504.6 million by February, about $200 million of which initially went to housing-related programs.
CBS News Minnesota · 2026-08-17 · on Republican response to the Flanagan-Tafoya Senate matchup
CBS reported Minnesota Republicans expressed optimism about the general election after Michele Tafoya's primary win, with conservative Star Tribune columnist Andy Brehm saying, "Finally, Minnesota Republicans nominate winners." Tafoya said she is "not running to answer to party bosses, or to lobbyists or to special interests, or even to a president." In the primary, 211,000 voters cast ballots for Tafoya against 411,000 for Peggy Flanagan.
Minnesota has not elected a Republican to statewide office since 2006.
In a longform New York Times Magazine piece, Charles Homans reported on DSA's growth from fewer than 7,000 members in 2015 to the 120,000 announced in early July, and on the dispute between party moderates and socialists over the label's general-election viability. The piece cited a Gallup poll from last August finding 57 percent of people view socialism negatively and a July CNN poll finding a third of Democratic and Democratic-leaning adults identify as democratic socialists; moderates argued a national DSA candidacy would carry that negative label, while socialists countered that the label's general-election weakness is untested.
DSA co-chair Ashik Siddique announced the 120,000-member count in early July 2026.
CBS News' polling unit reported an Aug. 12–14 survey finding Americans overall net-negative on socialism and more positive on capitalism, while Democrats rated socialism more favorably than capitalism. The poll found the "democratic socialist" label viewed positively by half the party, more among younger and more liberal Democrats, and Democrats split about evenly on whether the party is progressive enough.
The poll was fielded Aug. 12–14, 2026 among 2,287 U.S. adults with a margin of error of ±2.6 points.
CNBC reported the first edition of its Generation Lab poll of 1,088 Americans aged 18–34: 46% held a "favorable" or "very favorable" view of democratic socialism against 23% unfavorable. The poll also found nearly 80% of respondents negative on the economy, and 45% naming housing their biggest financial pressure point.
This was the survey's first edition, with no prior wave for comparison; the margin of error was 2.97 percentage points.
Peter Sterne reported on an internal NYC-DSA demographic report, compiled from optional surveys members fill out when they join, which found 60% of the chapter's active members identify as white; 63% of its 15,600 members completed the survey. The report also found newer members slightly less white, with 57% of those who joined since Jan. 1, 2026 identifying as white.
DSA's last comprehensive national demographic survey, in 2021, found 85% of nationwide membership identified as white.
2026-08-18 — Florida Democratic primaries: FL-25 (Larkin vs. Moskowitz), FL-20 (Manley vs. Wasserman Schultz), and the U.S. Senate special election (Nixon vs. Vindman) (source)
2026-08-18 — Portland candidate filing closes for incumbents (City Council Districts 3 and 4, City Auditor), 5 p.m. (source)
2026-11-03 — General election: Portland City Council Districts 3 and 4, Wisconsin governor (Crowley vs. Tiffany), Michigan Senate (El-Sayed vs. Rogers), Minnesota Senate (Flanagan vs. Tafoya) (source)
2026-12-17 — Deciding Portland City Council vote on Moda Center lease terms; the state's $365 million commitment lapses if no lease is signed by year-end (source)