The Michigan Senate Democratic primary has emerged as one of the significant — and divisive — intraparty battles in the country. With the Senate majority stake, I interviewed the candidates there and their glaring differences on Israel, ICE, Schumer and electability.
www.cnn.com/2026/04/19/p...
Michigan’s Senate Dem primary is turning into perhaps the most consequential intraparty battle in the country — and exposing a major party divide over tactics and policy
I traveled to Michigan to intvw candidates and voters for a piece that airs on “Inside Politics Sunday” on CNN at 8aET and 11aET.
New Inside Politics Sunday 8aET/11aET on @cnn.com
— Trump threatens escalation in Iran
— GOP on $200B and ground troops
— Major pressure to cut deal to end DHS shutdown — and the Dem divide
— Graham Platner on Mills attack ad, old posts, Iran, Israel and DHS #mesen
— Iran and the World Cup
Trump’s claim that Iran was to blame for a deadly strike on an Iranian girls school is contradicted by video footage showing US was likely to blame.
I asked him if the US would now accept responsibility — and he walked back his claim and said it’s being investigated.
New — @insidepolitics 8aET and 11aET on @cnn
— Hakeem Jeffries sits down with me on the gerrymandering wars. His battle with a top MD Dem. And the huge sums they plan to spend in VA. How he sees his path to become speaker
— Noem latest
— Epstein fallout
— How long the DHS shutdown will last
Newsy “Inside Politics Sunday” at 8aET and 11aET on @CNN
— My live interview with Rep Massie and his battle with Trump
— Fallout of Trump’s post on Obamas
— Shutdown week part 3
— New reporting on midterms
— What Sen Cassidy told me about his vote to convict after Jan 6
— Murkowksi on her future
New on “Inside Politics Sunday” on @cnn. 8aET/11aET
A dive into the critical Maine Senate race, a battle that could determine control of the Senate.
Headed to Portland and spoke with Gov. Mills - and also spoke with Graham Platner and Sen Collins.
A look at their vulnerabilities
Here’s a preview:
GOP Sen. Thom Tillis, who has called on Trump to fire Secretary Noem and senior adviser Stephen Miller, on Trump calling him a “loser.”
“I am thrilled about that. That makes me qualified to be homeland security secretary and senior adviser to the president.”
News on Inside Politics Sunday: 8aET/11aET
— New CNN poll: Which party has edge in race for House?
— Escalating tensions over Greenland, Europeans call emergency meeting
— Trump, MN and Insurrection Act
— DSCC Chair Gillibrand on battle for Senate
— Bill Cassidy’s job in peril
— Trump’s new pardons
It’s been (shall we say) an eventful year on Capitol Hill. Here’s a taste of it — when members in both parties don’t answer questions, which often are the most revealing moments.
Lot of criticism from Rs on Trump attacking Rob Reiner in aftermath of his alleged murder.
“Classless,” Bacon said.
“Very disappointing,” Davidson said.
Kiley: “extremely distasteful”
Kennedy: “I think President Trump should have said nothing.”
GOP leaders have steered clear
Is Trump losing his grip on GOP after Indiana Rs delivered him a major rebuke amid his furious pressure campaign to gerrymander House district lines?
“Not at all,” Speaker Johnson tells me, denying it was even a pressure campaign
GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick sounds the alarm on health care, Ukraine, and GOP’s affordability agenda.
He’s one of 3 Rs in a Harris district.
On health care, he says of Rs: “They have never offered a better alternative.”
More Sunday on “Inside Politics Sunday” on @cnn. 8aET/11aET
New — Wesley Hunt and his plans to shake up race for Cornyn seat.
R leaders had hoped Hunt would bow out before filing deadline, but he tells us he “absolutely” will file this week.
Increases chances of costly runoff
All sides wooing Trump, who is staying out for now
www.cnn.com/2025/11/23/p...
The speaker later told reporters: “The words that the president chose are not the ones that I would use.”
"Obviously, I don't think that this is...these are crimes punishable by death or any of that.”
He went on to criticize the Dems’ comments.
Asked Speaker Johnson about Trump’s post about Dems’ ‘seditious behavior’ and about that being ‘punishable by death,” Speaker Johnson takes no issue with Trump’s statements and criticizes Democrats’ rhetoric as “wildly inappropriate.”
NEW from me and @mkraju.bsky.social: How Schumer is reacting to the trouble he knows he’s facing in DC as leader and back home in New York when he’s up in 2028.
“It’s his last term, and he may be the only one on Earth unaware of it,” one House Dem from NY told me. www.cnn.com/2025/11/16/p...
Dem Sen. Andy Kim to me after Senate vote: “What just happened in the Senate chamber was an absolute disgrace. I can't stress it enough,” saying it’s “very profoundly disturbing” to see bill passed in chamber where McCain voted to block repeal. “I'm just really gutted right now.”
New — @InsidePolitics 8aET/11aET @cnn.com
- Intense final weekend before NJ/Va/NYC elections
- What early voting says
- Live intvw w GOP Rep. Van Drew as shutdown set to be longest ever
- Boat strikes in Caribbean and Trump’s military actions
— The feud over making Daylight Saving Time permanent
Plan B is Plan A, Thune says, as shutdown poised to be the second longest in history and likely to go much longer
New — @insidepolitics: 8aET/11aET: @cnn
- Trump v. IL Dems as tensions boil in Chicago
- Shutdown news: Which side will blink first?
- Gaza talks: Live report from Israel
- SCOTUS: Momentous term set to begin.
The current state of shutdown politics
New @insidepolitics 8aET/11aET
-Trump hasn’t spoken with Schumer since Jan. 20 and hasn’t ever met with Jeffries. On Monday’s meeting ahead of shutdown
-Trump retribution tour latest
-My intvw with Rep Seth Moulton weighing a big primary challenge
-New CNN polling on swing voters
New — Inside Politics Sunday 8aET, 11aET @cnn
— Mamdani and Dem divide
— ICE raids
— Trump’s economy
— New reporting on Epstein fight and Trump’s targeting of Massie
— Live interview with Baltimore’s mayor on Trump’s threats to send in troops
— Battle in Congress to set NIL rules on college sports
New — @insidepolitics 8aET/11aET: @CNN
— Trump’s plans to expand military in US cities
— John Bolton latest
— Firing officials to stamp out dissent
— Interview with Dem vying to take on Susan Collins in marquee race
— Which party has edge in gerrymandering war
— Newsom’s strategy
New — @InsidePolitics 8aET and 11aET
— Trump-Putin as world watches
— My interview with Rep. Zoe Lofgren, leading Dem charge to redraw House maps and knock off 5 California Rs
— RFK Jr’s vaccine moves and the commitments he made to Sen. Bill Cassidy
What Sen. Cory Booker told me about his party.
More at 8aET and 11aET on CNN’s “Inside Politics Sunday”
www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8kuCRya/
My interview with Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the GOP nominee for #vagov
- On why Trump hasn’t endorsed her
- Her position on DOGE cuts to federal workforce
- On how she’d handle abortion as governor
www.cnn.com/2025/08/01/p...
New on “Inside Politics Sunday:” 8aET and 11aET on @CNN
The batttle for the House and new reporting on the Dem counterattack as Trump pushes to redraw TX lines to gain five GOP seats in the midterms.
“They’re trying to cheat to win,” Jeffries says of GOP.
More tomorrow:
When Senate passed big bill, Lisa Murkowski said: “This bill needs more work across chambers and is not ready for the president’s desk.” But House jammed it through.
Asked her if it was naive to think House would change it
“It was not naive to suggest that it could have happened.”
