National
The dust continues to settle after the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
The suspect in custody is twenty-two-year-old Tyler James Robinson, who was turned in by his father. He was held without bail and made his first court appearance on Tuesday. The FBI has said that DNA found on the towel wrapping the suspected rifle matches that of Robinson’s.
President Donald Trump (R-FL) (pictured below) posthumously awarded Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
A motive for Robinson is still unclear, as some say he grew up in a conservative Utah household but held more liberal ideologies.
The event has captured the world, with millions rallying and holding vigils across the U.S., Europe, and even Russia. Turning Point USA, the organization Kirk founded in 2018, has, according to reports, received over 32,000 inquiries in the two days following Kirk’s assassination to start new campus chapters. The organization currently has 900 official college chapters and around 1,200 high school chapters.
Meanwhile, in political news, a vacant U.S. House seat was filled last Tuesday.
The late Congressman Gerry Connolly (D, VA-11) passed away in May, leaving the Northern Virginia seat vacant. As of 2023, the suburban Washington district had one of the highest median incomes in the nation at $150,000. Connolly was first elected in 2008 and won his 2024 re-election by over thirty points.
In the 1990s and until Connolly’s 2008 election, the district was solidly Republican. Connolly flipped the open seat that year by a little over ten points. He won a razor-thin re-election in the 2010 red tsunami, but began winning big in 2016, the first time he ran unopposed.
The seat was filled last week by member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors James Walkinshaw (D), who was elected with almost 75% of the vote to Stewart Whitson’s (R) 25%.
The result is considered a slight overperformance for Democrats. Walkinshaw outran Connolly’s 2024 margin by about eight points.
The result also restores Democrats’ House caucus slightly. Two of the three remaining vacancies were opened by Democrats who passed away. Both Congressman Sylvester Turner (D, TX-18) and Raul Grijalva (D, AZ-07) left behind solidly-blue districts. VA-11 was no exception and Republicans were not considered at all likely to flip it.
The House quorum now rests at 219R-213D.
On the 2026 campaign trail, the GOP has landed a top recruit to replace Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) and has arguably given the party a leg up in retaining a Senate seat that could develop into a competitive race.
Congresswoman Ashley Hinson (R, IA-01) has declared her candidacy for the open Hawkeye State seat. Hinson flipped IA-01 red in 2020, ousting freshman Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer (D) and whittling down the Democratic majority against all expectations that year. Hinson was re-elected by a comfortable nine-point margin in 2022 and handily re-elected in 2024 by a sixteen-point margin. The seat covers the northeastern region of Iowa and includes Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, and Dubuque.
Hinson, 42, represents a possible lift in the floor of conceivable support to defend Iowa’s Senate seat next year. Republicans are all but poised to retain their control of the upper chamber by virtue of fundamentals at hand, but keeping their majority workable means mitigating losses as much as possible.
Iowa, while a markedly redder state now than it ever has been in the modern era, still has a quirky brand of politics, one in which Democrats staging an upset there isn’t entirely off the table.
State
Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY), after much reticence on the subject, has endorsed Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani (D-Astoria) (pictured below) for New York City Mayor.
The move comes after months of Democratic grappling over whether the self-proclaimed socialist is the right choice to lead the Big Apple out of a field of four major candidates.
“We’ve had our disagreements. But in our conversations, I heard a leader who shares my commitment to a New York where children can grow up safe in their neighborhoods and where opportunity is within reach for every family,” said Hochul in a New York Times op-ed. “I heard a leader who is focused on making New York City affordable — a goal I enthusiastically support.”
Hochul said that she shared her priorities with the Assemblyman, “making it very clear” that the NYPD should have “every resource to keep our streets and subways safe.” Hochul wrote that Mamdani agrees. The governor mentioned jointly combatting the rise of antisemitism, keeping and attracting businesses to NYC, and lowering income taxes for middle-class families and making school meals for free for all students – all points on which the two agree.
“I didn’t leave my conversations with Mr. Mamdani aligned with him on every issue,” said Hochul in her op-ed. “But I am confident that he has the courage, urgency and optimism New York City needs to lead it through the challenges of this moment.”
Mamdani thanked Hochul for her endorsement on X.
“I’m grateful for the Governor’s support in unifying our party, her resolve in standing up to Trump, and her focus on making New York affordable. I look forward to the great work we will accomplish together,” he wrote.
President Trump has called the endorsement “shocking.”
“This is a rather shocking development, and a very bad one for New York City. How can such a thing happen?” wrote Trump on Truth Social. “Washington will be watching this situation very closely. No reason to be sending good money after bad!”
Hochul has responded by saying that by Trump “inserting himself into our local election, trying to put his thumb on the scale, and clearing the field for his designated choice [for mayor] put me over the top” to endorse Mamdani,” according to ABC 7. Hochul’s op-ed also speaks of joining with Mamdani to “stand up and fight back against Mr. Trump.”
Meanwhile, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R, NY-21), who has all but announced her candidacy against Hochul in next year’s gubernatorial election, has slammed Hochul over her endorsement.
“Well, Kathy Hochul is the worst governor in America, and it was only a matter of time before she bent the knee for this raging antisemite communist,” said Stefanik during an appearance on Fox and Friends. “The reality is Kathy Hochul owns Zohran Mamdani’s position to defund the police, to abolish our law enforcement, to abolish prisons, to abolish private health care insurance, to decriminalize sex workers. It is outrageous.”
Mamdani continues to have a healthy lead in the polls, with former Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-Sutton Place) trailing behind by double-digits in second. Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn) and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa (R-Upper East Side) are vying for third. Cuomo lost the June primary to Mamdani and ran instead as an Independent. Adams did not seek his party’s line this year and is also running as an Independent.
The latest poll is from Quinnipiac University, dated September 4-8, and polled 967 likely NYC voters. Mamdani leads +22, with 45% of the vote to Cuomo’s 23%. Sliwa clocks in at third with 15% to Adams’ 12%.
Local
The Suffolk County Water Authority (SCWA) has rescinded its Stage 1 Water Alert for all customers.
The alert was issued on July 23 due to the high temperatures and drought that drove water demand to “elevated levels”, according to the SCWA in a statement. SCWA water storage tanks reached low levels during the period, which raised concerns of “maintaining adequate water pressure, including pressure needed to support fire response.”
Customers reportedly did their part by limiting lawn irrigation and other nonessential uses.
“We are grateful to our customers for taking this alert seriously and reducing their water usage,” said SCWA Chairman Charlie Lefkowitz (pictured above). “This collective effort ensured that we could maintain system reliability during one of the most challenging stretches of the summer.”
The SCWA continues to remind residents of an odd/even lawn watering schedule, wherein homes with odd-numbered street addresses should water only on odd-numbered calendar days, and the even-numbered addresses should water only on even-numbered calendar days. The SCWA is monitoring water levels closely, as last year, they maintained summer-like pumping levels into October.
The State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) placed Suffolk County on drought watch in August.
