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February 25, 2026
Democrats Celebrate Three Election Wins During State of the Union
(Newsweek) Democrats celebrated election wins Tuesday night, as President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address. In Pennsylvania, the party held on to its slim majority in the state House of Representatives following a special election, while in Maine it held a state House seat. The victories continue a trend of Democrat wins at different levels of government across the U.S. in recent months.
Go to discussionDemocrats to probe DOJ's alleged withholding of Epstein files on Trump
(Politico) Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are investigating whether the Justice Department purposefully withheld materials in its release of the Jeffrey Epstein files that included sexual assault allegations against President Donald Trump. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the panel, said in a statement Tuesday that such an act by DOJ would violate the law Congress passed in November, which required the administration to publicly release all files in its possession related to the federal case against Epstein, a convicted sex offender.
Go to discussionIn Democratic response, Spanberger accuses Trump of lying in State of the Union
(Scripps) Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivered the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, accusing the president of increasing costs for families, undermining public safety and enriching himself while failing to address Americans’ concerns. “We did not hear the truth from our president,” Spanberger said after Trump's nearly two-hour speech in which he touted the work his administration has done. Spanberger argued that Trump’s trade policies have raised prices for American families. “Costs are too high,” she said.
Go to discussionDemocrats hold counter-events during Trump's State of the Union address: 'These are not normal times'
(The Guardian) Democrats held competing events on the evening of the State of the Union address across Washington where lawmakers boycotted the official event and protesters said they wanted to show the growing opposition to Donald Trump’s increasingly unpopular agenda. On the National Mall, hundreds of people, including about 30 Democratic members of Congress, gathered for the “People’s State of the Union”, a counter-rally. Attendees held signs that read “No Money for ICE” and “Healthcare Not Warfare”. One person on stage carried a large poster with the photographs of the more than 30 people who had been killed in dealings with ICE since Trump took office in 2025.
Go to discussionAround half of Democrats skip Trump State of the Union
(Axios) Roughly half of House and Senate Democrats skipped President Trump's State of the Union address on Tuesday, an Axios headcount found. The massive boycott represents a shift in American political norms as the party's grassroots have pressed lawmakers to be more partisan and less conciliatory towards Republicans. Axios counted 20 Senate Democrats and just under 110 House Democrats in the chamber at the start of Trump's speech. That is roughly half of each party's chamber Democratic caucus.
Go to discussion'The Real State Of The Union': Jimmy Kimmel Gives 'Nutjob' Trump A Sharp Reality Check
(Huff Post) Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday delayed his show’s taping so that he could respond directly to President Donald Trump after the State of the Union speech. But Trump went on for so long ― at 1 hour and 48 minutes it was the longest address to Congress ever ― that Kimmel had to start his show with the address still in progress. “The speech went on so long, Kristi Noem’s dog shot itself,” Kimmel cracked.
Go to discussionFact check: Trump makes false claims about the economy, elections and crime in State of the Union
(CNN) President Donald Trump made numerous false or misleading claims in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night. Many of them were long-debunked falsehoods familiar from his rallies, interviews and social media posts. These include various lies disparaging the fairness of US elections, his false claim that he ended wars that were never actually wars or never actually ended, and his fictional “$18 trillion” figure for supposed investment in the US over the past year. The subject on which he was most frequently inaccurate was the economy.
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Trump-appointed judge finds ICE in contempt for violating court order by shipping man out of state
(Law & Crime) A Minnesota federal judge on Monday found the Trump administration in contempt after a Mexican man was unlawfully detained, flown hundreds of miles away from home, and released in a Texas desert city without any way to return home — all in violation of a court order. The eight-page opinion and order offers a permutation of case law native to the second administration of President Donald Trump. Such cases, which have quickly established precedent, mostly involve district court judges shutting down controversial efforts to reshape how the government classifies immigrants in order to detain them.
Go to discussionSenate Democrats blast Trump for failing to use sanctions to pressure Russia
(Reuters) Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday blasted President Donald Trump for failing to ramp up sanctions to pressure Russia to end its four-year war in Ukraine, noting the European Union had designated nearly 900 targets in 2025 compared to just two for the U.S. In an analysis released on the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion, Democratic staff on the Republican-led panel identified hundreds of potential targets they said Trump could have imposed sanctions on during his first year in office.
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