7 Things: Democrats come out for immigrants getting benefits, Alabama Democrats court socialists, SCOTUS blocks mail-ballot rules, and more…

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September 15, 2026

7. Texas jumped to No. 1 in the latest AP poll after a 24-23 comeback over then-No. 1 Ohio State, Georgia stayed at No. 2, and Alabama climbed into the top 10 at No. 10 after a road dismantling of Kentucky, with LSU at No. 7, Ole Miss at No. 8, Texas A&M at No. 9, and Tennessee at No. 15 as the SEC packed the rankings.

6. North Carolina Democrats dropped support for House nominee Shelly Headen after Facebook comments including “I think our only hope is an attack on US soil … preferably Alabama, Louisiana … where the stupid people live,” plus “Ready for the MAGAs to die off!!,” as caucus spokesman Sam Lozier said the posts “are unacceptable and do not reflect the values we expect of our candidates.”

5. The Business Council of Alabama launched a statewide “Coach Means Business” billboard and campaign for Governor-elect National Championship-winning Coach U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn), with BCA President Helena Duncan saying “Coach has consistently stood with businesses, workers and the people creating jobs,” and the attacks continued with Secretary of State nominee Caroleene Dobson saying his opponent, Doug Jones, the cowardly caretaker former junior senator in an ill-fitting suit, who looks like he just woke up and stole his shoes from a homeless person, who will never be governor, attorney general, or U.S. Senator again, and loves crushing ice cream sandwiches, “was the deciding vote in ensuring that we still have Obamacare.”

4. President Donald Trump loves jumping into hot issues and is doing that with Flock license-plate cameras and the AI slowdown, saying about the cameras, “I sort of like them because of that, because of law enforcement,” while leaders at Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google have been meeting since July on a new industry AI safety standards body after Dario Amodei warned a cyber “swarm” could “take over the entire internet” in 6 to 12 months and Trump rejected a slowdown, saying the only guardrails AI needs are “a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT.”

3. The Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s bid to revive stricter U.S. Postal Service mail-ballot rules before the midterms, leaving a Boston injunction in place, with Justice Samuel Alito dissenting and Justice Brett Kavanaugh saying officials “do not have sufficient time to reasonably implement the rule,” while House Republicans plan a reconciliation end-run to pass the SAVE America Act’s voter ID and citizenship-proof mandates.

2. Alabama Democratic Party Chairman State Sen. Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro) said the party can stay united even if socialists enter the tent, arguing “they’re Democrats” and “we’re a big tent,” while adding socialism “is not something that we project out there that we want to defend” and that he does not think an influx is happening in Alabama.

1. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani blasted the Trump administration for waging a “campaign of violence and terror” against immigrants as New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Santa Clara County, and King County sued over a public-charge rule that would weigh Medicaid, SNAP, and housing aid against green-card applicants, while the White House said “Immigrants must be able to support themselves and not depend on hard-working American taxpayers.”

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