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On Politics

Wed Sep 2 2026

Zachary Schermele | Congressional Correspondent

@zachschermele

Hello, readers. Welcome back to On Politics. Zach Schermele here, USA TODAY's congressional correspondent. It's Wednesday, and House Democratic leadership is vowing consequences for a pair of members who defied the party yesterday. More on that later.

The left's AI litmus test

As grassroots backlash to data centers becomes more of a central political issue in the midterms, there's a moratorium conundrum on the left . While covering a Senate campaign event last month in north-central Montana, I watched it play out in real time.

Seth Bodnar — a Democrat-like independent and former college president running a longshot race to replace longtime Republican Sen. Steve Daines — planned to mostly talk about military issues. But voters repeatedly asked him about his stance on AI infrastructure. At one point, Jennifer Yoder, a local nurse, questioned why he wouldn't support a broad data center moratorium. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, for instance, implemented a temporary, one-year such ban in the Empire State in July. Other states and localities have followed suit. Bodnar argued that guardrails, rather than all-out construction prohibitions, would be more "smart, sensible policy."

Independent U.S. Senate candidate Seth Bodnar, running to replace Republican Steve Daines, is seen at a campaign event in Great Falls, Montana, in August.

Zach Schermele

After the event, Yoder told me she planned to vote for a moratorium-supporting Democrat instead of Bodner.

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A bad sign for House Dems

House Democratic leaders are still fuming at two of their members for throwing Republicans a legislative lifeline. Yesterday, Maine Rep. Jared Golden and Washington Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez crossed the aisle to support a procedural measure and salvage Speaker Mike Johnson's control of the floor agenda this week as he struggled to wrangle conservative holdouts. The defiance from the coastal pair was chiefly related to passing a Golden-introduced bill delaying new federal whale-protection regulations. In a statement, Golden said he "paved the way for a vote on (his) bill to protect Maine lobstermen from costly, burdensome new regulations."

"My constituents don’t care about the team sports of congressional procedure," he said. Yet House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries didn't see it that way. In a joint statement with other top Democrats, he accused the duo of committing a "significant breach of trust" that "necessitates a serious response."

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) arrives for a vote series at the U.S. Capitol on September 25, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Anna Moneymaker, Getty Images

How much of an example could be made of their disobedience? Well, Golden is departing Congress this year. However, party leadership determines committee assignments — and Gluesenkamp Perez serves on a powerful one: appropriations.

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House punishes Chuck Edwards

In more House news, the chamber issued a rare bipartisan rebuke yesterday of Rep. Chuck Edwards, formally condemning the Republican lawmaker after a GOP-led ethics panel accused him of a yearslong pattern of inappropriate behavior toward two young female staffers. Lawmakers voted 413-2 last night to censure the North Carolina congressman. Only Edwards himself and Rep. Ralph Norman, R-South Carolina, opposed the resolution. Though it was only symbolic, the official reprimand was an embarrassing moment.

Reach me by email at zschermele@usatoday.com.