A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling that in nearly half of U.S. states halted President Donald Trump’s to create a federal list of eligible voters and limit delivery of mail ballots only to people on that list.

The ruling Saturday by judges of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Trump administration’s effort to move forward with the mail-in voting restrictions in 23 U.S. states ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Trump issued an executive order in March for the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the commissioner of the Social Security Administration to create a “state citizenship list” of eligible voters. It also ordered the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to people on that list.

While Trump touted the proposed changes as safeguards to keep non-U.S. citizens from voting, state election officials argued they were ripe for abuse and could cause chaos.

Democratic officials in 23 states and the District of Columbia challenged Trump’s order in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Boston. They argued that Trump’s order was unconstitutional because the states and Congress, not the president, have the authority to set election rules.

U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, agreed and from being implemented for the Nov. 3 elections — but only in the states that have sued.

The Justice Department said in an emailed statement Sunday that it is “reviewing all options” regarding its next legal steps and is confident that Trump’s executive order will ultimately be upheld.

Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia.

The ���ɲ����������ٳ�� a $268,428 grant in the fall of 2024. The funds were slated for a project teaming up CU media and communication students with information science students to create educational social media content about artificial intelligence.

Scholars well-versed in communication would learn more about the complicated nature of AI. Information science students would learn how to become better science communicators. And social media users would benefit from accurate, compelling information.

That was the goal.

But Fiesler was among the legion of academics whose research was . The grant terminations stalled or stopped progress on scholarship that the Trump administration deemed out of alignment with its mission — largely, research surrounding , misinformation and climate change.

“The project just died, and my assumption is the reason it got cut was the abstract had the word ‘misinformation’ in it,” Fiesler said. The Trump administration focused on canceling grants across the country , stating this kind of research could infringe on protected speech rights.

In Colorado, more than $375 million in grants from the National Science Foundation, , and the were disrupted — either terminated and reinstated through , or axed altogether — in the first 18 months of the Trump administration, according to the .

Some of the terminated grant money has since been reinstated, and some , but Colorado academics say the damage is far-reaching beyond the individual grants. When federal money dried up, some schools let researchers go. Others chose to leave, unwilling or unable to deal with the months of financial uncertainty.

The loss in funding hurt researchers’ careers and stunted young scholars from entering the profession, experts say. But, in the bigger picture, in rescinded research dollars across the nation blighted scientific progress and innovation for years to come, academics said.

“The U.S. has for a long time been a respected source of innovation in knowledge generation, and that����ap what we’re losing,” said Lynn Schofield Clark, a professor at the who lost a $150,000 grant last year. “That’s something we can’t get back.”

Getting ‘DOGE’d’

More than 170 grants were disrupted in 2025 among Colorado research institutions CU Boulder, DU, Colorado State University and the Colorado School of Mines, according to those schools.

At CU Boulder, a $1.2 million National Science Foundation grant intended to reduce racially biased beliefs through teaching human genetics in high school biology was axed. At CSU, a $6 million grant studying the growth of artificial joints to help osteoarthritis patients met its demise. At Mines, $105,000 toward increasing degree completion for underrepresented students in STEM was terminated.

DU’s Schofield Clark, a journalism and media studies professor, lost a grant from the for her work incorporating local Chicano history into common curriculum classes at the university, so all students had the chance to learn Chicano history in general education courses.

“We wanted to see if we could look into resources and generate new resources and teach our students by enabling them to have direct contact with the cultural arts scene, the history scene and hear from people who had an impact on shaping this area,” Schofield Clark said.

The program, which reached about 350 DU students, kicked off in the spring semester of 2023. The grant funding allowed Schofield Clark to take DU students to local Chicano festivals, the History Colorado museum and music events, and to bring Chicano community members to campus to tell their stories directly to students.

It was going so well that last year, Schofield Clark and two of her graduate students went to a Chicano studies academic conference to present their work. At the conference, they learned their grant funding had been “DOGE’D,” as Schofield Clark and other researchers called the federal funding terminations.

The , or DOGE, was one of Trump’s first initiatives during his second term, initially spearheaded by Elon Musk. The initiative, which , was “maximizing governmental efficiency and productivity.” The department is responsible for mass federal layoffs and the termination of more than 15,800 federal grants across agencies totaling about $49 billion, .

Many of those terminations targeted grants associated with marginalized populations — like researching how a new drug might affect women or how to better recruit and retain students of color in science programs.

Schofield Clark’s vision of bringing the Chicano community to DU students put a target on her back. The professor recalled receiving a termination letter from the federal government with a “very insulting” tone similar to “we are rescinding this grant and giving it to people who are more worthy,” she said.

“That definitely derailed things,” Schofield Clark said.

The program slowed. The university funded what it could, Schofield Clark said.

At DU, 21 grants were terminated under the Trump administration, though all but five have been reinstated, said Corinne Lengsfeld, the university’s vice provost for research and graduate education.

Still, Lengsfeld said research expenditures at the university have decreased “significantly,” about 20%, during Trump’s second term, as faculty continue to face long delays in federal grant approvals and ongoing uncertainty.

“Because of all this, we are not going to be a top, intellectually rich country soon, and that is concerning,” Lengsfeld said.

Schofield Clark’s grant could now be reinstated.

After losing in court following the agency’s termination of more than 1,400 grants, the National Endowment for the Humanities started offering terminated grant recipients the

Schofield Clark hopes to receive the rest of her funding and continue the work. She wants to share her history curriculum with other universities so they can implement similar programs — a step she wasn’t able to take after the funding loss.

While her own funding loss was frustrating, Schofield Clark noted broader implications. Within the past decade, she said, researchers have contended with the reality that so much academic scholarship has advanced through a white, Western lens.

“We’ve had a lot of knowledge gaps, and we need to address those because that����ap part of who we are as a country,” Schofield Clark said. “This was a major disruption and a major slap in the face for a large population of people who have every right to have more knowledge about their history and health and everything.”

‘The disruptions have been real’

Full grant terminations have not been the only hit to academic research under the Trump administration.

Rescinded grants that ultimately were reinstated through court challenges left universities in limbo long enough to either force them to lay off researchers or cause frustrated faculty to quit or go elsewhere, said Cass Moseley, CSU’s vice president for research.

“A lot of faculty are trying to either pivot to slightly adjacent work that����ap maybe more fundable for the federal government or seeking non-federal sources, although we know non-federal funding cannot replace federal money,” Moseley said.

CSU saw nearly 70 grants disrupted since last year, totaling more than $84 million, according to university tracking. Many of those were climate-related or tied to diversity, equity, and inclusion, Moseley said.

Even so, Moseley said there are huge delays in grant approvals and more complicated processes to apply for and receive federal funding, straining a nation that was once a thriving research enterprise.

“The disruptions have been real,” said Massimo Ruzzene, CU Boulder’s vice chancellor of research and innovation.

Ruzzene is worried about the hit to workforce development. Young academics just starting their research careers were seeing their work halted by funding cuts before they even got started, Ruzzene said.

“This impacts the training of a new generation of scientists and scholars,” Ruzzene said.

Postdoctoral scholar Alice Taylor was thrilled to be hired to work on a DU project researching anti-authoritarian movements led by women and LGBTQ+ activists worldwide.

In April of 2025, the $486,000 National Science Foundation grant that funded Taylor’s position was terminated, and the emerging scholar was left scrambling to pay rent.

“There’s a reason why authoritarian regimes go after universities first,” said Taylor, who is now faculty at DU. “What����ap happened with Trump and DOGE is straight from authoritarian playbooks. Universities have the potential to stand up and be leaders and defend what universities are best at: freedom of speech, having robust faculty unions, high-quality, critical education.”

A new threat

The Trump administration is trying to assert even more control over academic research as the proposes — a framework governing how federal agencies administer funds.

Colorado academics, , spoke of the overhaul in cataclysmic terms, noting the proposed guidelines would politicize research and innovation in a way that would be hard to pull back.

The proposal would authorize federal agencies to change or cut awards based on shifting presidential priorities and take away existing appeals processes, academic experts said.

“Those terms and conditions reflect the president����ap agenda in some ways that are quite hard for universities,” Moseley said.

The ⁠Trump administration said the changes are intended to improve transparency, accountability and oversight for federal grants.

Meanwhile, the the “harmful” proposal would be “extremely disruptive to the lifesaving research that the federal government funds and oversees.”

These overarching observations about the federal government’s impact on life-saving, innovative, revolutionary academic research are what most concerned the Colorado academics who spoke to The Denver Post.

“The loss in funding, of course, will have immediate operational impacts for students and researchers,” Ruzzene said. “It will also have scientific impacts as researchers cannot do their work. It will have workforce impacts. There will be less innovation — less products, less patents, less industry partnerships. This erosion will be difficult and take a long time to rebuild. That will have an impact on our ability to be prosperous economically as a nation, to fund careers for our children, to have scientific progress.”

“While we are in challenging times, we need to keep focus on what we do best, which is creating knowledge and transferring that knowledge to our students,” Ruzzene said.

Martin, who is from Minnesota, gave brief comments during a news conference at Ball Arena, the only part of the three-day visit open to members of the media. The visit started Tuesday.

“The mayor has been working tirelessly to get this convention here,” he said of Mayor Mike Johnston. “They have rolled out the blue carpet, as I say, and it����ap been terrific.”

Denver is the third of five cities that Martin and the DNC team will visit on scouting trips before they decide which will host the 2028 convention. The other contenders are Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago. The winner will host the four-day convention in August 2028, bringing in tens of thousands of visitors and giving the city a national stage to show off its attractions.

Martin hinted that his team may also choose a host city for the 2032 convention.

“While we are here to tour and discuss the various logistical and administrative requirements for hosting the Democratic National Convention, we also seek a city that tells a story, that shares our values and will be a true partner with us,” he said.

Johnston led the press event, which also included comments from Gov. Jared Polis and Colorado Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib.

“This is a state (where) we’re successfully showing not only (that) Democrats win and continue to win, but we’re governing effectively,” Polis said. “We’re happy to share that with our colleagues … and many others from across the entire nation to make sure that more of the country can really look west for the future.”

Denver and Colorado officials have focused on highlighting the city’s transportation and logistical advantages during their pitch. They’ve also pointed to Democratic policy wins locally, including free kindergarten and preschool, decreases in street homelessness and improved public safety.

Johnston shared some details of the visit so far, including taking the DNC officials to the Colorado Avalanche’s playoff game Tuesday night — the team beat Martin’s home-state Minnesota Wild 5-2 — and singing karaoke at the Capitol Hill bar Charlie Brown’s.

During what he jokingly called his “closing argument” Wednesday, he called back to the last time Denver hosted the Democrats’ convention. That was in 2008, when then-Sen. Barack Obama accepted his nomination for president.

“This city and the ’08 convention made famous the idea of hope and change,” he said. “As we think about this coming convention, it is true that often hope inspires change. But it is more profoundly true that change drives hope.”

The DNC visit coincided with a heavy spring snowstorm that left several inches of snow over the city. The storm didn’t majorly impact the planned tour, though. City officials did have to pivot away from their plan to bring Martin and the rest of the team to a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, a spokesman said.

One of the key factors in the decision will be whether Denver bid leaders are able to sufficiently fundraise for the event. Johnston said the city has built out a “detailed financial plan” to raise the resources but that the process wouldn’t fully kick off until the city is actually named as the host.

The mayor also said the city hasn’t used any of its own resources in trying to bring the convention to the city. Instead, bid leaders have worked with a nonprofit that serves as the city’s tourism sales and marketing agency. It receives both private dollars and some tax dollars from the city’s lodging tax.

If he’s successful, it will mean 50,000 people will pour into Denver for four days in August of that year.

“It����ap kind of like four Super Bowls in a row,” Johnston said in an interview with Denver Post journalists in advance of the delegation’s site visit.

Throughout the visit, much of which could happen during a spring snowstorm, Denver city leaders will attempt to demonstrate the city’s logistical, financial and merriment potential.

Denver is the only one of five finalist cities that is located west of the Mississippi River. The other options are Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago. DNC leaders, including chair Ken Martin, have already visited Atlanta and Philadelphia.

Atlanta’s mayor recently called out most of the other bidding cities, saying, “Boston is history. Philadelphia is played out. Denver is nostalgia. Atlanta is now,” .

Johnston responded to that, saying: “Of all the disses, I thought ours was actually the best.” It refers to the city’s much-lauded hosting of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, where then-Sen. Barack Obama accepted his party’s nomination on his way to becoming the nation’s first Black president.

Denver’s plan is to focus on what the city has to offer instead of attacking the others, Johnston added. He did take a few jabs throughout the conversation, though.

“(Denver) is cool in the summertime and it����ap not 110 degrees in August, like it is in some other places that I won’t name,” he said.

Talking about some of the criteria the DNC will consider in the decision, he said: “It����ap very much like, you either have a 20,000-person arena or you don’t. Atlanta does not.”

The visit plan

During the site visit, Johnston and other city leaders will try to infuse “little moments of joy” while also showing off the city’s infrastructure. That will include visits to some of the city’s best restaurants and bars, along with a tour of Rockmount Ranch Wear in Lower Downtown.

If Denver wins the bid, the city plans to host excursions for the delegates in two years. While they’re in the city, visitors are likely to have downtime to explore the region. For their entertainment, Denver will offer things like craft beer tours, history courses on neighborhoods like Five Points and a trip to the city’s mountain parks, Johnston said.

Different bars would be dedicated to delegates from each state — including miniature versions of Denver’s big blue bear in front of each, with a painted flag from their state.

This week’s site visit won’t all be about bid leaders’ ideas for fun, though.

Johnston’s team will also have to show that hosting the convention in Denver will make things easier on the event planners.

After the representatives land at Denver International Airport, Denver officials will show them how to use the A-Line train to travel into the heart of the city — an option that didn’t exist in 2008. Once there, they will lead them on a short walk to some of the nearby hotels.

Johnston said that when he’s spoken to other delegates about past conventions, their biggest complaints have been mostly logistical, such as long commutes between venues. Ball Arena’s easy proximity to downtown is a strong suit of the bid.

Beyond logistical concerns, Denver’s bid team will talk about the city’s hotel offerings, space available for the convention, security options and parking spots. The city’s recent expansion of the Colorado Convention Center is also a major selling point, he said.

Another important focus will be the city’s fundraising capabilities, though officials haven’t cited a specific dollar figure they’re aiming for or disclosed their progress in securing commitments.

“I actually feel very confident about our path. … We are ahead of our projection for what we can raise,” Johnston said.

During the three-day site visit, which begins Tuesday, Denver bid leaders will showcase the city’s best features as they attempt to persuade the party officials to choose the city for the 2028 event, Mayor Mike Johnston’s office confirmed.

The city is facing off against Atlanta, Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia. Democratic National Committee leaders have begun visits to each of the cities to evaluate their logistical capabilities, including hotels and transportation infrastructure.

“The goal is to make sure that (DNC Chair) Ken Martin and the rest of the great team at the DNC — from landing to visiting sites to engaging with our community — can feel the energy and excitement that a delegate might feel in 2028,” said Shad Murib, the chair of the Colorado Democratic Party.

Murib added that local leaders will also try to convey their confidence in the city’s ability to host thousands of people.

In a news release in March, the DNC said its leadership, like Martin, and representatives from the party’s Technical Advisory Group would attend the site visits.

The party said those officials would consider factors such as the importance of “forging a strong partnership between the DNC and the host city,” the city’s shared Democratic values and the city’s ability to address challenges that could arise from the event.

Denver hosted the Democrats’ convention in 2008, when then-candidate Barack Obama accepted his presidential nomination in front of tens of thousands of people at Empower Field at Mile High, then called Invesco Field.

Last week, the . According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and Georgia Democratic Party Chair Charlie Bailey described their city as the “ultimate battleground” for winning back faith and trust from voters. They pointed to major downtown upgrades made ahead of the FIFA World Cup games that will be played there later this year.

Dickens also took shots at other finalists, including Denver, saying: “Boston is history. Philadelphia is played out. Denver is nostalgia. Atlanta is now,”

On Wednesday, the national Democrats .

The Denver Post reported in January that the city was making a bid for the event. In March, the DNC announced that Denver was among the five . Earlier this month, Johnston and U.S. Rep. Jason Crow were among Colorado Democrats who attended the DNC’s spring meeting in New Orleans to pitch the city’s credentials.

During the upcoming site visit, Denver leaders will likely try to demonstrate that the city is accessible, safe and vibrant.

The city earlier this year as part of the bid that touts Red Rocks Amphitheatre as well as the city’s professional sports teams, museums, outdoor access, breweries and restaurants. The video, narrated by Johnston, also highlights some of the city and state’s policy accomplishments, including decreases in street homelessness and crime, expanded affordable housing, universal preschool and abortion access.

Presidential nominating conventions, which happen every four years, are where Democratic and Republican party delegates formally select their presidential and vice presidential candidates. The event could bring a major economic boost to the city, which saw major budget cuts last year amid stagnating sales tax revenue.

The other cities have also hosted the event before, with Chicago doing so 12 times. The DNC was in Philadelphia in 2016, Boston in 2004 and Atlanta in 1988.

The national committee hasn’t said when it will announce its city selection, but the 2024 location was announced about a year and a half before the convention. The next Democratic convention is set for Aug. 7-10, 2028.

NEW YORK — The CEOs of the nation’s top airline companies, including American, Delta, Southwest and JetBlue, are imploring Congress to restore funding to the Department of Homeland Security and embrace a bipartisan solution to including airport security officers during the partial government shutdown.

“Once again, air travel is the political football amid another government shutdown,” the executives wrote in an to Congress that was published Sunday online and in The Washington Post.

The letter, which was also signed by the CEOs of the cargo companies UPS, FedEx and Atlas Air, said that Congress should pass the Aviation Funding Solvency Act and the Aviation Funding Stability Act, which would guarantee air traffic controllers are paid regardless of the government����ap funding status, as well as the Keep America Flying Act. That measure would offer the same protections to Transportation Security Administration officers tasked to provide security and to screen all travelers.

”It����ap difficult, if not impossible, to put food on the table, put gas in the car and pay rent when you are not getting paid,” the letter said.

The current partial shutdown affects only the Department of Homeland Security, which includes TSA. Democrats in Congress refused to fund the department over objections to its immigration enforcement tactics. The lapse marks the third shutdown in less than a year to leave TSA workers temporarily without pay — and once the government reopens, to have to wait for back pay.

Democratic lawmakers have said DHS won’t get funded until new restrictions are placed on federal immigration operations following the fatal shootings of and in Minneapolis earlier this year.

The CEOs noted that with spring break in full swing, FIFA’s World Cup 2026 approaching and celebrations for America’s 250th birthday throughout the year, the stakes are high. The letter said that U.S. airlines expect 171 million passengers this spring season.

As the latest drags on, there have been long security lines at a growing number of U.S airports.

The TSA and Homeland Security have consistently blamed Democrats for the long security lines.

Homeland Security posted on its X account last week that more than 300 TSA agents have quit since the start of the shutdown.

Dwayne Romero on Tuesday announced his candidacy for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District — which covers western and southern Colorado, including much of the Western Slope, the San Luis Valley and Pueblo. , a businessman from Old Snowmass, .

Both men aim to unseat freshman Republican U.S. Rep. , a Grand Junction attorney elected to the seat in 2024. In the Republican primary, Hurd faces Hope Scheppelman, a former Colorado Republican Party vice chair who’s now endorsed by President Donald Trump.

Romero, who now lives in Snowmass Village, moved to Colorado in 1997 after serving in the U.S. Army as a combat engineer, during which he was deployed in the Persian Gulf War. He lived in Carbondale for six years before moving to Aspen in 2003. He runs a real estate company in the Roaring Fork Valley called the Romero Group.

He previously served on the Aspen School District’s board, the Aspen City Council, and the boards of the Aspen Fire Protection District and the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority. He also spent a year as the state’s chief economic development director under then-Gov. John Hickenlooper.

Trump pulls back endorsement of U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd after he bucked president on tariff vote

He emphasized his military service in his announcement as well as his upbringing as the child of a single mom who relied on food stamps to make ends meet.

Kelloff's campaign points to his family's deep roots in western Colorado, which stretch back four generations. Kelloff co-founded Armada Skis and spent the majority of his career working for several large investment firms.

Both Kelloff and Romero pledged to push back against President Donald Trump's administration, including opposing budget cuts to social services.

"I'm running for Congress because Jeff Hurd and Donald Trump have taken too much," Romero .

In 2024, Hurd 50.8% to 45.8%. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report , which before Hurd was represented by U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, as "likely Republican" in this year's midterm election.

NEW YORK — The Transportation Security Administration said Sunday that its PreCheck program would remain operational despite an earlier announcement from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that the airport security service was being suspended during the partial government shutdown.

“As staffing constraints arise, TSA will evaluate on a case by case basis and adjust operations accordingly,” the agency said.

It was not immediately clear whether Global Entry, another airport service, would be affected. PreCheck and Global Entry are designed to help speed registered travelers through security lines, and suspensions would likely cause headaches and delays. Since starting in 2013, more than 20 million Americans are signed up for TSA PreCheck, according to the Department of Homeland Security, and millions of those Americans also have overlapping Global Entry memberships. Global Entry is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection program that allows pre-approved, low-risk travelers to use expedited kiosks when entering the United States from abroad.

The turmoil is tied to a partial government shutdown that began Feb. 14 after Democrats and the White House were unable to reach a deal on legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats have been demanding changes to immigration operations that are core to President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign.

The security disruptions come at a time where a major winter storm will hit the East Coast from Sunday into Monday. Nine out of ten flights going out of John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport and Boston Logan Airport have been cancelled for Monday.

Homeland Security previously said it was taking “emergency measures to preserve limited funds.” Among the steps listed were “ending Transportation Security Administration (TSA) PreCheck lanes and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Global Entry service, to refocus Department personnel on the majority of travelers.”

“We are glad that DHS has decided to keep PreCheck operational and avoid a crisis of its own making,” said Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association.

Before announcing the PreCheck shutdown, Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement Saturday night that “shutdowns have serious real world consequences.”

One group of fliers will definitely be affected, according to TSA.

“Courtesy escorts, such as those for Members of Congress, have been suspended to allow officers to focus on the mission of securing America’s skies,” the agency said.

Airlines for America, a trade group representing major carriers, said Saturday night that “it����ap past time for Congress to get to the table and get a deal done.” It also criticized the announcement by saying it was “issued with extremely short notice to travelers, giving them little time to plan accordingly.”

“A4A is deeply concerned that TSA PreCheck and Global Entry programs are being suspended and that the traveling public will be, once again, used as a political football amid another government shutdown,” the organization said.

Democrats on the House Committee on Homeland Security criticized Homeland Security handling of airport security after the initial announcement on Saturday night. They accused the administration of “kneecapping the programs that make travel smoother and secure.”

Sen. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, said Noem’s actions are part of an administration strategy to distract from other issues and shift responsibility.

“This administration is trying to weaponize our government, trying to make things intentionally more difficult for the American people as a political leverage,” he told CNN on Sunday. “And the American people see that.”

Trump has instead argued for protecting existing owners who have watched the values of their homes climb. It����ap a position that flies in the face of what many economists, the real estate industry, local officials and apartment dwellers say is needed to fix a big chunk of .

“I don’t want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people that own their homes, and they can be assured that����ap what����ap going to happen,” Trump told his Cabinet on Jan. 29.

That approach could bolster the Republican president����ap standing with older voters, a group that over time has been more likely to vote in . Those races in November will determine whether Trump’s party can retain control of the House and Senate.

“You have a lot of people that have become wealthy in the last year because their house value has gone up,” Trump said. “And you know, when you get the housing — when you make it too easy and too cheap to buy houses — those values come down.”

But by catering to older baby boomers on housing, Trump risks alienating the younger voters who expanded his coalition in 2024 and helped him win a second term, and he could wade into a “generational war” in the midterms, said Brent Buchanan, whose polling firm Cygnal advises Republicans.

“The under-40 group is the most important right now — they are the ones who put Trump in the White House,” Buchanan said. “Their desire to show up in an election or not is going to make the difference in this election. If they feel that Donald Trump is taking care of the boomers at their expense, that is going to hurt Republicans.”

The logic in appealing to older voters

In the 2024 presidential election, 81% of Trump’s voters were homeowners, according to AP VoteCast data. This means many of his supporters already have mortgages with low rates or own their homes outright, possibly blunting the importance of housing as an issue.

Older voters tend to show up to vote more than do younger people, said Oscar Pocasangre, a senior data analyst at liberal think tank New America who has studied the age divide in U.S. politics. “However, appealing to older voters may prove to be a misguided policy if what����ap needed to win is to expand the voting base,” Pocasangre said.

Before the 2026 elections, as a top concern, and that is especially true for younger voters with regard to housing.

Booker Lightman, 30, a software engineer in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, who identifies politically as a libertarian Republican, said the shortage of housing has been a leading problem in his state.

Lightman just closed on a home last month, and while he and his wife, Alice, were able to manage the cost, he said that the lack of construction is pushing people out of Colorado. “There’s just not enough housing supply,” he said.

Shay Hata, a real estate agent in the Chicago and Denver areas, said she handles about 100 to 150 transactions a year. But she sees the potential for a lot more. “We have a lack of inventory to the point where most properties, particularly in the suburbs, are getting between five and 20 offers,” she said, describing what she sees in the Chicago area.

New construction could help more people afford homes because in some cases, buyers qualify for discounted mortgage rates from the builders’ preferred lenders, Hata said. She called the current situation “very discouraging for buyers because they’re getting priced out of the market.”

But pending construction has fallen under Trump. Permits to build single-family homes have plunged 9.4% over the past 12 months in October, the most recent month available, to an annual rate of 876,000, according to the .

Trump’s other ideas to help people buy houses

Trump has not always been against increasing housing supply.

During the , Trump’s team said he would create tax breaks for homebuyers, trim regulations on construction, open up federal land for housing developments and make monthly payments more manageable by cutting mortgage rates. Advisers also claimed that housing stock would open up because of Trump’s push for mass deportations of people who were in the United States illegally.

As recently as October, Trump urged builders to ramp up construction. “They’re sitting on 2 Million empty lots, A RECORD. I’m asking Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to get Big Homebuilders going and, by so doing, help restore the American Dream!” Trump posted on social media, referring to the government-backed lenders.

But more recently, he has been unequivocal on not wanting to pursue policies that would boost supply and lower prices.

In office, Trump has so far focused his on lobbying the Federal Reserve to cut its benchmark interest rates. He believes that would make mortgages more affordable, although critics say it could spur higher inflation. Trump announced that the two mortgage companies, which are under government conservatorship, would buy at least in a bid to reduce rates.

Trump also wants Congress to . But he has rejected suggestions for expanding rules to let buyers use 401(k) retirement accounts for down payments, telling reporters that he did not want people to take their money out of the stock market because it was doing so well.

There are signs that lawmakers in both parties see the benefits of taking steps to add houses before this year’s elections. There are efforts in the Senate and House to jump-start construction through the use of incentives to change zoning restrictions, among other policies.

One of the underlying challenges on affordability is that home prices have been generally rising faster than incomes for several years.

This makes it harder to save for down payments or upgrade to a nicer home. It also means that the places where people live increasingly double as their key financial asset, one that leaves many families looking moneyed on paper even if they are struggling with monthly bills.

There is another risk for Trump. If the economy grows this year, as he has promised, that could push up demand for houses — as well as their prices — making the affordability problem more pronounced, said Edward Pinto, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a center-right think tank.

Pinto said construction of single-family homes would have to rise by 50% to 100% during the next three years for average home price gains to be flat — a sign, he said, that Trump’s fears about falling home prices were probably unwarranted.

“It����ap very hard to crater home prices,” Pinto said.

The meeting, part of the National Governors Association winter gathering, will only include Republican governors, according to multiple people familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss scheduling that was not public.

Trump is still planning to hold a separate, bipartisan dinner for governors and their spouses at the White House as part of the NGA activities, but he personally blocked invites for two Democrats: Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland and Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado.

The president told staff members that he only wanted Republican governors for the meeting, which includes Cabinet secretaries.

The NGA alerted Democratic governors of the change by email Friday morning.

“The president has decided to only invite Republican governors,” the email said, according to a copy obtained by The New York Times. “N.G.A. leadership has decided that this will not be an N.G.A. event, and no N.G.A. resources will be used to support transportation for this activity.”

Brandon Tatum, the acting chief executive of the NGA, said in a statement that the organization was “disappointed” in the administration’s decision.

“To disinvite individual governors to the White House sessions undermines an important opportunity for federal-state collaboration,” he said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It is unclear why Trump decided not to invite Polis and Moore, who is the vice chair of the organization.

Trump has sparred with Polis in recent months, particularly over the Colorado governor’s refusal to pardon Tina Peters, a convicted election denier and supporter of Trump’s. Last December, the president vetoed a pipeline project to provide clean drinking water to Colorado’s eastern plains, and he said Polis should “rot in Hell.”

“Governor Polis has always been willing to work with anyone across the political spectrum who wants to help work on the hardest problems facing Colorado and America, regardless of party or who occupies the White House,” Shelby Wieman, a spokesperson for Polis, said in a statement.

Moore has criticized the president over a range of issues, including his deployment of the National Guard to deter crime, and his immigration policies. A spokesperson for Moore said the governor had not been told why he would not be invited, and noted that Moore was recently at the White House for discussions on energy policy.

“Governor Moore is disappointed to be excluded but is undeterred from his work to serve the people of Maryland and as vice chair of the National Governors Association,” David Turner, the spokesperson, said in a statement.

But some of Trump’s most prominent critics, including Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois, are expected to be invited to the dinner. It is unclear whether they — or any other Democratic governors — will attend.

State leaders gather in Washington every winter for the annual NGA meeting, a bipartisan organization of the nation’s governors. The president typically hosts governors at the White House for a session with White House staff members and Cabinet secretaries on a Friday morning, then hosts a black-tie dinner for the governors and their spouses the next evening.

Last year, Trump sparred with Gov. Janet Mills of Maine during the session with governors at the White House. While speaking about an executive order he had signed banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports, he called out for Mills.

Trump asked Mills, “Are you not going to comply with that?”

“I’m complying with the state and federal laws,” she said.

The president said that “we are the federal law,” and threatened to withhold all federal funding from Maine.

“See you in court,” Mills shot back.

“Good, I’ll see you in court,” Trump said. “I look forward to that. That should be a real easy one.”

He added: “And enjoy your life after governor, because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.”

Mills is now running for the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in Maine.

This article originally appeared in .