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Obama remains the Democratic Party's best motivator nearly a decade after leaving the White House. And he's taking his star power on the road in the final days of the midterm elections, which will help determine the balance of power in American politics on Nov. 3.

Progressive House members and candidates are taking a stark turn away from what they describe as "performative" efforts to impeach President Trump . Why it matters: This is a drastic shift in tone from Trump's first term, when progressives were some of the loudest voices in favor of impeachment. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) famously said of Trump in 2019, " We're gonna impeach the motherfucker ," a line Republicans have routinely dredged up to dismiss impeachment efforts against the president as premeditated. On Thursday, she told Axios in a statement: "No matter what happens in November, we'll still have a Trump administration for the next two years to hold accountable." Driving the news: Likely incoming Democratic House members Darializa Avila Chevalier of New York and Melat Kiros of Colorado struck a similar tone in a recent podcast interview when asked about impeaching Trump. "I support accountability, but ... that is something that Trump himself seems to want," Avila Chevalier said. "My question is: Is that actually going to be meaningful accountability for the Trump administration?" Said Kiros: "The accountability has to actually lead to some material changes." What we're hearing: Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), who has advocated a day-one impeachment, told Axios in an interview, "Impeachment can't just be a political messaging strategy." "I think what Melat and Darializa are getting to is that people want to see justice and real accountability. ... We can't just tell people things that some would feel like is fluff," Ramirez said. "I think the American people are tired of theater," said Adam Hamawy, another likely Democratic House member from New Jersey. He told Axios any impeachment proceedings need to be "a real process with substance, rather than just getting up there and just making a show of it." Rep. Analilia Mejia (D-N.J.) said Democrats "should investigate the heads of these departments and bad actors across the board," but she is "less inclined to the performative and more inclined to identify what's impactful." "The performative may feel nice, but in the end will not bear the kind of fruit that the American people deserve," she added. Tlaib said the House Oversight Committee "must continue pressing for real accountability and consequences for this corrupt administration's crimes and abuses of taxpayers' dollars against our neighbors, public health, environment, safety and democracy." The big picture: Democrats have had a tortured relationship with impeachment since Trump returned to office in 2025. After impeaching the president twice in his first term only to see him acquitted both times by the Senate and then reelected in 2024, even the most ardently anti-Trump Democrats came into last year recoiling at the mere mention of another impeachment. But they were buffeted by a grassroots base furious about the second Trump administration's precedent-shattering moves and demanding Democrats use every tool at their disposal to fight back. By the numbers: When Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) tried to force a vote on impeaching Trump in June 2025, 128 of his fellow House Democrats voted with Republicans to block it. By December, only 23 Democrats voted to block it . When Green did it a third time last month, 18 Democrats voted to block it, while 147 voted with him to force the vote and 46, including party leaders, voted "present." Yes, but: Green and Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.), who similarly championed impeaching Trump in his second term, have both lost their reelection bids this year. Their losses came as the party base has turned away from anti-Trump #resistance crusaders in favor of more broadly anti-establishment, left-wing ideologues, as Axios previously reported . These incoming progressives are expressing a view more in line with Democratic leaders like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.): That impeachment shouldn't be a fait accompli. What's next: While Trump may be off the board for now, his Cabinet certainly isn't. The House could soon vote on an impeachment resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, triggered by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) just before lawmakers left for October recess. "I do think that holding Pete Hegseth [accountable] and looking into the ways in which our governing bodies have failed to meet the standards, the laws ... is all part of holding this government accountable," said Mejia.

Democrats have campaigned on lowering living costs and holding the Trump administration accountable. This is a look at their to-do list if they win the majority.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) gave a preview of the harsh totalitarianism looming over the country should Democrats win control of Congress in the midterm elections. It involved harassment, intimidation, and nearly everything short of death directed at political opponents, specifically those considering seeking work in the Trump administration. She openly admitted that she wanted applicants […]

The Trump administration has approved wind projects in Maine and South Dakota in an attempt to ease resistance among Senate Democrats to advancing a bipartisan permitting reform bill that could prove essential to President Donald Trump’s ambitions for energy and artificial intelligence. A White House official confirmed to the Washington Examiner on Thursday morning that […]

The chaos engulfing France is a preview of what Democrats want for America, Sen. Eric Schmitt warned, contrasting the unrest with new manufacturing jobs and a federal crime crackdown in Missouri that he credits to cooperation with the Trump administration.

States say the administration's steps reflect federal overreach and are meant to sow distrust in the outcome of the election.

Democratic leaders and election groups filed a lawsuit against President Trump and the Justice Department (DOJ) on Tuesday, seeking to block federal officials from pressuring states to remove voters from their rolls ahead of the November midterm elections. The 44-page complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, accuses the DOJ...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other Democrats sued President Donald Trump and senior administration officials on Tuesday over the federal effort to identify noncitizens and other illegal registrants on state voter rolls, setting up a court fight as the administration steps up enforcement in California. The 44-page complaint filed in Washington, D.C., federal […]

Democratic groups sued the Trump administration Tuesday, accusing it of using unfounded voter fraud claims to muscle its way into how states run elections. Why it matters: The groups say the administration is issuing a stream of threats to intimidate and bully both voters and election officials. They're asking a judge to declare the administration's actions unlawful and block further interference. Driving the news: The lawsuit condemns the administration for targeting state voter rolls by insisting that local officials review federally compiled lists of alleged noncitizens on their voter rolls. The suit also alleges that the administration is improperly demanding that states deny ballots to registered voters based on those federal lists. The Democrat-aligned groups also claim the administration has attempted to intimidate state and local officials by threatening them with jail time or prosecution. Case in point: The lawsuit cites a Department of Homeland Security claim that Nevada had nearly 16,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls. The department later claimed that it had confirmed 185 of those people were noncitizens. State records later indicated that all 185 were citizens. The DOJ also demanded that California deny ballots to more than 20,000 people based on a federal list that flagged them as suspected ineligible voters, the lawsuit says. A preliminary investigation by Los Angeles County investigators found that more than 25% of those flagged listed a U.S. birthplace, and others already had their voter registrations canceled. What they're saying: "Department of Justice and DHS officials have sought to bolster their interference efforts through a persistent stream of threats and intimidation directed towards state and local election officials across the country," the groups' attorneys wrote. "Defendants' coercive threats of legal retaliation against state officials, including even potential imprisonment, for simply following state law and aiding registered voters in casting their ballots objectively intimidate voters and election officials alike, in violation of Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act." The suit, brought by Democratic organizations including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Democratic leaders and a voter, names Trump, the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, and their respective heads as defendants. The other side: "The Justice Department enforces federal election law, and election integrity is a top priority," a DOJ spokesperson told Axios in an emailed statement "Every action the Department has taken to protect the integrity of this year's elections is grounded in the law and being litigated in open court. Ensuring that only eligible citizens vote and that every lawful ballot is counted is a requirement of federal law." "We notified California that noncitizens are likely registered to vote, and we asked the state to independently verify the citizenship of any ballots cast by people on a list that we provided. It refused to do so. Federal law doesn't permit this willful blindness." The White House and DHS did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment. Zoom out: The suit also argues that the president has no constitutional authority to decide who gets to vote or dictate how states count ballots. Investigations and audits have found no evidence of widespread voter fraud. Research shows noncitizen voting is rare, and there's no evidence it occurs on a scale that could swing elections. Go deeper: Trump sues California to prevent counting 20,000 voters' ballots

Robby Soave and Amber Duke discuss Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Kara Swisher's calls to hold Trump officials accountable if Democrats regain power.