WASHINGTON—As expected, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey announced Friday he will seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, calling for Americans to unite around a common purpose. “We can build a country where no one is forgotten, no one is left behind, where parents can put food on the table, where there are good-paying jobs with good benefits in every neighborhood, where our criminal justice system keeps us safe,” he said in a video posted on Twitter.

The furor over Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court appointment showed how important Senate control is to our ongoing culture war. In January, candidates were already announcing their bids for U.S. Senate seats up for election in 2020. While it’s too early to make any strong predictions, an early glance at the 2020 Senate map suggests continued Republican control is the likeliest outcome.

WASHINGTON—Former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort shared polling data during the 2016 presidential campaign with an associate accused of having ties with Russian intelligence, according to a Tuesday court filing. Manafort’s lawyers accidentally disclosed the information by not properly redacting it from their paperwork. The filing revealed that Manafort shared the polling data with businessman Konstantin Kilimnik, who U.S.

Much post-midterm election analysis focused on the role education and place of residence played in the outcome. It’s true that educated suburbanites moved toward the Democrats and less-educated whites in rural areas or small towns stuck with the Republicans. But another, less-recognized shift took place among America’s less-observant but religious voters, and it could have important implications for the two parties’ political prospects.

WASHINGTON—Russia’s social media campaign to sow discord and disinformation in U.S. politics is still an ongoing and far-reaching threat, two reports released Monday by the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded. The Senate commissioned two third-party research groups, Oxford University/Graphika and New Knowledge, to study Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election using data provided by the social media companies.

Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith survived controversy Tuesday to win the U.S. Senate special election runoff in Mississippi, defeating Democratic challenger Mike Espy by 12 percentage points. Her victory allows Republicans to close the book on the Senate midterm elections with a 53-47 majority. The top two candidates in the race were forced into a runoff when neither earned more than 50 percent of the vote on Nov. 6.

If you’re one of those worrywarts who’s concerned that our nation is headed down the slippery slope to socialism, I’m here to make a sober pronouncement: You’re probably too late.