The Morning: The midterms begin during war

March 3, 2026

Good morning. Sam’s away. Iran is escalating its strikes, and President Trump said the United States was ready for a protracted fight. The midterms are also starting today.

We’re covering both stories below.

A longer fight

Two men stand next to a destroyed building that is now rubble and twisted steel.

In Tehran yesterday. Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times

Iran is retaliating on American targets. The State Department closed its embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait after drone attacks and urged Americans to immediately leave 14 countries in the Middle East. Iran also struck Amazon data centers and sent warplanes, not just missiles, toward its Gulf neighbors. Qatar said it had shot down two planes.

Israeli and American bombs continue to fall in Iran. And Israel invaded and seized parts of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah, the militant group there, threatened all-out war.

President Trump, who campaigned on ending American wars, is now extending the time frame for his war in Iran. He said the United States had a “virtually unlimited” supply of certain powerful weapons. “The hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

The U.S. military is sending more troops and fighter jets, and Trump declined to rule out putting boots on the ground. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, though, insisted that the conflict would not drag out. “This is not Iraq,” he said. “This is not endless.”

Click the video to compare Trump’s statements.

A short video showing Peter Baker, a reporter, and video clips of Trump.

The New York Times

And here is the latest from the region:

Death toll: Two more American service members have died in the war, U.S. military officials said, bringing the total to six. The Iranian Red Crescent said more than 550 people in the country had been killed.
Southern Iran: Thousands of people attended a funeral procession for victims of a strike on an elementary school. The school was in session when an airstrike hit it, killing 175 people, Iranian officials and rights groups said.
Tehran: Iran’s capital is under siege, and people are living in fear. Many are fleeing, while others are trying to survive the bombardment. See photos from the city.
Kuwait shot down three American jets in what U.S. officials called a “friendly fire incident.” All six crew members on the jets safely ejected.
Dubai has faced attacks against its international airport, hotels and other civilian and economic infrastructure.
Strait of Hormuz: A senior Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps official vowed that “not a single drop of oil” would go through the strait, which about one-fifth of the world’s supply passes through. Markets have fallen as oil prices surge.

Chart showing the global price of crude oil

Source: FactSet. Data as of 12 a.m March 3, Eastern. The New York Times

Picking a winner

By Katie Glueck

I cover politics.

Today brings the first midterm primary elections, in Texas, Arkansas and North Carolina. One thing I’m watching: What do Democrats think it takes to win tough races in the second Trump era? Will they prefer a moderate-sounding candidate who leans into his faith and appeals to independents and even some Republicans? Or do they crave someone who wears Trump’s taunts as a badge of honor, embraces the “fighter” mantle and tries to energize infrequent liberal voters to get off the sidelines?

The Senate primary in Texas offers an early test of that question. State Representative James Talarico is a seminarian who preaches a politics of unity, even as he flays what he calls a “corrupt” political system. He faces Representative Jasmine Crockett, a firebrand who made a national name for herself fighting Trump and other Republicans on their own vituperative terms.

Either way, Democrats typically struggle in statewide Texas races. But if Republicans nominate a scandal-scarred MAGA acolyte today, Democrats hope for a shot. They are favored to retake the House majority, but the Senate will be harder to flip, and races like the one in Texas could count.

Two poles

It can be hard to predict who might appeal in general elections. Take the 2022 Senate race in Pennsylvania. Then-Representative Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania, a military veteran who had won in a tough district, was the more polished, moderate primary candidate. Party veterans suspected that the liberal lieutenant governor, John Fetterman, was a risky choice in a closely divided state. But Fetterman romped in the primary and won a tough and expensive general election.

Debates over electability can be fraught. Crockett, a Black woman, has said efforts to question her ability to win amount to a “dog whistle.” Other Democrats say that, beyond legitimate concerns about her style, latent racism and sexism among voters could hurt her in a conservative state come November.

Ken Paxton wearing a navy blue suit jacket and light blue shirt and John Cornyn wearing a blue suit jacket with a check pattern and a white shirt.

Ken Paxton and John Cornyn Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times, Brandon Bell/Getty Images

On the Republican side, general-election voters sometimes regard far-right primary victors as too extreme. In 2022, many of them across the country lost their November races. In Texas today, the MAGA faithful love the state’s combative attorney general, Ken Paxton, who spread false claims about elections. The incumbent, Senator John Cornyn, argues that Paxton could lose in November and jeopardize Republicans up and down the ballot in Texas.

The national dichotomy

Whatever happens today, the fight over the direction of the Democratic Party is just beginning:

A Maine Senate primary race in June features the mild 78-year-old Gov. Janet Mills against challengers including a millennial oysterman, Graham Platner, who channels his rage into politics.
In a Minnesota Senate primary in August, the liberal lieutenant governor, Peggy Flanagan, will face Representative Angie Craig, who represents a more competitive district that she flipped from Republican control in 2018.
An unpredictable Michigan Senate primary in August has it all: ideological divisions, insider-versus-outsider dynamics and a political class obsessing over which Democrat is best positioned to win in November among Representative Haley Stevens, State Senator Mallory McMorrow and Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive former public health official.

These races — and the subsequent general elections — will also shape Democratic views on the next contest: the 2028 presidential election.

Related: The American attack on Iran will also likely shape these races. We asked Texas voters for their views on the war.

THE LATEST NEWS

Austin Shooting

Investigators are looking into whether a man who killed three people and injured a dozen more outside a bar in Austin, Texas, was motivated by the war in Iran.
The gunman was wearing a sweatshirt that said “Property of Allah” and a T-shirt with the colors of the Iranian flag, officials said. He was killed by police officers after the attack.
The shooting has put Islam at the center of today’s Texas primary.

Around the World

President Emmanuel Macron of France speaks at a lectern with the French and E.U. flags behind him. A black submarine is in the background.

Emmanuel Macron Pool Photo by Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

France: President Emmanuel Macron said the country would expand its nuclear arsenal as Russia grows more aggressive.
Pakistan: The military struck a prized Taliban air base in Afghanistan, according to satellite images reviewed by The Times.
Cuba: The Trump administration’s oil blockade is deepening a humanitarian crisis.
Rwanda: The U.S. imposed sanctions against the country’s military, saying it had sabotaged a peace deal in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Politics

President Trump's head shown from the side. A rash is visible on his neck above his collar.

President Trump, Doug Mills/The New York Times

Trump had what appeared to be a red skin rash near his shirt collar, a condition that his physician said could last “a few weeks.”
The House released full videos of the depositions it took of Bill and Hillary Clinton in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. See video clips.
Trump said he would attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner this year for the first time as president, declaring on social media that it would be “the GREATEST, HOTTEST, and MOST SPECTACULAR DINNER, OF ANY KIND, EVER!”
OpenAI amended its deal with the Pentagon to add more protections that its technology wouldn’t be used for the mass surveillance of Americans. A deal between the Pentagon and Anthropic broke down last week in part over the same issue.

OPINIONS

The decision to invade Iran shows that Trump’s foreign policy is imperialism, Peter Beinart writes.

“History will judge whether this moment reflected impulsiveness — or resolve.” Times readers respond to the war in Iran.

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