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By Meg Kinnard

March 02, 2026

The U.S. Congress is about to launch a war powers debate over President Donald Trump's authority to bomb Iran under largely unusual circumstances — he's already done it, and the country is essentially already at war.

Plus, updates from the ground on the verge of Texas' primary elections, a look at two of North Carolina's U.S. House districts, and flying commercial with a former president.

The Headline

The U.S. Capitol is photographed Friday, Feb. 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Congress to debate an Iran conflict that's well underway — By Lisa Mascaro

Unlike the run-up to the Iraq War in 2003, which included long debates in Congress in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, or the more recent U.S. military strikes on Venezuela that proved to be limited, the joint U.S.-Israel military attack on Iran, called Operation Epic Fury, is well underway, with no foreseeable end in sight.

The moment is a defining one for Congress, which alone has the authority under the U.S. Constitution to declare war, and for the Republican president, who has consistently seized power during his second term with an apparent limitless view of his own executive reach.

In the U.S., the Congress would need to affirmatively approve wartime operations, with a declaration of war, or with an authorization for the use of military force, to essentially approve of the actions. This rarely happens, but both the House and the Senate have prepared war powers resolutions for votes this week.

Congress has declared war just five times in the nation's history, most recently in 1941, to enter World War II a day after the Pearl Harbor attack. Congress approved an AUMF for the 1990 Gulf War and did so again in 2001 and 2002 to launch the 9/11-era wars into Afghanistan and then Iraq.

But Congress also created the war powers resolution during the Vietnam War-era, as something of a tool of last resort — deployed to slap back a president who had embarked on military excursions without congressional approval.

Dive deeper ➤

From the field: Texas Senate primary with Thomas Beaumont

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks during a campaign stop in The Woodlands, Texas, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Annie Mulligan)

AP national politics reporter Thomas Beaumont has been on the ground with U.S. Senate candidates in Texas, where campaigning is in its final stretch ahead of Tuesday's primary — the nation's first big contest of the 2026 midterm elections.

Here's what Thomas thinks you should know:

Does U.S. Sen. John Cornyn make the runoff? If not, he's first Republican senator from Texas to lose a primary and fail to be renominated. That fate may well await him in May in a runoff with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
If Cornyn does make the runoff, he will have done it spending more than $67 million — more than half of the $110 million-plus that's been spent in the primary so far. If he couldn't derail Paxton in the primary with that kind of money, how is he going to trip him up ahead of the runoff, when that electorate only becomes more conservative?
With little separating candidates on substances, the Democratic dynamic in the past few days has been influencers versus movement. With smaller, shorter events built around her argument that she can do the job, U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett has touted her endorsements from former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland. State Rep. James Talarico talks about "the movement," and there were more standing outside the venue in San Antonio at the time Sunday's rally was starting than there were sitting inside the event.

AP Elections Spotlight: North Carolina's 1st and 4th Districts

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley, arrives to an early voting site to cast his vote on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Gastonia, N.C. (AP Photo/Erik Verduzco)

The big picture: March Madness for political nerds kicks off in less than a week with the first congressional primaries of 2026. And in North Carolina, there’s more on the ballot than the high-profile U.S. Senate race that could decide control of the chamber in November.

NC-01: Democratic Rep. Don Davis defeated Republican Laurie Buckhout by less than 2 points in 2024. She’s running again, but the swing district was significantly redrawn in 2025 to favor Republicans. That’s attracted a much larger GOP field than in 2024, when Buckhout got 53% of the vote against one opponent. With five credible candidates in the race, the question won’t just be who got the most votes but also whether anyone cleared the 30% mark needed to avoid what the state politely calls a “second primary.”

NC-04: Democratic Rep. U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee faces a rematch of her 2022 primary against Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam. That field included former American Idol star Clay Aiken. The district was also redrawn and now includes none of the small counties that Foushee won by wide margins in 2022. It also includes a bigger share of precincts in Durham, Allam’s base. If Allam and Foushee split Durham and Orange County by similar margins as they did in 2022, the race may come down to Wake County, which is new to the district. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has backed Allam. — By Robert Yoon

One extraordinary photo

President Joe Biden is seen on a plane before takeoff traveling from Washington to South Carolina, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)

I was in Washington all of last week covering Trump's State of the Union, but I had to fly home to South Carolina to cover former President Joe Biden as he appeared at an event with local Democrats.

I got to my gate at Reagan National Airport, where on Friday morning there was a ground stop as fog blanketed the runways. Noticing there seemed to be as many U.S. Secret Service agents as waiting passengers at my gate, I then realized that one of my fellow passengers en route to Columbia was none other than the former president himself, flying commercial, delayed like the rest of us.