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Jacob Ogles at The Advocate:

Kansas has dropped charges against a transgender woman who faced jail time for driving with a license that she had been forced by state law to use. Kris Ripper, a trans woman, told Transitics that she was pulled over on May 5 while driving home from work in the rain after her car’s headlights automatically turned off. The officer, she said, questioned whether her license was real because it identified her as male. Ripper had changed the gender marker on her license March 25 to comply with Senate Bill 244, a draconian anti-trans law enacted in Kansas.

But she later received a notice for failure to appear for an arraignment on a charge of operating a motor vehicle without a valid license, a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to a $1,000 fine and six months in jail. County prosecutors ultimately dismissed the charge, but only after the story garnered international attention in LGBTQ+ media and after Ripper described the emotional impact of being threatened with jail time over a charge she said she did not know existed. “I’m just a little scared and freaking out,” Ripper had told Transitics after receiving the notice. The case illustrates the consequences of Kansas’ law even for transgender residents who try to comply with it. Ripper previously had a driver’s license with a gender marker that matched her identity. But the state-required change meant her license no longer aligned with her gender presentation, creating confusion during the traffic stop and later in the court system. “After seeing my license, he spent like 10 minutes questioning me on if my license was real before I explained to him that I am a transgender woman,” Ripper said. “It has to say ‘M’ legally.” Ripper said the officer returned her license and let her go with a verbal warning. She said she was not issued a citation. The notice she later received said that if she did not appear within 30 days, her license would be revoked, according to Transitics, which reviewed the document.

Kevin Robillard at HuffPost:

State Attorney General Phil Weiser won the Democratic nomination for governor of Colorado, upsetting Sen. Michael Bennet in the latest example of Democratic voters rebelling against the party’s establishment. CNN and NBC News both projected Weiser’s victory as he led Bennet 55% to 45% shortly before 10 p.m. Eastern, with about 77% of the vote counted. The triumph makes Weiser a strong frontrunner to win the governorship in November in a state which has become reliably Democratic at the presidential level. Bennet, a former schools chief in Denver who made an ill-fated bid for the presidency in 2020, was seen as the frontrunner at the start of the race, at one point uncorking a 31-point lead in polling last summer. But Weiser was able to keep pace with the senator’s fundraising and contrasted Bennet’s record of voting eight times for Trump’s cabinet nominees with his own record of suing the administration more than 60 times over immigration, environmental and other policies.

It became clear an upset was possible in the final weeks, when Bennet loaned his own campaign $1 million and a pro-Weiser super PAC released a poll showing him with a substantial lead. While the race was not particularly ideological — both Weiser and Bennet are broadly mainstream liberals — Bennet’s loss is likely to be seen as further evidence the party’s rank-and-file are rising against its leadership following Trump’s 2024 election victory. If Weiser wins, he’ll replace outgoing Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat whose libertarian leanings often led him to take a softer line towards the Trump administration on some issues. He spoke fondly of parts of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA movement, and commuted the sentence of Tina Peters, an elections official-turned-conspiracy theorist whose freedom became a personal cause of Trump’s.

In the Colorado Governor’s race to succeed termed-out Gov. Jared Polis (D), AG Phil Weiser beat Sen. Michael Bennet in the Democratic primary.

Jennifer Bendery at HuffPost:

WASHINGTON ― Democratic socialist Melat Kiros is projected to win Tuesday’s Democratic primary in Colorado’s 1st congressional district, unseating 15-term Rep. Diana DeGette. Kiros, a 29-year-old lawyer and PhD student, ran to the left of DeGette in this solidly Democratic district that encompasses most of Denver. A political newcomer backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and progressive groups like Justice Democrats, she campaigned on a message of affordability, Medicare for All, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and supporting universal childcare. Kiros’s victory comes after a wave of similar primary wins in New York last week by young and more progressive candidates taking on the establishment. Democratic voters have been showing a desire for generational change within their party, and younger voters are looking for leaders to the left of the establishment on issues such as wealth inequality and foreign policy. [...] DeGette, 68, is also progressive and, as a senior member of Congress, holds significant sway with her seat on the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce. But in an early sign of trouble for her campaign, DeGette earned just 32% of the vote at Democrats’ Denver County assembly in March ― nearly missing the ballot entirely. Kiros walked away with a whopping 63% of the vote.

In the CO-01 Democratic primary, a major shock was delivered, as 29-year-old DSA member Melat Kiros unseats 15-term Rep. Diana DeGette, who was herself fairly progressive.

Molly Sprayregen (She/Her) at LGBTQ Nation:

The Supreme Court added six cases to its 2026-2027 docket this week, including a case that could affect minors’ access to gender-affirming care. International Partners for Ethical Care, Inc. v. Ferguson asks the court to determine the constitutionality of the three Washington laws. One allows minors 13 and older to obtain outpatient mental and behavioral health care without parental consent; another mandates youth shelters contact the state rather than a child’s parents if they run away due to a need for “protected” health care, which includes gender-affirming care; the third says runaway minors can remain in a shelter for up to 90 days without a shelter notifying their parents. Previously, shelters were required to contact a minor’s parents within 72 hours if they turned up at the shelter, unless they were being abused or neglected. Opponents have flagrantly mischaracterized the shelter law as an attempt by the state to seize custody of children whose parents deny them gender-affirming care. But as the Associated Press reported after the bill was passed by the state’s Democrat-controlled legislature in April 2023, the law does not address custody and will not result in children being taken out of their parents’ care. The bill, instead, is designed to ensure that youth who have run away or been kicked out by their parents can remain in shelters.

Coral Murphy Marcos at The Guardian:

Donald Trump has announced that Republicans will stage their first ever national convention ahead of the midterm elections, a move aimed at energizing voters as the party fights to hold its narrow congressional majorities in November. The two-day gathering will take place in Dallas on 9 and 10 September, marking a break from the longstanding tradition of holding national conventions only during presidential election years. Trump confirmed the plans on Tuesday in a Truth Social post, describing Dallas as “One of my favorite places in the World”. “It has never been done before, and will be a truly Historic Event,” he said, promising the convention would feature “Great Entertainment”. Trump first floated the idea for a convention last year, arguing that it would provide an opportunity to showcase his administration’s achievements since he returned to the White House in 2024.

The convention comes as Republicans seek to defy the historical pattern of the president’s party losing seats in the midterms. Should Democrats win control of either chamber – or both – they would gain the ability to block much of Trump’s legislative agenda and launch investigations into his administration during the final years of his second term. Trump’s national approval ratings are remarkably low, dragged down by negative views of his handling of the US economy. Voters favor Democrats in the race for Congress. The president remains an enormously influential force among the Republican base, which the party will need to turn out in strong numbers. But the midterms could pose problems for vulnerable Republicans running in places where Trump is deeply unpopular and where his policies – from the war in Iran to his administration’s immigration crackdown – have deeply divided residents.

September 9th and 10th: RNC 2026 in Dallas.

Alix Breeden at Daily Kos:

Another member of “60 Minutes” is making his exit from the once-renowned TV newsmagazine. The latest to call it quits? Veteran producer Henry Schuster. “It has been a great run at 60 MINUTES and what I got to do there was extraordinary. But I have been thinking about leaving for a while now and when the opportunity presented itself in February, I took it,” Schuster wrote on LinkedIn Monday. “And finally, it is official. Although, it has been overshadowed by the forced departures of so many colleagues and friends at the broadcast.” Schuster has covered high-profile news for the outlet since 2007, including stories on the 2008 financial crisis, right-wing efforts to undermine the 2020 presidential election, and the families whose children were killed in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Schuster is just the latest seasoned, respected journalist to leave “60 Minutes.”