Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

In today’s edition, our Capitol Hill team explores how Republicans are joining with Democrats in efforts to check President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Plus, Allan Smith dives into the success Democrats have found in elections so far this year. 

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— Adam Wollner

Lawmakers in both parties ramp up their efforts to rein in Trump on tariffs

By Sahil Kapur and Scott Wong

The fallout from President Donald Trump’s aggressive new tariffs has spurred Congress into action, with a growing number of Republicans joining Democrats to express interest in using their power to restrain him. 

1. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, introduced a bill with Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., that would reassert Congress’ authority and slap restrictions on the president’s power to levy tariffs. 

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., praised Grassley for the bill because “he does believe that we’re a coequal branch.” He said he’d vote for it, though it’s unclear if the bill will be brought to the Senate floor.

2. That move came after four Senate Republicans delivered a rare rebuke to Trump on Wednesday evening, joining with every Democrat to pass a measure to revoke his tariffs on Canada. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., the author of the resolution, said he’s looking to build on that success with more bills to block Trump’s tariffs. 

He said “many more” than four Republicans were interested in his resolution than ultimately voted for it, predicting that more will come aboard “as the economic reality sets in.”

3. Across the Capitol, senior House Democrats said they were looking to pass a resolution halting Canadian tariffs, similar to what the Senate voted on this week. Since Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is reluctant to show any daylight with Trump, Democrats are exploring an end run around House GOP leaders. 

Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said he would file what’s known as a discharge petition, a legislative tool that would allow supporters to bypass GOP leaders and force a vote on legislation if they can secure 218 signatures. At least one moderate Republican, Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, said he would consider supporting it. 

Stocks plunge: Major U.S. stock indexes on Thursday saw their worst one-day drops since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Rob Wile reports.

The S&P 500 fell 4.8%, while the Nasdaq fell 6% — both their worst since 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 4%, or more than 1,600 points — its worst sell-off since 2022.

Trump doesn’t budge: Still, Trump downplayed any panic over his new tariffs.

“The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom,” Trump told reporters. 

Follow live tariffs coverage →

Democratic performance is improving in a slew of elections this year, as a weary party looks for signs of hope

By Allan Smith

Democrats have spent the first months of President Donald Trump’s second administration wandering the political wilderness — facing record-low popularity while competing factions battle over how exactly to take on the president.

And yet, in special election after special election so far this year, Democrats are faring miles better against Republican opponents than they did last fall in Trump’s faceoff with Kamala Harris.

In 16 special state legislative and congressional elections held so far this year, Democrats have bettered their margin of victory or defeat compared to the 2024 Trump-Harris battle by an average of about 11.5 points, according to data collected by the political site The Downballot. The Democrat overperformed in 14 of those 16 contests, including flipping deep-red state Senate districts in Iowa and Pennsylvania. 

Those trends continued Tuesday. In Florida, though Republicans comfortably held on to two very pro-Trump House seats, Democrats improved on their margin of defeat in the 1st District by 22 points and by 16 points in the 6th District compared to Harris’ results there last fall. 

And in the high-profile Wisconsin state Supreme Court race that earned the most national attention of any of the contests held so far this year, liberal candidate Susan Crawford defeated conservative candidate Brad Schimel by 10 points, just months after Trump won the battleground state by less than a point. More than 2.36 million voters turned out in that race, only 300,000 or so fewer than did in the 2022 midterms. 

The election results have injected a jolt of confidence in Democrats, who’ve had little to celebrate since Trump’s win in November and as he and Elon Musk aggressively pursue substantial cuts to federal programs and workforces.

That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Faith Wardwell.

If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com