From The Hill: In what has become a critical bellwether of the national political environment the year before a midterm election, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) and former Carlyle Group chief executive Glenn Youngkin (R) are locked in a… Continue reading

From the Washington Post: When results of the 2020 Census were released over the summer, nearly 50 million U.S. residents had checked a box for “Some Other Race” — an increase of 129 percent from a decade ago. The nation’s… Continue reading

From Bob Barnes at the Washington Post: The Supreme Court said Thursday it would consider Sen. Ted Cruz’s challenge to a law limiting post-election political contributions to repay a candidate’s loan to his campaign.The Federal Election Commission (FEC) asked… Continue reading

AP: In their fight over trillions of dollars, their paramount policy goals and perhaps their political fate, this isn’t helping: Democratic progressives and centrists say they don’t trust each other. They’re tossing around words like “stupid” and “insanity” and they’re… Continue reading

Washington Post: This is an example of how other democracies often choose their party leaders who then compete to lead the country (hint, they do not use American-style primary elections): Fumio Kishida, Japan’s former foreign minister, who is set… Continue reading

Axios again: Why it matters: LinkedIn is one of the only large American social media platforms to agree to the Chinese government’s demands to censor content, and is tasking its own employees with restricting what users in China can see.… Continue reading

From Politico’s Ally Mutnick: Colorado’s new independent redistricting commission passed a congressional map late Tuesday that would give Republicans a decent shot at controlling four of eight House seats in a fast-growing state that’s become reliably blue. In a… Continue reading

Axios AM: The rise of celebrity politicians is fueling record ad spending that will likely continue to flood American airwaves through next year’s midterms, industry watchers tell Axios. Why it matters: Firebrand congressional freshmen and sophomores are raking in… Continue reading

From Rick’s latest in the Washington Post: Congress has the power to put up barriers to election theft, but the window is quickly closing. That’s because Democrats may soon lose control of one or both Houses of Congress, and Republicans,… Continue reading

From CalMatters: California congressional districts are drawn by an independent citizens commission, but it’s hearing from candidates and party officials who don’t disclose their partisan affiliations. In August, Christopher Rodriguez phoned into an online meeting of the California Citizens Redistricting… Continue reading

It’s now widely known that the educational divide — or the diploma divide, as some leading scholars have put it — is a major driver across most Western democracies in explaining voting patterns and the realignment of the parties of… Continue reading

Yesterday was National Voter Registration Day. The Civics Center, an organization devoted to n high school voter registration and civic engagement, notes that four million young people turn 18 every year, and the vast majority of them are eligible to… Continue reading

David Daley in NYT points to troubling developments with independent redistricting commissions. It’s early to reach any definitive judgments about these processes, but there are certainly disturbing signs. From Arizona in 2000 to California, Michigan, Colorado, Missouri, Utah and Virginia… Continue reading

From Mother Jones, by Stephanie Mencimer, who has been covering this issue since 2018 (Hat tip to Howard Bashman at How Appealing): It’s become a predictable pattern: The Supreme Court issues a controversial ruling on a hot-button social… Continue reading