From Political Wire: “Republicans spent tens of millions of dollars in 2020 to keep Democrats from painting more of Texas blue. Now, the GOP is trying to fireproof its districts with a new map that contains the suburban damage… Continue reading

I’ll be guest blogging this week (and started yesterday). I’ll have a few things to say about what the recent German election and the Democratic Party have in common, after I get posts out this morning collecting recent stories on… Continue reading

I’m a big fan of Iceland, which has one of the richest political and literary histories in the West. So this story from the Washington Post caught my eye: Iceland heralded a weekend election result that would have made it… Continue reading

From the Washington Post: Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said she wasn’t bluffing when warning that progressives were willing to tank the infrastructure plan until the House and the Senate also pass a $3.5… Continue reading

New York Times: “Liberals believe voters will punish them in 2022 if they do not fulfill Mr. Biden’s sweeping campaign agenda, in part because it would demoralize their core voters and ensure that some of them would stay home.”… Continue reading

Associated Press: “Sanders’ celebrity as former President Donald Trump’s spokesperson granted her immediate front-runner status in one of the nation’s most Trump-friendly states. It’s also transforming politics in a place where voters in state races are used to hearing… Continue reading

From Axios AM: In an interview with Axios’ Sarah Mucha, Glenn Youngkin — the Virginia Republican in a dogfight with Terry McAuliffe in the Nov. 2 governor’s election — wouldn’t say whether he would have voted to certify the election… Continue reading

From The Morning Dispatch (requires a subscription) Having failed to deliver a Trump win on the recount, the audit’s organizers are moving the goalposts. Experts say their methodology is faulty.The report claims that “mail-in ballots were cast under voter registration… Continue reading

Paul Starr in the American Prospect: The individual elements in the reconciliation bill poll well, but you have to follow politics closely to know precisely what’s in it. There’s no single policy or idea at its center, no clear… Continue reading

Hayward Smith has posted this detailed article on the independent state legislature doctrine, which also responds to arguments defending certain versions of the doctrine. Back in 2001, when Hayward was a student of mine at NYU, he published a law… Continue reading

That’s the conclusion of this new article by Bernie Grofman and Jonathan Cervas. From the abstract: It is well understood that even small differences in population can have a disproportionate impact on representation in the U.S. House of Representatives after… Continue reading

In my recent NYT piece I noted how the unique and exceptionally short two-year term for members of the House, combined with the prospect of primary elections, dramatically shapes American politics. In that light, it’s noteworthy how differently Republican Senators… Continue reading

I’ve been emphasizing the value of competitive districts in potentially making Congress less polarized and more effective. In earlier posts, I’ve explained how Dave’s Redistricting App (DRA) can be used to judge maps along a number of dimensions. I… Continue reading

I want to flag a couple significant aspects to the important 2-1 Ninth Circuit decision in Thompson v. Hebdon that Derek blogged about here. The Alaska laws at issue had been adopted in 2006 through a ballot measure that passed… Continue reading