There two recent stories capture the internal fragmentation of the Republican Party, part of the larger story about political fragmentation more generally: From the NYT: Fringe Scheme to Reverse 2020 Election Splits Wisconsin G.O.P. From Politico: GOP Plunges Into Season … Continue reading

After my earlier post on small donors in 2020 and the 2022 Texas’ governor’s race, I saw this NYT story. The subheading is in line with what that earlier story suggested: Mr. O’Rourke’s remarks during his 2020 presidential campaign shadow… Continue reading

Sarah Isgur has a long essay on Texas politics, at The Sweep, which is part of the The Dispatch and behind a paywall. The piece asserts that O’Rourke’s pursuit of small donors in his presidential bid led him to positions… Continue reading

Here’s my latest NYT piece, which endorses Alaska’s Top-Four primary structure, a reform the Alaska Supreme Court recently upheld. My piece is along similar lines to those in Ned Foley’s Washington Post op-ed on the potential of the new… Continue reading

Via Westport News: Memphis voted to adopt RCV in 2008, but it’s never been employed, as a result of long-running litigation and administrative battles. Tennessee lawmakers passed a ban Monday against instant runoff voting in elections, a move that seeks… Continue reading

This National Journal piece from Josh Kraasner reports a couple intriguing, interlocking claims about the dynamics shaping the looming Republican primary contests. He notes that large donors are not participating heavily for various reasons, in part because in crowded primary… Continue reading

The title on this LA Times story is With Biden’s agenda hanging by a thread, Democrats question Schumer-Klain strategy. Here are some excerpts: For all the ire directed by liberal activists at two moderate senators who in recent weeks… Continue reading

From Sam Levine at the Guardian: When millions of American voters head to the polls this autumn to vote for congressional candidates, the vast majority of their votes won’t matter at all.It’s an idea that’s anathema to the very idea… Continue reading

From NBC News: President Joe Biden‘s signature Build Back Better Act has stalled and his voting rights ambitions have fizzled. But Congress is suddenly racking up modest yet consequential victories, from protecting victims of sexual abuse and improving… Continue reading

New empirical paper from David Brockman et al: A prominent literature argues that moderate candidates perform better in general elections, but a competing literature that emphasizes voters’ partisan loyalties contests these predictions. The 2020 Democratic Presidential primary represented an opportunity… Continue reading

From E&E News, an interesting view on how the decline of competitive seats could affect the politics of climate legislation: Democrats have fared better than expected in this year’s redrawing of House districts — but that’s not necessarily good… Continue reading

With the impending nomination and confirmation process for a new Justice, I want to call attention to one of the most detailed, practical set of recommendations for improving the confirmation process. As part of the testimony submitted to President Biden’s… Continue reading

Since I’ve seen some confusion about this on twitter, I wanted to clarify this point. If the Section 5 pre-clearance regime was still in place, the Department of Justice would still have pre-cleared Alabama’s plan — as the Obama administration… Continue reading

Washington Post: President Donald Trump tore up briefings and schedules, articles and letters, memos both sensitive and mundane.He ripped paper into quarters with two big, clean strokes — or occasionally more vigorously, into smaller scraps.He left the detritus on his… Continue reading