Cameran Drew, 19, defeated his former high school government teacher by 10 votes in a race for a county supervisor seat in southeastern Virginia this week.

Honestly one of the worst, most disturbing paragraphs — on the basis of process, substance, and effect — I’ve read in a Supreme Court order or opinion in a very long time.

The Trump administration’s military strikes on alleged drug boats are “blatantly unlawful as a matter of U.S. domestic law—and a quickly spreading stain on whatever is left of the executive branch’s commitment to the rule of law.” Me on “extrajudicial killings” in the latest issue of “One First”:

Many of us were saying the same thing last year. Many D and Indy voters didn't show up for Harris, and R's did, in these same places. It makes "swings" look huge, but it's not because most of these folks are changing their votes. Some are. Mostly it's just the composition of the electorate changing.

Breaking News: Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the only female House speaker, said she would retire in 2027, ending a run as one of the most powerful women in U.S. politics. nyti.ms/3XkTV49

Mamdani announces transition team: All-female team led by Elana Leopold, a known Dem strategist; also Melanie Hartzog, who once led the NYC’s health and human services and budget offices; former dep mayor Maria Torres-Springer, and Lina Khan, the former FTC commissioner who campaigned with Mamdani

Generally, when a party is trying to appeal to a new cohort of voters, they don’t send masked men to publicly kidnap and disappear thousands of members of that cohort.

Off to a good start!

Trump declares that Republicans have lost the shutdown. Absolutely zero reason for Dems to cave at this point

Democrats are currently ahead in 63 (!!!) races in the Virginia House of Delegates. If this holds, it would be one of the largest state legislature swings in the last 4 years. Its an absolute bloodbath for anti-trans Republicans.

Dem women governors in NJ, NY, VA, MA. 🔥🔥

Normal People Don’t Want This Shit is running away with the vote tonight

It’s the economy, stupid

This account will be equal parts hopeful and gloating for the rest of the evening. To that end: Pour one out for the pile of NYC billionaire money that was utterly incinerated tonight!

Voters want to hear about the cost of living, not about transgender rights. They want to hear about affordable housing, not about attacks on DEI #DemocratsInArray

57% of all ad spending by Republicans in the Virginia governors race was on anti trans ads. Just an incredibly mismanaged campaign. Anti-trans politics are a losing issue.

this is objectively hilarious

Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries may not have gotten behind Zohran Mamdani—but the people of New York City emphatically did.

Republicans who think your seat is safe: no it's not

Turns out diversity, equity, and inclusion are good things and something Americans mostly want. We want the sharpest people with good values. We don't want mediocre white dudes. Not now anyway.

i want to repeat this: mamdani and spanberger have run similar campaigns tailored to their respective electorates and it is maddening to watch political journalists attempt to create some broad contrast where none exist

“Too young” Madani is the same age Dick Cheney was when he became White House Chief of Staff

looks like democrats are about to flip two statewide elections with >20-point margins... in georgia

A seeming bit of history tonight as Ghazala Hashmi becomes the first Asian American to win statewide office in Virginia - and the first Muslim woman to win statewide office *anywhere* in the United States.

BREAKING: Pennsylvania voters approve to retain three state Supreme Court justices, NBC News projects, preserving Democrats’ 5-2 majority on the state’s high court.

Every single county in Virginia shifted Blue.

I'm honored to be working at the @NBCNews decision desk tonight, which means that just like midterms & presidential nights, I won't be live-calling races on here. That said, I think the only real questions tonight are the margins. Be sure to tune into @NBCNews for the latest.

Do you have what it takes to win Science’s #DanceYourPhD competition? We want you to top last year’s food-themed frolic from the Helsinki chemist who dressed up as a chili pepper. Or maybe you can get #AI to dance on your behalf? Learn more: https://scim.ag/3LuVObX

My young voter got a GOTV postcard from Florida, IMHO evidence of the poor data behind the effort (sorry, enthusiastic postcard author). To this household? And to an out-of-state college student? That said: let’s vote, people! Democracy needs you!

We've got you 👍

dissatisfied by the New York Times coverage of Zohran Mamdani? great news! I talked to the guy Thursday about his campaign’s success at bringing community together beyond this election, and contextualized how it’s potentially shifted youth engagement with politics by simply listening @teenvogue.com

Politics is neither a sprint nor a marathon, it’s a relay race and one key to winning is not screwing up the handoff of the baton

every news outlet and journalist who calls trans rights a losing issue should be forcefed soap and their own regrets

oh my God. 💀

Hat tip to John V. Kane, whose paper on null effects in political science survey experiments was instrumental to making our case in this new @poqjournal.bsky.social paper!

Prince Andrew is losing his royal title and meanwhile we’re letting our friend of Epstein build a gilded ballroom

This is a form of social prejudice that @svmiller.com and I find is empirically associated with weak support for democracy. (Will link paper below.) We’ve stalled on the book project but we document that anti-neighbor prejudice of this nature is corrosive to democratic values.

Blue Wave Incoming #earlyvote numbers for three states where I have party registration, percentage point change in Dem party registration among early voters, same day before the election comparison to 2024 general: PA: +10.3 points NJ: +7.5 points CT: +7.3 points

A single mother of four in Ohio whose children receive SNAP benefits puts it very clearly. ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/10/28/o...

My kid's school sent out a "green Halloween" message that recommends offering "allergen-free non-edible items" like "stickers, wooden toys, small stones, pencils and more." Small stones?!? You want us to give kids rocks? Was the chatGPT prompt, "how can we ruin Halloween"?

Check out this smart post by Dr. Kim Cárdenas on the role of religion on Latino support for Trump open.substack.com/pub/hitstrat...

“it’s pretty clear there’s some anti-Muslim and some racial bias that’s affecting the coverage, and in those circumstances, I think him responding with smiles and grace is really impressive.” - Laura Tamman @richlusc.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

WT actual F

So they didn’t like the ad. Let’s just post Reagan’s 5 min speech against tariffs as it appears on YouTube. Over and over. On all platforms (some of y’all are still on X). *1981 Sherrilyn horrified by 2025 Sherrilyn saying “let’s post Reagan’s speech.” youtu.be/5t5QK03KXPc

“oh so you think the east wing being demolished is worse than-“ it’s a synecdoche, man. a visual metaphor. there’s a reason the aliens in Independence Day don’t aim a huge laser at SNAP benefits

Holy shit! That motherfucker TORE DOWN THE WHITE HOUSE!

Updating my LEGO White House

President Trump is plowing ahead with plans to build a grand ballroom where the East Wing of the White House currently stands. The plans have not gone through the committee tasked with overseeing such projects.