Meet the megadonors pouring more than $1.3 billion into the 2026 midterm election Great explainer from @ence.bsky.social, @praveenavsoma.bsky.social , @erxclau.me & Leslie Shapiro: www.washingtonpost.com/elections/in...

The latter is itself a scholarly interest of mine, as I begin concerted work on my next book project *News Journalism as Political Art*. You can read some of the early fruits of this project in a recently published academic article, co-authored with a journalist (and friend – @ence.bsky.social!).

I wrote about objectivity and its limits – in humanities scholarship and in news journalism – for Cultured Opinion. culturedopinion.substack.com/p/on-objecti...

The voters who just elected democratic socialists in New York tended to be young and college-educated. They were also racially diverse -- one DSA candidate won predominantly Hispanic precincts by *35* points. Deep dive w/ @teoarmus.bsky.social here: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

The midterm's biggest political donors have already spent over $1 billion to influence the elections. Most of that money came from Republican-leaning donors. Smaller amounts flowed to Democrats and AI, crypto, and sports gambling interests. Meet the 50 top donors here:

May is a big tax deadline month for nonprofit orgs, so we just posted 163k new 990 filings to Nonprofit Explorer. Have at it, nerds (complimentary)! projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/

My Post colleagues have a smart story on the accuracy of election prediction markets, including an exclusive data analysis, great charts and interviews with top researchers and analysts. Via @jeremybmerrill.com @mariana-alfaro.bsky.social & Leslie Shapiro www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

The Real Candidates of Potomac, Maryland: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

DOJ issued, then withdrew subpoenas to force Post, WSJ reporters to testify. Statement from The Post below www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

JLG won basically every kind of precinct in DC on her way to the Democratic nomination. Plurality Black? +18 Plurality White? +15 Richest (>$150K)? +9. Poorest (<$50k)? +15. Youngest? +30 She only really struggled in DC's oldest precincts, in NW and parts of NE DC.

Remarkable, in early D.C. returns, Kenyan McDuffie is losing Ward 5, which he used to represent, by 16 points to Janeese Lewis George

While some centrist national Dems have endorsed @kenyanmcduffie.bsky.social, no prominent progressives have come out for @janeese4dc.bsky.social. Generally, Washington's political class isn't very engaged in the mayoral race happening in its own backyard: www.notus.org/metro/congre...

In a previously unreported outburst, we found out that Nancy Mace upbraided her 26-year-old nephew in front of elected officials because he accepted an endorsement from her political rival www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

NEW: The Trump administration is banning one of the Census Bureau's main ways of protecting the confidentiality of people's responses to the #2030Census and other surveys — added statistical "noise," or data for fuzzing survey results www.commerce.gov/opog/disclos...

ICE is seeking to avoid accountability for the people who die from medical problems shortly after they are released from custody. Happy to speak about this on @msnowreports.bsky.social Gift link to my story here: wapo.st/4ukSrVE

Before winning the GOP primary for Iowa governor, Zach Lahn attacked Big Ag, a stance once unthinkable for Republicans in the Corn Belt. — He beat a Trump-endorsed candidate. — Lahn had discussed his run with RFK Jr., who was supportive. W/ @laurenweberhp.bsky.social @ence.bsky.social

A MAHA candidate for governor, who said RFK inspired him to run, just beat out Trump's pick in the GOP primary. He won by dominating among the lowest-income farming communities in Iowa. Read our analysis w/ @laurenweberhp.bsky.social @rachelroubein.bsky.social washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

i have always appreciated how these doors are, in fact, closed

Nearly 93 percent of all border wall spending over the past decade happened in this year and last, according to our analysis. The spike in border wall spending goes mostly to 2 firms with GOP, White House ties. wapo.st/3PMfxqi

The diagnosis is clear: America’s political parties are suffering from chronic unpopularity. To understand what drives that sentiment, a Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll asked more than 1,200 Americans what exactly they dislike about the Democratic and Republican parties. https://wapo.st/4uEAzWW

This is absolutely nuts: hackers are hijacking high-profile Instagram accounts by simply asking Meta's AI chatbot to change the email on the account. Meta's AI does it, hacker gets password reset code, they're in. A staggering security issue www.404media.co/hackers-simp...

BLANCHE: I have never read the Washington Post VAN HOLLEN: You are in a bubble. You're telling me you don't know about all these people who have been signaled by the president that they're gonna get payments?

As Rs blow up majority-black seats, and Ds cut up their own to compete, you're simply going to have fewer coherent communities with their own districts. For example, Rs are cutting the Mississippi Delta and the city of Jackson in half order to throw them into Republican seats.

This has already happened in Memphis and Kansas City, which will be split between several districts, and the R goal is to do the same to Indianapolis. So there's just not going to be someone representing those cities in their entirety.

absurdly neat

House Democrats are asking Trump officials to explain how providers’ social-security numbers got exposed. “This is the exact type of data that bad actors have used to defraud the Medicare program,” @neal.house.gov and colleagues write.

An awful lot of the politics of the moment can be explained with this chart. Gift link: www.ctinsider.com/columnist/ar...

New from me: See the hidden rules behind AI. Then use them to rewrite this article. I hooked this article up to an LLM to help explain system prompts. Give it a try -> www.washingtonpost.com/technology/i...

The new Florida maps will split a growing Puerto Rican community in Kissimmee. Even some Republicans are unhappy. “You’re not giving the voters the respect they deserve,” a former Florida GOP field organizer told @teoarmus.bsky.social. Read our deep dive: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

🚨 The U.S. Census Bureau just announced on Slack that starting on Tuesday, May 12, its APIs will require the use of an API key. This is going to be a big breaking change for anyone who was not already using one, with just 2 full business days of notice.

Kamryn Jones is blind and can barely speak, but became pregnant. With no way for her to consent, doctors concluded that she was raped. Her family is suing her group home, caregivers and state agencies. “The whole system failed Kamryn,” her mother says.

huge congrats to my data team bud Emmanuel Martinez on being a Pulitzer finalist for this reporting!!! www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

Amazing visuals! The steady rise in sea levels over recent decades challenge homes and infrastructure along the vulnerable coastline in the Outer Banks From @bradydennis.bsky.social, @kcrowebasspro.bsky.social & @johnmuyskens.bsky.social: www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

The material cause of your team being bad is that the players aren't very good. The formal cause is that they lose so many games. The efficient cause is that the people who run the team are unwise. The final cause is for you to suffer.

Incredible graphic

We got our hands on internal ICE records that show how widespread use of force, like punches, kicks, takedown maneuvers, restraint holds, and less-lethal weapons such as Tasers and pepper spray in detention centers has grown wapo.st/4tdgBRA (1/)

Breaking news: The Trump administration accidentally exposed the Social Security numbers of health care providers in a database powering a new Medicare portal, The Post found. Officials say they are addressing the problem.

Scoop — Trump admin's new Medicare portal accidentally exposed health workers’ social security numbers. It’s latest setback with DOGE-backed initiative. We flagged the problem to officials two days ago to fix it. with @ence.bsky.social

The first photo here is fake. A still from the same moment shows that Trump's head wasn't drooping like that. Also, he'd just adjusted his tie, which is why the guy two to the left of RFK is looking at him. Actual still at right. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ctx...

Co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism: "You just don’t get more white supremacist than the stuff [Elon] Musk is ... pushing" wapo.st/4mRC7d5 @faizsays.bsky.social @jeremybmerrill.com

Analysis by Karen Tumulty: It’s up to the House and the Senate to police themselves. That system’s effectiveness and shortcomings have been on stark display the past few weeks, which have seen three members of the House resign.

Please join me in supporting Dan Eggen’s family as they endure this tragedy. Dan was a gem. If you’re able, please give generously. gofund.me/fb5520e7a

If you would like to donate to support Dan’s family, please do so here: gofund.me/c3814eb96

I’ve joined The Athletic as a data reporter!  I’m super excited to be part of a talented and ambitious data + visuals team. I feel so lucky that I’ll get to keep doing work I enjoy and learn new things!

The state's new redistricting plan splits blue, vote-rich Northern Virginia into five districts that stretch further south into rural red territory, favoring Democrats and creating one seat that may not have an incumbent. https://wapo.st/4dYx5sV

At a time when Congress is gridlocked, more Republican states are trying to implement the Trump administration’s anti-immigration agenda. Most of the roughly 200 bills targeting immigrants stalled, with help from business and Christian groups. https://wapo.st/4sM8WcA

Dan Eggen was the best editor of polling stories I've ever known. He had great ideas for questions, wasn't afraid of numbers and always found ways to elevate the most important results. Horrible loss for journalism www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...

“Between January 2025 and February 2026, STEM and health employees at science-focused agencies saw nearly 15,000 jobs cut. The rate outpaced cuts among other federal workers.” OPM data - Figure from Wash Post article 19 April. (Where US science has been hit hardest.) NSF at -42%!

We analyzed Trump’s public remarks. His focus on the White House ballroom is increasing — he’s invoked the project on roughly one-third of days this year — even as GOP officials try to steer focus to affordability, health-care costs. @ence.bsky.social + me.

I've just seen that @hannahdormido.bsky.social has launched a #dataViz #dataVisualization newsletter! Don't miss it: chitchart.beehiiv.com