It is important to see this sort of straight talking, precisely because of the executive order last week that conflated criticism of the government with terrorism.

Before you post about American politics on social media, you should have to solve a Captcha-like “puzzle” and it’s literally just “Arrange these presidential elections by the winner’s margin in the popular vote: 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024”

Seriously: PA's richest man is sending out mailers accusing the PA Supreme Court of engaging in gerrymandering by using as the example ... the GOP map they threw out *as* a political gerrymander. Completely shameless and false. cc: @taniel.bsky.social @the-downballot.com share.inquirer.com/m0or44

"A GOP-affiliated PAC is sending PA voters a mailer warning that the state Supreme Court 'gerrymandered our congressional districts to help Democrats win.' The issue? The pictured map was not drawn by the Court; it was drawn by legislative Republicans and thrown as an unconstitutional gerrymander."

People who have studied the downfall of democracy in other countries recognize exactly what is happening in the U.S. The parallels are unmistakeable; the only difference is the speed - we are going *faster*. apnews.com/article/trum...

This is *really* important. Our elections regulator isn’t independent. Reform’s Arron Banks has said the Electoral Commission should be abolished The architecture of British democracy is really weak and easily ripped out. It needs to be protected now

This, I think, is the real reason Republicans don’t want to nuke the filibuster and go it alone even though they can. Forcing Democrats to vote for it, even if through explicit threats and coercion, will mean it gets reported as a “bipartisan funding measure.” They want dem fingerprints on it.

Current numbers are now about $85M yes, $35M no. More than $30M of the No money has come from one donor. The Yes side is mostly small money from more than 300x more separate donors than the No side

Essential context for what is happening in Portland and Trump's declaration of war against us. Note that it's *local law enforcement* accusing the feds of incitement.

“He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. “He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.” -Declaration of Independence

Grijalva: I was looking at the example of now-Representative Walkinshaw from Virginia, who was elected two weeks ago Tuesday. The following Wednesday—less than 24 hours later—he was sworn in, with unofficial results. So for me, apparently the rules have now changed in just two weeks.

BREAKING: Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway (R) rejects a referendum that sought to let voters weigh in on the GOP’s extreme gerrymander, escalating the state’s power grab into a direct attack on Missourians’ constitutional rights.

trump's numbers on economic policy are worse than bush/obama's during the financial crisis

Republicans re-gerrymandered North Carolina’s congressional map in 2023 to turn a 7-7 split into a 10-4 majority in a swing state. That same year, they even proposed an 11-3 map. Given their 14-year history of several ruthless maps, I won’t be surprised if they go for it this time at Trump’s urging

The plaintiffs in the Texas redistricting cases have filed a helpful chart of the claims and districts that will be at issue at the preliminary injunction hearing that starts Oct. 1 re the new congressional map. #txlege drive.google.com/file/d/1W6IP...

Final Utah redistricting meeting erupts over claims of partisan bias and hidden data. 10-day public comment period opens on Thursday as final map decision moves to the full legislature. 🔗 Full story: www.utahpoliticalwatch.news/partisan-acc...

France, Brazil, and South Korea have all put the U.S. to shame over the past year. Law-breaking presidents face real legal consequences in functioning democracies #NoKings

We live in a personalist legal regime: One of Trump's former defense lawyers (Blanche) excuses a Trump ally taking a bag of cash in return for a promise to abuse his public office, while another (Halligan) was appointed to indict Trump's political enemies on the flimsiest of pretexts

At its heart, the DOJ's brief argues that Congress is _constitutionally forbidden_ from stopping a racist jurisdiction from doing racism as long as there's a theoretically plausible pretext. And the constitutional text that stops Congress? The amendment that, on its face, empowers Congress to act.

I honestly cannot believe they are just coming out and saying this...

if we are going to have online magazines for Abundance, i think a wealthy patron should fund an online magazine for electoral reform — specifically for furthering the twin causes of proportional representation and democratic revival. seems like a comparatively neglected space

It's decision day for the redrawing of Utah's congressional maps. Five maps have already been proposed by Utah's GOP majority. Two more last-minute proposals could shake up the process ahead of today's vote. 🔗 Full breakdown at the link. www.utahpoliticalwatch.news/decision-day...

Pritzer gets the mechanics of authoritarianism – systemic intimidation, seizing control of elections, etc. – in a way others in national democratic leadership don't or won't say out loud.

Next up: Kansas. Republicans now looking to gerrymander the state anew to get rid of a Democratic representative. punchbowl.news/article/camp...

Read into this what you will: Punchbowl News speculates Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids could challenge GOP Sen. Roger Marshall if her House seat is gerrymandered ... and Davis put that passage in her release. mailchi.mp/shariceforco...

For our October issue I wrote about the Roberts Court for its 20th anniversary, how it helped lead us to the current crisis, and what should be done about it:

SCOTUS is going to hear a case on whether to overturn a 1935 decision that blocked presidents from firing independent regulators based on policy (or personal) disagreements alone. This is on top of SCOTUS allowing Trump to fire the FTC commissioner, so you can see where this is going.

@gelliottmorris.com pulls back the curtain on how lawyers & PR hacks at Disney interfered with 538's efforts to do serious journalism. A good reminder that independent media is the most trustworthy media. www.gelliottmorris.com/p/a-lot-of-p...

Redistricting opponents argue that the Missouri Constitution doesn't authorize mid-decade redistricting. But defenders of the gerrymandered map say it isn't explicitly prohibited either, a defense similar to the 1990s movie "Air Bud." (@stlpublicradio.bsky.social)

Utah Republicans unveiled a bill late Sunday that creates a redistricting "fairness" formula that could lock in a big GOP advantage on new congressional maps and potentially shield those maps from judicial review. The bill is in committee this morning. www.utahpoliticalwatch.news/utah-republi...

We've been continually updating our live guide to redistricting with every new development. Bookmark it here! www.the-downballot.com/p/the-downba... And here's a quick summary of all the latest news this month:

I love how 90s grunge or alt/indie rock is sometimes just like, “let’s write a pop song but make the instrumental parts distorted and unruly as hell,” and it just kinda works

Can call it cowardice, and it is, but regardless of how they react to it, a Congress operating under and influenced by the coercive threat of violence, as they now have been for several years, is fundamentally lacking in democratic legitimacy, it is something less than a representative legislature.

95 House Democrats just voted in favor of a GOP resolution titled, "Honoring the life and legacy of Charles 'Charlie' James Kirk." www.govtrack.us/congress/vot...

The White House is reportedly pressuring New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte to do away with a congressional map that's been remarkably stable since 1882 and pass a new gerrymander. If she says no, she could piss off Trump. If she says yes, she could alienate the state's voters.

A new California redistricting poll by Emerson College finds a 51-34 majority support November’s ballot measure that would let Democrats redraw their congressional map to retaliate against Republican mid-decade gerrymandering in Texas and other states

Nothing to worry about, just a GOP governor saying his state has to redistrict to favor Rs before 2026 or lose money to his state www.yahoo.com/news/article... Authoritarians frequently exploit state power to make it impossible for opposition parties to compete on a level playing field

The parallels between what’s happening now and what happened after Putin was first elected are inescapable.

The Republican reaction to Kirk’s murder has been a campaign of state repression that ends with Trumpist toadies deciding what Americans are allowed to think, do and say. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

NEW: Republican-led Senate votes to confirm 48 Trump nominees at once After triggering the "nuclear option" to change the rules and allow en bloc votes by a simple majority. A party-line vote of 51-47. And a very important new precedent for the Senate. www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

“… while Cox neither tolerates nor encourages violence, he has helped undermine democracy through one of the state’s most divisive political controversies: partisan gerrymandering.” Cox also signed a restrictive voting law in March despite conceding the fears of voter fraud justifying it were bogus

NEW: Republicans have advanced a constitutional amendment to basically kill direct democracy in Missouri. Since 2020, citizens have used initiatives to increase minimum wage, expand Medicaid, protect abortion. All those measures would have failed under the GOP rules:

This is unfortunate. After initially saying that third parties could submit proposed remedial maps in the Utah redistricting case, Judge Dianna Gibson issued a new order earlier this month saying only existing parties could submit maps. via @schotthappens.com

Very strong words from Denver's election officials, accusing the mayor of Denver of forcing very deep cuts to the city's election infrastructure and things like drop boxes: denverite.com/2025/09/16/d...

This is naive talk by the Democratic president of the Maryland state Senate. There is no path to avoid this race to the bottom. The only option is to try not to lose.

This data about the highly partisan nature of the Roberts Court's manipulation of the shadow docket won't be surprising to honest Court watchers, but it's good to have it presented this clearly to a mainstream audience, which happens less than it should www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/09/empi...

If the Supreme Court killed the Voting Rights Act by early January, Republicans in several Southern states would likely have enough time before the 2026 elections to re-gerrymander their congressional maps and target Black Democrats whose seats are currently protected by the VRA