Early results in Maine counties show that delegates aligned with Troy Jackson are cleaning up. 69 of a possible 72 delegates in three counties. (That is based on his campaign's estimates.)

The Penobscot County, ME delegate meeting to select a new Senate candidate is live on Zoom. The organizer announced that 6,000+ people have ballots for a county that will send a little less than 10% of the delegates. MDP is saying 17,000 statewide, but if 6,000 are just in Pen Co, that'll be higher.

I was happy to participate in this video from Chris the Producer. He created an LLC, hired an actor who built a miserly profile online, and flew a phone via drone into a ritzy area to try to influence the prices derived from data collection. And it worked! www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCSw...

Member of Congress speculating with campaign funds on crypto and losing badly. Inspiring!

Fascinating screw up during first Paramount-WB Merger hearing: Defense is discussing market competition and mentions F1 being made by Apple. But two things: first he screws up and says it was Amazon, but more importantly, F1 was *distributed* by Warner Bros.

Really fascinating mini-trial on the Paramount-Warner merger. The parties are arguing whether a temporary restraining order should be adopted, which would stop the merging entirely. You can watch at the Zoom link on this page: cand.uscourts.gov/judges/amo/m...

Those must have been some seriously bad issues. The party was trying to coalesce around Rodriguez, now they're trying to lure someone else (Milwaukee Co. Executive David Crowley) back into the race to coalesce around him. That's the opposite of coalescing!

Important point that this GOP meddling hasn't worked, and where it has the candidate who's the beneficiary of the meddling was quite strong on their own (as Hong is, already leading in polls) www.the-downballot.com/p/morning-di...

There's a growing protest movement in Albania aimed at government corruption, all sparked by Jared Kushner's purchase of a private island. Jen Kirby talked to organizers about what that symbolized: "our country is turning into a paradise for foreigners, but a living hell for Albanians"

Remarks on a podcast about Black establishment politicians who "defang the white left" were supposed to sink Will Lawrence. They were picked up for a radio ad from the CBC's PAC. But then something happened: local Black leaders defended him and said he was spot on. prospect.org/2026/07/17/c...

There's an obscure $40 billion lawsuit against the government, among the largest in history. The plaintiff is a bankrupt satellite company backed by private equity giant Cerberus, whose founder Steven Feinberg is #2 at the Defense Dept—the agency being sued. Feinberg stands to make a mint.

The bill that stalled in the House today amid opposition from veterans, the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, was profiled a month ago in @prospect.org as a bait and switch. Read the Prospect, get the news first. prospect.org/2026/06/18/v...

How do we differentiate the people who got sick from contaminated lettuce at Taco Bell from the people who got sick from all of the other food at Taco Bell

5 of the 16 county meetings (Penobscot, Aroostook, Androscoggin, Cumberland, & Waldo) to elect delegates for Maine's Senate convention will be virtual. That represents 254 of 500 delegates. I get it for Cumberland, you'd need a soccer stadium to elect 149 delegates. But I don't love online voting—

Dow and other petrochemical firms complained about a rule that might keep their workers from dying when falling off of ladders. The rule then got deleted by OSHA. Big business talks, Trump walks. Our partners at @revolvingdoordc.bsky.social have more. prospect.org/2026/07/16/o...

Jay Clayton's installation as director of national intelligence was meant to give intel community-supporting Democrats an excuse to extend the expired warrantless spying provision in FISA...until Clayton showed he's as willing to do Trump's bidding as Bill Pulte. @jamesjbaratta.bsky.social reports.

I'm getting the impression that government might just matter, and cutting back on things like food safety while bulking up military and paramilitary forces might have negative consequences. @ryanlcooper.com feels the same way: prospect.org/2026/07/16/h...

Maine Gov. Janet Mills “was met with anger from residents who said they had asked their elected leaders to do more to stop ICE from operating in the state, but felt as if no one had listened to them”

This is working as I expected. The premium is on grassroots campaigning and organizing, with no use for TV ads. This world is actually possible. www.cnn.com/2026/07/15/p...

This is a big step backward, originally Republicans wanted to use this to add $350 billion to the Pentagon budget. This is $73 billion just for Iran, with farm aid & disaster relief thrown in. The SAVE Act provision will get tossed in the Senate. And they may not have the votes to pass the rest.

Donald Trump has been given total control of all independent federal agencies...except the Fed, which remains in the hands of Wall St. We talked to one of the people Trump fired, former FTC commissioner @bedoyausa.bsky.social, on this episode of Organized Money. www.organizedmoney.fm/p/the-suprem...

We're starting a new series at @prospect.org looking at the impacts of Trump's Big Beautiful Bill one year later. @whitneycwimbish.bsky.social finds that the health care cuts are not only damaging rural hospitals but metro hospitals serving poor and working-class people.

The CFTC wrote in a proposed rule, with a straight face, that prediction markets on who will win random mid-season sporting events can be "economically useful" information for business interests, thereby justifying rampant, unregulated gambling. prospect.org/2026/07/15/c...

Every story about the Debbie Wasserman Schultz race is both funnier and more infuriating than the last one bocanewsnow.com/2026/07/13/r...

I didn't think it was possible to catch incumbents napping after all the primary losses. And I'd still call Kai Newkirk's progressive primary challenge to Rep. Greg Stanton a longshot—he's been in the race 4 months and raised less than $200,000. But with his organizing skill, he could pull it off.

The union representing Hollywood screenwriters on Tuesday sued to block Paramount’s $81 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, a day after a coalition of 12 Democratic state attorneys general challenged the transaction.

We update our tracker weekly, typically on Mondays, to show who Trump's immigration enforcers have killed in the field and in his concentration camps, as well as who his agents have injured. All our tables should be read as minimum numbers.

We are still keeping a running count of ICE deaths in the Trump era. When updated with yesterday's tragedy, it'll be at 31 deaths in the field and 59 deaths in custody. prospect.org/2026/01/29/i...

Silicon Valley’s founders believed they didn’t need government. Then they believed they could demolish it. They are now discovering that the best way to extend their power is to partner with the state—the libertarian’s worst nightmare. Here's Chris Hughes on tech's changing predilections:

Yesterday was the final day of public comment on the Trump-Vought plan to politicize all federal research grants. Bob Kuttner explains why this would fatally damage a U.S. science sector that is the envy of the world: prospect.org/2026/07/14/t...

Twelve states' challenge to the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger is compact and simple: if one company controls 27% of all wide-release films & 34% of all cable channels (by viewership), it can bargain with distributors for better terms, which will filter down to higher consumer prices.

the haley stevens campaign poses an important question: is america ready for its first senator inhabited by the soul of an old-timey prospector?

American Prospect reporters want to know how Trump's funding cuts have affected you. Tell us your stories! forms.gle/uuRJBAHv7eLccw4z9

Have a story about how Trump's massive spending cuts have affected you over the last year? Share it here:

I’ll see you today at Mechanics Park in Biddeford at 12 PM. Abolish ICE. Solidarity forever.

Reupping from six months ago prospect.org/2026/01/07/i...

I feel like we're going to get pundit teeth-gnashing for the next two months about who should have vetted what on Platner, but in Maine focus has apparently turned squarely to Collins, and the next two weeks of organizing to find a replacement has a clear event to tie to.

Weird how they overlooked Lindsey's wife

Lindsey's Graham's death causes a complication for Republicans not many people are talking about. He was Budget Committee chair, which is critical for a proposed third reconciliation bill. Now his replacement is Ron Johnson, who would demand massive cuts in any package. prospect.org/2026/07/13/b...

So my mom went to a "Freedom Fuel" station, which Trump touted as selling gas at $3.47/gal (because he's the 47th president). Because of the war (I presume) it's already up to $3.67/gal today!

Big fan of Before Sunset but how did it get on this list lol (not even Before Sunrise but the sequel!) oag.ca.gov/system/files...

Here's CA AG Bonta's announcement of a lawsuit to block the Paramount-Warner Bros merger, with a coalition of 12 states, which was at the high end of expectations. It's a very important case. oag.ca.gov/news/press-r...

Reporters got no response from Seth Moulton's campaign when they asked how he felt about privatizing veterans' healthcare.

The nomination process for Maine's Senate seat has inadvertently become really interesting: almost a capsule sketch of politics under campaign finance reform, where the focus has to be on organizing at the grassroots level in the space of a week. prospect.org/2026/07/13/m...

That’s why the money will be going straight to Trump.

Democrats often turn to veteran candidates, but this year there are a few who are actually attuned to veteran's issues, and in particular the impact of privatizing the VA health system (because they've used it). Suzanne Gordon & Steve Early report on the class divide among vet candidates:

The point of a $532,000 ad attacking an $11,000 retirement fund isn’t to win the argument. It’s to establish cost. Every progressive watching this race now calculates: if I run, they’ll spend half a million to weaponize my savings account. The ad targets Lawrence. The audience is everyone after him.

ICYMI over the weekend, I wrote up the most ridiculous Super PAC play of the cycle: a $532,000 ad buy calling an $11,000 401k plan "investing with Wall Street." The ad cost 48 times more than the fund it's criticizing. prospect.org/2026/07/11/s...

Business school professors are starting to sound like @prospect.org in stressing the need for supply chain resilience. But that's only a piece of the puzzle, writes Harold Meyerson; you need higher wages and unions. prospect.org/2026/07/13/c...

ICE, boosted by $250 billion in funding over the last year, increased spending on small arms by more than 400% in 2025. ICE has also made over 2,000 enforcement deals (known as 287g) with local cops, the most ever. And those cops are also getting surplus military-grade weapons from the military.