TN has a statutory ban on mid-decade redistricting, which the GOP sought to repeal during this special session. However, the state constitution forbids the lege from considering matters in special sessions except those named by the gov in his proclamation. Plaintiffs say Bill Lee failed to do that.

What happened in Alabama is actually happening everywhere. open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...

"Some of us were too quick to believe in a final cultural/political victory, confident that even as Republicans used their power to preserve emblems of the Confederacy and banish discussion of slavery and racism from schools, they were fighting a doomed rear-guard action." — @paulwaldman.bsky.social

“Writing is hard.” Thrilled to share that this simple idea led to a new paper in Political Analysis! Where most text methods focus on content, I test if expression is also effortful action. I find simple measures like character counts reveal attitudes and predict voting. cup.org/4cUmoXi 1/

The Democratic Party is defining itself around affordability. But Jon Ossoff is emphasizing another idea too: corruption. My look at this reelection campaign and why it's resonating both in Georgia and nationally. newrepublic.com/article/2099...

My state found that nearly 50% of kids can't read at grade level and most people know the reason -- we replaced teachers and workbooks with Chromebooks. We need less tech in the classroom. Not more.

Reagan/Bush 1 -- ruined. Clinton -- fixed. Bush 2 -- ruined. Obama -- fixed. Trump 1 -- ruined. Biden -- fixed. Trump 2 -- ruined. Same pattern since at least 1980.

Think about it this way: it used to be that the information universe consisted of sources that were explicitly factual in nature, and indeed, fact-checked. And then you had the larger universe of TV shows and the like, which might be passingly political, but only slightly.

Just a reminder that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was called, "An act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States."

My New One at Slate: “The Supreme Court’s Conservatives Just Issued the Worst Ruling in a Century; This evisceration of the Voting Rights Act requires us to take SCOTUS reform more seriously.” @slate.com slate.com/news-and-pol...

RE: 2026–Per article it’s prob too late for GA & AL to redraw maps. If MD does it will go from 8-1 to 9-0 Dem. Set aside FL (which is already trying to redistrict) & the remaining states are 24R-6D. I imagine it wouldn’t be hard to draw out 1 of the 2 Dems in LA. MO’s map is up for referendum…/1

NEW: The Supreme Court just gutted the Voting Rights Act, enabling the GOP to erase countless districts drawn to protect voters of color at the congressional, state, & local levels. We detailed each Dem VRA congressional seat that the GOP could target by 2028: www.the-downballot.com/p/with-the-v...

Want to know more about proportional representation? boltsmag.org/mid-decade-r...

7. The tragedy, of course, is that if Democrats use Callais to unpack their VRA districts, minority representation in the House will plummet even further. And the resulting partisan gerrymanders will continue our current race to the bottom. Callais will make redistricting even uglier than it is now.

Excellent closing paragraph to a must-read historical analysis of the retreat of the Lost Cause mythology in Mississippi by @ashtonpittman.bsky.social @mississippifreepress.org www.mississippifreepress.org/gov-tate-ree...

Great piece by historian Andrew Sandoval-Straussz on the deep roots (and the contingent, local nature) of the sort of illiberal energies that power the evolving, Trumpian politics of anti-immigrant scapegoating. talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/what-a-...

So much false equivalence in media on gerrymandering in Texas vs California & Virginia. California and Virginia maps approved by the voters. That's a huge difference not enough people pointing out

A couple of takes today appeared to misapprehend the Virginia and California district proposals as some response to Trump. In fact, they respond to escalating attacks on fair districts by Republicans since 2003 — when Tom DeLay engineered a mid-decade redistricting of Texas.

Party registrations in Utah (Dems vs Utah) since the start of the year courtesy of @jakerugh.bsky.social

A picture is worth 1,000 words--and 6,995 new active Democratic voters! Utah statewide YTD thru 4/13/2026 (vs. -343 new active Republican voters YTD) Note most new Dems this year have registered since historicturnout at local Democratic caucuses just 4 weeks ago. Huge success. #BlueWave2026

A picture is worth 1,000 words--and 6,995 new active Democratic voters! Utah statewide YTD thru 4/13/2026 (vs. -343 new active Republican voters YTD) Note most new Dems this year have registered since historicturnout at local Democratic caucuses just 4 weeks ago. Huge success. #BlueWave2026

Few Americans paid attention to this aspect of Trump's agenda, but it was predictable (and predicted by me) that this would happen. Trump is arguably the most anti-legal immigration president ever. Congress should stop him before the damage is permanent. www.cato.org/blog/trump-h...

Trump has cut legal immigration more than illegal immigration, as I predicted. While illegal entries have fallen, they continued a prior trend, falling more before he came back. Meanwhile, Trump has drastically cut legal entries, reversing the prior upward trend. www.cato.org/blog/trump-h...

The record-low U.S. birthrate could be temporary as today’s young women postpone pregnancy. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/u...

A lot of Orbán's American fans are saying that this election proved he was never an authoritarian in the first place. This is completely wrong — and, in fact, betrays a complete misunderstanding of both Hungarian politics and modern authoritarianism. Here's why.

How did Hungary's biggest cities vote? Budapest - Tisza+33 Debrecen - Tisza+23 Szeged - Tisza+39 Miskolc - Tisza+29 Pécs - Tisza+31 Győr - Tisza+25 Nyíregyháza - Tisza+31 Kecskemét - Tisza+25 Székesfehérvár - Tisza+22 Szombathely - Tisza+19 Érd - Tisza+26 Szolnok - Tisza+29 Tatabánya - Tisza+24

Less than three hours after the polls closed, Viktor Orban conceded that he lost. Five years after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, he still falsely claims that he won. Tomorrow, I offer my analysis of what this means for the midterms. Subscribe now. bit.ly/4qmEiFz

Im so excited about Hungary. Last summer I took students to Europe and in Budapest we talked about how backsliding occurs. I guess I need to do it again and rather than "Threats to Democracy" I should retitle it "Democracy Finds a Way"

People will be closely studying how Hungary's opposition pulled off their win in such a pro-incumbent system. Important to note that the theme was corruption. Democrats need to get much better at calling out Trump's corruption.

no one is doing it like jd vance, a loser across three continents in a single weekend

See our grades & analysis of 75 + front pages for #NoKings 3.0 coverage. The influential @nytimes.com @wsj.com continue trivialize the pro-democracy movement & #NoKings mass demonstrations. Good news: editors of local outlets continue to shine. 🧵 w/many front pages and link to blog post 1/n

Democrats actually did even better in heavily Hispanic Dalton than in the first round, which was already a massive swing from Kamala’s 2024 performance. Shawn Harris won these two Hispanic-majority precincts by 73% — +3 from in March and a whopping 51% improvement over 2024.

GOP bloodbath in municipal and state races tonight

An analysis of some of the most robust and current data on Americans’ political views is decisive: No group has lurched leftward faster in their political party identification during the past 20 years than members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. www.sltrib.com/religion/202...

Hitler and the Nazi Party equated themselves with Christianity -- the result was Germany becoming one of the most atheist countries after the war. It is in Christianity's own interest to rebuff Trump's attempts to co-opt Christianity to legitimize his immoral behavior.

Here's a really practical thing you can do today: If you know a US citizen in a relationship with someone who is/could be facing deportation, get them connected to American Families United. AFU is a truly bipartisan org doing amazing support work. www.americanfamiliesunited.org

IMO, I view LDS/Mormon vote choice as far more interesting & consequential than how they identify. Just as Reagan Democrats held onto a Democratic identity while voting increasingly Republican, I see three elections in a row where Romney Republicans keep voting anti-MAGA (McMullin-Biden-Harris).

2017 overperformance: D+10 2018 result: D+8.6 (we’ll say D+9) 2021 overperformance: R+5 2022 result: R+2.7 (R+3) 2025 overperformance: D+13.5 (D+14) if 2026 follows trends, we can expect D+11-12

Grateful to my college for this generous write-up of my work, which does a nice job of getting at what I’m trying to do

www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/... "Not only did 287(g) participants already have a history of aggressive enforcement practices..., but they used their newfound authority to institute even more restrictive policies, channeling people with no criminal history into the deportation pipeline."

mormonmetrics.com/p/why-are-la... By Alex Bass, Mormon Metrics

is that bad?

Excited to share new paper w/ @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social: "Veiled Power: How Rosenwald Teachers Quietly Shaped the Civil Rights Movement" The puzzle: did ~5,000 segregated schools built in rural South emphasizing “manual labor” strengthen or weaken Jim Crow? 🧵 omarwasow.com/wasow_grumba...

Last year saw the continual decline in registered voters in Utah, but after an uptick in late 2025 (registration deadlines for caucusing was in early Jan), only one major party has kept the trend of increasing party registrations.

Utah County voters by age category in 2026 shows the same story of an unraveling Republican majority among younger voters (median voter age = 38, mean/avg. = 42) Age 18-25: 48% REP, 34% UNA, 10% DEM, 8% OTH

In 10 years R’s lost 24% of voter registration. 7% went to Dems 9% went to unaffiliated 8% went to other parties Long way to go, but fair legislative maps might actually produce a competitive seat or two down in Provo

NEW: Supreme Court likely to reject Trump's effort to end birthright citizenship. As Trump sat on watching, Solicitor General John Sauer faced skeptical questions from almost all of the justices — including all three justices Trump appointed to the high court. This afternoon, at Law Dork:

Per request: Utah Co. Voters by Party, Vote History DEMS are not over-represented among non-voters, but unaffiliated (UNA) are, big time, more so because they're young (though it's a combination with being unaffiliated). (Not adjusted for age, e.g., you have to be age 26+ in 2026 to vote in 2018)

Good and helpful context here as well.

R.I.P. the Republican Majority in Utah County