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Rep. Tom Kean Jr. absent from Congress for weeks over a 'personal health matter'
The vulnerable Republican incumbent is facing re-election in a district rated a "toss-up" by the Cook Political Report.
Billionaire blitz: Steyer's $132 million campaign dwarfs rivals in California governor race
Steyer has spent $132 million of his own money on his California campaign, but he remains in a tight race with less-funded Democrats and Republicans.
Welcome to the Resistance, Gerrymandering Texas Republicans
The new congressional seats Texas Republicans delivered for Trump by redistricting appear to have been canceled out—and then some—by Democratic states. Oops.
Lawyer for Epstein survivors calls Republicans considering a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell ‘insulting, stupid’
Politics Friday: Will Michele Tafoya's public profile transfer to politics?
It has been 20 years since Republicans last won a statewide race in Minnesota. Friday at noon, former sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya makes her case for why she can prevail in the U.S. Senate race.
Republicans running for Ohio's election chief want to dump drop boxes
Republican candidates for Ohio Secretary of State want to ditch election drop boxes, an option that came under fire from now-President Donald Trump following his 2020 defeat.
Trump endorsement just part of the political drama in this Indiana Senate primary
Drama surrounds the May 5 Republican primary where Sen. Greg Goode of Terre Haute is trying to prevail despite defying Trump last year
A New Worry for Republicans: Latino Catholics Offended by Trump
In 2024, the president made significant inroads with Hispanics. But in a competitive Arizona congressional district, voters now express dismay at his feud with the pope.
Dems jockeying for Newsom endorsement give passing grades on issue that ignited 'poop map' crisis
Democratic candidates gave Newsom no lower than a B-minus on homelessness, drawing sharp criticism from Republicans at a California gubernatorial debate on Wendesday.
Two Primaries to Test Trump’s Grip on Republican Politics
The president is backing opponents of two Republican incumbents in primaries.
Louisiana GOP passes bill to keep elected Black New Orleanian from taking office
Louisiana Republicans April 23 rammed through legislation to keep Calvin Duncan, a wrongfully convicted Black man and attorney, from taking office as New Orleans’ Clerk of Criminal Court, a move
Republicans fail to attach SAVE America Act to party-line funding package
Senate Republicans Tom Tillis, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell voted against a voter ID amendment to the GOP immigration enforcement funding bill.
Kalshi fines Texas GOP candidate for 'political insider trading'
A former Texas Republican primary candidate was fined and suspended for 'political insider trading' on a prediction market.
Defeated Virginia Republicans regroup for last chance fight to save House majority
Virginia's redistricting fight heads to the state Supreme Court after a judge declared ballot language unconstitutional and blocked certification.
Republicans often ignore Trump’s socialistic moves. Spirit Airlines could test that
For more than a year, Republicans in Washington have largely stood by as President Donald Trump staged a series of remarkable government interventions into private business.
The ‘Make America Healthy Again’ Movement Is Cooling on Trump and Republicans
Vaccine skeptics, ‘organic moms’ and environmental activists came together toelect President Trump. Butsome voters are disillusioned and might not turn out again.
Texas Railroad Commission candidates campaign on contrasting issues
Incumbent Jim Wright has a tough primary runoff battle against former Tarrant County Republican Party Chair Bo French.
Michigan congressman Tom Barrett in the crosshairs of gas price politics
The surge in fuel prices has Republicans like Tom Barrett who campaigned against high fuel costs on the defensive heading into November's election.
House Republicans Ask ActBlue C.E.O., Regina Wallace-Jones, to Testify
The request is a significant escalation of G.O.P. pressure on the liberal fund-raising organization over its vetting of donations.
U.S. Senate votes to advance $70 billion funding plan for ICE, Border Patrol
Two Republicans - Senators Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski - opposed the measure.
Who Approves of Congress? Virtually No One | WSJ Politics Newsletter for April 23
Plus, Pete Hegseth fires Navy secretary, John Phelan, and Republicans worry that their redistricting strategy may have backfired.
Senate Republicans bypass Democrats to advance $70bn ICE and border patrol plan in ‘vote-a-rama’– US politics live
Republicans deploy measure known as budget reconciliation to push through plan without backing from Democrats during lengthy late-night vote
‘I Have Half of MAGA’: The Republican Challenging Trump From Within
GOP Representative Thomas Massie’s spats with the president have him fighting for his political life.
Republicans pressure Ron DeSantis to redistrict in Florida after Virginia Democrats’ win
Senior Republicans in Washington are ramping up the pressure on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to lead a redrawing of his state’s US House map after Virginia Democrats triumphed in potentially flipping four seats in their favor. A special session to consider redistricting in Florida is slated to start Tuesday, but no map has been publicly released. A DeSantis spokesperson did not respond to a CNN inquiry about its status. Key Republicans involved in redistricting say they’ve been kept largely in the dark on DeSantis’ plans. There’s no coordination on the state level because of strict state rules around partisan gerrymandering, and no maps have been officially circulated within Florida’s congressional delegation either.
Democrats dominate midterm fundraising, but Republicans have a huge cash advantage
The latest campaign finance reports show Democratic enthusiasm in key House and Senate races, but national Republican groups have far more in the bank to potentially spend down the road.
Senate takes key step toward funding ICE and border patrol with only GOP votes
With Congress still at a stalemate over how to end the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, Senate Republicans took a key step to tee up a party-line measure funding the most controversial immigration programs — and eventually reopen the government completely.
Senate GOP rams through blueprint to bankroll ICE, Border Patrol through end of Trump era
Senate Republicans adopted a budget resolution funding ICE and Border Patrol for President Donald Trump's full term, advancing the reconciliation process to fund immigration enforcement.
Senate Plunges Into Vote Marathon as G.O.P. Advances ICE Funding Boost
Republicans pressed to pass a budget plan with a $70 billion increase for immigration enforcement. But first, in an overnight session, they beat back Democratic proposals aimed at lowering costs.
Senate rejects measures meant to lower the cost of gas, groceries
Senate Democrats, in a fierce political battle over immigration enforcement funding, forced Republicans to vote on measures meant to lower costs.
Two Republicans break with party as GOP defeats budget amendment to lower health care costs
Senate Republicans on Wednesday voted against an amendment sponsored by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) to create a point of order against any future budget reconciliation bill that d…
John Seymour, California’s last Republican US senator, dies at 88
After losing his Senate race, the Orange County politican returned to housing work with renewed intensity.
Trump brings his nonsense about mail-in ballots to Republicans’ Virginia defeat
President Donald Trump has lied for years that elections Republicans lost fair and square were “rigged” by mail-in ballots. On Wednesday, he brought his familiar playbook to the aftermath of the Virginia redistricting referendum Republicans lost on Tuesday.
Virginia follows California, approves ballot measure to redistrict mid-decade
It’s been less than six months since California voters approved a new congressional map that could enable Democrats to flip as many as five House seats now held by Republicans. Now, Virginia is following the same playbook.
Evers asks lawmakers for help getting disaster assistance
One Republican said, “We’ve got to get people help.”
The wide-ranging fallout from the Supreme Court’s new terrorism decision, explained
The Court’s Republican majority fractured in a case that could impact everyone from immigrants to consumers.
Has Trump's redistricting push backfired?
Nearly a year after pushing Texas Republican to redistrict, Trump's plans have may have misfired.
As Democrats Outraise Republican Candidates, the G.O.P. Has This $600 Million Edge
Even as the party faces a worrisome political environment and its candidates are outraised by Democratic ones, powerful Republican groups and super PACs have built a colossal advantage.
Michigan House plan creates earmark fund for business incentive cash
Michigan House Republican have proposed a budget that pushes unused largescale business incentive funds toward pet projects for lawmakers' districts.
House Republican proposes small-business tax cut to pair with GOP federal budget package
Some congressional Republicans are hoping to tack on tax and other spending proposals to an effort to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security.
Gerrymandering has a long history in US politics
Gerrymandering is proliferating in states across the U.S. Republicans and Democrats alike have been redrawing voting districts for the U.S.
Michigan congressman in the crosshairs of gas price politics
In 2023, Tom Barrett used $4-a-gallon gas to win a mid-Michigan seat in Congress. Now he's playing defense amid high gas prices under GOP leadership.
WATCH LIVE: Senate meets as Republicans try to secure DHS funding through budget reconciliation
With Midterms Coming Up, G.O.P. Is Bogged Down in Congress
Republican majorities are at odds on big issues as the Senate resorts to extraordinary measures to pass homeland security funding over a Democratic blockade.
RFK Jr. faces Senate health committee in final, decisive hearing for MAHA movement
All eyes are on Senate HELP Committee Chair Bill Cassidy, a Republican who has been critical of the Health and Human Services secretary’s vaccine policy.
Virginia congressional map vote could embolden Florida Republicans to push for boundary changes, says Jeffries
House Democratic leader says result should serve as a warning to Ron DeSantis after latest blow to Donald Trump’s redistricting battle
‘The GOP should’ve done more’: Virginia Republicans point fingers after gerrymandering loss
They are frustrated the party didn’t spend extensively and are putting pressure on Florida to give them back an edge.
Who are the Democrats hoping to run against Rep. Warren Davidson?
Two Butler County Democrats are competing for the chance to unseat Republican Rep. Warren Davidson this May.
5 takeaways from the Virginia redistricting vote
Tuesday’s vote makes the tit-for-tat redistricting war that’s played out over the past several months something close to a draw. Republicans could still come out with a slight advantage if Florida passes a new map in the coming weeks. But what’s clear is that it seems the fight launched by President Donald Trump hasn’t landed Republicans near the advantage they might have imagined it would last year.
Virginians approve Democratic map targeting 4 Republican congressional seats
Virginia voters on Tuesday approved a new Democratic-drawn congressional map that could flip four Republican U.S. House seats in November's midterm elections, U.S. media projected.
Feud between Mace and Mills flares as the Republicans trade barbs, expulsion threats
A deeply personal grudge between a pair of Republicans — Reps. Cory Mills of Florida and Nancy Mace of South Carolina — has escalated on Capitol Hill, as Mills accused his long-time foe of trying to profit off efforts to oust him.
New Orleans court clerk Calvin Duncan is symbolically sworn in as GOP races to eliminate office
New Orleans court clerk Calvin Duncan is symbolically sworn in as Republicans race to eliminate office. He is scheduled to take office May 4 but Republicans hope to eliminate his position by then
Expert Quits US HIV Role, Rebukes Trump Global Health Approach
By Simon Lewis WASHINGTON, April 21 (Reuters) - The chief science officer for the U.S. flagship HIV/AIDS program left his role this week and criticized the Trump administration's cuts to foreign assistance and what he said was its use of aid as leverage for U.S. commercial interests. Republican ...
Republicans launch a new effort to fund the Department of Homeland Security
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate voted on Tuesday to launch a new effort to reopen the Department of Homeland Security and end the longest partial government shutdown in history. The 52-46 vote was the first step in a budget process that Republicans hope will unlock the funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. […]
Dallas County Republican Party sues over precinct-based voting
The lawsuit is asking that a judge force the county to conduct the May 26 runoff election using precinct-based voting.
The key areas to watch in Virginia tonight as voters weigh Democrats' redistricting plan: From the Politics Desk
Plus, Georgia's Republican primary for Senate is heating up.
Democrats win Virginia redistricting fight, threating Republican House majority
Virginia voters passed a redistricting referendum that could boost Democrats with four additional House seats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Special edition: POLITICO Health Care Summit highlights
Republicans and Democrats agree: Soaring health care costs will be a pivotal issue in the midterms. But they have very different ideas on what to do about it.
Seven Key Moments: Hearing with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ways and Means Committee Republicans emphasized the importance of expanding access to health care for Americans – particularly...
House Ethics Committee Weighs Punishment for Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick
The House Ethics Committee will meet Tuesday to determine what punishment they will recommend for Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick with Republicans calling for expulsion. The ethics panel found that the Florida Democrat violated 25 House rules and ethical standards. She is also accused of stealing $5 ...
Trump will participate in marathon Bible-reading event with other top Republicans
The America Reads the Bible event — with each participant reading a passage aloud — is being livestreamed this week from the Museum of the Bible in Washington and other locations.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill endorses Julia Letlow for U.S. Senate
Murrill joins Gov. Jeff Landry and President Donald Trump in backing Letlow. It’s a rare case of prominent Republican officials supporting a challenge against a member of their own party.
Shaky political science: using "simulated" elections over real-world elections
[Dear DSOS readers – this article is the latest in our “Shaky Political Science” series. In our 38 page report, “Shaky political ‘science’ misses mark on ranked choice voting,” released in early December, we examined over 40 studies focused on ranked choice voting. We found that many of these studies suffered from puzzling research methodologies, poorly constructed surveys, unrealistic simulated elections, cherry picked data, and faulty analyses that often were contradicted by results from real-world elections (a link to our full paper is here). Here are links to the first three articles in our series: the first one summarizing the overall results of our report, the second one analyzing a study co-authored by University of Minnesota academic Larry Jacobs, which was one of the most error-prone of all the research we reviewed in our report, and a third article showing an admirable example of two political scientists holding two other political scientists accountable for their flawed, sloppy research]. In this fourth article in our “Shaky Political Science” series, we shine a spotlight on seven studies that were web-hosted and funded by New America’s Political Reform Program and its Electoral Reform Research Group (the ERRG is an ad hoc committee headed by New America’s Political Reform Program and joined by the American Enterprise Institute, the Unite America Institute and Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law). This research consortium has been led by Lee Drutman, senior fellow with New America’s Political Reform Program. These seven studies are simply not credible from any objective standard about how political “science” is supposed to illuminate our understanding of either ranked choice voting or politics in general. The feature that six of these seven studies have in common is that they all used surveys – artificial, simulated elections -- to attempt to say something cogent or interesting about ranked choice voting (RCV) elections. None of them used real world data from actual RCV elections – either the 1000+ elections in the US or the many thousands of elections from places like Australia, Ireland and elsewhere where RCV has been used for 100 years. While a few of these studies conclude with some mixed positives about RCV, our analysis here is content neutral. The idea that, with a political reform like RCV, you can ask respondents in a mock, artificial election to vote with that method, with only the barest of explanation about how RCV works or its likely impacts (i.e. no spoiler candidates, majority winners, voters liberated to pick their favorite candidates, coalition-building), and then ask them their thoughts/reactions about voting in that system, with fake candidates and no real campaigning, no real exposure to an actual election or actual candidates, rests on some very puzzling assumptions. The findings of these seven studies actually are contradicted by the findings from many other studies based on real-world RCV elections. These New America studies also failed to list the real-world RCV studies in their own citations, instead including those studies that reinforced their conclusions. The seven studies featured in this article were chosen because they form a cohesive cohort which precisely illustrates one of the main points of our research paper, namely that using surveys, i.e. artificial elections, or mathematical/theoretical models, instead of real-world data, is in fact “shaky political science.” Below are summaries of our analysis of five of the seven New America studies. You can read our complete analysis of all seven studies at our paper, “Shaky political ‘science’ misses mark on ranked choice voting.” Choosing to “Vote As Usual” by Andre Blais, Carolina Plescia, and Semra Sevi. New America. (Blais et al., 2021). This study, web-hosted and funded by New America’s Political Reform Program and its Electoral Reform Research Group, used two surveys in which respondents completed ballots for simulated elections using plurality, approval, RCV and point (Score) voting. In both cases the authors provided the respondents with only minimal explanation of each method. For example, the entire explanation for RCV was “For this vote, rank the candidates from your first to your last choice (you do not need to rank them all). This is called the ranked vote.” That’s it. The study did not provide any context or explanation to survey respondents about why she/he might want to rank multiple candidates. Participants were not even told that ballots would be tabulated using an “instant” runoff, not to mention any description of RCVs ability to eliminate the spoiler effect or liberate voters to rank their favorite candidates without fear of helping the “greater evil” candidate to win. That’s like taking an iPhone back in time to 1970 and asking someone if they like it better than their rotary phone without explaining how it works. Their first survey targeted states that held 2020 Super Tuesday Democratic primaries and used the real candidates’ names in the survey; the second survey used fictitious candidates. In other words, they surveyed respondents who had only ever participated in plurality elections, had no history or background with using RCV or any of the other methods, had no clue about its likely impacts, and did not communicate how the alternative methods would be counted, and then asked them: “How satisfied are you with using each system?” Predictably, the winner was plurality elections, the system used for president, Congress, gubernatorial and state legislative elections – in other words, the method they have been using, year after year, all their voting lives. With so little explanation of RCV and its impacts, this study is simply not credible in discovering anything useful about real-world RCV elections. It merely shows that a basic voter education campaign is needed when adopting a new election system. Additionally, the result contradicts many other post-election surveys following real RCV elections, asking opinions from voters who had just participated in a RCV election, that showed a great deal of satisfaction with RCV (see details on that in Studies 22-25 in our paper, as well as the four studies cited in the review for Study 28). Share Other studies on “satisfaction” and “understanding” make similar mistakes, in terms of basing their surveys on inadequate explanation to respondents and lack of education about context. How could any survey ever hope to measure accurately, in essence simulate a real-world election, without actual campaigning candidates, the media writing about those candidates, organizations endorsing candidates and voters being inundated with crucial information? More than anything, what these “studies” based on surveys show is that if you ask voters about something they don’t know very much about, and fail to adequately educate them, their responses will unsurprisingly reflect their confusion. Equally puzzling is that New America’s Electoral Reform Research Group, headed by political scientist Lee Drutman, found this to be a credible enough study that they not only published it but highlighted it in Drutman’s own discussion of research related to ranked choice voting. This pattern was repeated in study after study featured by New America’s Electoral Reform Research Group. For example in Ranked-Choice Voting and Political Expression: Voter Guides Narrow the Gap between Informed and Uninformed Citizens by Cheryl Boudreau, Jonathan Colner, and Scott MacKenzie, the researchers based their analysis on a survey which found that respondents who were asked to vote in a simulated RCV election, with minimal explanation of RCV or how it works, displayed less evidence of being informed about how to use RCV effectively, with the least informed voters ranking fewer candidates. As pointed out under the study above, in a real election voters are informed by a wide variety of methods, including public education by the election administration, by interested political groups, the media, and the candidates themselves who benefit from voters being aware of how to vote in the new system. In Support for Ranked-Choice Voting across Race and Partisanship by Joseph Anthony, David C. Kimball, Jack Santucci and Jamil Scott, the researchers used respondents from different parties and races voting in simulated plurality and RCV elections, who indicated their satisfaction with each voting method. Instead of using real world election results, the authors fell back on the easy, armchair and less reliable academic research methodology of making up mock elections. As with the other studies, little explanation was given of how RCV works or what its implications might be (electing majority winners or eliminating spoilers, for example). Unsurprisingly, this study found that respondents were not very satisfied with RCV. However, when the authors added an explanation that RCV has a tendency to elect more women and people of color, they found that this greater explanation increased the preference for RCV. The more voters were familiar with it, and the more they understood potential positive impacts – surprise! -- the more they were open to switching away from the status quo. Of note, the results from this study are thoroughly contradicted by a number of other studies whose data was obtained from real RCV elections with real voters. Those studies show a great deal of satisfaction with RCV. More “fake election” research An interesting wrinkle on this “research by fake elections” approach, which only served to illustrate how unreliable such “research” can become, was taken in Ranked-Choice Voting, Runoff, and Democracy: Insights from Maine and Other U.S. States by Joseph Cerrone and Cynthia McClintock_,_ also web-hosted and funded by New America’s ERRG. It gets high marks for creativity, but an eye-roll for thinking this could possibly add anything meaningful to our understanding of real world RCV elections. This study tried to determine whether RCV, plurality or two-round runoff elections provided greater voter satisfaction and acceptance of election results. To determine that, the authors conducted a survey asking if voters were satisfied with a fictional newspaper report of an election, with three different versions given to respondents – plurality, runoff and RCV, with variations of Republican/Democrat winners and variations of “come-from-behind” winners,” i.e. candidates not initially in first place but who win the “runoff.” Again, a minimal explanation of RCV or how it works was given, and the survey showed that respondents had the greatest unfamiliarity with RCV than the other methods. The unsurprising result? Respondents were much more satisfied with “come-from-behind” victories in a traditional two-round runoff election than in RCV, even though RCV is also a runoff system but with a single round of counting. Interestingly, the dissatisfaction with RCV disappeared for those who were more familiar with RCV. In fact, among those respondents who were “very familiar” with RCV, they were equally satisfied with RCV, runoff and plurality. Surprise, surprise. Again, what this study revealed, more than anything, is not only the inadequacy of the explanation for RCV given by the authors of this study, but the failure of the research format itself, thinking that such an artificial mock election could somehow simulate what actually happens in the real world in a real RCV election. Those four studies reviewed above are fitting examples of inadequate and shaky political “science.” Other studies reviewed in our paper from the New America/Electoral Reform Research Group cohort which also used mock elections included: Ranked-Choice Voting is an Acquired Taste by Joseph Anthony and David C. Kimball. New America. (Anthony et al., 2021). Ranked-Choice Voting is No Refuge for Extreme Candidates by Melissa Baker. New America. (Baker, 2021). Also included in this New America cohort is Does Ranked-Choice Voting Reduce Racial Polarization? by Yuki Atsusaka and Theodore Landsman, which actually did use real-world election results data but applied an odd and unconventional methodology to the data which relied on shaky assumptions and non-real-world scenarios that were too divorced from reality. To determine levels of “racially polarized voting,” the researchers imagined “ethnic parties,” by which they mean political parties for each ethnic group, which was especially odd since the election data they were using came from nonpartisan RCV races. But then they made an even odder assumption, namely that since race and ethnic characteristics of studied voters were not available, the authors tried to infer that information based on who voters selected and the racial make-up of voters in each district. This amounted to little more than vague and ambiguous guesswork dressed up with a bunch of mathematical equations used to give it a veneer of scientific appearance. Indeed, it seemed to assume racial polarization in order to prove racial polarization. Based on this questionable methodology, the authors concluded that RCV doesn’t reduce racial polarization. But the premise of this study missed an obvious reality: since RCV incentivizes more candidates to run and can result in more diverse fields of candidates, one would expect more racially-polarized voting in voters’ top rankings, not less, because more voters would have someone on that ballot who represents their racial or ethnic identity and more freedom to vote for their real first choice. By encouraging more diverse candidates and eliminating the spoiler effect, RCV facilitates voting for a favorite candidate of your own race and then selecting a second choice with the best likelihood of winning. The real measure is what voters do with their additional rankings – do they consider other candidates and vote “for the best of the rest”? This study didn’t tell us anything useful about that. But readily available data shows this is common in real RCV elections, and candidates act on this knowledge by engaging with voters outside their racial group. So the authors of this study failed to consider or account for what actually happens in real-world elections, and their conclusions are tainted by this failure. New America has contributed a great deal over the past 2.5 decades to our understanding of many policy areas, including politics and political reform (full disclosure: Steven Hill, one of the authors of this article and of the “Shaky Political Science” research paper and series, is a former senior fellow and former director of New America’s political reform program, 2005-2010). So it was especially disappointing that New America funded and published such a large batch of dubious studies about ranked choice voting. The stated praiseworthy goal of its Electoral Reform Research Group was to inspire new academic research about ranked choice voting that would shed light and help the public better understand the impacts of RCV. Instead, the ERRG research did just the opposite. It produced dubious research that created more confusion and misinformation. In so doing, New America’s political reform program contributed to “shaky political science.” Steven Hill and Paul Haughey Share Upgrade to $5 subscription Thanks for reading DemocracySOS, a reader-supported digital portal for the pro-democracy movement. Subscribe for only $5 per month to receive full benefits and to support our work. Subscribe
Rep. Blake Moore discusses health care affordability
Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, vice chair, House Republican Conference and member of the House Ways and Means Committee and its Subcommittee on Health, joined Bill Gassen, president and CEO of Sanford Health and AHA chair-elect, for a fireside chat. While the conversation covered topics including health care access and regulation, the overarching theme was making health care more affordable for both patients and hospitals and health systems.
Partisan politics jolt proposed JEA rate increases
Jacksonville Republican leaders and a Miami political committee's text message attack proposed JEA rate increase and blame Mayor Donna Deegan for it.
Nancy Mace introduces resolution to expel Republican Cory Mills from Congress
Mills, who is being investigated by the House Ethics Committee in connection with allegations including sexual and financial misconduct, has denied wrongdoing.
3 warning signs for Republicans in our new poll: From the Politics Desk
Plus, Republicans weigh how big to go on their next party-line funding bill.
Lagging in polls and fundraising, Betty Yee drops out of California governor’s race
Yee's departure from the race for governor leaves six leading Democrats in the running with two leading Republicans.
What is President Donald Trump's approval rating? See latest polls
President Trump's approval rating has long been underwater, spelling trouble for Republicans in the midterms. Iran, high gas prices aren't helping.
April 20 "Colorado Chamber Office Hours": The housing debate from a business lens | The Sum and Substance
A leader in the homebuilding industry and a Senate Republican offer opposing viewpoints on this year's housing package.
Who are the candidates for Oregon House District 20?
For the first time in years, the primaries for House District 20 will be contested for both Democrats and Republicans in the May 19 primary election.
Elaine Luria, January 6 panel member seeking political comeback, says ‘the wind is on our back’ as Democrats try to flip House
Luria, who lost her seat to a Republican after standing up to Trump, has secured key endorsements in Virginia race
Trump’s $1.5 Trillion Defense Budget Could Be Political Suicide for Republicans
In so many ways, this budget is a fantasy.
Health care fight intensifies as Congress weighs GOP-backed insurance changes
Congressional Republicans say they are taking steps on health care — but Democrats counter that previous efforts are already costing Virginians coverage and putting hospitals under strain. Republicans have pointed to measures like the Rural Health Transformation Fund and an association health plan expansion bill that has cleared the House and is headed to the […]
High-ranking Republicans dance around endorsements. What's the point?
U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett posted what one politico called a \
A political vibe shift: The Senate is suddenly in play
Republicans entered 2026 all but certain they'd hold the chamber. Six months out, that certainty is fading.
Pinwheels and the ‘lobster district’: How Virginia Democrats drew up a US House map to all but lock out Republicans
Virginia Democrats hope the new congressional map they’re asking voters to approve Tuesday will flip four Republican House districts, delivering 10 of 11 seats in a state Vice President Kamala Harris won with just 52% of the vote in 2024. To do it, they want to dramatically rework entire sections of the state, slicing up deep blue districts in the Washington, DC, suburbs and around Richmond, and creating a new district running along the Blue Ridge Mountains that connects liberal cities. That’s required something called the “lobster district,” stretching from northern Virginia into two “pincers” grabbing up rural territory.
There's a new Republican congressman running in Butler County
Rep. Mike Turner is running for reelection in Ohio's 10th Congressional District, which will soon include parts of Butler County.
State House moves forward with Health Dept. budget
LANSING — Two and a half months before the state’s budget deadline, members of the Republican-led Michigan House of Representatives unleashed a flurry of budget proposals from their respective subcommittees, including a three-part plan to fund the Department of Health and Human Services. With the department making up nearly half of the state budget, members […]
Democrats Eye a Broader Battlefield to Capture Congress in November
Weighed down by President Trump’s approval ratings, some Republican incumbents are struggling to raise money while Democrats look for targets like a Tennessee seat south of Nashville.
Republican senator criticizes Trump’s ‘holy war’ with Pope Leo
Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, a long supporter of Trump, says president’s feud with the pope is a ‘distraction’
Republicans Plan Big Spending to Keep Ohio's Senate Seat. A Bribery Scandal Adds to Their Challenges
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — As he seeks to retain his U.S. Senate seat this fall, Ohio Republican Jon Husted has been unable to escape the shadow of a $60 million bribery scandal that has roiled state politics for more than five years. Husted was recently called to testify as a defense witness in the
How a must-win Michigan Senate race turned messy for Democrats
Sitting in a coffee shop in his hometown of Ann Arbor, Abdul El-Sayed is ready to dispel the notion that he’s unelectable. “I think there is this notion that electability is about being the least offensive,” he told CNN. “If that were true, why would Donald Trump have won the presidency twice?” Whether he’s right could have enormous ramifications for control of the Senate. Michigan’s open Senate seat is now emerging as a GOP hedge against a potential takeover for Democrats, who need to net four seats to flip the chamber. Losing Michigan would make the Democrats’ task almost impossible, a major reason why a leading Republican outside group just announced plans to pour $45 million into the state this summer and fall to boost former Rep. Mike Rogers, the likely GOP nominee. El-Sayed faces US Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow in a battle already riven by divides over Israel, immigration enforcement and health care.
Curing U.S. Health Care, Part I
In 2008, much to their own surprise, leading Democrats unified around a program of major health care reform. Policy wonks had spent years developing the concepts behind what eventually became Obamacare; big Democratic victories in the 2006 midterms and the prospect of controlling both Congress and the presidency made it possible to imagine turning those ideas into reality. During the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama advocated similar plans, based on those ideas, for expanding insurance coverage. And it happened! The Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010. When it was fully implemented in 2014, millions of Americans got health insurance: Impressive as the raw numbers are, they don’t tell the whole story. Before the ACA, even upper-middle-class Americans often found it impossible to get health insurance if they had pre-existing medical conditions. Many Americans were trapped in jobs they wanted to leave but couldn’t for fear of losing their employment-based coverage. Meanwhile, dire predictions from the usual suspects about runaway costs proved wrong. In fact, overall U.S. medical spending has grown much more slowly since the ACA was enacted than before. But the U.S., alone among advanced nations, still falls far short of providing universal health care. As you can see from the chart above, 8 percent of the population was still uninsured in 2024, a number that is set to rise over the next two years as a result of Republican policies. True, many of the uninsured in 2024 were undocumented immigrants, who we don’t try to cover. But there are still a lot of uninsured. Moreover, a significant number of Americans who have health insurance are in fact underinsured. As a result, they are at risk of incurring devastating healthcare costs and are sometimes forced to forgo needed care. This number is set to rise sharply in the next two years as a result of Republican policies adopted under Donald Trump. And not only is the U.S. unique among advanced countries in its under-provision of health care coverage, it also incurs by far the world’s highest healthcare costs per capita. So now may well be a good time to get behind a new push for major health reform — an effort, if you like, to finish the job begun under Obama. Today’s primer is devoted to the economics of health reform. During his failed effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Donald Trump famously complained, “Nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated.” Actually, we did know — and it’s not that complicated. Health economists understand the principles very well. And because health policy varies greatly among advanced nations, we know a lot about what works and what doesn’t. This will be the first in a series about health reform. Beyond the paywall I’ll address the following: 1. Why markets can’t be trusted to deliver healthcare 2. Routes to universal healthcare 3. What works? In a follow-up post I’ll discuss the pros and cons of different approaches, and possible paths forward for the United States.
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