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Reform’s Startup Culture Raises Risks Ahead of Local Elections
Earlier this year, as Reform UK official Shaun Wilkinson was shortlisting candidates for May’s local elections, he watched in astonishment as a superior remotely replaced one pick in the shared spreadsheet with a recent Conservative defector who he’d rejected.
Iraq elects Kurdish politician Nizar Amidi as president amid Iran war fallout
Iraq's parliament voted Saturday to elect Nizar Amidi as president, five months after a parliamentary election that didn't produce a decisive majority.
“AI polls” are fake polls
A few weeks after Donald Trump’s second presidential win, I took the train up from London (where I was living at the time) to Oxford to attend a conference on polls and forecasts of the 2024 election. Most of the attendees were pollsters or academics, but I also watched presentations from Aaru and Electric Twin, two companies that do what is interchangeably called synthetic sampling, silicon sampling, or synthetic audiences. Stripped of startup jargon, that means they use large language models (LLMs) to simulate responses to public opinion polls by having AI agents take on the role of survey respondents. I had already heard of Aaru thanks to some articles with eye-catching headlines like “No people, no problem: AI chatbots predict elections better than humans” in the months leading up to Election Day. The founders were making some big, some might even say far-fetched claims, such as: “within two years, we will simulate the entire globe — from the way crops are grown in Ukraine to how that impacts production of oil in Iraq, trade through the strait of Malacca, and elections for the mayor of Baltimore.” When Semafor asked Aaru’s cofounders — Cameron Fink and Ned Koh — about my boss, they said “we respect all those who came before us.” Nate (as he so often does) shared his thoughts on Twitter: Fink and Koh were relatively good-natured about this back-and-forth when we spoke at Oxford. They even offered to mail me one of the t-shirts featuring Nate’s quote they apparently had made. I never took them up on the offer, which I now somewhat regret. These synthetic sampling companies fell off my radar for a while, but they do still exist. In fact, Aaru recently received a $1 billion valuation. Is what they’re doing anywhere close to the most important frontier in AI development? Not by a longshot, especially when Anthropic just developed a model so adept at exploiting software vulnerabilities that it’s only being released to 40 companies. Still, silicon sampling is increasingly finding its way into public polling. Axios reported in March that “a majority of people trust their own doctors and nurses” based on findings from Aaru — without mentioning that the “people” in that sentence were actually LLMs. Around the same time, the Public Sentiment Institute “boosted” their online sample of 373 real survey respondents with 114 AI agents.1 (Spoiler alert: even the co-founder of Electric Twin doesn’t think that’s a particularly defensible approach.) Polling companies like Qualtrics and Ipsos are also developing synthetic data panels. So, what should we make of these … “polls”? Let’s get one thing out of the way: whatever they are, they’re not polls in the way that term is usually defined. Subscribe You can’t replace polls with AI On one hand, using LLMs to essentially make up fake survey respondents sort of sounds like the dumbest idea ever, one that will at best imperfectly replicate real polls while introducing all sorts of biases. On the other hand, with LLMs improving at a remarkable, perhaps even alarming rate, maybe that means I’m a dinosaur at the ripe old age of 24 because I still want to rely on polls that talk to actual people. I’m not going to argue that synthetic samples are completely useless. In fact, as I’ll return to later, there is evidence that some techniques can replicate topline survey results quickly and cheaply. But the marketing from certain companies can be slightly optimistic. “No traditional poll will exist by the time the next general election occurs,” said Fink in 2024. We’re just 206 days away from the midterms, and based on the fact that I still have to collect a bunch of polls every day, I’d say he should have run that prediction by a sample of AI agents before the interview.2 To see why synthetic samples can’t replace polls, here’s a quick primer on how they work. The simplest version of these models involves taking a LLM (like ChatGPT or Claude), giving it a demographic profile (e.g., a white, college-educated woman who lives in Utah and makes $70k a year), and then asking it to respond to a survey question. You repeat that process a few thousand times using different demographic profiles and end up with a sample of synthetic survey responses. The actual models used by private companies are more sophisticated than this, usually because they incorporate more hypothesized demographic characteristics for each agent and provide them with extra information. Aaru, for example, feeds agents a diet of news and information they’d be likely to consume, while Electric Twin incorporates their customers’ proprietary data about the audience they’re trying to replicate. The way Ben Warner, the co-founder of Electric Twin, explained it to me was “we have a large amount of data on […] for instance, 5,000 people. Can we make an accurate prediction of how they would respond to another question?” Still, it should be obvious why synthetic samples can’t replace polls. Polling is fundamentally a data collection process. We might use surveys to make predictions by feeding them into election forecasts, but the main purpose of a poll isn’t prediction, it’s gathering new data about what people think and how they feel. Silicon sampling, on the other hand, produces no new data. It’s simply a model: you input LLM training data, demographic prompts, and a bunch of other information, and it spits out a prediction for what a poll would say. We love models here, but models aren’t polls. That difference is an important philosophical sticking point for most pollsters I talk to. “I think politics should stay away from [synthetic sampling], because we’re trying to […] represent the voice of the people,” said Natalie Jackson, a vice president at GQR Insights. Democratic pollster John Hagner told me: “I think I’m just incredibly skeptical of this idea. I don’t think it’s research. At that point, you’re asking the machine to tell you what you already believe.” Hagner has seen some presentations of early synthetic sampling experiments, but so far, “if it’s being used in a campaign, people are keeping it incredibly quiet.”3 But Eli, I hear you saying, aren’t polls themselves increasingly governed by modeling decisions? Indeed they are: pollsters’ choices on which sampling method to use, how to define their likely voter models, and how to weight their samples can and do lead to dramatic differences in the results they publish. Aaru even referenced these limitations in the methodology statement included with that maternal mortality “poll” — although I’m using the term “methodology statement” loosely here, because it doesn’t really explain how the model works at all. We can ignore the (frankly preposterous) implication that synthetic sampling isn’t subject to a separate set of biases. The important point is that there’s still a meaningful difference between using weighting and other statistical techniques on actual polling data and using a model to predict what a poll would say. The latter is far closer to election forecasts or techniques like MRP — potentially useful models, but not a replacement for polls.4 To be fair, other synthetic sampling companies are perfectly happy with the distinction between polls and models. Warner compared polling and synthetic sampling to different tools in a toolbox. “The mistake I think we make is we think that these new tools should either work in exactly the same way or somehow replace these old tools,” he said. “Rather than thinking of it as, okay, so we’ve always had the hammer, we’ve always had the screwdriver, now we’ve got a saw. But don’t use a saw to try [to] do the job of a hammer.” A quick comment from Nate Eli didn’t ask me for a comment — rather rude of him, don’t you think? But since I’m editing this story, I figured I’d add a few quick thoughts rather than putting words in his mouth. Beyond the frequently misleading marketing, what bothers me about the AI “poll” hype is that as AI tools make statistical inference cheaper and/or better (note that these are not synonyms) that actually increases the comparative value of collecting original data. You might be able to train a model to make a reasonable estimate of what some hard-to-reach poll respondent would say — say, a young Black man who voted for Trump. (Such a person checks a number of boxes for a voter who is usually hard to reach in surveys.) Indeed, this is closely related to what models like the Silver Bulletin forecast already do. They essentially smooth out the kinks in noisy survey data by making inferences based on past voting patterns or national polls or surveys of other states. But you don’t actually know what these voters think unless you’re reaching them directly. If there’s a shift in opinion among this subgroup, you’re not going to detect it. So if I were running a campaign, I’d invest more in going the extra mile to find a representative sample of those voters. And then I’d hire some smart quants — or Claude? — to figure out the implications for campaign strategy based on proprietary data that my competitors didn’t have access to. -Nate Silver Are these models any good? If synthetic surveys are just a new type of model, the next obvious question is whether the models are at least accurate. The answer very much depends on who you ask. On one end of the spectrum, you have the maximalist argument that synthetic sampling is more accurate than actual polls. “It’s an incredibly challenging problem to go to someone and say ‘hey, we’re going to be more accurate at predicting human behavior than you, even when you talk to your customers directly’,” Koh recently told CNBC. In his view, synthetic sampling isn’t a saw to polling’s hammer, it’s “magic.” There’s certainly evidence that synthetic samples can replicate certain survey toplines. But if Aaru does have any examples of their approach outperforming the polls, they’re keeping those to themselves.5 Aaru’s 2024 election model, for example, had Kamala Harris leading in Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin on November 4th. And although they’ve since taken down their forecast page, they gave Harris a 50.5 percent chance of winning the race on November 2nd.6 After the election, Fink told Semafor he was happy enough with those results because they were “within margin of error,” a term that is completely meaningless when applied to a “sample” of AI agents. And of course, Aaru says their models have improved since 2024, so supposedly now they’d be more accurate than the polls? Still, their stronger argument is on cost: “We are significantly faster and cheaper than traditional polling, and still more accurate,” said Fink. The first two claims are undeniably true, but the third brings us to the opposite end of the spectrum. Both Jackson and Hagner are skeptical that these models are reliable for anything beyond replicating common survey toplines. “I just […] don’t think the machines are what we want when we’re looking for nuanced views. My example on this is people in Arizona and Nevada in 2024 who voted for Trump and voted for expanding abortion in their states on ballot initiatives,” said Jackson. Hagner identified another issue. Maybe the synthetic respondents, like sycophantic LLMs, are inhuman in one important way: they’re too nice. “The reports that have come through at the meetings that I’ve been at are that the early experiments on this, they cannot get respondents to be as racist or sexist or, frankly, as negative as human respondents,” he said. Academic research mostly agrees on this point. While there are some papers that show promising results when using LLMs to replicate polling data, most show that LLMs suffer from various quirks like producing too few “don’t know” responses and can seriously overpredict the favorability of politicians like Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. They also seem to struggle with too little variation between demographic subgroups, so the difference in predicted opinion between Democrats and Republicans, for example, is too small. When I asked Warner about these studies, his response to these papers was that just because academics can’t get synthetic sampling to work doesn’t mean that the technique doesn’t work in general. “Actually, the argument is, okay, yours does not [work]. That does not mean […] for this complex set of machinery, which uses a lot of investment, a lot of time, a lot of money, you can’t get it to work.” Cards on the table, I’m somewhat sympathetic to this argument because academics aren’t exactly great at making election forecasts. Usually, the people with skin in the game are the most accurate. Warner’s argument is that the approach Electric Twin takes — which includes, for example, making multiple predictions for each synthetic respondent using different models and prompts and subsequently averaging those to get a final prediction in a sort of ensemble forecast — produces better results than the simpler academic models. Warner shared a comparison between his method and the method from a recent academic paper with me, and Electric Twin was indeed able to get more accurate replication. But even still, he acknowledged that synthetic sampling “is not a crystal ball.” “If you asked me, do I think using other data sources will be more accurate than asking somebody who they will vote for, I would probably say no. But if you asked me ‘would your system be useful for our turnout modeling today?’ I would say yes.” For better or worse, it looks like the method is already getting more popular in the market research world. Most of the clients Aaru touts these days are businesses like EY and McDonald’s. And AI will probably begin to pop up in other parts of the political polling process. Pollsters are already using it to code open-ended survey responses, and some firms, like YouGov, are testing using LLMs to ask survey respondents questions. More worryingly, one danger to actual polls is that AI agents can be used to infiltrate online surveys. Most online polls use various checks to prevent that from happening, but there’s conflicting evidence on how effective those filters are and how prevalent AI agents currently are in online panels. If those agents ever become impossible to detect, it might spell the end of online polling, but the solution isn’t to replace all of your respondents with ChatGPT. Silver Bulletin is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a subscriber. Subscribe 1 That particular poll obviously doesn’t meet Silver Bulletin standards for aggregation. But we exclude all Public Sentiment Institute polls from our averages because we classify them as an amateur polling firm. 2 You could argue that Fink meant the next presidential election, but (a) I’m also confident we’ll still have real polls in 2028 and (b) in that case he should have asked an LLM to define “general election.” 3 Quick caveat: that’s reporting from a Democratic pollster. It’s possible that Republicans are more willing to use AI in political campaigns. 4 Indeed, Silver Bulletin does not include “polls” produced by MRP in our forecasts or averages, and we think it’s extremely misleading when their practitioners describe them in a way that suggests original data had been collected among a large number of states or Congressional districts. 5 A recent report from Aaru and EY did show two examples of a synthetic estimate being closer than a survey to a real-world benchmark — but I’d take those findings with a grain of salt because the report reads more like an ad and didn’t involve any sort of prediction being made ahead of time. 6 For comparison, our odds for Harris on the same day were 48.2 percent.
Peru holds presidential election amid a decade of political tumult
In the span of a decade, Peru has seen nine presidents come and go. How has that affected this year's presidential race?
Iraq elects Kurdish politician Nizar Amidi as president amid war fallout
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s parliament voted Saturday to elect Nizar Amidi, a political official with one of the country’s two main Kurdish parties, as president, five months after a parliamentary election that didn’t produce a bloc with a decisive majority.
Iraq elects Kurdish politician Nizar Amidi as president amid war fallout
Iraq’s parliament has elected Nizar Amidi as president, five months after elections failed to produce a decisive majority. The vote took place Saturday.
For aging Supreme Court justices, the politics of retirement looms large
Discussion among experts about a possible Supreme Court vacancy has increased as two men draw closer to the average age of retirement for Supreme Court justices since 2000 and with the November congressional elections looming.
Hungary’s Viktor Orban struggling for political survival ahead of vote
Hungarian prime minister and his Fidesz party face first closely contested polls in Sunday's parliamentary election.
As Election Looms, Will Alito Retire, Giving Trump a New Supreme Court Pick?
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. is the subject of intense speculation about whether he will retire in the coming months and give President Trump a fourth nominee.
Peru's election: A battle for the Presidency amid political chaos and crime
With 35 candidates in the race, Peru is set to elect its 9th president in less than a decade. Amid rising corruption and crime, voters are left asking: Can this election finally break the cycle?
Knox County Board of Education District 9 primary election voter's guide
Three candidates are vying to represent District 9: Brandy Jenkins, Kristi Kristy and William Sofield.
Red Sea Military Hub Djibouti’s President Extends 27-Year Rule
Djiboutian President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh won elections by a landslide, extending his 27-year rule of the strategically located nation that’s an international military and maritime hub.
Trump likes to back winners in foreign elections. The upcoming vote in Hungary will test his clout
Donald Trump has made a public flex of his political influence abroad on a scale that few, if any, U.S. presidents have, trying to marshal power he’s used domestically to sway races around the world
Trump likes to back winners in foreign elections. The upcoming vote in Hungary will test his clout
Donald Trump has made a public flex of his political influence abroad on a scale that few, if any, U.S. presidents have, trying to marshal power he’s used domestically to sway races around the world.
Trump Likes to Back Winners in Foreign Elections. the Upcoming Vote in Hungary Will Test His Clout
WASHINGTON (AP) — In Hungary, President Donald Trump and his top officials used social media and an election-eve trip to Budapest to promote the country’s far-right prime minister in his reelection campaign. In Argentina, the U.S. administration worked to prop up the country’s financial markets to ...
Inside Iowa Politics: Rob Sand’s plan to change elections
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand wants to change Iowa's primary election system.
Inside Iowa Politics: Rob Sand’s plan to change elections
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand wants to change Iowa's primary election system.
Inside Iowa Politics: Rob Sand’s plan to change elections
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand wants to change Iowa's primary election system.
Delaware County election board member's voter status, candidacy revoked
Delaware County elections board voted 2-1 to cancel Melanie Leneghan's voter registration and candidacy for an Ohio GOP State Central Committee seat.
Hungarian election could end Orbán's grip on power and alter Europe's political landscape
Trump Moves Top Aide James Blair to Political Operation Ahead of Midterms
Mr. Blair will “lead the charge from the outside,” the president said on social media. The move comes as Republicans are bracing for a potentially difficult November election.
Trump Moves Top Aide James Blair to Political Operation Ahead of Midterm
Mr. Blair will “lead the charge from the outside,” the president said on social media. The move comes as Republicans are bracing for a potentially difficult November election.
City to consider seeking declaratory judgement on entertainment district TIF election
The Norman City Council will meet Tuesday to consider authorizing the city attorney’s office to initiate litigation to obtain a declaratory judgment on whether it has the legal authority to
Trump’s divisive role in California politics is on display as GOP prepares election endorsements
Trump's endorsement of Steve Hilton for governor over Chad Bianco has upended the California GOP's strategy, forcing the party to refocus on other races.
Reporter, Politics & Policy
We need an experienced, mission-driven reporter for a four-month stint to help us cover the 2026 election and the changing world of politics and policy.
AP report: Trump administration admits a glaring error in its New York health fraud accusations
The error, which the administration admitted first to The Associated Press, prompted health analysts to question how many of the Republican administration’s sweeping anti-fraud efforts around the country were based on faulty findings.
Harry Cohen banks $144K in Q1 for re-election, but he might wind up unopposed
Cohen's opponent doesn't live in the district.
Reform UK local election candidate was twice disciplined by Tories over ‘racist comments’
Tories disowned Derek Bullock in 2023 after he allegedly used a racial slur to called for people of Pakistani heritage to be shot
Viktor Orbán Could Actually Lose Sunday’s Hungarian Election
The Hungarian leader faces an energized opposition—and questions about whether he would accept defeat.
Trump's divisive role in California politics is on display as GOP prepares election endorsements
Trump's endorsement of Steve Hilton for governor over Chad Bianco has upended the California GOP's strategy, forcing the party to refocus on other races.
Top takeaways from Youngkin's Hannity interview
The former governor talked future plans, Trump ties and his Richmond election strategy.
May elections: what five politics experts are looking out for
Five experts tell us what they will be keeping their eye on during the May elections in England, Scotland and Wales.
Searching for Truth Inside Viktor Orban’s Media Machine
In Hungary, politics often splits along generational lines. The election result may hinge on how many voters still trust what they see on state television.
Agriculture secretary’s religious Easter message to all employees sparks internal backlash and a formal complaint
A “Christ is Risen” Easter message sent by the secretary of agriculture has sparked backlash inside the department, angering some of its nearly 100,000 employees and prompting a formal complaint against the secretary for the religious message.
When and why political leaders polarise rhetoric: Evidence from Twitter/X
Standard theories of electoral competition predict that politicians should converge toward the centre as elections approach. This column challenges this prediction, using 3.4 million tweets from 367 political leaders across 21 Western democracies. Rhetorical polarisation between populist and non-populist leaders rises sharply in the two quarters before an election and reverts to average levels once it is over. Both groups adopt a more emotionally direct communication style as elections near, but they increasingly talk about different topics. The findings suggest that social media turns electoral campaigns into an engine of political polarisation.
‘We need new blood’: Texas voters look for leadership changes, fresh faces this election year
Some vocal Texas voters say they want to get rid of politicians who've served the state for decades. Much of that sentiment can be boiled down to a preference for younger candidates with new energy — or even older ones who buck long-held status quo.
'We got our butts kicked.' Republicans rattled by Democratic momentum ahead of midterms
Simmering discontent could boomerang on Republicans just two years after Trump harnessed voters' anger with his comeback presidential campaign.
WATCH: Democratic presidential prospects flock to Al Sharpton's conference in New York
The Democratic Party's most ambitious politicians are courting African American activists in New York this week as the party's unofficial 2028 presidential nomination contest takes shape at an annual conference led by Rev. Al Sharpton.
How national political analysts see the Wisconsin Supreme Court race
J. Miles Coleman from Sabato's Crystal Ball said far different results in Washington and Ozaukee counties could mark the end of the "WOW" grouping.
Colorado Springs’ mayor has a new chief of staff. It’s the guy he trounced in the election.
Mayor Yemi Mobolade on Thursday named Wayne Williams his chief of staff. Williams, a Republican who is Colorado’s former secretary of state, lost to Mobolade in the 2023 mayoral election.
A record-breaking field: What to expect from Peru’s presidential election?
Crime and corruption are top issues for voters as the country struggles to cope with persistent political instability.
What one campaign rally in Michigan reveals about young voters ahead of midterm elections
Rep. Seth Moulton picks: Josh Shapiro or Gavin Newsrom?
Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton, who launched a primary challenge against Sen. Ed Markey to represent Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate, answered rapid-fire questions on his decision to return money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), his past comments about trans athletes and his stance on ICE. With the 2026 elections underway, The Post's Anna Liss-Roy is grilling candidates in races across the country, pressing Democrats and Republicans to share their takes at high-speed.
What one campaign rally in Michigan reveals about young voters ahead of the midterm elections
Many young voters say politics isn’t delivering and they want candidates who offer something new, not just opposition
A simple step to support Minnesota’s small businesses
To show a commitment to owners of small businesses, Minnesota should extend the pass-through entity tax election.
Democrats Are Obsessed With the Wrong Senate Races
Sherrod Brown and Roy Cooper aren’t driving the political conversation, but their races may ultimately decide the Senate majority.
Who Is Funding the 2026 Midterm Elections? A Lot of the Money Is Untraceable.
A lot of the money flowing into the political system is ultimately untraceable.
Uncertainty swirls around Iran ceasefire: From the Politics Desk
Plus, Democrats post another big special election gain.
California Supreme Court orders GOP sheriff to pause election probe and preserve seized ballots
The dispute started earlier this year when Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco seized 1,000 boxes of election materials to investigate a complaint from a local citizens group about the ballot count from a November 2025 special election on redistricting.
UNITE HERE shakes up NC politics: A conversation with Maria Hernandez
This spring, UNITE HERE Local 23 played a key role in unseating conservative Democrats and replacing them with progressive candidates in North Carolina's primary elections. An active member of Local 23 in Charlotte spoke with Facing South about how they mobilized voters amid a climate of fear.
Influential Democratic think tank pushes plan for government to lower health care costs
Democrats are honing in on health care affordability as a key issue, ahead of the midterm elections.
Maria Lazar on her 2026 election loss and judicial politics
Maria Lazar on losing the 2026 race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
State election dispute on political speech comes to Supreme Court on interim docket
Lawyers for Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, as well as county election officials, urged the Supreme Court on Wednesday to let them go ahead with a ballot that does […]
N.Y. Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes won't run for reelection
She has been in the Assembly since 2003 and currently represents the 141st Assembly District.
The Metro: Trust in elections is declining. A Michigan Republican clerk blames politics
Ottawa County Clerk Justin Roebuck spoke with Robyn Vincent about election security, how he sees the SAVE act and more.
"Decisive victory" Political Analyst breaks down Taylor Supreme Court win
Judge Chris Taylor has won Wisconsin’s state Supreme Court race, a result political analysts say will shape the court’s balance and key decisions on elections for years to come.
Kansas Sports Hall of Fame announces 32-member class of 2026
The 32 selections will be honored at one of three events this summer.
Wisconsin Democrats pull off a stunning election performance
Wisconsin's Supreme Court election result provided good news for Democrats and bad news for Republicans.
A landslide in Wisconsin will make it much harder for MAGA to steal elections
Progressives won a massive victory in a crucial state Supreme Court race.
Democrats just locked down control of one of the most important courts in America
Dems won a swing-state election in a 20-point blowout.
Apple's New M5 MacBook Air Hits $949 Record Low Price on Amazon
Amazon has introduced a few new record low prices on the M5 MacBook Air this week, with up to $150 off these notebooks. We started tracking these deals over the weekend, and the selection of color options at best-ever prices has only expanded since then. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Live updates: Democrats demand Trump's ouster; Republicans win Georgia special election
Get live updates and the latest news as Democrats demand Trump's removal, Republicans win Georgia's special election, and Wisconsin Democrats expand their majority on the state Supreme Court
A new generation of politicians of colour is emerging in France. The backlash speaks volumes
Local elections have led to a surge of racism in a country that still struggles to see itself as anything other than white, says Guardian Europe columnist Rokhaya Diallo
Georgia, Wisconsin Elections Show Declining Appetite for Republican Candidates
A Republican won Marjorie Taylor Greene’s seat, but Democrats shifted the district 25 points to the left since the 2024 presidential race. Conservative candidates lost in Wisconsin, too.
Update, safeguard Colorado’s mail ballot with voter ID
By Chuck Broerman and Suzanne Taheri Coloradans often refer to our state as a leader for accessible and secure elections. We have led on all-mail ballots, automatic voter registration, and same-day registration, turning Colorado into a model for modern elections while also increasing turnout and lowering costs. But leadership also means staying ahead of the […]
What business wants from Essex councils ahead of the 2026 elections
Some businesses see councils as vital for infrastructure but some see them just as tax collectors.
Democrats lost in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s old district. They still had one of their best election nights in recent memory
At this point, it’s not really news that Democrats are doing very well in special elections and other races held since the 2024 presidential contest. Their recent track record is abundantly clear. But even by their recent standards, Tuesday was a very good night – one of their best of the Trump era, in fact.
Republican wins runoff to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congress
Republican Clay Fuller, a former prosecutor endorsed by President Donald Trump, on Tuesday won a runoff election in Georgia to replace conservative firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Election 2026 Georgia
Republican candidate Clay Fuller smiles as election results roll in during an election night watch party, Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Ringgold, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Swalwell campaign rejects 'outrageous' allegations of sexual misconduct as Dem activists issue viral warning
Rep. Eric Swalwell denied alleged misconduct claims from Cheyenne Hunt as California governor's race heats up ahead of the May primary election.
L.A. election shadow hearing: Democrats, experts defend voting systems
House Democrats gathered in Los Angeles on Tuesday for a "shadow hearing" on midterm election security, where experts echoed their arguments that state-run elections are safe and secure.
Live Results: Georgia special election to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene
Republican Clay Fuller will try to close the deal with Georgia voters on Tuesday to succeed Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congress, while Democrat Shawn Harris seeks an upset.
Live Results: Wisconsin Supreme Court election
Democrats hoped to increase liberal control of the state Supreme Court in Wisconsin on Tuesday.
Liberals tighten grip on battleground state Supreme Court in low-key but high-stakes election
Chris Taylor wins Wisconsin Supreme Court race, expanding the liberal majority to 5-2 in a key battleground state ahead of November's elections.
Yarbrough speaks with Lone Star Politics after opponent in TX-32 ends campaign for GOP nomination
After businessman and pastor Ryan Binkley ends his campaign for the GOP nomination in the 32nd Congressional District, Trump-endorsed Jace Yarbrough will take on the Democrat in the November election. The newly-drawn district was designed to favor Republicans by state lawmakers. Yarbrough takes questions from Lone Star Politics about his conservative views and his priorities if elected to office.
Dallas State Senator Nathan Johnson talks about his run for Texas Attorney General
Texas Senator Nathan Johnson, D – Dallas, is running against former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski in the May 26th primary runoff election after neither candidate received fifty percent of the vote. The winner will take on whoever wins the Republican nominee in November; either Texas State Senator Mayes Middleton, R – Galveston, or Congressman Chip Roy, R – Austin.
Dallas County GOP chair's precinct reversal brings turmoil in party
The GOP will vote April 20 on whether to oust West as chair after he broke from the group’s earlier agreement to hold precinct-based voting for this year’s primary and runoff election days.
Wisconsin Supreme Court Election 2026 Live Results
See live results from the 2026 Wisconsin State Supreme Court election as votes are counted.
Georgia House Special Runoff Election 2026 Live Results
See live results from the 2026 Georgia House Special Runoff election as votes are counted.
Gov. DeSantis signs measure shifting Naples Airport Authority control to voters
All 5 seats will appear on the ballot beginning with the 2026 General Election.
This GOP candidate seized a half-million ballots and says he may do it again
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who is running for California governor as a Republican, tried to review ballots despite election officials reaffirming the results.
Georgia congressional election pits Fuller against Harris
The winner would need to run again in separate primaries and a general election later this year to keep the seat
Trump administration live updates: Voters head to the polls in Georgia and Wisconsin
Get live updates and the latest news on the Trump administration as voters go to the polls in Georgia and Wisconsin and JD Vance meets with Hungary's Viktor Orbán.
Georgia Runoff Puts Trump Influence to the Test in MAGA Stronghold
By Nathan Layne April 7 (Reuters) - Voters in northwest Georgia go to the polls on Tuesday in a congressional race between a moderate Democrat and a Republican backed by President Donald Trump, in a test of Trump's sway over his base and a possible barometer for the November midterms. The two-way ...
Liberals will try to expand their majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in a Tuesday election
One year after Elon Musk donned a cheesehead hat and unsuccessfully poured millions of his personal fortune into a judicial contest in the state, Democrats are hoping to deliver another setback to conservatives in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election on Tuesday.
Infighting among Knox County Republican operatives lands in DA's office
Tennessee election officials say prosecutors should take a look at a mailer from GOP donor Scott Davis criticizing Erik Wiatr.
Wisconsin Supreme Court race could give liberals control for years
The state’s high court, which liberals will control either way, could take up cases on abortion, redistricting and election disputes in coming years.
Is David Jolly riding an off-shore blue wave? His Q1 fundraising suggests momentum is building
Jolly still trails Republican Byron Donalds — by a lot — but he has upped his game since 2 surprise Special Election victories.
‘Seismic change’: how election wins for nationalists in Celtic nations could reshape UK
With polls suggesting Plaid Cymru, the SNP and Sinn Féin could be in power after May vote, constitutional challenges may lie ahead
Democrats hope to increase liberal control of battleground Wisconsin's Supreme Court
Democrats are hoping to increase liberal control of the state Supreme Court in battleground Wisconsin in an election that has focused largely on abortion rights as cases affecting congressional redistricting, union rights and other hot button issues also await
Georgia congressional election pits Trump-backed Clay Fuller against Shawn Harris
Republican Clay Fuller faces Democrat Shawn Harris in a special election to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congress
Opinion: SU students should engage in local politics
Our columnist claims SU students need to be more involved in local elections. These elections have a tangible impact on the SU campus, so student voices in these elections matter, she claims.
Former NJ Gov. Chris Christie on Leadership and the Political Landscape
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) discusses leadership, the upcoming midterm elections, and the political landscape during a conversation hosted by the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School.
Ballots cast Tuesday, counted later: Surfside mayoral runoff results pushed to April 28, Judge rules
A Judge’s ruling creates a three-week window for additional mail-in ballots, allowing voters to request and submit them well beyond Election Day.
San Antonio Express-News: Rep. Gonzales allegedly sent lewd texts to campaign staffer in 2020
Texas Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales is facing new allegations he sent a former campaign staffer lewd texts, just weeks after revelations of his affair with another former employee rocked and ultimately ended his reelection bid.
Cooper continues to lead Whatley in polls seven months out
Seven months until Election Day the race is trending toward the Democrat, but it's still early.
Utility board elections face surge of attention as electricity rates rise
Skyrocketing power demand from massive data centers and rising household electric bills are injecting a wave of attention into who is getting elected to watch over electric utilities.