Elections

Why Progressives Are Done Waiting on Schumer

Senators Elizabeth Warren, Chris Murphy, and Tina Smith didn't sit down to vent. They sat down to count. A quiet meeting to gauge support for replacing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is less about personality and more about strategy — and the question it raises is the most important one Democrats face heading into 2028: does resistance work, or has two years of accommodation left them exactly where they started?

Apr 4, 20265 min read0040

The United States Capitol building illuminated at dusk, reflecting in surrounding pools

Jack Smart- Politics

Three Seats Between Democrats and the House Majority — They're All in Virginia

On April 21, Virginia voters will decide a redistricting referendum that could shift four congressional seats from Republican to Democratic control — giving Democrats the House majority without winning a single additional election.

Apr 3, 20266 min read007

Ella Smart- Politics

Virginia Democrats Just Raised $38 Million to Gerrymander. They're Calling It Democracy.

Pro-amendment forces raised $38.3 million in dark money to eliminate Virginia's bipartisan redistricting commission — outspending opponents 14 to 1. Polling shows informed voters aren't buying it.

Apr 2, 20265 min read004

Jack Smart- Politics

Eight Democrats Walk Into California's Primary. Two Republicans Might Walk Out.

California's 2026 governor's race has eight Democrats and two Republicans. Thanks to a top-two primary system and a deeply fractured progressive field, there's a one-in-four chance that no Democrat makes it to November in the bluest state in America. This is what political self-sabotage looks like in real time.

Apr 1, 20265 min read005

Jack Smart- Politics

8 Million People Marched. The Administration Called It Therapy.

The "No Kings" protests on March 28 were the largest single-day demonstration in American history. Three days later, the question everyone's asking is whether it translates into political power — or whether protest energy fades like it always does. This time, the infrastructure says different.

Apr 1, 20265 min read004

Ella Smart- Politics

Trump's Machine Goes to Georgia — and This Time, the Margin Is the Message

The April 7 runoff in Georgia's 14th District is a +70 Trump district. If Democrat Shawn Harris gets within single digits, the GOP's MAGA mobilization machine has a serious problem heading into the midterms.

Apr 1, 20265 min read004

Jack Smart- Politics

91% Democrat, 100% Excommunicated — The Fetterman Paradox

John Fetterman votes with Democrats 91% of the time — more than the centrist progressives wanted in 2022. His approval among Democrats has collapsed 108 points anyway. What the Fetterman saga reveals about a movement that's better at excommunication than coalition-building.

Mar 31, 20265 min read009

Ella Smart- Politics

$15 Million to Beat One Congressman — Is That What Loyalty Looks Like?

Rep. Thomas Massie faces the most expensive primary challenge of any sitting House Republican, backed by $15 million in anti-Massie spending and Trump's personal blessing. But with Massie leading by 17 points in internal polls and a 94% lifetime conservative rating, Ella Smart asks whether the GOP's loyalty tests are actually strengthening the party — or just proving that dissent has a price tag.

Mar 31, 20265 min read00

Ella Smart- Politics

The Approval Collapse Republicans Aren't Talking About

Fox News polling shows net approval for the Iran war dropped from 0 to -16 in weeks. CPAC 2026 exposed a generational fault line inside the conservative coalition. Republicans who want to hold the House in November need to stop ignoring these numbers.

Mar 31, 20265 min read006

Ella Smart- Politics

Paxton's Bet: Can MAGA's Grassroots Win Texas Without Trump's Blessing?

The May 26 Republican Senate runoff between incumbent John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton is the clearest test yet of whether populist MAGA energy can beat establishment conservatism on its home turf — especially with Donald Trump conspicuously silent on who he wants.

Mar 29, 20267 min read006

Jack Smart- Politics

Three Million Reasons This Isn't Just Coastal Rage

The "No Kings" protests on March 28, 2026 may have been the largest single-day demonstration in American history — and the most striking fact isn't the size. It's the geography.

Mar 29, 20265 min read007

Jack Smart- Politics

Florida Flipped Two Seats in Trump's Backyard. Here's the Part That Should Worry Republicans.

On March 24, Democrats won a Tampa-area state Senate seat and a Palm Beach House seat that includes Mar-a-Lago. One district went Democrat by half a point; the other swung nearly 12 points from Trump's 2024 margin. The numbers from Hispanic precincts are the part nobody is covering correctly.

Mar 28, 20265 min read006

Ella Smart- Politics

Gerrymandering Florida: The Map That Could Cost Republicans the House

Republicans currently hold a 20-8 congressional advantage in Florida. DeSantis wants to make it bigger. A growing number of GOP lawmakers — and the results of two recent special elections — are warning that playing it too greedy might flip the math entirely.

Mar 27, 20265 min read006

Jack Smart- Politics

Democrats Just Won in Mar-a-Lago's Backyard. Here's What It Means.

Democrats flipped two Florida legislative seats this week — including one in Trump's home district — by running local, bread-and-butter campaigns. It's not a miracle. It's a template.

Mar 26, 20265 min read006

Jack Smart- Politics

Missouri's Tax Swap: $850 More for Working Families, $40,000 for the Rich

Missouri's HJR 173 would eliminate the state income tax and replace it with expanded sales taxes by 2031. ITEP analysis shows middle-income families would pay $535–$850 more annually while the top 1% pockets about $40,000 in cuts. A 24-group progressive coalition is organizing to stop it — and testing a model for 2026 midterm politics in the process.

Mar 26, 20265 min read00

Ella Smart- Politics

Voters Should Be Citizens. This Shouldn't Require an Act of Congress — But Here We Are.

House Republicans have moved the SAVE Act to a House floor vote, requiring documentary proof of citizenship for federal elections. Democrats are calling it suppression. The data, the law, and the polling say otherwise.

Mar 21, 20265 min read006

Jack Smart- Politics

$92 Million, Four Races, and One Uncomfortable Lesson for AIPAC

AIPAC and allied super PACs spent an unprecedented $92 million across Illinois Democratic primaries this week — and went 2-for-4. The results reveal a party whose base is moving left on foreign policy, and an outside-money machine that is learning to wear a progressive costume.

Mar 20, 20265 min read0010