Even in the darkest of times there are glimmers of hope. Here are some of those glimmers from Election Night.
1. Seven states passed abortion rights amendments: Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Maryland, Montana, Nevada, and New York.
2. Remember how Ron DeSantis removed Orlando prosecutor Monique Worrell from office? Well, she ran again and won her election to reclaim her position.
3. Run For Something, the organization recruiting young progressives to run for office at local and state levels, saw 169 of their candidates win (with dozens more races still being counted) and that included 15 red-to-blue flips.
4. Paid sick leave initiatives passed in Missouri, Nebraska, and Alaska.
5. Sarah McBride won her congressional seat in Delaware, making her the first trans member of Congress.
6. Angela Alsobrooks (Maryland) and Lisa Rochester (Delaware) both won their U.S. Senate races, so we'll have two Black members in the Senate.
7. In Michigan and Montana, the liberal judges won their seats for their state supreme courts.
8. Democrats broke the Republican supermajorities in Montana, Wisconsin and North Carolina -- this means that even though they're in the minority, they have more power to block legislation.
9. Democrats maintain control of Pennsylvania House of Representatives with a one-seat margin.
10. New Mexico now has a woman majority state legislature.
11. Democrat Cindy Nava won a seat in the New Mexico legislature, making her the first former DACA recipient to win public office.
12. Republicans in Nebraska, Kentucky, and Colorado had a big push to get public money to pay for private/charter schools, but those measures all failed.
13. In Arizona, Republicans tried to end the ability of their citizens to put initiatives on the ballot, but that failed.
14. Massachusetts passed unionization for Uber and Lyft drivers.
11/4/2024
1. David DePape, the intruder who attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband two
years ago, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
2. In a key economic report released last week by the Commerce Dept.,
gross domestic product rose at a 2.8% rate, driven by robust consumer
spending and indicating the surprisingly resilient recovery from the
pandemic recession.
3. The editorial board of The Economist – the weekly British newspaper
known for having little reporting bias and exercising rigorous fact-checking – endorsed Vice President Harris for the 2024 presidential election. If Americans make Mr. Trump the leader of the free world, they wrote, they “would be gambling with the economy, the rule of law and international peace.”
4. On Friday the Supreme Court handed a loss to Republicans by allowing Pennsylvania voters who sent mail-in ballots that were flagged as potentially defective to submit a separate provisional in-person ballot.
5. Saturday night surprises: A boffo appearance on SNL by VP Harris AND an out-of-nowhere lead (47% to 44%) in the highly respected Des Moines Register presidential poll.
10/28/2024
1. Fulton County (Georgia) Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled that “certifying election results…is mandatory” and “no election superintendent (or member of a board of elections and registration) may refuse to certify or abstain from certifying election results under any circumstance.”
2. Georgia shattered its previous record for number of votes cast on the first day of early voting. In 2020, they hit a new record of 136,000. This week, they had over 300,000 vote on the first day!
3. North Carolina also broke their record for the number of people who voted on the first day of early voting.
4. A judge blocked the hand count rule passed by MAGA members of Georgia State Election Board!!
5. The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled to allow people in Nebraska who had completed their felony sentences to vote. This will restore voting rights to over 7,000 people.
6. After Trump stood on stage awkwardly "dancing" for 39 minutes at what was supposed to be town hall event, the media finally started to talk about his age and cognitive decline. And now Trump’s team has cancelled at least 5 interviews.
7. A judge ruled that Michigan Republicans waited too long to file a suit challenging the right of some U.S. citizens who live abroad to vote.
8. A federal judge ordered Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) administration to stop threatening television stations with criminal prosecution for airing a political ad in favor of enshrining abortion rights in the state’s Constitution.
9. Judge Tanya Chutkan unsealed nearly 1,900 pages of evidence special counsel Jack Smith assembled in building the election interference case against former President Trump,
10. In a sign of how much respect Biden has overseas, Germany honored our president for his contribution to trans-Atlantic relations with the Order of Merit, one of their highest honors.
11. The Biden-Harris Administration announced the approval of approximately $4.5 billion in additional student loan relief for over 60,000 borrowers across the country who work in public service.
10/21/2024
1. Fulton County (Georgia) Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled that “certifying election results is mandatory” and “no election superintendent (or member of a board of elections and registration) may refuse to certify or abstain from certifying election results under any circumstance.”
2. Georgia shattered its previous record for number of votes cast on the first day of early voting. In 2020, they hit a new record of 136,000. This week, they had over 300,000 vote on the first day!
3. North Carolina also broke their record for the number of people who voted on the first day of early voting.
4. A judge blocked the hand count rule passed by MAGA members of Georgia State Election Board!!
5. The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled to allow people in Nebraska who had completed their felony sentences to vote. This will restore voting rights to over 7,000 people.
6. After Trump stood on stage awkwardly "dancing" for 39 minutes at what was supposed to be town hall event, the media finally started to talk about his age and cognitive decline. And now Trump’s team has cancelled at least 5 interviews.
7. A judge ruled that Michigan Republicans waited too long to file a suit challenging the right of some U.S. citizens who live abroad to vote.
8. A federal judge ordered Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) administration to stop threatening television stations with criminal prosecution for airing a political ad in favor of enshrining abortion rights in the state’s Constitution.
9. Judge Tanya Chutkan unsealed nearly 1,900 pages of evidence special counsel Jack Smith assembled in building the election interference case against former President Trump.
10. In a sign of how much respect President Biden has overseas, Germany honored our president for his contribution to trans-Atlantic relations with the Order of Merit, one of their highest honors.
11. The Biden-Harris Administration announced the approval of approximately $4.5 billion in additional student loan relief for over 60,000 borrowers across the country who works in public service.
10/14/2024
1. Inflation in the U.S. dropped in September to its lowest point since it first began surging more than three years ago.
2. Scientific American has endorsed a U.S. presidential candidate for only the second time in its 179-year history. Considered the authority on science and technology for a general audience, the longest continuously published magazine in the U.S. endorsed Kamala Harris, citing her support for expanding healthcare access, capping prices on life-preserving prescriptions, and acting to diminish the deadly harms of guns and climate change. In an editorial, the magazine cited Donald Trump as a threat and danger to public health and safety, someone who “rejects evidence, preferring instead nonsensical conspiracy fantasies.”
3. The Democratic governors of the Blue Wall states (Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin) launched a bus tour on Friday aimed at increasing support for Vice President Harris.
4. The U.S. Supreme Court won’t review a case from Pennsylvania GOP lawmakers seeking to challenge President Biden’s 2021 executive order expanding voter registration.
5. Jeannie McDuffie, a longtime educator and community volunteer, celebrated her 104th birthday last week by voting in this year’s election.
10/7/2024
1. Arizona Teamsters endorse Kamala Harris. Harris is endorsed by 26 Teamster organizations. Trump has not been endorsed by any.
2. Good economic news: Fresh employment data for September showed that hiring picked up strongly, the unemployment rate dipped and wage growth came in strong last month.
3. The longshoreman strike ended thanks to efforts by the White House & Pete Buttigieg.
4. Former Colorado county clerk Tina Peters has been sentenced to 9 years behind bars for breaching her county's voting system in 2020 to try and help Trump prove his debunked voter fraud claims.
5. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan released Jack Smith's filing that includes evidence compiled in his investigation into Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Read the filing HERE.
6. Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided they will not hear the Republican Party's lawsuit that was aiming to prohibit county boards from implementing notice-and-cure procedures for mail-in ballots. (Essentially, the Republicans didn't want election officials to alert voters that something needed to be corrected on their mail-in ballot.)
7. A judge in Georgia has rejected the Republican's attempt to discredit the use of voting machines in the upcoming election.
8. Despite the avalanche of disinformation being produced and shared by Trump and his Republican allies, Biden & Harris are getting good marks for the strong federal response from Republican governors and officials in the areas affected by Hurricane Helene. (See HERE for more details.)
9. A judge has ruled that Georgia can no longer enforce its ban on abortion (that took effect in 2022).
10. Per Bloomberg, “U.S. consumer sentiment continued to rise in late September, reaching a five-month high on more optimism about the economy."
11. Rudy Giuliani has been disbarred in D.C. He is permanently banned from practicing law there due to his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election.
12. A U.S. bankruptcy judge had approved the auctions to sell off Alex Jones' Infowars media platform to help pay the more than $1 billion Jones owes relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook shooting.
9/30/2024
1. Republicans surrendered their attempt to turn Nebraska into a winner-take-all Electoral College State. This helps Kamala Harris reach 270 electoral votes if her path should be the blue wall states (PA, WI, and MI) plus the one electoral vote from Omaha, Nebraska.
2. Inflation declined to 2.2% in August, already lower than the Fed's end of 2024 projection from their last meeting.
3. Grocery prices relative to wages are actually lower right now than they were under the vast majority of the Trump presidency. GDP growth is now stronger than pre-pandemic levels. US economic growth over the past 5 years was just significantly revised upwards.
4. The University of Michigan consumer sentiment for the US was revised to 70.1 in September 2024, the highest in 5 months.
5. The stock market keeps hitting historic records.
6. The country is safer under the Biden/Harris administration. Violent crimes are down significantly.
7. Retired General Stanley McChrystal endorsed Kamala Harris. "Ms Harris has the strength. the temperament, and importantly, the values to serve as commander-in-chief.
8. Rudy Giuliani has been disbarred in DC for his efforts to subvert the 2020 election.
9. The Democratic National Committee is sending money to every state Democratic party in the country for the first time in its history to bolster down-ballot races in the final sprint toward November.
10. Members of Pennsylvania’s Polish community penned a letter endorsing Kamala Harris after Harris, at the debate earlier this month, warned that Donald Trump would allow Russia to invade Poland.
11. Evangelicals for Harris launched a seven-figure ad campaign aimed at Christian voters in the key battleground states. The series of ads draws on biblical themes and contrasts them with Trump’s words.
12. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissed a Republican lawsuit that sought to upend state election law and restrict where voters can return their completed absentee ballots.
13. The world could start seeing a decline in carbon emissions starting this year, according to new research from two major research firms.
9/23/2024
1. National surveys compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show an unprecedented decline in drug deaths of roughly 10.6%.
2. A North Carolina judge rejected a Republican Party motion to block students and faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill from using their digital university IDs to vote.
3. A Republican lawsuit that was seeking to check the eligibility of every voter in just Fulton County, Georgia (which voted for Biden by 74%) was dismissed.
4. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) banned the use of “conversion therapy” on minors in his state.
5. JD Vance, who is a practicing Catholic, was condemned by the Catholic Conference of Ohio, for spreading lies about Haitian immigrants.
6. Kamala Harris continues to gain on Trump re: the economy. Of the respondents to a FT Michigan Ross poll, those who watched the presidential debate, “48% said they trusted Harris more to manage the economy, compared with 42% for Trump.”
7. The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that roughly 98,000 Arizonans whose voter registration status was in limbo CAN participate in the full ballot in November.
8. The NRCC, which raises money for Republican House races, raised $12.6 million LESS than their Democratic counterpart did last month.
9. A Trump fan who assaulted a Capitol Police officer on January 6th and knocked her unconscious when her head slammed against a metal railing, was sentenced to eight years in federal prison.
10. According to Bloomberg, the Secret Service has opened an investigation into Elon Musk after he tweeted that it was “strange” that no one had tried to off (my word, not his) Biden or Harris.
11. For only the second time in American history, the editors of Scientific American have endorsed a presidential candidate — they chose Kamala Harris.
12. Jill Stein will NOT be on the ballot in Nevada.
13. Cornel West will NOT be on the ballot in Pennsylvania.
14. In person early voting started in Minnesota, South Dakota and Virginia!
15. And in North Carolina, Republicans tried to pressure Mark Robinson (their candidate for Governor) to abandon his campaign before the Thursday deadline after the latest damning scandal surfaced, but he refused. Cook Political Report changed their rating for the governor’s race from Toss Up to Likely Democrat.
9/16/2024
1. A judge struck down North Dakota’s abortion ban.
2. Harris raise $47 million in the 24 hours following the debate.
3. Now that Congress is back in session after the summer break, the disarray among the Republicans is in full display again. Speaker Johnson had to pull a must pass budget bill this week because everyone’s fighting about it.
4. A judge in Georgia dismissed the big election case — this is the one that Republicans have been arguing that county election boards should be allowed to not certify election results.
5. According to Bloomberg, grocery prices went down by 3.7% in August.
6. The Missouri Supreme Court ordered that the abortion ballot measure be on the ballot in November.
7. A judge ruled that the Smartmatic case against Newsmax, for lying about the 2020 election, can move forward. The trial starts at the end of September.
8. The highest court in New York rejected Trump‘s appeal to lift his gag order after he was convicted in the hush money case.
9. George Will, a very conservative former assistant to President Reagan, endorsed Kamala Harris this week.
9/9/2024
1. The Supreme Court rejected an abortion-related appeal from
Oklahoma, ruling that the Biden administration could cut off funding for family planning programs that do not offer factual information to
pregnant patients on all of their options, including abortion. (Justices
Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch dissented.)
2. In an annual survey conducted from January through May, less than 8 percent of high school students reported using e-cigarettes in the past month. That’s significantly down from a peak of about 27 percent in 2019. Experts attributed the decline to public campaigns, flavor bans in some regions and crackdowns on sales of illicit products.
3. Despite Trump’s juvenile insistence that the debate itself is rigged, the Presidential Debate will indeed take place at 6 pm Pacific Time on Tuesday, September 10th .
4. The Harris-Walz Campaign raised $361 million in August, triple the amount of their Republican counterparts.
9/2/2024
1. Cook Political Report moved the state of North Carolina (for the presidential race) from Leans Republican to Toss Up.
2. Polymer80, the largest producer of ghost gun parts and kits, shut down after numerous lawsuits.
3. There’s a lot to criticize about how the media covers politics, but I’m pleasantly surprised and pleased to see that they are staying on top of the story of Trump’s disgraceful behavior at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday. We’re going on at least six straight days of coverage.
4. Thanks to steps that the Biden/Harris administration has taken, inflation has continued to come down and is now sitting at 2.5%. That’s the lowest it’s been in three years.
5. Over 200,000 people have volunteered for the Harris campaign after the convention.
6. In Nevada, young Hispanic women are registering to vote at triple the rate they did at this time in 2020.
7. Jack Smith filed a superseding indictment against Trump in the January 6th case.
8. In Michigan, Republicans were challenging the rules that the Democratic Secretary of 8. State had put in place to govern how partisan election challenges would be handled. This week a Michigan court sided with the Secretary of State to keep those rules in place.
9. Democracy Docket reported that Arkansas voters can now register online with an electronic signature, in a big win for voters there.
10. A Pennsylvania court ruled that mail-in ballots that are received on
8/26/2024
1. Act Blue says $100,859,990 was donated across its platform to Democratic candidates and its organizations during the convention.
2. Following Harris' acceptance speech, between the hours of 11pm and 12am ET, the campaign raised $7.2 million.
3. Since the start of the DNC, volunteers have signed up for nearly 200,000 shifts — including 90,000 shift sign-ups just from Thursday and Friday alone.
4. New National Poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University: Harris 50% Trump 43%
5. Montana initiative to protect abortion rights makes the November ballot, becoming the 8th state to do so this year.
6. Republican Governor Ron DeSantis suffered a major political setback after a significant number of school board candidates he backed lost their primaries on Tuesday. Nearly half of those candidates lost, while six other candidates were forced into runoff contests this November.
8/19/2024
1. According to polls conducted by the Cook Political Report, Kamala Harris is slightly ahead of or tied with Trump in six of the seven battleground states. This is a stark change from the same surveys conducted in May, when Trump led by a solid margin or tied in all seven states.
2. Wind turbines generated more electricity than coal-burning power plants across the U.S. in March and April, marking the first-time renewable energy has outstripped coal for two consecutive months. Tax credits awarded under the Inflation Reduction Act, passed in 2022, is seen as a major reason for this encouraging milestone.
3. Abortion measures will appear on the November ballot in both Missouri and Arizona.
4. According to Data for Progress, a left-wing political advocacy group, Kamala Harris’s favorability rating among Independents who lean Democratic has risen by 19 points, and by 15 points among Independents who don’t lean toward either party.
5. According to a Monmouth University Poll, enthusiasm among Independents about the 2024 election has risen since Harris’s candidacy from 34% to 53%. Over the same period of time, enthusiasm among Democratic voters has risen from 46% to 85%!
8/12/2024
1. The Kamala Harris/Tim Walz campaign is inspiring headlines with the word joy in them
2. Harris and Walz seize on joyful message in contrast to darker Trump themes
3. Harris crowd size "speaks volumes" as Trump's gloomy messages loses favor to joy, hope messaging
4. Harris Used to Worry About Laughing. Now Joy is Fueling Her Campaign
5. Kamala Harris was endorsed by the Culinary Workers Union in Nevada -- this is considered one of the most important endorsements in the state. Along with the endorsement, the union is also a turnout machine
6. ActBlue announced yesterday that in the past 3 weeks, they have processed $500 million in donations to Democratic candidates
7. Harris and Walz' rallies in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada have been huge, and are clearly bothering Trump
8. A January 6th rioter, David Dempsey, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for repeatedly attacking police with flagpoles
9. Unemployment claims went down this past month, which calmed the market
8/5/2024
1. President Biden pulled off a remarkable diplomatic win and got several Americans who were wrongfully detained in Russia back home. You can read more about VP Harris’ role in this win HERE.
2. It has been incredibly gratifying to see how much Democrats are on offense since Kamala Harris became our presumptive nominee, and as of two nights ago, our official presidential nominee.
3. The moment at her huge Atlanta rally when she said, “Donald, if you’ve got something to say, say it to my face!” was such a great taunt. She’s not afraid of him — she, like the rest of us, wants to ensure he loses in November.
4. Similarly, labeling Republicans as “weird” has turned out to be an incredibly effective attack, largely because it deflates and disempowers them while also allowing our side to laugh at them — “weird” isn’t something to be fearful of.
5. A number of high profile Republicans have endorsed Kamala Harris this week including former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA), and Trump-era White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.
6. Fred Trump III also endorsed Harris.
7. Former President Jimmy Carter, who is 99, said he’s hanging on so he can vote for Kamala Harris.
8. Kamala Harris’ campaign raised $310 million in July, while Trump’s only raised $139 million.
7/29/2024
Actually Great News of the Week
1. By Monday evening Kamala Harris had received the endorsement of more than the 1,976 delegates needed to win the nomination in the first round of voting
2. In its first seven days, Harris’ campaign raised $200 million, with 66% of its contributions coming from first-time donors, and 170,000 new volunteers
3. The campaign is raising between $2-$3 million an hour in small donations
4. Vote.org reported a 700% increase in voter registration, translating to over 38,500 new voters with a whopping 83% of these voters coming from the 18-34 year old demographic.
5. On Sunday night, only a few hours after President Biden endorsed Kamala Harris as his successor the #WinwithBlackWomen network, logged onto zoom with 40,000 strong and with another 50,000 participating on other streaming platforms. They not only crashed the site but they raised nearly $1.5 million
6. Energized by #WinwithBlackWomen, Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, organized “White Women: Answer the Call”. On Thursday evening it became the largest zoom call in history with over 164,000 participants, raising $8.5million for Harris’ campaign
7. According to an ABC News/Ipsos poll Vice President Harris' net favorability has surged this week. Her favorability among independents was 28% last week. It is now 44%
8. VP Harris has been endorsed by most Democratic members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, including Senator Schumer and Leader Hakeem Jeffries
9. Kamala Harris has already secured the endorsements of most labor unions
10. GenZ gun safety organization March For Our Lives endorsed Harris, their first-ever political endorsement.
11. On Friday former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama endorsed Kamala Harris.
12. Vice President Harris is surging in battleground states where previously President Biden was struggling. She is also surging among the youth vote
*****
MORE GOOD NEWS
1. The U.S. economy grew at a 2.8% pace in the second quarter, much more than expected.
2. In just over 2 years since the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act — which closed gun law loopholes and implemented violence prevention programs — gun violence is down 16% from its pandemic-era high. (Although still too high).
7/22/2024
1. The Biden-Harris Administration announced a far-reaching plan to slash plastic use in the U.S. A key measure would phase out purchases of single-use plastics for food, events and packaging by 2027.
2. L.A. County supervisors advanced a plan that would assure struggling renters a “right to counsel.” Supporters of the plan said it would even the playing field between landlords well-versed in housing law and tenants, who are not. The plan needs to be approved once more before it becomes law.
3. Arrests for illegally crossing the border from Mexico plunged 29% in June, the lowest month of Joe Biden’s presidency.
4. Democrats out-raised Republicans in competitive congressional races in the Second Quarter.
5. Kari Lake, Republican candidate for Senate in Arizona, raised $4.3 million in the Second Quarter, while her Democratic opponent, Ruben Gallego,
raised $10.4 million.
6. As of Wednesday night, Republican National Convention viewership had dropped by 20% since 2016.
7. CNN’s fact-check of Trump’s convention speech uncovered 22 lies.
8. In the first seven hours of the Harris campaign, grassroots donors have given $46.7 million to support the vice president. According to Act Blue, "This has been the biggest fundraising day of the 2024 cycle. Small-dollar donors are fired up and ready to take on this election."
7/15/2024
1. The Kansas Supreme Court struck down multiple abortion restrictions in the state.
2. In a win for our right to protest, the ACLU reported that a court ruled that a prominent civil rights activist was not legally responsible for injuries by someone else at a protest he had organized.
3. For the first time ever, the US got more power from wind than coal this past month.
4. Eleven shuttered auto plants will become electric vehicle factories thanks to a $1.7 billion investment by the Biden administration.
5. Inflation is down! Consumer prices fell 0.1% in June.
6. The House Majority PAC, which funds Democratic House races, raised $51 million in the second quarter — which is double what they raised this same quarter in the 2022 midterm cycle.
7. Thanks to the funding provided to the IRS by Democrats, the IRS has now recovered over $1 billion from delinquent millionaires.
8. And finally, Senator Amy Klobuchar announced this week that she is finally cancer-free. Congratulations, Senator!
7/8/2024
1. Organizers in Arizona have submitted 2x the number of signatures needed to get an abortion measure onto the November ballot.
2. Organizers in Arkansas have gotten enough signatures to get an abortion rights measure on their ballot in November, too!
3. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled to reinstate the use of ballot drop boxes across the state. (This overturns a ban that conservatives put in place a few years ago.)
4. A federal court has ordered the Mississippi Legislature to redraw the state House and Senate district maps to create more Black-majority districts.
5. Rudy Giuliani was just disbarred today for the actions he took in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
6. Biden’s campaign raised more than Trump’s in June ($127M to $118M).
7. Ohio changed their law which will allow Biden/Harris to appear on the ballot without any additional measures.
8. U.S. employers added 206,000 jobs in June, which was slightly higher than expected.
9. You know how Trump loves to say that he could end Russia’s war on Ukraine “on Day 1…Well, Zelenskyy called his bluff. He has challenged Trump to reveal his plans for ending the war. “If Trump knows how to finish this war, he should tell us today.”
10. And across the pond, Labour CRUSHED the conservatives in this week’s UK election. May we be able to pull off a similar landslide here in November.
7/1/2024
1. In the 24 hours following the debate, Biden raised $14M while Trump raised $8M
2. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act -- which Democrats passed and Biden signed into law -- Biden is imposing inflation penalties on 64 prescription drugs because those Big Pharma companies hiked the price of those medications faster than the rate of inflation. A reminder that not a single Republican voted for this law
3. Steve Bannon has to report to prison on Monday and will stay there until the election
4. The Oklahoma Supreme Court just ruled nation's first religious charter school is unconstitutional
5. Not a single Fortune 100 CEO has donated to Trump's campaign at this point
6. The number of migrants crossing the U.S. southern border illegally has dropped more than 40 percent this month
7. The Supreme Court dismissed an appeal brought by Idaho officials, which means doctors in the state will be allowed to perform abortions in emergency situations for now
8. The Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration in a dispute with Republican-led states over how far the federal government can go to combat controversial social media posts on topics including COVID-19 and election security
9. For the first time in decades, the residents of Newbern, Alabama--predominantly Black town--will be able to vote in their local elections again. Also, Patrick Braxton, the first Black mayor in Newbern’s history, will be reinstated. You can read the full story HERE, but in a nutshell, white officials have been handing each other positions of power instead of holding elections. That all ended this week
10/7/2024
9/30/2024
9/23/2024
1. National surveys compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show an unprecedented decline in drug deaths of roughly 10.6%.
2. A North Carolina judge rejected a Republican Party motion to block students and faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill from using their digital university IDs to vote.
3. A Republican lawsuit that was seeking to check the eligibility of every voter in just Fulton County, Georgia (which voted for Biden by 74%) was dismissed.
4. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) banned the use of “conversion therapy” on minors in his state.
5. JD Vance, who is a practicing Catholic, was condemned by the Catholic Conference of Ohio, for spreading lies about Haitian immigrants.
6. Kamala Harris continues to gain on Trump re: the economy. Of the respondents to a FT Michigan Ross poll, those who watched the presidential debate, “48% said they trusted Harris more to manage the economy, compared with 42% for Trump.”
7. The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that roughly 98,000 Arizonans whose voter registration status was in limbo CAN participate in the full ballot in November.
8. The NRCC, which raises money for Republican House races, raised $12.6 million LESS than their Democratic counterpart did last month.
9. A Trump fan who assaulted a Capitol Police officer on January 6th and knocked her unconscious when her head slammed against a metal railing, was sentenced to eight years in federal prison.
10. According to Bloomberg, the Secret Service has opened an investigation into Elon Musk after he tweeted that it was “strange” that no one had tried to off (my word, not his) Biden or Harris.
11. For only the second time in American history, the editors of Scientific American have endorsed a presidential candidate — they chose Kamala Harris.
12. Jill Stein will NOT be on the ballot in Nevada.
13. Cornel West will NOT be on the ballot in Pennsylvania.
14. In person early voting started in Minnesota, South Dakota and Virginia!
15. And in North Carolina, Republicans tried to pressure Mark Robinson (their candidate for Governor) to abandon his campaign before the Thursday deadline after the latest damning scandal surfaced, but he refused. Cook Political Report changed their rating for the governor’s race from Toss Up to Likely Democrat.
9/16/2024
1. A judge struck down North Dakota’s abortion ban.
2. Harris raise $47 million in the 24 hours following the debate.
3. Now that Congress is back in session after the summer break, the disarray among the Republicans is in full display again. Speaker Johnson had to pull a must pass budget bill this week because everyone’s fighting about it.
4. A judge in Georgia dismissed the big election case — this is the one that Republicans have been arguing that county election boards should be allowed to not certify election results.
5. According to Bloomberg, grocery prices went down by 3.7% in August.
6. The Missouri Supreme Court ordered that the abortion ballot measure be on the ballot in November.
7. A judge ruled that the Smartmatic case against Newsmax, for lying about the 2020 election, can move forward. The trial starts at the end of September.
8. The highest court in New York rejected Trump‘s appeal to lift his gag order after he was convicted in the hush money case.
9. George Will, a very conservative former assistant to President Reagan, endorsed Kamala Harris this week.
9/9/2024
1. The Supreme Court rejected an abortion-related appeal from
Oklahoma, ruling that the Biden administration could cut off funding for family planning programs that do not offer factual information to
pregnant patients on all of their options, including abortion. (Justices
Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch dissented.)
2. In an annual survey conducted from January through May, less than 8 percent of high school students reported using e-cigarettes in the past month. That’s significantly down from a peak of about 27 percent in 2019. Experts attributed the decline to public campaigns, flavor bans in some regions and crackdowns on sales of illicit products.
3. Despite Trump’s juvenile insistence that the debate itself is rigged, the Presidential Debate will indeed take place at 6 pm Pacific Time on Tuesday, September 10th .
4. The Harris-Walz Campaign raised $361 million in August, triple the amount of their Republican counterparts.
9/2/2024
1. Cook Political Report moved the state of North Carolina (for the presidential race) from Leans Republican to Toss Up.
2. Polymer80, the largest producer of ghost gun parts and kits, shut down after numerous lawsuits.
3. There’s a lot to criticize about how the media covers politics, but I’m pleasantly surprised and pleased to see that they are staying on top of the story of Trump’s disgraceful behavior at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday. We’re going on at least six straight days of coverage.
4. Thanks to steps that the Biden/Harris administration has taken, inflation has continued to come down and is now sitting at 2.5%. That’s the lowest it’s been in three years.
5. Over 200,000 people have volunteered for the Harris campaign after the convention.
6. In Nevada, young Hispanic women are registering to vote at triple the rate they did at this time in 2020.
7. Jack Smith filed a superseding indictment against Trump in the January 6th case.
8. In Michigan, Republicans were challenging the rules that the Democratic Secretary of 8. State had put in place to govern how partisan election challenges would be handled. This week a Michigan court sided with the Secretary of State to keep those rules in place.
9. Democracy Docket reported that Arkansas voters can now register online with an electronic signature, in a big win for voters there.
10. A Pennsylvania court ruled that mail-in ballots that are received on
8/26/2024
1. Act Blue says $100,859,990 was donated across its platform to Democratic candidates and its organizations during the convention.
2. Following Harris' acceptance speech, between the hours of 11pm and 12am ET, the campaign raised $7.2 million.
3. Since the start of the DNC, volunteers have signed up for nearly 200,000 shifts — including 90,000 shift sign-ups just from Thursday and Friday alone.
4. New National Poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University: Harris 50% Trump 43%
5. Montana initiative to protect abortion rights makes the November ballot, becoming the 8th state to do so this year.
6. Republican Governor Ron DeSantis suffered a major political setback after a significant number of school board candidates he backed lost their primaries on Tuesday. Nearly half of those candidates lost, while six other candidates were forced into runoff contests this November.
8/19/2024
1. According to polls conducted by the Cook Political Report, Kamala Harris is slightly ahead of or tied with Trump in six of the seven battleground states. This is a stark change from the same surveys conducted in May, when Trump led by a solid margin or tied in all seven states.
2. Wind turbines generated more electricity than coal-burning power plants across the U.S. in March and April, marking the first-time renewable energy has outstripped coal for two consecutive months. Tax credits awarded under the Inflation Reduction Act, passed in 2022, is seen as a major reason for this encouraging milestone.
3. Abortion measures will appear on the November ballot in both Missouri and Arizona.
4. According to Data for Progress, a left-wing political advocacy group, Kamala Harris’s favorability rating among Independents who lean Democratic has risen by 19 points, and by 15 points among Independents who don’t lean toward either party.
5. According to a Monmouth University Poll, enthusiasm among Independents about the 2024 election has risen since Harris’s candidacy from 34% to 53%. Over the same period of time, enthusiasm among Democratic voters has risen from 46% to 85%!
8/12/2024
1. The Kamala Harris/Tim Walz campaign is inspiring headlines with the word joy in them
2. Harris and Walz seize on joyful message in contrast to darker Trump themes
3. Harris crowd size "speaks volumes" as Trump's gloomy messages loses favor to joy, hope messaging
4. Harris Used to Worry About Laughing. Now Joy is Fueling Her Campaign
5. Kamala Harris was endorsed by the Culinary Workers Union in Nevada -- this is considered one of the most important endorsements in the state. Along with the endorsement, the union is also a turnout machine
6. ActBlue announced yesterday that in the past 3 weeks, they have processed $500 million in donations to Democratic candidates
7. Harris and Walz' rallies in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada have been huge, and are clearly bothering Trump
8. A January 6th rioter, David Dempsey, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for repeatedly attacking police with flagpoles
9. Unemployment claims went down this past month, which calmed the market
8/5/2024
1. President Biden pulled off a remarkable diplomatic win and got several Americans who were wrongfully detained in Russia back home. You can read more about VP Harris’ role in this win HERE.
2. It has been incredibly gratifying to see how much Democrats are on offense since Kamala Harris became our presumptive nominee, and as of two nights ago, our official presidential nominee.
3. The moment at her huge Atlanta rally when she said, “Donald, if you’ve got something to say, say it to my face!” was such a great taunt. She’s not afraid of him — she, like the rest of us, wants to ensure he loses in November.
4. Similarly, labeling Republicans as “weird” has turned out to be an incredibly effective attack, largely because it deflates and disempowers them while also allowing our side to laugh at them — “weird” isn’t something to be fearful of.
5. A number of high profile Republicans have endorsed Kamala Harris this week including former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA), and Trump-era White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.
6. Fred Trump III also endorsed Harris.
7. Former President Jimmy Carter, who is 99, said he’s hanging on so he can vote for Kamala Harris.
8. Kamala Harris’ campaign raised $310 million in July, while Trump’s only raised $139 million.
7/29/2024
Actually Great News of the Week
1. By Monday evening Kamala Harris had received the endorsement of more than the 1,976 delegates needed to win the nomination in the first round of voting
2. In its first seven days, Harris’ campaign raised $200 million, with 66% of its contributions coming from first-time donors, and 170,000 new volunteers
3. The campaign is raising between $2-$3 million an hour in small donations
4. Vote.org reported a 700% increase in voter registration, translating to over 38,500 new voters with a whopping 83% of these voters coming from the 18-34 year old demographic.
5. On Sunday night, only a few hours after President Biden endorsed Kamala Harris as his successor the #WinwithBlackWomen network, logged onto zoom with 40,000 strong and with another 50,000 participating on other streaming platforms. They not only crashed the site but they raised nearly $1.5 million
6. Energized by #WinwithBlackWomen, Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, organized “White Women: Answer the Call”. On Thursday evening it became the largest zoom call in history with over 164,000 participants, raising $8.5million for Harris’ campaign
7. According to an ABC News/Ipsos poll Vice President Harris' net favorability has surged this week. Her favorability among independents was 28% last week. It is now 44%
8. VP Harris has been endorsed by most Democratic members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, including Senator Schumer and Leader Hakeem Jeffries
9. Kamala Harris has already secured the endorsements of most labor unions
10. GenZ gun safety organization March For Our Lives endorsed Harris, their first-ever political endorsement.
11. On Friday former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama endorsed Kamala Harris.
12. Vice President Harris is surging in battleground states where previously President Biden was struggling. She is also surging among the youth vote
*****
MORE GOOD NEWS
1. The U.S. economy grew at a 2.8% pace in the second quarter, much more than expected.
2. In just over 2 years since the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act — which closed gun law loopholes and implemented violence prevention programs — gun violence is down 16% from its pandemic-era high. (Although still too high).
7/22/2024
1. The Biden-Harris Administration announced a far-reaching plan to slash plastic use in the U.S. A key measure would phase out purchases of single-use plastics for food, events and packaging by 2027.
2. L.A. County supervisors advanced a plan that would assure struggling renters a “right to counsel.” Supporters of the plan said it would even the playing field between landlords well-versed in housing law and tenants, who are not. The plan needs to be approved once more before it becomes law.
3. Arrests for illegally crossing the border from Mexico plunged 29% in June, the lowest month of Joe Biden’s presidency.
4. Democrats out-raised Republicans in competitive congressional races in the Second Quarter.
5. Kari Lake, Republican candidate for Senate in Arizona, raised $4.3 million in the Second Quarter, while her Democratic opponent, Ruben Gallego,
raised $10.4 million.
6. As of Wednesday night, Republican National Convention viewership had dropped by 20% since 2016.
7. CNN’s fact-check of Trump’s convention speech uncovered 22 lies.
8. In the first seven hours of the Harris campaign, grassroots donors have given $46.7 million to support the vice president. According to Act Blue, "This has been the biggest fundraising day of the 2024 cycle. Small-dollar donors are fired up and ready to take on this election."
7/15/2024
1. The Kansas Supreme Court struck down multiple abortion restrictions in the state.
2. In a win for our right to protest, the ACLU reported that a court ruled that a prominent civil rights activist was not legally responsible for injuries by someone else at a protest he had organized.
3. For the first time ever, the US got more power from wind than coal this past month.
4. Eleven shuttered auto plants will become electric vehicle factories thanks to a $1.7 billion investment by the Biden administration.
5. Inflation is down! Consumer prices fell 0.1% in June.
6. The House Majority PAC, which funds Democratic House races, raised $51 million in the second quarter — which is double what they raised this same quarter in the 2022 midterm cycle.
7. Thanks to the funding provided to the IRS by Democrats, the IRS has now recovered over $1 billion from delinquent millionaires.
8. And finally, Senator Amy Klobuchar announced this week that she is finally cancer-free. Congratulations, Senator!
7/8/2024
1. Organizers in Arizona have submitted 2x the number of signatures needed to get an abortion measure onto the November ballot.
2. Organizers in Arkansas have gotten enough signatures to get an abortion rights measure on their ballot in November, too!
3. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled to reinstate the use of ballot drop boxes across the state. (This overturns a ban that conservatives put in place a few years ago.)
4. A federal court has ordered the Mississippi Legislature to redraw the state House and Senate district maps to create more Black-majority districts.
5. Rudy Giuliani was just disbarred today for the actions he took in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
6. Biden’s campaign raised more than Trump’s in June ($127M to $118M).
7. Ohio changed their law which will allow Biden/Harris to appear on the ballot without any additional measures.
8. U.S. employers added 206,000 jobs in June, which was slightly higher than expected.
9. You know how Trump loves to say that he could end Russia’s war on Ukraine “on Day 1…Well, Zelenskyy called his bluff. He has challenged Trump to reveal his plans for ending the war. “If Trump knows how to finish this war, he should tell us today.”
10. And across the pond, Labour CRUSHED the conservatives in this week’s UK election. May we be able to pull off a similar landslide here in November.
7/1/2024
1. In the 24 hours following the debate, Biden raised $14M while Trump raised $8M
2. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act -- which Democrats passed and Biden signed into law -- Biden is imposing inflation penalties on 64 prescription drugs because those Big Pharma companies hiked the price of those medications faster than the rate of inflation. A reminder that not a single Republican voted for this law
3. Steve Bannon has to report to prison on Monday and will stay there until the election
4. The Oklahoma Supreme Court just ruled nation's first religious charter school is unconstitutional
5. Not a single Fortune 100 CEO has donated to Trump's campaign at this point
6. The number of migrants crossing the U.S. southern border illegally has dropped more than 40 percent this month
7. The Supreme Court dismissed an appeal brought by Idaho officials, which means doctors in the state will be allowed to perform abortions in emergency situations for now
8. The Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration in a dispute with Republican-led states over how far the federal government can go to combat controversial social media posts on topics including COVID-19 and election security
9. For the first time in decades, the residents of Newbern, Alabama--predominantly Black town--will be able to vote in their local elections again. Also, Patrick Braxton, the first Black mayor in Newbern’s history, will be reinstated. You can read the full story HERE, but in a nutshell, white officials have been handing each other positions of power instead of holding elections. That all ended this week
6/24/2024
1. SCOTUS confirmed (8-1) that domestic abusers subject to restraining orders do NOT have a constitutional right to own guns.
2. Within 24 hours of Louisiana enacting a law to require that the Ten Commandments be in every classroom, the ACLU sued that it was unconstitutional.
3. Hawaii officials have announced a historic legal settlement with a group of young climate activists, which will force the state’s department of transportation to have a zero-emission transportation system by 2045.
4. President Biden signed the Missing Children’s Assistance Reauthorization Act of 2023 into law.
5. The Biden administration has also made it easier for foreign nationals who have graduated from U.S. universities (like Dreamers) to get work visas.
6. A truly awful conservative school board president in Temecula, CA who railed against critical race theory & instituted policies that harmed LGBTQ kids, lost his recall election this week.
7. New York’s highest court dismissed’s appeal of the gag order imposed in his Manhattan criminal trial. This means the gag order will be in place when Trump debates Biden next week.
8. Joe Biden's fundraiser in L.A. with former President Obama raised over $30M.
9. An appeals court just denied former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s latest request to remain out of jail. He'll have to report to jail on July 1.
10. Melinda French Gates, who recently announced she's giving $1B to women's rights initiatives, endorsed President Biden today, her first-ever presidential endorsement.
11. Florida Democrats are running a candidate in EVERY SINGLE legislative district this cycle. That's a big win!!
12. The New Yorker wrote a complimentary article about Joe Biden's accomplishments as a president, framing his age as a positive.
6/16/2024
1. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court preserved access to the abortion medication, Mifepristone.
2. Federal Judge Robert Hinkle struck down a Florida law that blocked gender-affirming care for transgender minors and severely restricted treatment for adults, calling the law unconstitutional.
3. According to sources across the Web, “For almost two years…average wages have been gaining on inflation. Real wages are now, on average, higher than they were before the pandemic.”
4. The busy Port of Baltimore reopened three months after the Key Bridge collapse and a return to normal activity is expected.
5. In the Virginia primaries earlier this week, 35% of Republican voters cast a vote for Nikki Haley over Trump. This was the first primary after Trump’s conviction..
6. A federal judge ordered the liquidation of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ′ personal assets.
6/10/2024
1. Steve Bannon is finally going to jail on July 1. He's been trying to get out of his contempt of Congress conviction but finally ran out of options. Even better, he'll be off of his podcast and won’t be able to spread his poison to the MAGA faithful for the four months leading up to the election!
2. Biden and his campaign have not missed an opportunity to call Trump a convicted felon.
3. Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has moved to liquidate his personal assets, agreeing to demands from the families of Sandy Hook victims. This means that soon he won't own InfoWars anymore.
4. Fox News polls tested the abortion rights referendums in Arizona & Florida and they’re both in very strong shape -- Arizona: 70% yes (27% no), Florida: 69% yes (27% no).
5. Three men involved in the fake electors scheme to keep Trump in office following his 2020 election loss have been charged in Wisconsin.
6. On a gun violence prevention call with VP Kamala Harris, Golden State Warrior Head Coach Steve Kerr said, "There is no question who I'm voting for in this election & that is Joe Biden & Kamala Harris."
7. The U.S. economy added 272,000 jobs in May, far exceeding expectations.
8. Wisconsin based department store, Kohl's, has said No to sponsoring the Republican National Convention.
6/3/2024
GOOD NEWS BONUS…Donald Trump was convicted on all thirty-four felony counts of falsifying business records in order to interfere with the 2016 election. A jury of his peers deliberated for 10 hours and unanimously determined that he was guilty of all the charges.
1. Trump was repeatedly booed at the Libertarian National Convention (where he was invited to speak), his MAGA supporters got kicked out of the front rows (which were supposed to go to Libertarian convention delegates), and ultimately the Libertarians chose not to nominate him (or RFK Jr. for that matter.)
2. A federal appeals court panel (which included 2 Trump appointees) has rejected a January 6 defendant’s claim that jurors were biased against him.
3. A Democratic lawmaker in Texas who had voted for anti-LGBTQ legislation lost her re-election race in the primary to a Democrat who is LGBTQ herself, and a labor organizer.
4. Jenna Ellis has had her law license suspended in Colorado for 3 years, after she pleaded guilty last year in the Georgia election subversion case.
5. The D.C. Bar has made the recommendation that Rudy Giuliani be disbarred due to his involvement in the bogus 2020 election fraud lawsuits.
6. Right before Trump was convicted of all 34 of his charges on Thursday; some financial dude-bro who is a Trump fan went onto Fox News and predicted the stock market would fall off a cliff if Trump was convicted. Hilariously, on Friday the Dow closed 570 points higher to make it the best day in 2024.
5/27/2024
1. SCOTUS has declined to hear a Republican-backed challenge that sought to end mail-in voting in Oregon.
2. Voters in Anchorage, Alaska ousted its far-right mayor in last week's election.
3. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) announced today that he was calling a special legislative session to ensure President Biden will be on the November election ballot in his state.
4. SCOTUS will not hear a challenge to a Maryland gun law that bans assault-style weapons — meaning the ban, for now, stays in place in the state.
5. Colorado and South Dakota has certified proposed amendments that would enshrine abortion access in each state's constitution to appear on the November ballot.
6. Recently, Biden’s campaign overtook Trump’s in a key way: The total number of donors who have given to his campaign. Even more significant, Biden is over-performing with donors in the swing states while Trump is underperforming.
7. Under President Biden’s leadership, the Dow Jones has surpassed 40,000 for the first time ever.
8. SCOTUS rejected the GOP’s attack & preserved the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) by upholding the agency’s funding mechanism as constitutional in a 7-2 vote. The CFPB was established after the 2008 financial crisis to crack down on predatory lending and enforce protections for consumers.
9. SCOTUS ordered Louisiana to hold this fall’s congressional elections using their new redistricting map — the one with two Black majority districts instead of one.
10. Preliminary data shows that drug overdoses FELL last year, for the first time in years.
11. The newly liberal-leaning Wisconsin Supreme Court showed signs today that they might overturn the ban on absentee ballot drop boxes.
12. A Democratic super PAC launched a $25 million, three-week ad blitz against Trump, with spots airing in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania that use voter testimonials to warn about reduced abortion access in a second Trump term.
5/20/2024
1. The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a conservative-led attack that could have undermined the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The justices ruled 7-2 to uphold the constitutionality of the CFPB, the brainchild of Sen. Elizabeth Warren after the 2008 financial crisis. The bureau was created to regulate car loans, mortgages, and other consumer finance issues.
2. The Supreme Court issued a stay to keep Louisiana’s Voting Rights Act-compliant congressional map in place. Former Attorney General, Eric H. Holder declared, “This is an unequivocal victory for Black Louisianians…It is also a clear message to those who intend to gerrymander in order to increase their illegitimate power at the expense of voters of color: you will be stopped.”
3. Inflation eased and markets hit new highs. The prices of groceries decreased in April, as did the prices of new and used cars, airline fares, and even housing costs showed signs of improvement. The news boosted the stock market to a record high.
4. Starting July 1st, 4 million more salaried workers will qualify for overtime pay thanks to a new rule instituted by the U.S. Department of Labor.
5. John Eastman, a lawyer and adviser to Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign, was arraigned in Arizona on charges that he tried to keep him in power after he lost.
6. The man who broke into Nancy Pelosi’s home in 2022 and attacked her husband was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
5/13/2024
1. Indiana had their primary this week. Nikki Haley, long out of the race, pulled 22% in the GOP primary. Even more alarming for Trump, she pulled upwards of 30% in the suburbs around Indianapolis.
2. A federal judge smacked down a series of threats by Alabama’s Republican attorney general to prosecute groups that help women obtain out-of-state abortions.
3. Rudy Giuliani’s radio show was cancelled. Why? The station said it was because he “violated station policy by trying to discuss discredited claims about the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election on air.”
4. A Florida Chamber of Commerce poll found that 61% of Florida voters approve of the ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. (Florida’s threshold is 60%.)
5. Looks like Steve Bannon is going to finally see some jail time. Bannon was convicted in 2022 for defying a congressional subpoena from the Jan. 6 Committee and sentenced to 4 months, but he stayed out of jail while he appealed it. Yesterday, a federal appeals court upheld his criminal conviction.
6. Former Lt. Gov. of Georgia Geoff Duncan (R) said he’s voting for Biden in November.
7. Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R) said he’s not voting for Trump this November.
8. Two House Republicans, Ronny Jackson and Wesley Hunt (both from Texas), are under ethics investigations for using campaign fees to pay their private club fees.
5/6/2024
1. The Biden administration announced an expansion of health insurance to include Dreamers.
2. A progressive group in South Dakota announced they’ve gotten enough signatures to get an abortion amendment into the November ballot.
3. A group in Missouri announced that they too have gotten enough signatures to qualify to get their abortion amendment on the November ballot, too!
4. The Biden administration cancelled another $6 billion in debt for students who attended the Art Institutes, a chain of colleges that went bankrupt amidst fraud allegations.
5. The DEA has started the process to move marijuana from the Schedule 1 list (where heroin is) down to Schedule 3 (where anabolic steroids are.)
6. The Arizona legislature passed, and then Gov . Katie Hobbs (D) signed, a bill that repealed AZ’s 1864 law that banned abortion. (This does not alter the plan to ask voters to also pass an amendment in November to guarantee access to abortion.)
7. In North Carolina President Biden announced that $3 billion will go to replace toxic lead pipes and deliver clean drinking water in every state.
8. Household wealth for those under 40 in the U.S. is up 49% from its pre-pandemic level, per data from the Federal Reserve.
4/29/2024
1. Pennsylvania had their presidential primary earlier in the week and their primaries are closed, meaning only registered Republicans can vote in the Republican primary. Well, over 150,000 people (16%) voted for Nikki Haley over Trump despite her leaving the race weeks ago.
2. Building on the Biden-Harris Administration’s historic record of expanding consumer protections and standing up for airline passengers, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced today two final rules that will deliver automatic cash refunds when owed to airline passengers and protect consumers from surprise airline junk fees.
3. Trump has lost his bid to get a 2nd trial in an attempt to overturn his $80M judgement from losing his defamation case to E. Jean Carroll.
4. Far right conspiracy theory website Gateway Pundit just filed for bankruptcy.
5. Alabama is fixing the law so Biden can appear on the ballot in November, and it looks like Ohio will follow suit.
6. George Santos, who was running as an Independent, ended his campaign to get re-elected to Congress.
7. The RNC continues to be run poorly under Lara Trump. This week they took down the portion of their website that explained how to vote early.
8. The Supreme Court declined to take up Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake’s lawsuit claiming electronic ballot machines violate the law.
9. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) is in her 3rd day of being roasted on the internet for her recounting in her new book that she killed her 14 month old birding dog. We all know she told the story to appeal to Trump, as she wants to be his VP and he hates dogs, but this might have sunk her across the board.
10. In a sign that RFK Jr. is pulling votes from Trump, Trump himself has started to blast him on his social media accounts.
11. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to restore ‘net neutrality’ -- those rules prevent Comcast, for example, from making Netflix stream more slowly so people choose to watch Xfinity instead.
12. Eighteen people were indicted in Arizona over the “fake elector” scheme Trump's allies pushed after the 2020 election. One of those is a lawyer who leads the RNC's “election integrity” operation. And in MIchigan Donald Trump is an unindicted co-conspirator in the probe into the attempts to overturn the 2020 election in that state.
4/22/2024
1. After months of delay at the hands of ultraconservative Republicans, and with robust bipartisan support, the House resoundingly approved a multi-pronged aid package that includes $61 billion for Ukraine; $17 billion for Israel; $9 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza and elsewhere; and $8 billion for Taiwan and Indo-Pacific security.
2. In an effort to educate her viewers, MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle will be running ongoing segments on the Heritage Foundation’s 900-page 2025 Project, the plan for dismantling our government as we know it.
3. According to new fundraising reports filed last week, Democratic candidates for the House out -raised Republicans in almost every one of the most competitive races.
4. At least 15 members of the Kennedy family endorsed President Biden during a campaign event in Philadelphia last Thursday. Kerry Kennedy, sister of anti-vaccine candidate RFK Jr, said, “We want to make crys
4/15/2024
1. Colin Allred, the Democrat running against Ted Cruz, raised $9.5M in the first quarter of the year. (That’s quite a bit more than Beto raised in his first quarter in his run against Cruz 6 years ago.)
2. The Biden Administration unveiled their new rules to close the “gun show loophole.” Now all gun dealers will have to conduct background checks.
3. In just one week, New York appellate judges have rejected all four of Trump’s attempts to delay the start of his first criminal trial (the “hush money” case) which starts today.
4. Two conservative operatives have agreed to pay $1M to the New York attorney general’s office and others for running a voter suppression campaign targeting Black voters during the 2020 election. This punishment is on top of being ordered to spend 500 hours registering low and middle-income voters in the Washington, DC area.
5. When Trump’s Truth Social stock debuted on March 26 it started trading at $79. On Friday it closed at $32.
6. Biden’s standing keep improving in national polls and he’s now pulled even with Trump. The consensus of data analysts is that Democratic voters, many of whom seemed not to believe that neither Biden nor Trump would be the nominees, are coalescing behind Biden ahead of the rematch.
4/8/2024
1. For all intents and purposes — and by most economists’ predictions — job growth was supposed to slow by now, as the pandemic recovery grew complete. The US labor market also was supposed to weaken under the pressure of 11 interest rate hikes. Instead on Friday, yet another jobs report defied expectations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Employers added 303,000 jobs in March. The unemployment rate fell to 3.8% from 3.9% the month before.
2. The No-Labels group said Thursday it will not field a presidential candidate in November after strategists for the bipartisan organization failed to attract a high-profile centrist. In addition, the national director of No-Labels, Joe Cunningham, told Fox News, "I would vote for Biden over Trump."
3. Three states cleared significant hurdles to get an abortion measure onto their November ballots: Florida, Arizona, and Nevada.
4. RFK Jr. got rightfully hammered for sending a fundraising email calling January 6th insurrectionists "activists" who were "stripped of their Constitutional liberties." Then when his campaign said it was an "error" by the marketing company sending the emails, opposition researchers showed the many times that RFK Jr. had said things that were sympathetic of the insurrectionists.
5. In Missouri, insurrectionist Kimberly Dragoo lost her race for a Board of Education seat. In a recall election in Enid, Oklahoma Judd Blevins lost his city council seat by a nearly 20-point margin. Blevins marched alongside Neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.
6. In Wisconsin, MAGA candidates held half of the Green Bay City Council seats and were hoping to gain the majority with the election this past Tuesday. But despite Trump endorsing and even campaigning for them, several of them lost and progressive candidates won the majority on the council. In another election in Wisconsin, a fake Trump elector from 2020, Bill Feehan, was running for county commissioner. He lost his race 60%-40%.
7. The FBI released data this week that shows that violent crimes, and indeed most crimes, went DOWN in the past year. In fact, their data shows DECREASES in crime for every size of city.
8. This week minimum wage went up to $20/hr for many fast food workers in California.
9. Senator Sherrod Brown (D) raised an incredible $12M in the first quarter of 2024 as he runs for re-election in must-win Ohio.
4/1/2024
1. Marilyn Lands! Yes, after the polls said her race for a state house seat
in ruby red Alabama was too close to call, Democratic candidate and
mental health professional Marilyn Lands beat out her Republican
opponent by 25 points. “This result is a political thunderbolt for the
party’s strategists and chief messengers,” wrote Jay Kuo on Substack.
Ms. Lands campaign focused on abortion rights and IVF.
2. The California State Bar recommended disbarment for Trump attorney
and January 6 th mastermind, John Eastman.
3. President Biden held a star-studded fundraiser at the Radio City Music
Hall in New York City. Flanked by former Democratic Presidents
Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, Biden took in a record-breaking $26
million.
4. Donald Trump’s ridiculous endorsement of his Bible has raised serious
concern among religious leaders. Responses have called the
endorsement “sacrilege,” “heresy,” and “borderline offensive.” “It is a
bankrupt Christianity that sees a demagogue co-opting our faith and
even our holy scriptures for the sake of his own pursuit of power,” wrote
Rev. Benjamin Cremer on X. Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons,
communications director for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious
Liberty, said, “…If authoritarianism does come to the United States…it
will be done in the name of Christianity, which is a very scary thought.”
3/25/2024
1. The United Steel Workers endorsed Biden this week.
2. The League of Conservation Voters announced they'd be spending $120M to help re-elect Biden.
3. Trump had to tell the court that he doesn't know if he can pay the $454M judgment. Furthermore, he has been asking dozens of insurance companies and rich donors to help, and so far, everyone has said no.
4. Trump is also draining his own campaign PAC to pay his legal bills -- in February alone, he paid out $5.6M.
5. If we look at the two campaigns, Biden has $155M "cash on hand" while Trump only has $74M.
6. While DeSantis endorsed Trump, he always changes the subject when he's asked if he'll campaign for Trump.
7. Biden cancelled another $6 billion in student debt, this time focusing on public service workers, like teachers and firefighters.
8. Biden's polls and approval rating have been ticking up. The Economists's aggregate poll tracker saw Biden inch ahead of Trump this week.
9. I am not the only person who has noticed that the media has stopped talking about Biden's age following his successful State of the Union speech two weeks ago.
10. The Republicans' impeachment hearing this week ended as another disaster (i.e. it did not produce anyone with any knowledge or evidence against Biden), so much so that Comer is now actively saying they probably won't hold a vote to impeach Biden at all
3/18/2024
1.Biden's campaign has raised $130M; Trump's has only raised $65M.
2. A bipartisan panel of judges in North Carolina ruled that the Republican attempt to restructure all of the state's election boards was unconstitutional.
Focus groups with Wisconsin swing voters revealed that they primarily blame the Republicans and Trump for the collapse of the bill that would have fixed many problems at the border.
3. Democrats won two special elections in the New Hampshire state legislature.
4. In Georgia's primary election this week, well over 77,000 people voted for Nikki Haley over Trump even though she dropped out last week. That's 13% of Republican primary voters. (Trump lost Georgia in 2020 by 11,779 votes.)
5. This week, Vice President Kamala Harris made history by being the first President or Vice President to visit an abortion clinic.
6. Jill Biden joined forces with Christina Aguilera to speak out about right-wing efforts to ban not just abortion but also IVF and contraception.
7. Joe Biden's campaign is getting huge support from organized labor. This week they were endorsed by the Laborers International Union of North America. And the SEIU plans to spend $200 million on mobilizing 6 million voters to re-elect President Biden and VP Harris.
8. The President followed up on his State of the Union pledge, calling on Congress to provide first-time home buyers with a $5,000 tax credit each year for 2 years.
9. Mike Pence went on Fox News to say he would not be endorsing Trump.
10. Trump's attempt to disqualify Fulton Country District Attorney Fani Willis did not work. A judge ruled that she could stay on the case as long as she solved the conflict of interest. (This has already happened.)
11. A settlement has been reached in the challenge civil rights attorneys brought against Florida re: the "Don't Say Gay" bill. Students and teachers now CAN discuss sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms, provided it’s not part of instruction. It also doesn’t apply to library books not being used for instruction in the classroom.
3/11/2024
1. Per the New York Times: “President Biden delivered an energetic
and impassioned [State of the Union] speech …leveraging what is
expected to be one of his largest audiences of the year to make a
forceful case that he was fit enough for another four years.
2. More than 32 million people watched the State of the Union speech,
that’s 18 percent more viewers than the previous year, and widely
considered a huge audience.
3. The Biden campaign reported that the three hours surrounding the
prime-time speech were the most lucrative fund-raising hours of the
president’s re-election campaign so far.
4. The American labor market exceeded expectations again in
February, adding 275,000 jobs, according to new government data. It
was the third consecutive month of gains above 200,000, and the
38th consecutive month of growth
5. The Senate voted 75-22 on Friday to pass a major government
funding bill to keep a slew of agencies afloat through September,
defusing fears of a partial shutdown and sending the legislation to
President Joe Biden to become law.
6. Embattled Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) will not run for re-election in
November.
3/4/2024
1. Biden‘s campaign has raised more money and has more money on hand than Trump’s campaign.
2. Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York was sworn into Congress on Wednesday, narrowing the GOP majority to two seats.
3. An Illinois judge ruled that Donald Trump engaged in insurrection and has barred him from the state’s primary ballot. (Ruling on hold pending an appeal.)
4. Nikki Haley has ruled out running on the No Labels ticket.
5. The IRS plans to go after 125,000 high-income earners (people earning more than $1 million a year) who did not file tax returns going back to 2017.
6. The GOP keeps digging a deeper and deeper hole when it comes to IVF, especially since the Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would’ve protected the IVF procedure.
7. Not political, but still awesome: The Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx received a staggering $1 billion donation from Dr. Ruth Gottesman, a retired professor, and will offer free tuition to all of its medical students going forward
2/19/2024
1. Former President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization were ordered to pay over $350 million in damages after Judge Arthur Engoron found that Trump and his executives had repeatedly engaged in fraud. The judge further barred Trump "from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in New York for a period of three years."
2. The former FBI informant whose testimony about Hunter Biden was central to the Republicans' effort to impeach President Biden was arrested and charged with lying about all of it.
3. Joe Manchin has decided not to run for POTUS as a third party candidate.
4. The Wisconsin legislature passed the new and fairer district maps put forth by Democratic Governor Tony Evers.
2/5/2024
1. President Joe Biden won a landslide victory in South Carolina’s Democratic primary, capturing approximately 96% of the votes cast.
2. The Oregon Supreme Court said that 10 Republican state senators who staged a record-long walkout last year to stall bills on abortion, transgender health care and gun rights cannot run for reelection.
3. Amber Glenn becomes the first our queer woman to win the U.S. Figure Skating Championship.
4. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court abortion scores a major victory for reproductive rights as it overturned a 42-year old law that prevented Medicaid from paying for abortions.
5. The Child Tax Credit bill is headed to the Senate. Passage remains uncertain.
6. Former Trump aide and Fox Business regular Larry Kudlow said on Fox News “I was wrong about the slowdown and the recession. Everyone was wrong."
7. The Biden administration repealed the most harmful aspects of the Trump administration’s “Refusal of Care” rule. This rule granted institutions the ability to deny patients’ care based on personal and religious beliefs.
8. The U.S. Forest Service has rescinded its approval of plans to build 12 miles of rail through protected Utah woodlands — stopping a large-scale crude oil conveyance project in its tracks.
9. American and Chinese officials committed to working together to stem the flow of fentanyl into the United States.
10. A small township in Michigan is about to get a $375M investment to expand manufacturing for semiconductors chips. This will create 170 new, well-paying jobs in clean energy thanks to the CHIPS and Science Act.
1/29/2024
1. Instead of the recession that had been widely predicted a year ago, the American economy grew at a healthy pace through the end of 2023. Unemployment remained low, inflation continued to cool, and the GDP rose at a rate that beat forecasters' expectations. In addition, per the New York Times: "...layoffs remain low, job growth has held steady and consumer sentiment is at last showing signs of rebounding after years in the doldrums."
2. A Manhattan jury ordered former President Donald Trump to pay writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million for defaming her. The award included $65 million in punitive damages.
3. Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro was sentenced to 4 months in prison for defying a Congressional subpoena from the Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
4. The United Auto Workers union endorsed Joe Biden.
5. CalState University faculty celebrated victory after reaching a deal in just one day of striking. While all demands weren’t met, union leadership was satisfied that the agreement provided major gains for the most underpaid instructors. Other benefits include extended parental leave and a 10% general raise over two years. The president of the union described the deal as a “massive and historic” win.
6. After many legal challenges, Louisiana’s new congressional map now includes a second majority-Black district.
7. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 hit record highs last week.
1/24/2024
1. On Tuesday, Dems flipped a Florida state legislative seat. Tom Keens won State House District 35 with 51.3% of the vote.
2. The Louisiana state legislature approved a new congressional map that includes two majority-Black districts after being ordered to do so by a federal court that found that the existing map illegally diminished Black voting power.
3. Americans are feeling much better about the economy. Consumer sentiment jumped 13% in the first half of January from December; the biggest two-month increase since 1991.
4. President Biden cancelled nearly $5 billion in student loan debt for 74,000 people, focusing this round mostly on teachers, nurses, firefighters and others in public service.
5. Congress passed stopgap legislation to keep the federal government open into March.
6. SCOTUS declined to weigh in, for now, on a lower court’s decision to allow transgender students in Indiana schools the freedom to use the bathroom of their choice.
7. President Biden's campaign effort raised more than $97 million in the final three months of 2023.
8. Biden's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed a rule that would limit overdraft charges at the largest U.S. banks and credit unions. The proposal aims to end the standard $35 overdraft fee — replacing it with a benchmark range of $3 to $14.
1/15/2024
1. The White House announced that enrollment in the Affordable Care Act hit a record high — 20 million Americans are enrolled!
2. Trump has to pay the New York Times almost $400,000 for filing a frivolous lawsuit against them.
3. The Democrats were on fire in the House Oversight Committee hearing on Hunter Biden. They absolutely chewed up the Republicans who once again looked like clowns.
4. St. Paul, Minnesota swore in their new city council this week — all 7 council members are women, they’re all under 40, and all but one are people of color!
5. A grand jury in Ohio declined to charge Brittany Watts for miscarrying. (I’m grateful for the decision, but this never should have gotten this far. More on this horrible, post-Roe story HERE.)
6. Thanks to Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the IRS has collected $500 million from delinquent millionaires as they ramp up enforcement with high earners.
7. Fox News has ended their advertising relationship with Mike Lindell’s My Pillow.
8. The state Republican parties in Michigan, Nevada, and Florida are all engulfed in turmoil.
9. At the end of his civil fraud trial in New York, Trump got up to make some unhinged comments and the judge told his lawyers to “control their client.”
10. Sherrod Brown, the Democratic Senator in Ohio facing re-election this year, has raised a massive $6.6 million in the last 3 months.
1/8/2024
On January 1, 22 states raised their minimum wage. In California, New York and Washington, the new minimum starts at $16 an hour. You can find the full list
22 STATES RAISED THEIR MINIMUM WAGE
Also on January 1, New gun safety laws went into effect in Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado, California and Washington.
The pharmaceutical company Sanofi joined two other major insulin manufacturers to establish a price cap of $35 for insulin.
Job growth was better than expected, with December’s jobs report showing employers added 216,000 jobs for the month while the unemployment rate held at 3.7%.
Wayne LaPierre, the head of the NRA for the past three decades, resigned from the organization on the eve of his corruption trial. (The trial will continue of c
12/2/2023
1. The House of Representatives expelled Rep. George Santos (R-NY), making him only the 6th person in history to be jettisoned by his colleagues.
2. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed landmark voting rights legislation–it’s the first law in the nation that will automatically register people as they’re released from prison.
3. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) endorsed an abortion ballot initiative that could appear on the November 2024 ballot earlier this week.
4. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that Trump is not immune from being sued over the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Multiple Capitol Police officers and Democratic members of Congress have filed lawsuits and are seeking civil damages related to the events of that day.
5. More good news on the economy today: Annual inflation fell to its lowest level since March 2021 and monthly inflation was zero.
6. The Biden administration forgave the student loans for another 813,000 borrowers.
7. New Mexico Supreme Court unanimously upheld the state’s congressional map. Republicans had tried to challenge the map.
8. Penguin Random House filed a lawsuit against the state of Iowa for violating the First and Fourteenth Amendments with their book bans.
9. A U.S. district court blocked Montana’s unconstitutional ban on TikTok, upholding the free speech rights of people in the state.
10. A New York appeals court reinstated a gag order that barred Donald Trump from commenting about court personnel after the former president repeatedly disparaged a law clerk in his New York civil fraud trial.
11. Two Republican supervisors of Arizona’s Cochise County are now facing criminal charges after they risked more than 47,000 people’s votes by refusing to meet the state’s legal deadline for certifying the 2022 midterm elections.
12. The Guardian reported that Fulton (GA) county prosecutors do not intend to offer plea deals to Donald Trump, Mark Meadows or Rudy Giuliani.
11/7/2023
1. Ohioans enshrine abortion rights into their State Constitution
2. Andy Beshear is re-elected Governor of Kentucky
3. Dems retain control of the Virginia State Senate
4. Dems take control of Virginia's House of Delegates
5. Dems retain control of the New Jersey State Senate
6. Dems retain control of the New Jersey State Assembly
7. Dem. Cherelle Parker elected the first woman mayor of PHL
8. Dems win supermajority (5-2) on PA's Supreme Court
9. Dems win all 5 Central Bucks, PA school board races, defeating Moms for Liberty
10. Central York, PA school district has flipped from red to blue
…a good day for democracy
11/6/2023
1. The Seventh Circuit rejected challenges to Illinois' assault weapon and large-capacity magazine bans. Naperville's assault weapon ban. And assault weapon and large-capacity magazine bans in Chicago & Cook County.
2. Pennsylvania saw a 54 percent increase in voter registrations in the month since Governor Josh Shapiro established automatic voter registration! Woot!
3. Beginning Jan. 2024, California workers will be guaranteed five days off after a miscarriage, stillbirth, and other types of reproductive loss under legislation Gov. Gavin Newsom signed earlier this month.
4. An Arizona judge rejected a right-wing legal group's request to temporarily ban drop boxes in the state.
5. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the bathroom ban for transgender students in Idaho could not proceed, at least for the time being.
6. The Michigan Legislature passed a bill to overturn an 1891 law that makes it a crime to hire transportation to take voters to the polls in the state. The bill heads to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) for her likely signature.
7. The largest landfill on the planet is being transformed into a state park in Staten Island, NY, and part of it opened to the public this month.
8. A federal district court struck down the congressional and legislative maps that Georgia Republicans enacted after the 2020 census, ruling on Thursday that they illegally discriminated against Black voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act.
9. A federal judge rejected a Republican lawsuit seeking to block a new Nevada law that protects election officials from intimidation, harassment and interference. The law will continue to safeguard election workers from increasing threats
President Biden has forgiven $127 billion in student loan debt, more than any other administration.
10. People seeking asylum in the U.S. can receive work permits that are valid for five years instead of the previous two-year limit.
11. Half a million children and families who were inappropriately disenrolled from Medicaid and CHIP regain coverage.
12. CT: LGBTQ people who use state health plans can now access equal fertility-related coverage to start a family.
13. FL: A court rules that the state’s proposed redistricting plan violates the FL constitution.
14. Disney VFX workers vote to unionize with IATSE, becoming only the second-ever visual effects team to do so.
15. An alliance of 45 countries pledge to raise $12B to protect coral reefs.
10/30/2023
1. The U.S. economy grew at 4.9 percent annual rate in the third
quarter, thanks to a surge in consumer spending. This was the
strongest showing since late 2021, defying predictions of a slowdown
prompted by the Federal Reserve’s interest rate increases.
2. Trump election-denier lawyer, Jenna Ellis, joined her former
colleagues to plead guilty to a felony charge over efforts to overturn
the election results in Georgia and will cooperate with Fulton County
prosecutors.
3. Judge Engoron fined Trump $10,000 for once again violating the gag
order in his NY financial case.
4. A federal judge struck down Republican-drawn voting maps in
Georgia, saying they violated the civil rights of Black voters. The
judge demanded that Georgia state legislators move quickly to adopt
maps that provide equitable representation for Black residents, who
make up more than a third of the state’s population.
5. A strike between the United Auto Workers and Ford, its largest
employer, is near an end as a tentative deal was reached to pay
workers at least 25% more between now and 2028. As of Thursday,
16,600 strikers were expected to return to the job. As of Saturday, the union had also reached a tentative deal with Stellantis, which builds vehicles in North America under the Jeep, Ram, Dodge, and Chrysler names. The strike at General Motors expanded, however.
6. Gas prices are lower than they were a year ago. Despite Russia and
Saudi Arabia trying to raise gas prices, they keep tumbling.
7. Two Israeli hostages – Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, and Nurit Yitzhak, 79 –
were released by Hamas. Lifshitz’s husband of 63 years remains in captivity. Below is video footage of Lifshitz extending her hand to one of her captors, who is wielding an assault rifle, and
saying, “Shalom.”
10/23/2023
1. In a win for accountability and the rule of law, Trump co-conspirator Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro have flipped and taken a plea deal.
2. Judge Engoron fined Trump $5,000 with the promise of steeper sanctions to come, if he continues to violate the gag order in his NY financial case.
3. Thankfully Jim Jordan is now out of contention for Speaker. But will this dysfunctional party be able to elect a leader any time soon? Who knows.
4. A recent Baldwin Wallace poll has both reproductive rights and recreational marijuana passing in Ohio on November 7th. Both polls show the same results 58% support, 34% oppose.
5. The city of Orlando plans to purchase the Pulse Nightclub property, where seven years ago 49 people were massacred. Their intention is to turn the site into a memorial for the victims.
6. Two U.S. hostages, a mother and a daughter from suburban Chicago, were released by Hamas on Friday, officials announced. The freed hostages were identified as Judith and Natalie Raanan, who are dual U.S.- Israeli citizens, according to a spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister's office.
10/16/2023
1. In a second round of voting for a new Speaker of the House, Jim Jordan could only muster 155 Yes votes, while 55 people voted No. He can only lose 4 Republicans.
2. Fresh off of raising minimum wage for fast food workers for larger restaurant chains to $20/hr, CA governor Gavin Newsom signed a law to raise the minimum wage for health care workers to $25/hr.
3. Wisconsin Republicans appear to be backing off a threat to impeach the new state supreme court judge, Janet Protasiewicz.
4. A federal judge, and Trump appointee, ruled that Galveston County in Texas violated the Voting Rights Act when they drew their county commissioner precincts.
5. Illinois abolished cash bail.
6. New York banned facial recognition technology in their schools.
7. Three tribal nations on the West Coast regained stewardship of nearly 700 miles of ancestral coastal lands. Source
8. The corporation that had been planning to merge with Trump’s social media company has given up the ghost and is returning over $500M to its investors.
9. The Biden administration announced new initiatives aimed at working towards banning junk fees in business and the banking sector.
10. Lauren Boebert’s opponent Adam Frisch raised $3.4 million last quarter, while Boebert only raised $853,840.
10/9/2023
1. Following the Supreme Court’s refusal to reinstate a Republican-designed congressional map in Alabama, a federal court ordered the state to use a new congressional map that increases the percentage of Black voters in a district long dominated by white voters. According to the New York Times, “the order could lead to the election of two Black representatives for the first time in the state’s history and also to the pickup by Democrats of another seat in the House.”
2. Governor Newsom appointed former labor leader Laphonza Butler to fill Senator Feinstein’s seat until the new Congress of January 2025. Ms. Butler has been an advisor to VP Kamala Harris, served as president of the SEIU for more than a decade, and since 2021 served as president of Emily’s List, the fund-raising organization dedicated to electing female candidates and upholding women’s reproductive rights.
3. The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman, whose mRNA breakthrough enabled the speedy development of Covid vaccines that averted tens of millions of deaths.
4. President Biden canceled an additional $9 billion in student debt on Wednesday as repayments started up again this month after a three- year pause. The move affects 125,000 people who qualify under existing programs, including public-service workers such as teachers and firefighters and people on permanent disability. The announcement represents a workaround offer to provide debt relief after the Supreme Court struck down Biden’s more ambitious plan that would have cancelled more than $400 billion in student debt for about 43 million borrowers.
5. The U.S. labor market continues strong, with employers adding 336,000 jobs in September.
10/2/2023
1. A federal judge declared Texas’s drag law unconstitutional.
2. Governor Newsom signed a law to raise taxes on guns and ammunition to pay for school safety.
3. The Biden administration made important modifications to the foster care system.
4. Governor Newsom signed a bill to ban book bands and textbook censorship.
5. Judge ruled that Trump, his two sons, and others were liable for engaging in massive fraud to build his real estate empire and ordered the dissolution of Trump Org.
6. Mississippi’s state Supreme Court ruled that appointing circuit court judges violates Mississippi’s constitutional requirements that all judges must be elected.
7. Montana judge blocked the ban in gender affirming care for trans youth.
8. SCOTUS refused to reinstate Alabama‘s GOP drawn map, and Alabama has now dropped their appeal.
9/26/2023
1. The Supreme Court rejects Alabama's attempt to avoid creating a second Black majority congressional district.
2. Democrats keep winning elections. In Pennsylvania, Democrats kept control of the House of Representatives after Lindsay Powell (D) won an open seat in a special election in the Pittsburgh area. In New Hampshire, Hal Rafter (D) flipped a swing seat in a special election for the State House. The upset puts Democrats just one seat away from erasing the GOP’s majority in the chamber!
3. Joe Biden forgave another $37 million in student loans, created an Office of Gun Violence Prevention to help keep us safe, created an American Climate Corps to create green jobs, and announced he’s joining the UAW picket line in Detroit.
4. A Taylor Swift Instagram post drove record-breaking web traffic to VOTE.ORG this week and helped the site register more than 35,000 new voters!
5. On National Voter Registration Day, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro announced that the state will implement automatic voter registration!
6. After Trump announced he was planning to speak to the striking United Auto Workers members, the union president said, “Every fiber of our union is being poured into fighting the billionaire class and an economy that enriches people like Donald Trump at the expense of workers.”
7. Joe Biden’s re-election campaign is deploying California Gov. Gavin Newsom to the second Republican presidential debate next week.
8. Project Veritas, the far right organization best known for using paid actors and then deceptively editing videos to smear liberal candidates and organizations, suspended all operations this week.
9/18/2023
1 The Biden administration said it would cancel Trump-era drilling leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This is part of an aggressive new push to protect millions of acres of pristine Alaskan wilderness.
2. A blue wave came to Nashville last week. Early returns for the
special elections show that nearly every open position, from Mayor to Council seats, went to Democrats.
3. Following the resignation of Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) the GOP majority in the House narrowed to just 3 seats.
4. Remember Kim Davis? She is the former county clerk in Kentucky who became famous in 2015 for refusing to issue a marriage license to a gay couple after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages. Well, a federal jury just awarded $100,000 to the Kentucky couple who sued Davis for refusing them a license.
9/11/2023
1. A federal judge on Friday rejected a request from former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to move his election interference case to U.S. District Court in Atlanta.
2. Proud Boy Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison.
3. A federal court rejected Alabama’s new congressional maps for failing to remedy its Voting Rights Act violation.
4. A court struck down Florida’s congressional map because the GOP redistricting plan unlawfully diminished Black voters’ ability to elect their candidate of choice in violation of state constitution.
5. Former Trump aide Peter Navarro was found guilty of being in contempt of Congress for defying a Jan. 6 committee subpoena.
6. A federal judge ordered TX Gov. Abbott (R) to remove the illegal razor-wire floating barriers in the Rio Grande.
7. Mexico is 72% Catholic, and they just decriminalized abortion nationwide.
8. A federal judge ordered Louisiana to remove all children (almost all are Black boys) from the nation’s largest adult maximum security prison, Angola, by September 15, finding the state’s treatment is cruel and unusual punishment.
9. Trump was found to be liable in the second E. Jean Carroll defamation case; a January trial will determine damages.
9/4/2023
1. A federal judge ruled that Rudolph W. Giuliani was liable for defaming two Georgia election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, by repeatedly declaring that they had mishandled ballots while counting votes in Atlanta during the 2020 election. The ruling means that a defamation case against Mr. Giuliani can proceed to trial to determine compensatory damages.
2. The Biden administration announced 10 medicines that will be subject to price negotiations with Medicare, kicking off a cost-reduction program that has been a Democratic objective for decades.
3. Mississippi will have its first-ever openly gay state legislator after Fabian Nelson won the Democratic primary election last Tuesday. This leaves Louisiana as the only state never to have elected an LGBTQ+ person to its legislature.
8/28/2023
1. Gov. Josh Shapiro Funds Universal Free Breakfast For Pennsylvania Students
2. Jack Smith’s team told Judge Aileen Cannon in a legal filing that a key witness in Donald Trump’s classified documents case has retracted false testimony after switching lawyers, and provided new testimony implicating Trump in efforts to delete security camera footage.
3. A new Navigator survey revealed that Independent voters think Trump is guilty by 67% to 18%
4. A Texas district court blocked the state's unconstitutional medical care ban targeting transgender youth, finding the law likely violates the rights of parents under the Texas state constitution.
5. The union representing 340,000 UPS workers said Tuesday that its members voted to approve the tentative contract agreement.
6. Crowds cheered as Tennessee House Bill 7064, which would have widened the number of people who could carry a gun in public education spaces, failed to move past the Education Administration committee.
7. A Jan. 6 rioter who was armed with a concealed weapon as he led a mob that overran police on the steps of the Capitol was sentenced to seven years in federal prison.
8/21/2023
1. In a landmark climate decision, a Montana state court decided in favor of young people who alleged the state violated their constitutional right to a “clean and healthful environment” by promoting the use of fossil fuels.
2. Federal court blocked Georgia’s ban on providing food and water to people waiting in line to vote.
3. Another victory! A federal judge struck down parts of Texas’ voter suppression law for violating the Civil Rights Act.
4. The Little Rock school district is defying Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and will continue to offer Advanced Placement (AP) African American studies classes.
5. The Texas woman who threatened the judge overseeing Trump’s 1/6 case was found and arrested.
6. Prosecutors have recommended prison sentences of 27-33 years for the four Proud Boy leaders who were convicted of seditious conspiracy earlier this year
7. Thanks to Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the IRS has recovered $38M from delinquent millionaires so far.
8. Trump caved — He’s cancelled his much hyped presser where he promised to offer “irrefutable” evidence of election fraud in Georgia.
9. 804,000 people got their student loans forgiven (and this Biden decision was upheld in the courts!)
8/14/2023
1. The City of Atlanta added 14,300 people last year, fueled by explosive population growth in ultra-liberal Midtown. This is good news for Dems in a state Biden won by just 12,000 votes
2. David Hogg, Parkland shooting survivor and co-founder of March for Our Lives, announced that he founded the Leaders We Deserve with Kevin Lata, the campaign manager for U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Orlando. Hogg's mission is to elect young leaders across the country to advance a progressive vision for the future.
3. Republicans have lost every abortion-related referendum since Dobbs - VT (76%) - CA (67%) - KS (59%) - MI (57%) - MT (53%) - KY (52%)
4. The Ohio Supreme Court rejected the GOP lawsuit attempting to keep the abortion rights amendment off the November ballot!
5. A federal judge temporarily blocked Idaho's new bathroom bill targeting trans students
6. A judge ruled that Texas' abortion ban is too restrictive for women with serious pregnancy complications & ordered changes to law
7. The Illinois Supreme Court upheld the state’s assault-style weapons ban in a 4-3 ruling after months of legal challenges sought to dismantle the law
8. Biden established his 5th new national monument, the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. The designation protects nearly one million acres of public lands surrounding Grand Canyon National Park
8/7/2023
1. After protestors removed all the books from a Pride Month display in a local San Diego Public Library, members of the community promptly replaced the books and then some, donating $15,000 to the library system toward providing more LGBTQ-themed materials and programming
2. The Biden administration has begun full enforcement of its ban on most incandescent light bulbs. The Energy Department rule will penalize violators who stand to profit, including manufacturers, distributors, and retailers – not consumers. Projections suggest that the enforced use of LED bulbs will cut carbon emissions by 222 million metric tons over the course of 30 years, a vital step in combating climate change.
SEISMIC and HISTORIC NEWS
Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States, and leading candidate for the Republican nomination, was indicted on August 1, 2023 on four criminal counts over his attempts to subvert democracy and remain in office against the will of the voters. “Despite having lost, the defendant was determined to remain in power,” prosecutors wrote.
7/31/2023
1. Trump got hit with a superseding indictment that adds three more counts to his documents case -- it's all about the cover up!
2. Michigan Gov. Whitmer (D) signed two bills to ban conversion therapy.
3. Illinois Gov. Pritzker (D) signed a bill to protect people from deceptive practices at crisis pregnancy centers -- the centers pretend to be health centers but are run by nonprofit organizations with a goal of stopping women from accessing abortions.
4. Wisconsin courts rejected a Republican lawsuit that aimed to stop the counting of absentee ballots completed by military voters.
5. Teamsters reached an agreement with UPS to raise wages for all workers, create more full-time jobs, and add dozens of workplace protections.
6. There's been a slight uptick with Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who say if Trump continues to run for president, they are likely to support another candidate (32% in mid-June and now 37% in late July)
7/24/2023
1. By the time we get to the 2024 election, there will be 32 million new eligible young voters in the form of teenagers who turned 18 since 2016
2. Edward Caban, who grew up in the Bronx as the son of a Puerto Rican transit police detective, will become the first Latino officer to lead the New York Police Department in its 177-year history.
3. The Cook Report upgraded 3 House races: Rep. Ken Calvert (CA-41) from lean R to toss up, Rep. Lauren Boebert (CO-3) from Lean R to Toss Up, and Rep. Greg Landsman a democrat who flipped the seat to the dems in 2022 (Ohio-1) from toss up to lean D
4. Judge temporarily blocks Iowa's new ban on abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, making them legal again for now.
5. A New York appeals court on Thursday ordered the state’s congressional map to be redrawn, siding with Democrats in a case that could give the party a fresh chance to tilt one of the nation’s most contested House battlegrounds leftward.
6. President Biden has chosen Admiral Lisa Franchetti to lead the Navy, and if she is confirmed, she'll be the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
7. Michigan’s sixteen fake Trump electors who falsified their certification with Congress were charged with felonies.
7/10/2023
1. The Biden economic success story: Best economic recovery in the G7, with the lowest peacetime unemployment rate since WWII, lowest poverty/uninsured rates ever, the deficit is down, and inflation is down to 1.2% annualized.
2. New jobs report added 209K jobs. Private sector jobs jumped by 497,000 - Analysts were expecting just 220,000 added jobs. Annual pay rose at a 6.4% rate.
3. Democratic Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers used his veto powers to expand education funding in the state for the next 4 centuries! That's not a typo...4 centuries.
4. Yusef Salaam—a member of the exonerated Central Park Five—recently won the Democratic primary for a city council seat representing Harlem.
5. In the wake of The Supreme Court’s overturning of affirmative action in college admissions, minority students have filed a complaint with the Department of Education challenging legacy admissions at Harvard.
6. A Dutch supermarket chain introduced slow checkouts helping many people, especially the elderly, deal with loneliness. The move has proven so successful that they installed the slow checkouts in 200 stores. Let's be kind to one another.
7/3/2023
1. In a major 6-3 victory for voters the Supreme Court rejected a radical Republican scheme to allow state legislatures to determine presidential winners rather than voters.
2. President Biden is not going down without a fight. Hours after the Supreme Court handed down it's decision to overturn student debt relief, he stood before reporters in the Roosevelt Room and laid out a new path to the millions of Americans who had been promised as much as $20,000 in forgiven debt. He said the court “misinterpreted the Constitution” and announced the administration would pursue different avenues for student debt relief.
3. Following the Supreme Court decision dismantling affirmative action, former NBA player and TNT broadcaster Charles Barkley announced a change to his will. He will demand that the $5 million he is leaving to his alma mater, Auburn University, will be earmarked for Black students.
4. Elections matter. In Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Michigan Dems have brought in the first 180 days: repeal abortion ban, LGBTQ+ protections, income tax credit, gun safety laws, free school breakfast/lunch, voting access expansion, and approval of an 82billion historic budget
6/26/2023
1. In a major victory for the transgender community in Florida, the court ruled that Florida's anti-transgender health care rule prohibiting coverage for treatment of gender dysphoria is unlawful and unconstitutional.
2. With today's order from the Supreme Court, Louisiana will get a shot at a fair congressional map where Black voters have the opportunity to elect their candidates of choice in two districts as opposed to only one.
3. A federal judge struck down Arkansas' first-in-the-nation ban on gender-affirming care of children as unconstitutional, the first ruling to overturn such a prohibition as a growing number of Republican-led states adopt similar restrictions.
4. At a news conference this past Friday, Governor Josh Shapiro hailed the opening of a temporary six-lane roadway over I-95 as a victory, moments before traffic once again began flowing for the first time in 12 days. Democrats get the job done.
6/19/2023
1. In a major victory for Native American rights, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 to uphold key provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act
2. The Iowa Supreme Court blocked the new 6 week abortion ban
3. Justin Jones and Justin J. Pearson, the two Democratic state representatives in Tennessee who were expelled by Republicans over gun violence protests, won their primary races for their old seats
4. Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law to ban book bans in Illinois
5. Inflation cooled -- the annual level is now down to 4%
6. Michigan State House passed a law to make voting easier
7.In Dewey County, Oklahoma, a Trump +81 county, flipped a County Commissioner seat from red to blue
4/5/2023
Yesterday was a very good day. Janet Protasiewicz won the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, making this the first time in fifteen years the court will have a liberal majority. In the next year the Wisconsin Supreme Court is likely to reverse the state's abortion ban and end the use of gerrymandered legislative maps drawn by republicans. This is likely to have seismic consequences for both the presidential election and which party controls the House of Representatives come 2024.
In other good news, yesterday afternoon Donald Trump surrendered to New York authorities where he was placed under arrest. Former President, twice impeached Donald Trump now defendant Trump, has been charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He pleaded not guilty. At a press conference following the arraignment District Attorney Alvin Bragg stated, "We cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct." No one is above the law, no matter how long it takes. Enjoy this moment. After all, we've endured a lot to get to this point.
Yesterday Democracy won.
4/3/2023
1. A New York grand jury voted to indict Trump — he faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud in the investigation regarding hush money payments to a porn star.
2. A judge denied granting summary judgment to Fox News in its attempt to get Dominion Voting System’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit thrown out, meaning the case will go to trial in mid-April.
3. A new Harvard Institute of Politics poll found that 63% of young Americans support stricter gun laws.
4. Attempts to stop out-of-state students from voting in their campus towns and to roll back preregistration for teenagers have failed in New Hampshire and Virginia.
5. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) plans to return to the Senate the week of April 17.
3/20/2023
1. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin of Russia for war crimes. The court said that Putin bore individual criminal responsibility for the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children.
2. Biden signed an executive order designed to reduce gun violence through tougher enforcement of existing laws
3. The West Virginia legislative session for the year is over, and with it, 17 anti-trans bills die
4. The North Dakota Supreme Court ruled that a state abortion ban will remain blocked while a lawsuit over its constitutionality proceeds
5. In a segment with Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R), a Fox News host expressed how unimpressed he was with the Republicans' investigation of the Biden family -- "Five years investigating; nothing just yet."
6. A federal judge has once again blocked DeSantis' Stop Woke Act (which bans the teaching of Critical Race Theory in Florida’s public education institutions)
7. California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced plans to install 1,200 tiny homes throughout the state as he aims to reduce homelessness by 15%
8. The Biden administration said that thousands of Ukrainians who fled to the United States after Russia invaded their country would be eligible to extend their stay
9. Nebraska state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh's (D) filibuster of an anti-trans bill in the legislature has been enormously successful. According to the Republican Speaker, out of 170 "priority" bills they hoped to work through in the 90 day session, only 7 have been addressed
10. Former Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti won a Senate vote to become President Biden’s ambassador to India, winning the support of 7 Republican senators
11. Steve Bannon's business associate, Guo Wengui, an exiled Chinese billionaire, has been arrested on federal charges for a $1 billion fraud scheme
12. A new Quinnipiac University poll finds that two-thirds of Americans — including 2 in 5 Republicans — think that Fox News should be held accountable for its election lies
3/13/2023
1. Governor Gavin Newsom announced that California would not renew a $54M contract with Walgreens after the company caved to right wing demands to not sell the federally approved progesterone blocker mifepristone.
2. A new USA Today/Ipsos poll finds that by a 56% to 39% margin, Americans say the term “woke” means awareness of social injustices, not excessive political correctness.
3. A Republican-backed proposal to rename of a portion of Nashville road (Rep. John Lewis Way) after former President Donald Trump is off the table.
4. In Wyoming, a bill attempting to ban gender-affirming care failed to progress in the state legislature.
5. A federal court in Arizona denied a Republican motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging two voter suppression laws in the state.
6. The Federal Trade Commission has demanded Twitter turn over internal communications related to owner Elon Musk regarding layoffs as part of their investigation.
7. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is entering his re-election contest in a rare position for a red state Democrat: the frontrunner.
8. President Biden’s public approval rating edged up to 42%, its highest level since June, as inflation has eased in the United States and job growth has stayed strong.
9. Judge Gina Mendez-Miro was confirmed by the Senate to the US District Court for Puerto Rico, becoming the first openly LGBTQ judge to serve there.
2/27/2023
1. President Biden's surprising trip to Kyiv was a mission with an inspiring message. He reminded embattled Ukrainians that the United States has their backs in their struggle against the bloody Russian onslaught. He showed Russian dictator Vladimir Putin that Ukrainian survival has become a bedrock element of American national security policy. Finally, Biden encouraged the American public to remain steadfast in support of their democratic allies.
2. Minnesota became the latest state to restore voting rights to ex-felons once they are released from prison
3. Hakeem Jeffries is proving to be a terrific fundraiser, like Pelosi before him. The DCCC raised $8.1 million while the Republicans' NRCC took in only $4.5 million in January
4. A Jan. 6 rioter who threatened Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on social media after participating in the attack was sentenced to 38 months in prison
5. The Alaska House of Representatives voted almost unanimously Wednesday to reprimand Rep. David Eastman (R) for speculating the state could financially benefit if child abuse victims died of their abuse
6. The Supreme Court again declined to hear a lawsuit from a trio of Utah brothers seeking to kick President Joe Biden out of the White House and return Donald Trump to the presidency
2/20/2023
1. Fox News had one of their worst days ever as Dominion’s filing in their 2020 election defamation lawsuit became public.
2. WI Governor Tony Evers is once again proposing an automatic voter registration program through his annual budget
3. AZ Republican Kari Lake lost yet another legal challenge in her doomed effort to overturn the 2022 governor’s election
4. Chuck Schumer’s Senate confirmed 7 more of Biden’s judicial nominees this week
5. Joe Biden continued to hammer the Republicans on their proposal to sunset Medicare and Social Security AND the media actually continues to cover it
6. Mitch McConnell went on Fox News to unequivocally say that there should be bipartisan support in defeating Russia in their war against Ukraine
7. A federal judge sentenced GOP operative Jesse Benton to 18 months in prison for funneling $25,000 from a Russian businessman to Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
8. Georgia released parts of the grand jury report into Trump’s interference in the 2020 election.
2/13/2023
1. According to a CNN flash poll 72% of viewers had a positive opinion of President Biden's State of the Union address.
2. Democrats won all three vacant House seats in the Pennsylvania state legislature securing a majority.
3. Although the Oversight Committee, now led by Republicans, were hoping to dig into Twitter's so-called collusion with Democrats to take down tweets they didn't like, the hearing this week revealed that Twitter kept a database of all the times Trump and Republicans demanded that tweets be taken down.
4. The NRA has lost a million members and is now smaller than it was 2012
5. Mitch McConnell spoke on a podcast a few days ago and confirmed it "was the Scott plan" (i.e. Rick Scott) to sunset Social Security and Medicare. He predicted it would hurt Scott's re-election in Florida.
6. Kevin Seefried, the January 6th rioter who carried a Confederate flag through the Capitol was sentenced to 3 years in prison.
2/6/2023
1. The economy under Biden shows no signs of stopping. The U.S. added a stunning 517,000 jobs in January, beating expectations by a lot.
2. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) signed a bill codifying access to reproductive care, making the state the first since the midterms to add substantial legal protections protecting the right to abortion.
3. Donald Trump’s political operation has spent more money since he left office on his legal issues than it has on Republican congressional campaigns.
4. Embattled Rep. George Santos said he is stepping off all of his committees.
5. The DOJ is looking into Santos’ financial disclosures, and the FBI is investigating his role in an alleged GoFundMe scheme involving a disabled U.S. Navy veteran’s dying service dog.
6. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has pulled Sen. Rick Scott, who tried to oust him as the Senate’s top Republican in a bruising leadership race, off the powerful Commerce Committee.
1/30/2023
1. Affordable Care Act enrollments have reached an all-time high
2. The FDA unveiled new guidance to relax blood donor restrictions, that had been set during the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s, for gay and bisexual men
3. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) push for a 15-week abortion ban died when a state Senate subcommittee blocked the ban along with two other restrictions
4. The U.S. economy grew by 2.9% last quarter
5. Newly empowered Democrats in Michigan and Minnesota state legislatures are advancing several voting rights bills
6. A federal judge sentenced the Pennsylvania man who pepper sprayed U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick on January 6th, to 6 1/2 years in prison
7. DirecTV released conservative cable channel Newsmax from its lineup
8. Pope Francis criticized laws that criminalize homosexuality as “unjust,” saying "God loves all his children just as they are," and called on Catholic bishops who support the laws to welcome LGBTQ people into the church
9. The Biden administration unveiled new actions this week to protect tenants, making renting more affordable and improving fairness in the rental housing market
12/6/2022
Voters of Georgia re-elected Senator Warnock for a full 6-year term
Hallelujah!
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Democrats held the Senate with 50 but we want 51...December 6th Runoff in Georgia will put more GOOD NEWS on this list
Democrats flipped the Michigan state legislature AND the Minnesota state legislature
We likely flipped the PA House
We held off a GOP supermajority in the NC statehouse
We held the Maine Dem majority
Statehouses had an AMAZING election
Tennessee voters on Tuesday approved a ballot measure that removes language allowing slavery and involuntary servitude as forms of punishment for those convicted of crimes
A Kentucky judge who signed off on the police raid that resulted in the death of Breonna Taylor lost her reelection bid on Tuesday
Voters in a record five states—California, Michigan, Vermont, Kentucky and Montana—decided on abortion-related ballot measures and came down decisivel in favor of abortion rights and access
Massachusetts voters elected Maura Healey, their first woman, as Governor; she—-along with Oregon’s Tina Kotek— will also be one of the first openly LGBTQIA+ women to be elected as Governor in the US
Maxwell Frost just made history as the first member of Gen Z in Congress. Frost made gun violence a central point of his campaign and secured representation for the growing generation of new voters
Not a single election denying Secretary of State candidate won their race in a battleground state!
Ultra-conservative Nebraska passed a $15 minimum wage
Voters in New York state have approved a sweeping ballot measure to mitigate climate change and protect the state’s natural resources
Attorney General Josh Kaul (D-WI) has eked out re-election against his Republican challenger, as did Governor Tony Evers! These are crucial holds for Dems in the battleground state.
Nevada decisively passed a ballot initiative adding an Equal Rights Amendment to their state constitution, and it will be the most comprehensive and inclusive ERA in the country
In Missouri, voters passed Amendment 3 legalizing recreational marijuana and expunging the records of those who were previously charged with nonviolent marijuana offenses
Democrats won at practically every level in Michigan, one of the country’s most important swing states. Despite fierce challenges from Republicans, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) and Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) won their reelection bids, and ballot proposals enshrining voting and abortion rights passed
Becca Balint, 54, an openly gay liberal Democrat, won her race to become Vermont’s lone member of the House of Representatives, the first time the state has elected a woman to Congress. Vermont is the last state to send a woman to Washington
Wes Moore, 44, a Democrat and a political newcomer, will become the first Black governor in Maryland’s history. Moore will be the only Black governor in the country and the third elected since Reconstruction
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1. Thankfully Paul Pelosi is expected to make a full recovery.
2. Brazil Elects Lula, a Leftist Former Leader, in a Rebuke of Bolsonaro.
3. A DC judge gave a 7.5-year sentence to the U.S. Capitol rioter who delivered Officer Michael Fanone by his neck to a violent mob.
4. Court decisions ensured that counties in Pennsylvania may continue to provide both drop boxes and an opportunity for voters to correct minor errors on their mail ballot envelopes.
5. New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a new law protecting the confidentiality of voters who are survivors of sexual abuse.
6. Student protesters flooded the field during the University of Pennsylvania’s homecoming football game this week to demand change. They want the university to “be a good neighbor” and save a low-income housing complex, pay its fair share in property taxes, and end fossil fuel investments.
7. The U.S. economy grew 2.6% in the third quarter, reversing a six-month slump.
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States across the country have seen a surge of early voting
In Georgia alone, in-person turnout is up 70%
In North Carolina, requests for absentee ballots are up 114%
These numbers are in comparison to the 2018 midterm elections
In a New York Times/Sienna College poll published last week, the age group most likely to vote for the Democratic candidate was 18 –29
65+ came in second
A Texas sheriff has certified that the nearly 50 migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis were victims of a crime
That certification is a key step in qualifying them for a special visa they would not have otherwise been eligible for
Fourteen members of Nevada U.S. Senate candidate Adam Laxalt’s (R) family announced that they would collectively endorse his opponent, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D)
Steve Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison for contempt of Congress
He remains free pending an appeal
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The most recent Cook Report moved 7 out of 10 House races in Democrats favor
Arizona appeals court reinstates an injunction blocking pre-statehood total abortion ban, allowing abortions to restart
Ohio judge has granted a request for a preliminary injunction, which will keep the 6-week abortion ban blocked indefinitely
Planned Parenthood is launching its first mobile abortion clinic. It will operate in Illinois, where abortion is legal, but could travel to borders of states where it's not (for example: Missouri). If it is successful Planned Parenthood could launch more mobile clinics
A Canadian couple wanted to help Ukrainian refugees make it to safety. They asked airline employees if they had buddy passes they could share to bring refugees to Canada. To date, they've brought nearly 200 Ukrainian refugees to Canada
The GOP pulled all their funding from the Ohio 9th district race (which is a Toss-Up) after it was learned that the GOP candidate lied about his military service
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