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Republicans
Democrats’ Control of Senate Iffy As Luján Recovers From Stroke Thankfully, the New Mexico senator is expected to recover fully. But during his absence, some big Democratic initiatives must be put on hold.
By Ed Kilgore
gerrymandering
Jan. 14, 2022
Another State Says to Hell With Gerrymandering After the Supreme Court punted on the issue, state constitutions like Ohio’s may hold the key to reform.
By Ed Kilgore
The GOP Has Adopted an Anti-Voting-Rights Case It Once Rejected Today’s Republicans are using the same arguments southern Democrats once used to oppose the original Voting Rights Act.
By Ed Kilgore
What Will It Take to Stop a 2024 Election Coup? A warning from election-law expert Rick Hasen suggests options for stopping state legislatures from stealing electoral votes may be limited.
By Ed Kilgore
Ted Cruz (Mistakenly) Touts His 2024 Presidential Odds The senator noted that “historically the runner-up is almost always the next nominee.” It’s a common but untrue hypothesis.
By Ed Kilgore
joe manchin
Dec. 22, 2021
Could Joe Manchin Really Switch Parties? The senator may become a Republican one day, but giving up the enormous leverage he holds over Democrats right now makes little sense.
By Ed Kilgore
republicans
Dec. 21, 2021
Will the ‘Post-Trump Era’ Ever Begin? Considering a potential retirement over Senate leadership, Republican John Thune may be realizing that politics after Trump is actually far away.
By Ed Kilgore
Despite Iowa-Caucus Debacle, 2024 Process Probably Won’t Change The earlier impetus for change among Democrats angry at the 2020 Iowa-caucus meltdown seems to be fading as the party has bigger problems to address.
By Ed Kilgore
Could Trump Really Depose Mitch McConnell? It’s hard to imagine Republicans denying Donald Trump anything he demanded, but ousting Mitch McConnell as GOP leader won’t be easy.
By Ed Kilgore
voting rights
Dec. 16, 2021
Democrats Are Cruising for a Bruising on Voting Rights If Biden and his party raise expectations on voting rights legislation that they cannot fulfill, the repercussions could be serious in 2022.
By Ed Kilgore
2024 vision
Dec. 14, 2021
Democrats Need a Three-Year Plan to Save Democracy That means largely abandoning hope for 2022 and preparing to do battle at Armageddon with Trump in 2024.
By Ed Kilgore
McConnell Strikes Convoluted Deal to Let Democrats Avoid a Debt Default Leave it to Mitch to devise a phony mechanism to get Republican votes for a measure that will saddle Democrats wrongly with blame for debt increase.
By Ed Kilgore
2022 midterms
Dec. 3, 2021
McConnell Signals GOP Will Run on Pure Obstruction in the Midterms They disagree on a lot of things, but Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump both believe in the pursuit of power as an end in itself.
By Ed Kilgore
If Roe Is Reversed, Democrats Need to Be Ready At a time when their party has convinced itself to avoid social issues, they should prepare for a culture-war battle they can win.
By Ed Kilgore
government shutdown
Dec. 1, 2021
Will Republicans Force a Government Shutdown to Fight Biden’s Vaccine Mandates? A small group of conservatives can gum up the works and force at least a brief shutdown. But with Omicron looming, the timing is strange.
By Ed Kilgore
2022 midterms
Nov. 26, 2021
Republicans Can’t Bet on Finding Perfectly Trumpy Candidates The GOP thinks candidates who embrace Trump without going full MAGA are the key to winning the midterms. Good luck finding them.
By Ed Kilgore
2022 midterms
Nov. 23, 2021
Louie Gohmert Joins Wild Texas Attorney General Race The MAGA representative will challenge Trump-endorsed Ken Paxton and George P. Bush in a race that shows the importance of state offices.
By Ed Kilgore
Kevin McCarthy Determined Not to Go the Way of Cantor and Boehner After witnessing the fate of former House GOP leaders, McCarthy is not about to annoy extremists in the House by bashing Paul Gosar.
By Ed Kilgore
past is prologue
Nov. 11, 2021
American Politics Is Back to the Future Crime, inflation, parental rights in schools aren’t new issues at all, but a blast from the Republican revival of the ‘70s and ‘80s.
By Ed Kilgore
third parties
Nov. 10, 2021
Why There Is No Centrist Third Party As a new Pew typology shows, there aren’t enough actual centrists, and they aren’t very interested in voting, either.
By Ed Kilgore
2022 midterms
Oct. 31, 2021
Will the Fate of Biden’s Agenda Really Affect the 2022 Midterms? Democrats should stop trying to win the midterms with legislation, and get some big things right without worrying about elections they cannot control.
By Ed Kilgore
republicans
Oct. 26, 2021
A Short History of Conservative Trolling On the laughing emptiness at the center of the Republican Party.
By Rick Perlstein
Is It Time for Democrats to Panic About Virginia — and the Midterms? Here’s some reassurance even for Democrats who are worried Glenn Youngkin’s defeat of Terry McAuliffe for governor would foretell a 2022 disaster.
By Ed Kilgore
republicans
Oct. 18, 2021
Tim Scott Knows What He’s Doing Why Republican donors are so excited about the South Carolina senator.
By Zak Cheney-Rice
Trump Doesn’t Care How Ashli Babbitt Died The grim reality behind the ex-president’s “happy birthday” message to the slain Capitol rioter.
By Zak Cheney-Rice
Why Republicans May Go All In on Parental Rights Virginia gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin thinks defending parents’ rights to dictate what happens in schools appeals to swing and base voters.
By Ed Kilgore
republicans
Oct. 13, 2021
Mark Robinson Exposes the GOP’s Problem With Its Base The North Carolina lieutenant governor’s extreme culture-war positions may excite the MAGA faithful, but they’re broadly unpopular.
By Ed Kilgore
No, Mitch McConnell Didn’t ‘Cave’ on the Debt Ceiling Talk of McConnell folding misses what he got out of the debt-limit deal: a vote he can use against Democrats in 2022 and more chaos down the road.
By Ed Kilgore
A Manufactured Debt Limit Crisis Is a Bad Gamble for Democrats Could be a “Heads I win, tails you lose” situation for McConnell and Republicans, since Democrats will be blamed for any economic fallout.
By Ed Kilgore
the inside game
Sept. 24, 2021
This Trump-Backing Congressman Has a History With the Bidens Jill Biden brought future GOP congressman Brian Mast to the State of the Union in 2011. Things are less friendly now.
By Gabriel Debenedetti
republicans
Sept. 22, 2021
Susan Collins Reminds Us She Is Hardly a Moderate By hedging her bets on abortion and endorsing a return to power by Paul LePage, Collins makes it clear her independence goes only so far.
By Ed Kilgore
No Immigration Breakthrough in Reconciliation Bill, Says Parliamentarian Under the Senate’s obscure Byrd Rule, the budget implications of immigration reforms benefiting eight million people are “incidental.”
By Ed Kilgore
voting rights
Sept. 15, 2021
Surrendering to Republicans on Voting Rights Won’t Save Democracy Joe Manchin seems to think voting-rights reforms have to be bipartisan to work. But letting Republicans run wild won’t encourage them to compromise.
By Ed Kilgore
Why I Waited a Month to Fill Out My California Recall Ballot After much deliberation, I decided not to vote for a replacement candidate – but not because Gavin Newsom told me to skip the question.
By Ed Kilgore
2022 midterms
Sept. 12, 2021
Democrats May Have to Change the Subject From Biden in 2022 Midterms are usually a referendum on presidents. But if Biden’s numbers don’t improve, Dems can run against Trump or GOP extremism in its many forms.
By Ed Kilgore
Is Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Smart Politics or ‘Civil War’? Democrats are counting on vaccinated people supporting mandates, while Republicans are freaking out in ways that may reinforce images from January 6.
By Ed Kilgore
DOJ Sues Texas Over Blatantly Unconstitutional Abortion Ban The opening bell of a long fight to save women’s constitutional rights against a conservative counterrevolution.
By Ed Kilgore
Will Abortion Dominate the 2022 Midterms? It’s possible that, given the current and near-future actions of the U.S. Supreme Court, abortion could matter more than ever to pro-choice voters.
By Ed Kilgore
The Legal Shadowboxing Over the Texas Abortion Ban Merrick Garland vowed to protect abortion seekers, and scholars proposed ways to thwart the law. But no “vigilante” suit means no legal action.
By Ed Kilgore
9/11: 20 years later
Sept. 6, 2021
What 9/11 Did to the Democratic Party To this day, Democrats struggle with the fear of looking weak.
By Ed Kilgore
The Supreme Court’s Radical Texas Abortion Law Ruling & What Comes Next A guide to the Texas abortion ban’s “vigilante” enforcement system, the Supreme Court’s shocking response, and the coming flood of legal battles.
By Ed Kilgore
Yes, Gavin Newsom Could Lose the California Recall to a Republican How voter complacency, GOP enthusiasm, and Democrats’ risky messaging could hand the California governorship to the GOP in September.
By Ed Kilgore
2020 census
Aug. 12, 2021
Census Data Show America Is Getting Less and Less White This may put a dent in Republicans’ gerrymandering schemes.
By Ed Kilgore
Why Congress Is Fighting Over the Debt Ceiling Yet Again A brief guide to the perennial issue. Why Democrats will probably have to include an increase in their budget bill — and what happens if they don’t.
By Ed Kilgore
2022 midterms
Aug. 2, 2021
Will Republicans Gerrymander Their Way to a House Majority? Democratic efforts to thwart the GOP’s redistricting advantage don’t look promising. But there are practical limits to mapmaking mischief.
By Ed Kilgore
delta variant
July 29, 2021
By Matt Stieb
Why Republicans Want to Keep Punishing Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger The pair are already pariahs, and ignoring Pelosi’s January 6 panel would be easier. But Republicans still want payback, and leverage over McCarthy.
By Ed Kilgore
voting rights
July 24, 2021
Democrats Can’t Out-Organize a Gerrymander — or Outflank Joe Manchin Voting-rights advocates shouldn’t expect Biden to do the impossible in Congress, while Biden should understand there are laws you cannot out-organize.
By Ed Kilgore
Republicans Won’t Help Democrats Raise Debt Limit McConnell is again being a hypocrite by treating an essential debt-limit increase as a problem for Democrats. But it’s what he needs for his message.
By Ed Kilgore
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