The resistance from the states against the Trump administration’s barely-disguised voter suppression effort continues to build. Only three days after Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach — also the Vice Chair of the so-called Presidential Advisory Committee on Election Integrity — sent a letter to all 50 states demanding extensive voter data, the number of […]

When Donald Trump signed an executive order in May establishing an election integrity commission, it certainly seemed like it would be a tool of voter suppression. And when he named Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Vice President Mike Pence to the commission, it was clear that’s exactly what it is. Now, the commission has […]

More than 1.4 million Americans are receiving nursing home or other long-term care paid for by Medicaid. One of them is my father. My father is now 77 years old and has a rare form of dementia. When he became unable to care for himself in his home, I took him into my home and […]

Local elections matter, and no one can attest to that more than Nevada’s Mike Sprinkle. In 2016, the Reno firefighter and paramedic ran for his third term in the Nevada Assembly. Hopes were high, but Sprinkle and his fellow Democrats faced an uphill road, given that Republicans controlled Nevada’s Assembly, Senate, and the governor’s mansion. […]

Reproductive rights in Missouri are set to take a huge leap backward, if the conservative House in that state has its way. During a special session called by Republican Gov. Eric Greitens, the House passed a stunningly regressive bill that would allow employers and landlords to discriminate against women who have used birth control, had […]

The Republican plan to undo Obamacare and strip millions of their health insurance is incredibly unpopular, even in extremely conservative congressional districts. Vox reports on a new poll from the University of Maryland of voters in those areas finds that 63 percent of them reject the legislation backed by Donald Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan, […]

Since before Donald Trump was elected, many Americans suspected that the tax returns he refuses to release might reveal shocking secrets — perhaps including corruption and even financial dealings with Russia. Now the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia have a plan to find out the truth. On Monday, D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine and […]

On Monday, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu made a major announcement: Four prominent monuments around the city honoring white supremacists will be torn down over the next few days. The monuments include statues of Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and P. G. T. Beauregard, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and, perhaps most repulsive, an obelisk known […]

My home state of Texas has a tattered history and a terrible record when it comes to discrimination against Black and Latino Texans. As a sixth-generation Texan of African-American descent, families like mine have faced all sorts of shenanigans through the decades to disenfranchise us and limit our ability to be involved in the development […]

During her first debate with Democrat Jon Ossoff in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District race, Republican Karen Handel tried and failed to defend her troubling record of cutting funding for breast cancer screening at Planned Parenthood. She disingenuously claimed that, while serving as the vice president for public policy at Susan G. Komen For the Cure, she […]

The state of Kansas is in economic shambles, and no one did more to make that happen than Gov. Sam Brownback. So much so that his own party has now turned on him. After Brownback vetoed a bill to raise taxes by $1.2 billion, a bipartisan group of state legislators, including Republican House Speaker Ron […]

Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ attempt to make a dig at the state of Hawaii backfired terribly on him, as Democrats stood up and demanded respect for the 50th state. Speaking on a right-wing radio show, the former senator from Alabama was complaining about the string of losses that Donald Trump has racked up in court over his […]

Since Donald Trump assumed office, Republicans at every level have attacked health care coverage for the poor and sick. The House GOP wants to kick 23 million people off their insurance. Meanwhile, Republican states like Kentucky and Texas have been trying to gut health services, and in Ohio, 70,000 people will lose their coverage after […]

“I need you all to really think about what you have the ability and the power to do today.” Two years after the tragic death of her daughter, Sandra Bland, Geneva Reed-Veal returned to the state that many believe is responsible for taking her child’s life. Reed-Veal faced the Texas Legislature this week as a […]

Sometimes local news just does it best. As a local TV reporter in Western Michigan, Marvis Herring surely has some familiarity with local Republican Congressman Tim Walberg. So perhaps he was not surprised to hear the news that Walberg had recently told constituents at a Grand Rapids town hall that God will “take care of” climate change. […]

The resistance against the Trump administration continues to spread, and one key avenue is the indefatigable and relentless power that Black women are bringing to the forefront. As Donna M. Owens of Essence Magazine reports, 2017 is “The Year of the Black Woman Mayor.” It is not easy for Black women to enter the political […]

Republicans suffered a major blow as the Supreme Court decided not to hear an appeal to its earlier decision gutting North Carolina’s racially discriminatory voter ID law. The previous governor, Republican Pat McCrory, and the Republican-led legislature had pushed for the appeal of the July 2016 decision that invalidated the law they had passed together. The […]

On Monday, a massive protest of immigrant activists, civil rights, and labor unions at the Texas state capitol in Austin made national news after a fight broke out between state Rep. Matt Rinaldi (R-Irving) and his colleagues, during which Rinaldi threatened to shoot a Democratic lawmaker. While Rinaldi’s threat was horrifying, the context of the fight makes it […]

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh is considering a plan to remove Confederate monuments littered around the city, echoing the work of New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu. Both mayors are Democrats. Pugh told the Baltimore Sun that the city wants to remove the structures, which elevate the pro-slavery Confederacy in a diverse city. She added, “We will […]

Republicans all around the country have been using their dominance at the state level to make it harder for the poor and minorities to vote, through methods such as strict photo ID laws, falsely claiming they are necessary to prevent voter impersonation — in fact, a vanishingly rare crime. But they have had to be far more creative […]

After Donald Trump followed through on his previous threats and fired FBI Director James Comey, in the midst of that agency’s investigation into Russia’s interference in our presidential election — and possible collusion with Russia on the part of Team Trump — the calls for a special prosecutor immediately grew louder. And now 20 state attorneys […]

Beth Fukumoto has been on the outs with the Republican Party of Hawaii since the beginning of this year. Initially elected to the Hawaii House of Representatives in 2012, Fukumoto was promoted just a year later to House Minority Leader, and showcased by the Republican National Committee in their Women on the Right Unite initiative. By all […]

Reproductive freedom has been under assault in America for a very long time, but it has escalated recently with relentless Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, and with the seating of an ill-gotten Republican majority on the Supreme Court. If it was not clear enough already, recent remarks by a pair of Republican state legislators in […]

Former Texas governor Rick Perry has a lot of work to do as Donald Trump’s new Secretary of Energy, not the least of which is guarding our nation’s stockpile of nuclear weapons — something he did not even know was the Energy Secretary’s job until he applied for it. For some reason, however, Perry feels […]

Rep. Rob Blum (R-IA) had an on-camera meltdown with a reporter, in front of a room filled with young children, days after changing his vote and supporting the American Health Care Act. Blum was one of several Republicans who initially opposed the bill supported by Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan, but who later […]

Maryland’s state legislature, dominated by Democrats, passed a measure that ensures Planned Parenthood will continue to receive the funds it needs to provide vital services to the community, even if the Republican-controlled Congress cuts funding at the federal level. It is the first state to do so. State Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. told the […]

One of the silver linings of the 2016 election was the defeat of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The six-term Arizona Republican law enforcement chief — a mutual admirer of Donald Trump — spent his career careening from one controversy to the next. He put women in chain gangs, called President Obama’s birth certificate a […]

Democrat Jon Ossoff is the young, unlikely challenger — endorsed by his former boss and civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) — who is surging in the polls, raising piles of money, and making Georgia’s 6th Congressional District competitive. And that has Republicans increasingly desperate and terrified of losing this reliably safe seat. Just look at […]

Donald Trump’s first crack at fulfilling his campaign promise of a “ban on Muslims entering the United States” went down in flames after dozens of courts ruled against his order. And now, following a long delay of his own making, Trump’s new Muslim ban is poised to meet the same fate, as Politico reports that four […]

Despite Republicans holding a decisive majority around the country, Democrats remain in control of a number of important offices, including many which are essential checks on corruption and abuse of power by GOP majorities in state governments. One such Democrat is Andy Beshear of Kentucky. The son of a a popular and successful former governor, Beshear was elected […]