2026 Elections

So the timing is perfect: Trump should strike while the metal is smoldering.

And for his next PR move, he should demand a constitutional amendment to end gerrymandering once and for all.

Gerrymandering isn’t a new thing. It’s named after Elbridge Gerry, the fifth vice president of the United States. Before joining James Madison’s 1812 ticket, he was the governor of Massachusetts, where he approved oddly-shaped legislative districts, one of which resembled a salamander.

Looks like Republicans have folded their tent in their effort to defeat a Democratic gerrymander of California’s House districts one week before the special election. Good news for Democrats, and Gov. Gavin Newsom, who’s been leading the fight for California redistricting. Via Politico:

As Democrats pummel the state with Yes on 50 advertising, the Republican side of the battle has gone quiet. Major GOP donors and party leaders have effectively vanished from the front lines.

The biggest funder of the campaign to defeat Proposition 50, Charles Munger Jr., has not contributed any significant cash to the cause in weeks, and his Protect Voters First committee cut its weekly spending from more than $4 million to less than $300. The other opposition committee, Stop Sacramento’s Power Grab, spent $155,000 on advertising last week, compared to $3.8 million from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Yes on 50 campaign.

“It’s as full-throated a campaign for Democrats in California as if we were in the middle of a presidential election,” said Jon Fleischman, a former executive director of the California Republican Party. “But you can go to the house next door, occupied by Republicans, and it’s crickets — other than receiving their ballot in the mail.”

Voting security is always a hot topic around election time, but manipulation of our electoral system is a bigger problem that we have to worry about all the time.

On the most recent episode of The Drill Down podcast, we are not talking about stolen ballots, “ballot harvesting,” or other shenanigans that can happen during an election, but about how congressional districts are both drawn and apportioned. Two things recently in the news raise questions about how we do those things, and whether it’s still the best way.

As host Peter Schweizer asks, “What if an election can be rigged before the first ballot is even cast?”

Duke math professor Jonathan Mattingly conducted an analysis to discover if a new Trump-supported congressional map in North Carolina would result in the Republican Party locking in additional seats. The answer, he uncovered, is a resounding yes.

Three days before publishing his results on Sunday, the GOP revealed another mid-decade congressional map proposal that would bolster the party’s grip in Congress. It does so by expanding the boundaries of the state’s 1st Congressional District, which is currently held by Democrat Don Davis, pulling in some of the 3rd Congressional District, which is represented by Republican Greg Murphy.