On Monday, Gov. Mike Braun called for a special session to redistrict Indiana’s nine congressional seats, two of which are held by Democrats in the Republican-supermajority state. His call is part of a nationwide effort to rebalance Congress after decades of heavily partisan redistricting everywhere Democrats hold state majorities, as well as congressional apportionment increasingly distorted by Democrat-encouraged mass illegal immigration.
“I am calling a special legislative session to protect Hoosiers from efforts in other states that seek to diminish their voice in Washington and ensure their representation in Congress is fair,” Braun said in a statement. “I am also asking the legislature to conform Indiana’s tax code with new federal tax provisions to ensure stability and certainty for taxpayers and tax preparers for 2026 filings.”
Dan Osborn is a candidate for U.S. Senate in Nebraska who is running as an independent, yet his campaign is being funded by donations from prominent Democrats and donations on the left-wing fundraising portal Act Blue.
The liberal media is playing along, as expected. Almost all coverage of Osborn describes him as an independent.
National Dems bankroll campaign of ‘fake independent’ Senate candidate from Midwestern state
Labor Union leader Dan Osborn, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Nebraska, has campaigned on being an “Independent,” going as far as saying he has no plans to caucus with either major party if elected, but his recent FEC filings paint a different picture.
Osborn has not only been endorsed by leaders of the Nebraska Democratic Party and mobilized fundraising on ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s main fundraising platform. He has also accepted donations from several prominent Washington Democrats and Democrat political action committees.
Former President Barack Obama speaks during a live stream in support of California’s Proposition 50, October 22, 2025.YouTube/California Office of the Governor
On Wednesday, former President Barack Obama joined California Gov. Gavin Newsom in a livestream for volunteers in support of Proposition 50, the governor’s redistricting measure, and the sole question on the ballot in the November 4 special election.
A former Republican Senator just upturned the election landscape for one particular seat in the U.S. Senate.
And he did so in more ways than one — possibly with the direction and support of President Trump.
I say possibly, because that endorsement hasn’t been publicly announced yet. Though White House meetings have taken place which reportedly included President Trump. (More on that as we get into this.)
Allies of President Donald Trump are pressuring Indiana state lawmakers to vote on a redistricting proposal after a key state leader predicted the measure would fail.
A spokesperson for Rodric Bray, the Indiana Senate’s president pro tempore, told Politico Wednesday morning that “the votes aren’t there for redistricting,” prompting a number of heavyweight Trumpworld figures to hint at political consequences for Indiana Republicans if they don’t redraw the state’s map for the 2026 elections.
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?”
A video surfaced showing a Nazi Totenkopf tattoo on Graham Platner’s chest, a symbol tied to Nazi SS units, sparking controversy in his Maine Democratic primary challenge against Gov. Janet Mills for the 2026 U.S. Senate seat. A former staffer says he knew its associations. Sen. Bernie Sanders defended Platner, emphasizing his progressive platform on workers’ rights and anti-war policies amid divided Democratic reactions.
The Democrats are now the unabashedly Nazi party.
Pod Save Platner: Obama Bros Described Hegseth Tattoo as ‘Dog Whistle’ Before Helping Maine’s Platner Fend Off Scrutiny for Nazi Tattoo
Platner, a candidate for Maine’s Senate seat, admitted to keeping a Nazi tattoo on his chest for nearly two decades
Frontrunning for the ages: Bernie-backed Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner handed the Pod Save America bros a video of himself running around in his underwear at a wedding in order to get in front of what the pod bros described as a piece of “opposition research.”
Democratic Senate hopeful Graham Platner is in damage control mode — again — after admitting that a tattoo on his chest looks eerily similar to a Nazi symbol.
The Maine Democrat, already reeling from a wave of backlash over old social media posts, now says he’ll have the ink removed and insists he had “no idea” of its connection to Nazi iconography.
“It was not until I started hearing from reporters and DC insiders that I realized this tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol,” Platner said in a statement to POLITICO. “I absolutely would not have gone through life having this on my chest if I knew that — and to insinuate that I did is disgusting. I am already planning to get this removed.”
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.
Former President Barack Obama and California Governor Gavin Newsom are urging Californians to vote in favor of Proposition 50, a ballot measure that would replace the state’s independent redistricting system with a legislature-approved map projected to eliminate several Republican-held congressional districts.
On Tuesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom posted on X, “Listen to @barackobama,” sharing a new video featuring former President Barack Obama encouraging voters to support Proposition 50 in the state’s November 4 special election.
In the video, Obama says:
“California, the whole nation is counting on you. Democracy is on the ballot November 4. Republicans want to steal enough seats in Congress to rig the next election and wield unchecked power for two more years. With Prop 50, you can stop Republicans in their tracks. Prop 50 puts our elections back on a level playing field, which preserves Independent Redistricting over the long term, and lets the people decide. Return your ballot today. Vote yes on 50.”
The ad marks Obama’s latest effort to promote Gov. Newsom’s redistricting plan, which would replace California’s independent redistricting commission — created by voters in 2008 — with a partisan-drawn map. According to previous Breitbart News reports, the proposal would reduce Republican-held seats in California’s congressional delegation from nine to five, even though roughly 40 percent of voters supported Republican candidates in the 2024 election.
Obama has described Newsom’s proposal as a “reasoned and measured approach,” writing on X in August, “Over the long term, we shouldn’t have political gerrymandering in America, just a fair fight between Republicans and Democrats based on who’s got better ideas. But since Texas is taking direction from a partisan White House and gerrymandering in the middle of a decade to try and maintain the House despite their unpopular policies, I have tremendous respect for how Governor Newsom has approached this. He’s put forward a smart, measured approach in California, designed to address a very particular problem at a very particular moment in time.”
At a fundraiser on Martha’s Vineyard, Obama praised the initiative further, saying, “We’re only going to do it if and when Texas and/or other Republican states begin to pull these maneuvers. Otherwise, this doesn’t go into effect.”
California Republicans have sued to stop Newsom’s plan, calling it unconstitutional and arguing it violates the 30-day public notice requirement for legislation. The California Supreme Court, however, ruled in August that the plan could proceed, allowing the governor to use a “gut and amend” tactic to fast-track the measure through the legislature.
The special election — estimated to cost $250 million — will ask voters to approve the new map and amend the state constitution to permit mid-decade redistricting. The Democratic National Committee has launched bilingual outreach campaigns in support of Prop 50 focusing on Latino voters, while major donors including billionaire Tom Steyer have funded multimillion-dollar ad campaigns promoting the initiative.
Polls indicate that a majority of Californians still favor retaining the state’s independent redistricting commission. A UC Berkeley–Politico survey found that 64 percent of voters prefer the current system, compared to 36 percent who support the governor’s proposed changes.
California’s redistricting fight is part of a broader national battle following Texas’s new “One Big Beautiful Map” which adds five Republican-leaning districts. Obama and former Attorney General Eric Holder, through the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, have pledged to counter GOP-led redistricting efforts, characterizing them as “an existential threat to our democracy.”
Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME) launched her campaign Tuesday for next year’s Maine Senate race, presenting what Democrats believe will be incumbent Sen. Susan Collins‘s (R-ME) toughest opponent.
The term-limited Mills, who is serving her second consecutive term as governor, boosts Democrats’ longtime hopes of picking off one of the Senate’s most centrist Republicans in the battleground seat.
“I’ve never backed down from a bully, and I never will,” Mills said in her launch video, which focused heavily on President Donald Trump. “Honestly, if this President and this Congress were doing things that were even remotely acceptable, I wouldn’t be running for the U.S. Senate.
An elections integrity watchdog is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on leftist-led Michigan’s dirty voter rolls, apparently filled with tens of thousands of dead registrants.
PILF argues that the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals erred in its ruling last year affirming a lower court opinion that found the Secretary of State’s office has made “reasonable efforts” to properly remove the names of deceased individuals from Michigan’s voter rolls. The case aims to clarify what a “reasonable effort” in the face of evidence that Michigan’s limited list-maintenance program’s design “virtually guarantees that thousands of deceased voters remain on the rolls.”
“Michigan’s refusal to act on overwhelming evidence of deceased registrants violates federal law,” said Kaylan Phillips, PILF’s legal counsel for the case. “The NVRA requires states to make efforts that keep the rolls accurate.”
PILF’s analysis of Michigan’s voter list identified more than 27,000 likely deceased individuals registered to vote. Some of those former citizens of the living have been dead for decades, according to the complaint. Of the suspect registrants, nearly 4,000 have been dead for at least 20 years, PILF found. Throughout the legal challenges, the foundation sent Michigan’s far-left secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson, obituaries and gravestones of many of the deceased registrants.
One individual registered to vote was apparently born in 1823 — some 14 years before Michigan became a state. The person was registered to vote in 2008. It’s either an invalid registration or state elections officials have some trouble entering basic data, the foundation’s investigation mused.
California Democratic candidate Katie Porter faced sharp criticism after an October 7 CBS Sacramento interview where she reacted defensively to questions about appealing to Trump voters, nearly ending the discussion. The viral exchange revived reports of her high staff turnover and demanding style from her congressional days, with detractors from both parties questioning her temperament for the 2026 race to replace Governor Gavin Newsom.
Katie Porter just had a meltdown when asked what she’d say to GOP voters. Her tirade is a window into the mentality of radical CA Democrat politicians. They can’t stand those who disagree with them. They’re trying to silence their opponents with Prop 50. They even condone violent… pic.twitter.com/1kg36raJed
When politics meets spirituality, sparks fly! Vivek Ramaswamy just turned a pointed question about his Hindu faith into a fiery mic-drop moment at a Charlie Kirk event. Asked why a Hindu would dive into conservative politics, Ramaswamy shot back: “I’m not running to be a pastor, I’m running to lead this country.”Sharing a viral video on X, Ramaswamy said, “Started as a very awkward moment when a young man questioned my faith. Ended with a beautiful moment of education & a celebration of our Constitution. Only in America.”
A participant named Liam Birmingham asked Ramaswamy why a “polytheistic ideology” like Hinduism would share “Christian values.” Ramaswamy responded by clarifying that he is a monotheist from the Vendanta tradition of Advaita philosophy. “With due respect, I’ll just cut in right there because it’s one thing I have a little bit of authority on. I believe in this one true God from the Vedanta tradition of Advaita philosophy,” he told Birmingham.
And he continued, “I believe there’s one true God. He resides in all of us and he appears in different forms, but it’s one true God. So I’m an ethical monotheist. That’s the way I would describe my faith. Now I will tell you, I’m not running to be pastor of Ohio. I’m running to be governor of Ohio. And I didn’t run to be pastor of America. I ran to be president of the United States of America.”Drawing parallels with Christianity, Ramaswamy highlighted the conceptual similarity between the Hindu understanding of divine manifestations and the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity. “Doesn’t make you a polytheist, does it?” he questioned, adding that both faiths reconcile “the one and the many.”
Fundraising Surge Fuels His Bid to Fire Jon Ossoff – PJ Media– pjmedia.com Source Link Excerpt:
The race to unseat Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) in the 2026 election is hotter than ever, and the GOP primary is well underway. One candidate is emerging as the clear winner in fundraising.
For the uninitiated, let’s meet the cast of characters. There’s Rep. Buddy Carter. He’s sending out mailers that purport to highlight his MAGA cred, but, to paraphrase the late Mitch Hedberg, Team Carter is basically saying, “Here, you throw this away.” Despite the amount of Carter cardstock floating around, he’s not making much of an impact.
Then there’s Derek Dooley, the former college football coach. He’s trading on the famous name of his late father, legendary University of Georgia football coach and athletic director, Vince Dooley, albeit without the UGA ties (the younger Dooley most famously coached at the University of Tennessee), gridiron success, or winning personality.
Gov. Brian Kemp has handpicked Dooley as his preferred candidate for some reason. Kemp has poured tons of money from his Hardworking Americans PAC to keep Dooley in the race, including streaming ads galore. Voters are seeing right through Dooley, however.
Conservative Activist Scott Presler Says One Issue is the Biggest Hurdle Facing Republicans in Upcoming Elections | The Gateway Pundit– www.thegatewaypundit.com Source Link Excerpt:
Scott Presler details issues facing Republicans – Screencap of YouTube video.
If you follow politics, you have likely heard of Scott Presler. He is the conservative activist who travels the country registering voters as Republicans.
Presler has often been credited with helping Trump to win Pennsylvania, as he spent months there registering thousands of new Republican voters.
During a recent interview with Breitbart News, Presler described what he sees as the biggest hurdle facing Republicans in the upcoming elections and it’s a very simple one. Voter turnout.
According to Presler, Republican voter turnout is going to determine the outcome in key elections this year, and he is concerned.
Ohio GOP misses deadline for new maps, task now moves to panel– www.washingtonexaminer.com Source Link Excerpt:
Ohio lawmakers missed their first deadline to redistrict their congressional maps mid-decade.
Ohio lawmakers needed to pass a map with at least 60% support in each chamber and at least 50% support from Democrats by Sept. 30. This deadline was not met, as Democrats who would lose seats have not been on board with the push to give Republicans more seats.
Republicans did not introduce a proposal by this deadline either.
House Democrats go on offense with $3M ad blitz over tariffs, shutdown threat– www.politico.com Source Link Excerpt:
House Democrats are going on the offense with tariffs and shutdown politics in swing districts, dropping TV ads against 10 vulnerable Republicans as Congress barrels toward an October government shutdown.
House Majority Forward, a nonprofit aligned with House Democratic leadership, is spending $3 million on broadcast TV and digital ads attacking Republicans on cost-of-living increases and cuts to Medicaid. Details of Tuesday’s ad buy were shared first with POLITICO.
“They promised to lower prices, but you’re not imagining it — Republican tariffs are making everything more expensive,” one of the ad’s narrator says, over flashing images of grocery items. “Juan Ciscomani voted to let Trump make tariffs even worse and voted to make healthcare even more expensive. Now, Republicans in Congress are threatening to shut down the government, causing economic chaos.”
Ciscomani, a Republican member first elected in 2022, holds an Arizona House seat that Donald Trump also narrowly won last year.
“The Republicans are going to do a Midterm Convention in order to show the great things we have done since the Presidential Election of 2024,” Trump wrote. “Time and place to be determined. Stay tuned, it will be quite the Event, and very exciting!”
Gerrymandering saps faith in democracy– www.futurity.org Source Link Excerpt:
When politicians redraw congressional district maps to favor their party, they may secure short-term victories. But those wins can come at a steep price—a loss of public faith in elections and, ultimately, in democracy itself.
That’s the conclusion of a peer-reviewed study led by University of California, Riverside political scientist Shaun Bowler in Political Research Quarterly.
The research finds that partisan gerrymandering—the manipulation of district boundaries to lock in political advantage—does more than distort representation in Congress. It undermines the belief that elections are fair, a cornerstone of democratic legitimacy.
Bowler, a professor of political science, says survey data from tens of thousands of voters in the 2020 and 2022 elections show that Americans view gerrymandering with the same disdain they reserve for bribery and other blatant forms of political corruption. The difference, he says, is that gerrymandering is carried out in full public view, cloaked in arguable legality.
Consider the current push in Texas, where Republican legislators and Governor Greg Abbott, encouraged by President Donald Trump, are working to redraw congressional districts to add five GOP seats as part a Republican effort to retain control of Congress after next year’s midterm election.
“It’s out in the open,” Bowler says. “They’re saying, ‘We’re rigging the midterm election to produce an outcome.’”
Kirk’s death reinvigorates Republicans’ redistricting race– www.politico.com Source Link Excerpt:
President Donald Trump’s already brass-knuckled push for red-state redistricting is taking on an increasingly apocalyptic valence among MAGA stalwarts following the killing of Charlie Kirk.
Inside an Embassy Suites ballroom in suburban Indianapolis this weekend, Sen. Jim Banks’ inaugural Hoosier Leadership for America Summit drew hundreds of attendees who came to hear from next-generation MAGA figures ranging from Alex Bruesewitz, a top Trump adviser and longtime friend of Kirk’s, to GOP strategist Alex DeGrasse.
The summit marked the first official MAGA gathering since Kirk’s death and served as both a Kirk memorial and redistricting rally, unfolding amid an increased security footprint and ubiquitous police presence throughout the conference center.
Between musical interludes featuring Jason Aldean’s “Fly over States” and “Try That In a Small Town,” MAGA leaders spoke of “demons” at work behind the shooting of Kirk and the stabbing of Iryna Zarutska and “the righteous versus the wicked.” An attendee who posed a question to Banks wondered whether Kirk’s killing “lifted the veil between good and evil.”
“This isn’t a political battle anymore,” said Bruesewitz, who spoke to the crowd with visible emotion about his friendship with Kirk dating back to their teens, and recalled their last dinner together in South Korea just days ago. “It’s a spiritual battle.”
All of it presaged a coming national political hardening on the right with Kirk’s killing as the raison d’etre. More than any other issue at the conference, Kirk’s death seeped into the rationale for mid-decade redistricting.
