I don't think her abusive behavior (confirmed by internal investigations) were given enough publicity to register with voters. OC is a big county, and it takes a lot to get a message out. She also didn't appear to have well-funded opposition.
Former Rep. Travis Childers (D-MS) is a local real estate agent in Booneville, Mississippi. Maybe she can take after him and start a practice in her hometown of Weston.
In richer areas like the rapidly growing population in NC in Raleigh-Durham, Lee County and the New Hanover-Brunswick counties the houses and new housing developments are still being built and selling, just not as high as they were in 2024.
But in Florida, which is more heavily reliant on tourism and the home insurance market has imploded. Getting rid of property taxes will just make problems even worse for residents.
South Carolina governor’s race: State Senator Josh Kimbrell (R-Boiling Springs) has dropped out, per the South Carolina Daily Gazette. Early voting began May 26. Election Day for the primary is Tuesday, June 9.
NY-7, NY-10, NY-13: As the Knicks were beating the Spurs last night, New York mayor Zohran Mamdani released a basketball-themed ad where he stood with candidates Claire Valdez, Brad Lander and Darializa Avila Chevalier, touting his endorsements of them.
The ad buy during the game (which saw many children watching thanks to Mamdani canceling their bedtimes) was orchestrated by Morris Katz.
Is that true? If the independent candidate is conservative enough, he’ll take more R votes than D votes or at least give an out for disaffected Rs who can’t pull the trigger for Ds.
The candidate backed by Jon Tester is not going to take more votes from the candidate backed by Daines than from those who would otherwise vote for a Democrat.
Yes, that's true, but it's also not what is happening here. To win in MT, you have to win moderate conservatives and some portion of "traditional" Republicans. That is precisely who Bodnar is targeting. If he wins those, and Bankhead wins Dems, you're looking at a 45-35-25 win for Alme...
Have we discussed that, last night, NY leg passed a redistricting amendment (38-22 in the senate and 91-47 in the assembly)? Has to be passed again next year to then have a referendum.
"Not only would it allow for new lines before the next Census, but it’d permanently remove the state’s restrictions on maps drawn to benefit parties or incumbents."
It's fully passed the leg! Both chambers moved very quickly. Now they need to pass it again after elections this November when session resumes in January.
I'm looking at Pennsylvania congressional elections, and noticed something interesting: in PA-14, both nominees were uncontested in their primaries, but incumbent Reschenthaler only got a little less than 52% of the total vote compared to his Dem opponent Alan Bradstock (52,447 votes to 48,523). Additionally, in PA-16, the Dem there actually got *more* votes than Mike Kelly, the Republican incumbent (both primaries were also uncontested). I know the focus is on 1, 7, 8, and 10 for the highest-priority flips, but I feel like 14 and 16 could be under-the-radar potential flips as well, especially in a wave year and with the Shapiro/Garrity match-up at the top of the ticket hopefully buoying downballot Dems further.
Both were contested in 2018, too. PA-14, a neighboring seat to my district that I drive through often, was the sight of Conor Lamb's shock upset in a 2018 special before a redraw placed him in the blue-leaning PA-17. Ron DiNicola held Kelly to a 4-point victory in the 16th.
maybe it's that itching for a return to the dominance of the kennedy-johnson era (without the accompanying prejudices, hate, and all other things that were bad in 60's), but I will forever believe we should be investing more money in western pa. If we want to expand the tent that is an area where people agree with us economically, albeit not really at all socially
Back in the 1980s, the predecessor to the Guy R district, then held by Democrat Austin Murphy and numbered 20 I think, was heavily democratic enough that Walter Mondale got 57% of the vote in 1984 and Mike Dukakis got 65% in 1988.
Back then, the district was actually split into two solidly blue seats, with the western portion being held by Murphy and Frank Mascara and the eastern one being held by John Murtha.
-In 2002, due to redistricting, Mascara ran in the Murtha district and lost in the primary, opening what is now the Reschenthaler seat to Tim Murphy, who Lamb and Reschenthaler succeeded.
-The Murtha seat was abolished in 2012 due to population decline, and his successor Mark Critz lost in what is now the 17th to Keith Rothfus, who Lamb defeated when he ran there in 2018.
Southwest PA's heavily Republican tilt came from population decline, and the fact there used to be two solidly blue districts that turned into one red one shows the decline in the Rust Belt favoring Republicans over the years, much like how the Mahoning Valley and Youngstown in neighboring Ohio went from being in several districts to now not even getting one.
At one point in the 1980s, I think that Democrats had six seats in western Pennsylvania, the Martha, Murphy, Joe Kolter’s Beaver and Lawrence County district, and three Pittsburgh districts. They were also competitive in the Erie district and in 1984, even in what is now Glenn Thompsons district. That election somehow became a battle between Charlton Heston and Ed Asner, according to the 1988 almanac of American politics.
Good news: Mike Gabbard seems to have drawn a primary challenger, a local teacher
Bad news: The filing deadline has closed, and as far as I can tell, said primary challenger will not be on the ballot, unless they're still processing signatures or something.
They probably will be - a lot of states don't finalize their candidate lists until days after the deadline. South Dakota, for example, took almost a month this year.
Dem debate at DU is tonight, an official at DU mistakenly told me there would be questions in a townhall style format but it's a traditional debate. The GOP debate was pretty bonkers to witness up close. If anyone wants some of the highlights can see the link below.
"Kirkmeyer and Bottoms have both said they would not support (Victor) Marx if he were the Republican Party’s nominee. At the debate, they doubled down.
“I stand by that,” Bottoms said. “Also, said he was corrupt, and I also said he lies, and he lied to me personally quite a few times.”
Bottoms said he would support Kirkmeyer if she won the primary.
“We don't see eye to eye, but I don't think she's corrupt,” Bottoms said.
Kirkmeyer said she wouldn’t support Marx because he is “unqualified” and “unfit.” She also called out his unwillingness to participate in other debates.
“You can't keep your word,” Kirkmeyer said to Marx. “I can't trust you. You're unfit, you're unqualified. You think you're an outsider, you're not an outsider. You're a politician.”
Marx responded to the criticism by calling Bottoms and Kirkmeyer “mean.”
“I never meant to hurt either one of y'all's feelings,” Marx said. “It's just I didn't think y'all could win.'"
"Bottoms claims Colorado officials will be indicted for treason
Clark asked Bottoms about alignment with his “good friend,” conservative podcaster Joe Oltmann, who has called Governor Jared Polis, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold the “synagogue of Satan Jews” and said they should be “arrested, tried and hanged.”
representative claimed he has insider information that Griswold, Weiser and Polis would soon face federal indictment for treason, a charge punishable by death.
“The indictments are probably going to come down around midsummer,” Bottoms said, although he did not disclose the source of this knowledge.
“I don't think it has anything to do with them being Jewish,” Bottoms continued. “I think it has to do with them being corrupt.”
Kirkmeyer seems like the only serious candidate in that Bottoms regularly goes on McCarthy/Trump-esque rants and has zero appeal to anyone outside of MAGA. That said given Kirkmeyer could not win CO-08 in 2022 I don't think she is all that much of a threat either.
"Moderates" tend to do ok and won most of the primaries in 22 but went on to get crushed anyway so the GOP may say to hell with it and nominate Bottoms or Marx.
Yeah there were a few moments from Bottoms where I had to bite my tongue hard. Marx seemed lost, Kirkmeyer a standard R from the 10s to her credit she stuck with not approving of the Peters clemency.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was nominated to serve fully in his position, but it looks like he'll have a tough confirmation: "Democratic" Sen. John Fetterman (PA) and Republican Sens. Thom Tillis (NC), Mitch McConnell (KY) and John Cornyn (TX) say they likely won't vote for him.
He just needs one more vote to sink his nomination, which could come from Susan Collins (ME), Bill Cassidy (LA), or Lisa Murkowski (AK).
I don't know, maybe I'm Charlie Brown with the football, but I feel like Cornyn might have snapped. I don't expect him to vote against regular conservative things, but on things like this, I sense the bitterness will be a powerful motivator. Things in general feel like they've shifted enough that on certain issues, Republicans realize they can oppose him. I think it's telling that within the past few weeks, we've had the War Powers vote go through, the slush fund blocked, and now this.
On a related note, I wonder what happens if a group of lame duck Republican senators/representatives forms that can consistently sink Trump's worst ideas. Would the dam break, like it did with the Epstein files vote, and congressional republicans finally turn on Trump the way the Florida legislature turned on DeSantis after his weaknesses started showing? The chances are slim, but I think they're increasing.
I'm not so sure. They all won't be in congress next year and they are all too old to practically run for anything else. They all clearly personally hate Trump and now no longer have any reason to lie and pretend otherwise. I can see them wanting to screw him on the way out the door to retirement and there is anyway the base is every going to like them no matter how they vote.
If Collins is the deciding vote to confirm Blanche, I think Platner would still win despite the scandals surrounding him unless something more serious than what we already know comes out.
Nuts? I think murder crosses some boundaries that even other people in his party may not. "Nuts" is Lauren Boebert, who was an early endorser of his. He should be in prison if he's admitting to this.
Perhaps my use of “nuts” was too loose of an association with Marx but I was referencing the motives for his killings. He may very well be psychopathic and deranged but I don’t know enough of him to comment.
But I agree on Marx being in prison pending an investigation into his murders and how they would play out in court. He shouldn’t even be running for political office in the first place.
I do worry they’ll smash Janet Mills through again with no debate, she’ll run the horrible campaign we all feared she’d run, then she’d lose to Collins and she and Schumer and the other Dems would blame the “far left” for losing because of Platner (and not Mills’ own flaws).
Everyone handled this badly. The unions, Bernie, progressives, etc. did no background checks at all on a clearly flawed candidate and got all starry eyed because he checked all the boxes for being appealing. Ironically not much different than centrist Dems who pick candidates solely for being in the military or having some other appealing background trait. At least Fetterman’s behavior was due to him having a massive stroke. Platner has even less of an excuse.
The centrists (or at least Schumer and his group) rammed through a governor with not great approval ratings who was disliked by unions and other groups in her state, if I am remembering correctly sidelining other Dems in the process who were much better candidates, basically just assuming she’d win because she was governor and outperformed by X points or whatever, despite Mills not even really bothering to run a serious campaign when she did run because it was obvious she did not want to run at all.
This entire ordeal is an absolutely stunning failure by all wings of the Dems to do basic things like background checks and candidate recruitment that did not consist of checking off appealing boxes, and now we’re about to lose a seat we cannot afford to lose because of it. Shame on Schumer, the DSCC, Platner, Mills, Bernie, the unions, and everyone else who got us into this mess. If/when we lose, they will be responsible for this.
I think the assumption was that Mills would be dragged across the finish line by Maine's partisan lean+the national environment, like Bernie Moreno and Tim Sheehy were.
And I think that assumption applied to Platner as well. That's why I think people were willing to overlook Mills' "do nothing" campaign or Platner's scandals.
I still think that's the likely result with Mills. She's pretty close to "Generic D" and that's probably enough to win ME-Sen in a year like this is shaping up to be. Platner has a far wider range of outcomes. This has the potential to become an own goal that we didn't need....
This will never happen but Troy Jackson should run. He’s gaining in the Gov polls, so it’s unlikely, but at this point Nirav Shah is going to win anyway so he might as well give Senator a shot.
I said we shouldn’t risk nominating him months ago and that’s all I’ll say. Janet Mills was not a good alternative either, but “milquetoast” and “not exciting” are probably not the best reasons to go with a nobody with a checkered past in arguably the most important Senate race.
I'm going to be honest. I felt that Maine's blue lean and the national environment would drag a Democrat across the finish line, even one with the problems of Mills and Platner.
Those weren’t the main reasons - the main reasons were advanced age, an unwillingness to fight back as evidenced by things like Mills being unwilling to support abolishing the filibuster, and her polling worse against Collins. Obviously that’s still nowhere near as bad as sexual assault, but it’s not like the reason people disliked Mills was just because she was boring. She seemed less electable, less energetic, and significantly less progressive in a way that could severely hamper our agenda if we were in power again.
So why was milquetoast doing so bad in the primary vs. checkered past? It wasn't quite ideological, so there's reason to think her weaknesses would've carried over to the general in a way his don't (yet).
What incentive would he have to drop out, assuming the two stories are bad enough to justify it?
He's not in office, so he's not at risk of an investigation or expulsion. There's no consolation prizes he can be offered. There's no one likely to be offered the slot that he agrees with if he gives up his nomination. The only reason he'd have is to get out of the media spotlight fast -- but he's seemed fine with it so far.
You know, the timing and circumstances of all of these stories releasing makes me question their validity a little. I know Platner is a controversial figure on here, but I'm not too sure anymore.
I said this the other day - I give him the benefit of the doubt because he has owned up to his mistakes and has reasonable answers for them. I try to see people as genuine, even through poor judgment or morals, and Platner has demonstrated he is human, like the rest of us.
Sure, that may well be true, but is besides the point. What matters is if these stories, and whatever else is (likely) coming down the pike will cost us a must-win Senate seat.
Doesn't matter. Democrats like to fold just at the thought. And then end up losing anyway. Republicans hang tough and end up in the White House and on the Supreme Court.
Is there a link regarding the sexual assault story that you can share? Not saying you're wrong but curious to read about it. That would push me into the need a new nominee camp.
On that subject, I knew it was a bad sign for him as a person that he didn't have it laser-ablated. Instead, he had another overlaid on top of it (and you can still see the edges of the crossed bones).
Practical is not what's important here. It would have been decent penance. And his parents could foot the bill for all I care, just so long as he gets that filth painfully obliterated from his skin.
I always wondered what would happen if he wanted to demonstrate exactly how much he rejected it that he would live stream a laser removal of the tattoo. Would it finally shut people up? Or would they just shout "virtual signaling"? (In practical terms I doubt it'd make much difference either way)
Everything I said about what he did is factually true. And if the pain is a problem, why did he join a military company to go back after his enlistment service was done? I doubt they have a Hedonism Brigade over at Blackwater or whatever cockamamie name they call themselves now.
Is the guy running against Platner credible? I know he is unknown and unfunded but at this point Platner could cost us the Senate and possibly pull down the gubernatorial candidate and the thin margin majorities in the legislature
He has a pretty in-depth policy page on his website, but is kind of mixed on the issues (seems to be conservative on national security and foreign policy but liberal on social issues. He also supports Medicare For All and a $15 national minimum wage)
I don’t see much to be concerned about as far as Costello and what he offers as a Senate candidate. The only question is timing and how long the controversies with Platner would play out in the remaining days heading to the primary.
Problem is, Costello is getting far less coverage than Platner and I am not sure enough Mainers know about him.
If Platner drops out before Tuesday, it's going to be Mills, so this really isn't an issue. The question is if he drops out after after the primary but before the July deadline, in which the state party will pick someone. And that could be Mills, it could be one of the Gov primary losers, or it could be someone else altogether (Golden...)
I'm amazed Maine has a replacement option like that. Do other states have that?
Here in California if the nominee quits or dies before the general election, there's no replacing. I don't think even write-ins are allowed in the November top-two runoffs.
No top two states do because there aren't party nominees per say. In states with traditional primaries, it varies completely by state. A majority do have some system to do but how varies as does how late you can do it and under what circumstances (like Texas basically requires the nominees dieing or otherwise declared as ineligible for the office by a jusge).
I would rather Platner win the nomination and then pull out a week later to be replaced by whoever loses the gubernatorial primary with a strong enough result than go back to Mills. It's a travesty and condemnable that Schumer/Gillibrand/DSCC couldn't pull any of Troy Jackson, Hannah Pingree, Shenna Bellows (again) or Nirav Shah rather than focus all their efforts on Mills. Hell, I would rather Matt Dunlap be the nominee than Mills. And digging my fantasy backups out again: Joe Baldacci or Mike Michaud lol
I remember seeing state Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross mentioned as a statewide candidate, and after discussing it here, several people were open to the idea.
I'm open to basically any senior Dem who isn't 80, with the caveat that I would despise Jared Golden lol. Run Chellie Pingree again. Ryan Fecteau or Mattie Daughtry from the state leg. Aaron Frey from the AG's office.
Fecteau and Frey probably would have run if Mills didn't, as would have state Sen. Cathy Breen. Platner may be the candidate with the problems, but Mills is the one to blame for entering the race incredibly late, making a fool of herself, and not allowing the younger generations to run.
Former NSA John Bolton will take a plea deal and plead guilty to retaining classified information, beginning a sentence that can range from probation to 5 years in prison.
7th grade me would love to know bolton was prosecuted, but in this twilight zone world what he was prosecuted for and who by, is almost like a parable about careful what you wish for
I just don't see the texting/dating thing moving voters at all. How Dems don't understand that Trump has completely changed the ballgame of personal scandals is beyond my comprehension. It's like people got in a DeLorean back to 1985.
more like 2019 imo, from gingrich through late trump first term it felt the rules were its only bad if you're a democrat, as it related to any behavior by a politician
I don't think that's the issue here. It's the steady drip, drip, drip of bad headlines around an unproven and untested candidate. It's not even a little bit hard to imagine much worse things coming out....
With Xavier Becerra potentially nearing advancing out of the top-two primary pending remaining votes to be counted, I just discovered that one of his priorities that caught my attention is the film Industry
I am not too familiar with Becerra’s years in Congress but apparently as far back as in 1999 he was sounding the alarm about changes in the Hollywood film industry. Becerra happened to represent a significant portion of Los Angeles County when he was a House member.
It’s possible with a Governor Becerra that we might see more close attention being paid to the problems with the film industry than with previous Governors. Governor Newsom did try to tackle this issue when he was Mayor of San Francisco but it was more regional and not much actually happened in the process.
You could say a lot about Becerra (he is an uncharismatic buffoon that isn't fit to be an executive, especially considering he was one of the worst Biden cabinet members), but that does sound promising.
And with Becerra actually having direct experience in raising awareness about this, it’s not lip service. Los Angeles County is an extremely expensive real estate market and needs an intelligent conversation about how to keep everyone working in the entertainment industry from being priced out of housing. Same as it relates to allowing productions without costs being too high.
With what Becerra offers as Governor, as a long-time Californian I’m really tired of Governor Newsom and his celebrity-oriented persona that distracts from what CA government needs in competence. Maybe Becerra wasn’t great at HHS Secretary but if it comes to actually being focused on doing the job, I’m fine with him replacing Newsom.
My one gripe with the entertainment industry in general is their and my diametrically opposed views on copyright. Not AI, mind you, I’m against that, but more stuff like “I think people should be allowed to rip DVDs for backup use only”, and “we need orphaned works legislation”, and “the public domain should be strengthened”.
That being said, I do agree those working in the film industry need some help re: AI and similar issues. I do not like AI art, I think it is dramatically inferior to human art and needs to be reigned in.
That's part of the problem but the root of things is that the entertainment industry suffers from a lack of regulation.
With media companies owning Hollywood studios that were once separate on their own and ever-changing consolidation, decision making by studio CEOs makes it harder for enough oversight.
I don't think her abusive behavior (confirmed by internal investigations) were given enough publicity to register with voters. OC is a big county, and it takes a lot to get a message out. She also didn't appear to have well-funded opposition.
If you are confused, like I was momentarily, I believe Rosemary is referring to Wasserman Schultz :)
DWS should take the hint and retire. Go back to being a local community organizer in FL, instead of overstaying her career in Congress.
Former Rep. Travis Childers (D-MS) is a local real estate agent in Booneville, Mississippi. Maybe she can take after him and start a practice in her hometown of Weston.
Except, Childers was pretty cool
LOL.
It'd be a terrible career move, given how the housing market is imploding in FL.
Least affordable state in the country, which is a high bar.
Texas is pretty unaffordable as well.
Try Washington state (at least the Seattle metro)! It makes both Texas and Florida downright cheap!
Real estate agent is, for the moment, a terrible profession for even experienced people let alone newcomers nationwide.
This article says 150,000 Realtors have left in just the past 2 years...
"Home sales have hit such a lull that real estate agents are abandoning the job"
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/home-sales-hit-lull-real-093000241.html
In richer areas like the rapidly growing population in NC in Raleigh-Durham, Lee County and the New Hanover-Brunswick counties the houses and new housing developments are still being built and selling, just not as high as they were in 2024.
But in Florida, which is more heavily reliant on tourism and the home insurance market has imploded. Getting rid of property taxes will just make problems even worse for residents.
DWS is not very good at taking hints or much else.
She's lost touch with why she ran for Congress. She's going to lose that primary because of her selfishness.
I think the only way she wins is multiple credible opponents and a strong split between them.
This kind of sentiment isn't going to fly here: "And we should not be trying to push a female candidate right now, we need to win."
it's also like a d+500 seat.
Welp, user immediately doubled down on this, so they're gone.
So many good reasons to despise DWS, not least this latest stunt.
That seat isn't at risk of flipping. Its really a matter of community representation.
We should not be trying to push a female candidate? Amy Klobuchar? Jocelyn Benson? Deb Haaland? Katie Hobbs? Kathy Hochul?
I'm confused..you think that supporting DWS in a Safe D seat will somehow cause Trump to win another term? What is the point you are trying to make?
Keisha Lance Bottoms? Amy Acton? Gina Hinojosa? Cyndi Munson? Cindy Holscher? Annie Andrews? Mallory McMorrow? Juliana Stratton? Peggy Flanagan? Mary Peltola? Claire Valdez? Beth Davidson? Rebecca Bennett? Janelle Stelson? Shannon Taylor? Elaine Luria? Nancy Lacore? Jasmine Clark? Jennifer Jenkins? Leela Gray? Pia Dandiya? Kristina Knickerbocker? Bridget Brink? Christina Hines? Kaela Berg? Christina Bohannon? Lindsay James? Sarah Trone Garriott? Leticia Gutierrez? Caitlin Rourk? Katy Padilla Stout? Denise Powell? Eileen Laubacher? Jessica Killin? Marlene Galan-Woods? Jo Mendoza? Mai Vang? Connie Chan? Aisha Wahab? Esther Kim-Varet? Marni von Wilpert?
The list goes on...
Marcy Kaptur and MGP holding down districts no other dem likely can comes to mind.
South Carolina governor’s race: State Senator Josh Kimbrell (R-Boiling Springs) has dropped out, per the South Carolina Daily Gazette. Early voting began May 26. Election Day for the primary is Tuesday, June 9.
Lol. His 3% will do nothing for anyone else.
If anything, it'll just strengthen Evette and Norman, who seem to be leading the pack. They're from nearby areas to Kimbrell's district.
There are yard signs that have cropped up that say "Anyone but Wilson" to which I sort of agree. I'd rather have Wilson than Kimbrell or Reddy.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/03/nyregion/mamdani-knicks-ad-campaign.html
NY-7, NY-10, NY-13: As the Knicks were beating the Spurs last night, New York mayor Zohran Mamdani released a basketball-themed ad where he stood with candidates Claire Valdez, Brad Lander and Darializa Avila Chevalier, touting his endorsements of them.
The ad buy during the game (which saw many children watching thanks to Mamdani canceling their bedtimes) was orchestrated by Morris Katz.
During the same game, in Texas markets, Gina Hinojosa launched an ad promoting her candidacy for governor.
I wish Bankhead would drop out of the race.
I disagree. IIRC, the independent candidate in MT-Sen is quite a bit more conservative than Dan Osborn in Nebraska.
Would be better than Alme!
There's absolutely zero path to not having the GOP win if the indie and Dem are splitting non right wing votes.
Is that true? If the independent candidate is conservative enough, he’ll take more R votes than D votes or at least give an out for disaffected Rs who can’t pull the trigger for Ds.
The candidate backed by Jon Tester is not going to take more votes from the candidate backed by Daines than from those who would otherwise vote for a Democrat.
No Republicans stick together more than Dems do in general elections.
I don't know 2006 and 12 the libertarian candidate probably helped Tester get his pluarility wins. 2018 is the only time he crossed 50%.
Yes, that's true, but it's also not what is happening here. To win in MT, you have to win moderate conservatives and some portion of "traditional" Republicans. That is precisely who Bodnar is targeting. If he wins those, and Bankhead wins Dems, you're looking at a 45-35-25 win for Alme...
I don't care if Bodnar never votes with us as long as he doesn't vote for a Republican organizing resolution.
all she's doing is ensuring a Republican holds the seat. All for her own ego
And Platner still ahead (albeit an internal poll)…
Have we discussed that, last night, NY leg passed a redistricting amendment (38-22 in the senate and 91-47 in the assembly)? Has to be passed again next year to then have a referendum.
"Not only would it allow for new lines before the next Census, but it’d permanently remove the state’s restrictions on maps drawn to benefit parties or incumbents."
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/03/new-york-democrats-give-preliminary-approval-to-redistricting-amendment-00949674
There were 3 in the Senate and 12 in the Assembly that didn't vote at all. No Democrat voted against it, though, but all Republicans did.
I saw that on twitter but didn't see it here, excellent development, I imagine the Senate will follow suit.
It's fully passed the leg! Both chambers moved very quickly. Now they need to pass it again after elections this November when session resumes in January.
Oh nice! I only saw the Assembly (didn't read your whole comment because I'm dumb)
No prob at all haha
The Morning Digest mentioned yesterday that Politico had reported it was scheduled to be passed by today at latest. Great to hear it's happened.
Dems better use proper ballot language this time. Call it “the fair elections act” and make the ballot language extremely favorable for passage.
I'm looking at Pennsylvania congressional elections, and noticed something interesting: in PA-14, both nominees were uncontested in their primaries, but incumbent Reschenthaler only got a little less than 52% of the total vote compared to his Dem opponent Alan Bradstock (52,447 votes to 48,523). Additionally, in PA-16, the Dem there actually got *more* votes than Mike Kelly, the Republican incumbent (both primaries were also uncontested). I know the focus is on 1, 7, 8, and 10 for the highest-priority flips, but I feel like 14 and 16 could be under-the-radar potential flips as well, especially in a wave year and with the Shapiro/Garrity match-up at the top of the ticket hopefully buoying downballot Dems further.
Both were contested in 2018, too. PA-14, a neighboring seat to my district that I drive through often, was the sight of Conor Lamb's shock upset in a 2018 special before a redraw placed him in the blue-leaning PA-17. Ron DiNicola held Kelly to a 4-point victory in the 16th.
maybe it's that itching for a return to the dominance of the kennedy-johnson era (without the accompanying prejudices, hate, and all other things that were bad in 60's), but I will forever believe we should be investing more money in western pa. If we want to expand the tent that is an area where people agree with us economically, albeit not really at all socially
Back in the 1980s, the predecessor to the Guy R district, then held by Democrat Austin Murphy and numbered 20 I think, was heavily democratic enough that Walter Mondale got 57% of the vote in 1984 and Mike Dukakis got 65% in 1988.
Back then, the district was actually split into two solidly blue seats, with the western portion being held by Murphy and Frank Mascara and the eastern one being held by John Murtha.
-In 2002, due to redistricting, Mascara ran in the Murtha district and lost in the primary, opening what is now the Reschenthaler seat to Tim Murphy, who Lamb and Reschenthaler succeeded.
-The Murtha seat was abolished in 2012 due to population decline, and his successor Mark Critz lost in what is now the 17th to Keith Rothfus, who Lamb defeated when he ran there in 2018.
Southwest PA's heavily Republican tilt came from population decline, and the fact there used to be two solidly blue districts that turned into one red one shows the decline in the Rust Belt favoring Republicans over the years, much like how the Mahoning Valley and Youngstown in neighboring Ohio went from being in several districts to now not even getting one.
At one point in the 1980s, I think that Democrats had six seats in western Pennsylvania, the Martha, Murphy, Joe Kolter’s Beaver and Lawrence County district, and three Pittsburgh districts. They were also competitive in the Erie district and in 1984, even in what is now Glenn Thompsons district. That election somehow became a battle between Charlton Heston and Ed Asner, according to the 1988 almanac of American politics.
DiNicola also came extremely close to defeating Rep Phil English back in 1996.
https://olvr.hawaii.gov/Controls/CandidateFiling.aspx?elid=94
Good news: Mike Gabbard seems to have drawn a primary challenger, a local teacher
Bad news: The filing deadline has closed, and as far as I can tell, said primary challenger will not be on the ballot, unless they're still processing signatures or something.
They probably will be - a lot of states don't finalize their candidate lists until days after the deadline. South Dakota, for example, took almost a month this year.
CO-Gov.
Dem debate at DU is tonight, an official at DU mistakenly told me there would be questions in a townhall style format but it's a traditional debate. The GOP debate was pretty bonkers to witness up close. If anyone wants some of the highlights can see the link below.
"Kirkmeyer and Bottoms have both said they would not support (Victor) Marx if he were the Republican Party’s nominee. At the debate, they doubled down.
“I stand by that,” Bottoms said. “Also, said he was corrupt, and I also said he lies, and he lied to me personally quite a few times.”
Bottoms said he would support Kirkmeyer if she won the primary.
“We don't see eye to eye, but I don't think she's corrupt,” Bottoms said.
Kirkmeyer said she wouldn’t support Marx because he is “unqualified” and “unfit.” She also called out his unwillingness to participate in other debates.
“You can't keep your word,” Kirkmeyer said to Marx. “I can't trust you. You're unfit, you're unqualified. You think you're an outsider, you're not an outsider. You're a politician.”
Marx responded to the criticism by calling Bottoms and Kirkmeyer “mean.”
“I never meant to hurt either one of y'all's feelings,” Marx said. “It's just I didn't think y'all could win.'"
"Bottoms claims Colorado officials will be indicted for treason
Clark asked Bottoms about alignment with his “good friend,” conservative podcaster Joe Oltmann, who has called Governor Jared Polis, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold the “synagogue of Satan Jews” and said they should be “arrested, tried and hanged.”
representative claimed he has insider information that Griswold, Weiser and Polis would soon face federal indictment for treason, a charge punishable by death.
“The indictments are probably going to come down around midsummer,” Bottoms said, although he did not disclose the source of this knowledge.
“I don't think it has anything to do with them being Jewish,” Bottoms continued. “I think it has to do with them being corrupt.”
https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/local-politics/gop-candidates-governor-9news-debate/73-e520715a-b57e-471c-ab2d-397ca12beca9
https://www.cpr.org/2026/06/03/colorado-gop-debate/
Kirkmeyer seems like the only serious candidate in that Bottoms regularly goes on McCarthy/Trump-esque rants and has zero appeal to anyone outside of MAGA. That said given Kirkmeyer could not win CO-08 in 2022 I don't think she is all that much of a threat either.
I think Marx will win the primary and then Bennet or Weiser will win the general by Polis 2022 margins.
"Moderates" tend to do ok and won most of the primaries in 22 but went on to get crushed anyway so the GOP may say to hell with it and nominate Bottoms or Marx.
Frightening antisemitism.
Yeah there were a few moments from Bottoms where I had to bite my tongue hard. Marx seemed lost, Kirkmeyer a standard R from the 10s to her credit she stuck with not approving of the Peters clemency.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/least-3-republicans-look-ready
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was nominated to serve fully in his position, but it looks like he'll have a tough confirmation: "Democratic" Sen. John Fetterman (PA) and Republican Sens. Thom Tillis (NC), Mitch McConnell (KY) and John Cornyn (TX) say they likely won't vote for him.
He just needs one more vote to sink his nomination, which could come from Susan Collins (ME), Bill Cassidy (LA), or Lisa Murkowski (AK).
Cassidy, Tillis, McConnell, and Cornyn will all fold. They’ll take one so one of the vulnerable Republicans can vote no.
I don't know, maybe I'm Charlie Brown with the football, but I feel like Cornyn might have snapped. I don't expect him to vote against regular conservative things, but on things like this, I sense the bitterness will be a powerful motivator. Things in general feel like they've shifted enough that on certain issues, Republicans realize they can oppose him. I think it's telling that within the past few weeks, we've had the War Powers vote go through, the slush fund blocked, and now this.
On a related note, I wonder what happens if a group of lame duck Republican senators/representatives forms that can consistently sink Trump's worst ideas. Would the dam break, like it did with the Epstein files vote, and congressional republicans finally turn on Trump the way the Florida legislature turned on DeSantis after his weaknesses started showing? The chances are slim, but I think they're increasing.
I'm not so sure. They all won't be in congress next year and they are all too old to practically run for anything else. They all clearly personally hate Trump and now no longer have any reason to lie and pretend otherwise. I can see them wanting to screw him on the way out the door to retirement and there is anyway the base is every going to like them no matter how they vote.
This is one of the few times Fetterman has actually done something right.
If Collins is the deciding vote to confirm Blanche, I think Platner would still win despite the scandals surrounding him unless something more serious than what we already know comes out.
https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/victor-marx-refuses-to-say-how-many-people-he-has-killed/
CO-Gov: The headline and article speaks for itself.
Marx is indeed nuts.
But if he were the general election nominee, the election wouldn’t even be close considering how much CO has swinged to the left since 2024.
Nuts? I think murder crosses some boundaries that even other people in his party may not. "Nuts" is Lauren Boebert, who was an early endorser of his. He should be in prison if he's admitting to this.
Perhaps my use of “nuts” was too loose of an association with Marx but I was referencing the motives for his killings. He may very well be psychopathic and deranged but I don’t know enough of him to comment.
But I agree on Marx being in prison pending an investigation into his murders and how they would play out in court. He shouldn’t even be running for political office in the first place.
How ironic, usually right wingers are very eager to talk about how many people Marx has killed....oh, VICTOR Marx, my mistake.
Platner-aligned freelance journalist says two more bad stories are likely in the works.
https://x.com/AnthonyMEmerson/status/2062589005783322698?s=20
Ditto. Always enjoy your commentary.
I can't like this, for some reason, but I agree with you.
This is not good. What do we do now?
It's good it comes before the early July deadline to do a switcheroo.
That is very good news.
I do worry they’ll smash Janet Mills through again with no debate, she’ll run the horrible campaign we all feared she’d run, then she’d lose to Collins and she and Schumer and the other Dems would blame the “far left” for losing because of Platner (and not Mills’ own flaws).
Everyone handled this badly. The unions, Bernie, progressives, etc. did no background checks at all on a clearly flawed candidate and got all starry eyed because he checked all the boxes for being appealing. Ironically not much different than centrist Dems who pick candidates solely for being in the military or having some other appealing background trait. At least Fetterman’s behavior was due to him having a massive stroke. Platner has even less of an excuse.
The centrists (or at least Schumer and his group) rammed through a governor with not great approval ratings who was disliked by unions and other groups in her state, if I am remembering correctly sidelining other Dems in the process who were much better candidates, basically just assuming she’d win because she was governor and outperformed by X points or whatever, despite Mills not even really bothering to run a serious campaign when she did run because it was obvious she did not want to run at all.
This entire ordeal is an absolutely stunning failure by all wings of the Dems to do basic things like background checks and candidate recruitment that did not consist of checking off appealing boxes, and now we’re about to lose a seat we cannot afford to lose because of it. Shame on Schumer, the DSCC, Platner, Mills, Bernie, the unions, and everyone else who got us into this mess. If/when we lose, they will be responsible for this.
I think the assumption was that Mills would be dragged across the finish line by Maine's partisan lean+the national environment, like Bernie Moreno and Tim Sheehy were.
And I think that assumption applied to Platner as well. That's why I think people were willing to overlook Mills' "do nothing" campaign or Platner's scandals.
I still think that's the likely result with Mills. She's pretty close to "Generic D" and that's probably enough to win ME-Sen in a year like this is shaping up to be. Platner has a far wider range of outcomes. This has the potential to become an own goal that we didn't need....
This will never happen but Troy Jackson should run. He’s gaining in the Gov polls, so it’s unlikely, but at this point Nirav Shah is going to win anyway so he might as well give Senator a shot.
I said we shouldn’t risk nominating him months ago and that’s all I’ll say. Janet Mills was not a good alternative either, but “milquetoast” and “not exciting” are probably not the best reasons to go with a nobody with a checkered past in arguably the most important Senate race.
I'm going to say way more than that at some point.
I'm going to be honest. I felt that Maine's blue lean and the national environment would drag a Democrat across the finish line, even one with the problems of Mills and Platner.
Those weren’t the main reasons - the main reasons were advanced age, an unwillingness to fight back as evidenced by things like Mills being unwilling to support abolishing the filibuster, and her polling worse against Collins. Obviously that’s still nowhere near as bad as sexual assault, but it’s not like the reason people disliked Mills was just because she was boring. She seemed less electable, less energetic, and significantly less progressive in a way that could severely hamper our agenda if we were in power again.
She bizarrely praised Collins the week before entering the race
So why was milquetoast doing so bad in the primary vs. checkered past? It wasn't quite ideological, so there's reason to think her weaknesses would've carried over to the general in a way his don't (yet).
Lose the election, probably.
Or swap him out.
bring in another candidate and Maine re-elects Collins!
What incentive would he have to drop out, assuming the two stories are bad enough to justify it?
He's not in office, so he's not at risk of an investigation or expulsion. There's no consolation prizes he can be offered. There's no one likely to be offered the slot that he agrees with if he gives up his nomination. The only reason he'd have is to get out of the media spotlight fast -- but he's seemed fine with it so far.
I dont think he has any reason to pull out unless something bigger comes out. He can keep riding this train for publicity and money for months/years.
You know, the timing and circumstances of all of these stories releasing makes me question their validity a little. I know Platner is a controversial figure on here, but I'm not too sure anymore.
I'll wait to see the evidence before reacting.
I haven't heard any credible pushback on the stories. Which part do you think is fabricated?
I said this the other day - I give him the benefit of the doubt because he has owned up to his mistakes and has reasonable answers for them. I try to see people as genuine, even through poor judgment or morals, and Platner has demonstrated he is human, like the rest of us.
Sure, that may well be true, but is besides the point. What matters is if these stories, and whatever else is (likely) coming down the pike will cost us a must-win Senate seat.
The first one is a nothingburger.
He texted women and cheated on his wife (or tried to). They are still together. I could not care less. That is a personal thing.
"Bad" is relative. If he can weather the Nazi tattoo, I doubt it's worse.
Its sexual assault.
Slow down - I don't think it's right to claim that when we don't even know the accusation or the evidence against Platner yet.
Why would you assume that I dont know the accusation or the source? It's been out for a while. Its from thr same guy who broke the Swawell assaults.
Jesus Christ, just because you don't happen to know something doesn't mean it isn't public. Google Keith Edward's and Graham Platner.
Because Platner's not even been accused of anything yet in this so far hypothetical new scandal. It's conjecture. Innocent until proven guilty.
Doesn't matter. Democrats like to fold just at the thought. And then end up losing anyway. Republicans hang tough and end up in the White House and on the Supreme Court.
Is there a link regarding the sexual assault story that you can share? Not saying you're wrong but curious to read about it. That would push me into the need a new nominee camp.
The Times piece just came out and no there's no SA.
On that subject, I knew it was a bad sign for him as a person that he didn't have it laser-ablated. Instead, he had another overlaid on top of it (and you can still see the edges of the crossed bones).
There could be practical reasons for that, e.g. cost, or maybe he just wanted a new tattoo anyway.
Practical is not what's important here. It would have been decent penance. And his parents could foot the bill for all I care, just so long as he gets that filth painfully obliterated from his skin.
I see
I always wondered what would happen if he wanted to demonstrate exactly how much he rejected it that he would live stream a laser removal of the tattoo. Would it finally shut people up? Or would they just shout "virtual signaling"? (In practical terms I doubt it'd make much difference either way)
Oh FFS.
Everything I said about what he did is factually true. And if the pain is a problem, why did he join a military company to go back after his enlistment service was done? I doubt they have a Hedonism Brigade over at Blackwater or whatever cockamamie name they call themselves now.
Is the guy running against Platner credible? I know he is unknown and unfunded but at this point Platner could cost us the Senate and possibly pull down the gubernatorial candidate and the thin margin majorities in the legislature
He has a pretty in-depth policy page on his website, but is kind of mixed on the issues (seems to be conservative on national security and foreign policy but liberal on social issues. He also supports Medicare For All and a $15 national minimum wage)
https://www.costelloforsenate.com/policy-priorities
I don’t see much to be concerned about as far as Costello and what he offers as a Senate candidate. The only question is timing and how long the controversies with Platner would play out in the remaining days heading to the primary.
Problem is, Costello is getting far less coverage than Platner and I am not sure enough Mainers know about him.
If Platner drops out before Tuesday, it's going to be Mills, so this really isn't an issue. The question is if he drops out after after the primary but before the July deadline, in which the state party will pick someone. And that could be Mills, it could be one of the Gov primary losers, or it could be someone else altogether (Golden...)
I'm amazed Maine has a replacement option like that. Do other states have that?
Here in California if the nominee quits or dies before the general election, there's no replacing. I don't think even write-ins are allowed in the November top-two runoffs.
No top two states do because there aren't party nominees per say. In states with traditional primaries, it varies completely by state. A majority do have some system to do but how varies as does how late you can do it and under what circumstances (like Texas basically requires the nominees dieing or otherwise declared as ineligible for the office by a jusge).
I would rather Platner win the nomination and then pull out a week later to be replaced by whoever loses the gubernatorial primary with a strong enough result than go back to Mills. It's a travesty and condemnable that Schumer/Gillibrand/DSCC couldn't pull any of Troy Jackson, Hannah Pingree, Shenna Bellows (again) or Nirav Shah rather than focus all their efforts on Mills. Hell, I would rather Matt Dunlap be the nominee than Mills. And digging my fantasy backups out again: Joe Baldacci or Mike Michaud lol
Also this seems to be the statute on replacing nominees: https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/21-a/title21-Asec374-A.html
I remember seeing state Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross mentioned as a statewide candidate, and after discussing it here, several people were open to the idea.
I'm open to basically any senior Dem who isn't 80, with the caveat that I would despise Jared Golden lol. Run Chellie Pingree again. Ryan Fecteau or Mattie Daughtry from the state leg. Aaron Frey from the AG's office.
Fecteau and Frey probably would have run if Mills didn't, as would have state Sen. Cathy Breen. Platner may be the candidate with the problems, but Mills is the one to blame for entering the race incredibly late, making a fool of herself, and not allowing the younger generations to run.
https://apnews.com/article/bolton-justice-department-trump-classified-information-3a92a8f87521cee9a7627db53a75e9c1
Former NSA John Bolton will take a plea deal and plead guilty to retaining classified information, beginning a sentence that can range from probation to 5 years in prison.
7th grade me would love to know bolton was prosecuted, but in this twilight zone world what he was prosecuted for and who by, is almost like a parable about careful what you wish for
ME Sen:
Platner 48- Collins 43, with caveat that it was in the field for only four of the days that his texting scandal was making the rounds
https://www.uml.edu/news/press-releases/2026/06042026-maine-senate-poll.aspx
I just don't see the texting/dating thing moving voters at all. How Dems don't understand that Trump has completely changed the ballgame of personal scandals is beyond my comprehension. It's like people got in a DeLorean back to 1985.
more like 2019 imo, from gingrich through late trump first term it felt the rules were its only bad if you're a democrat, as it related to any behavior by a politician
Don't you think the assault or rape fantasies might?
I don't think that's the issue here. It's the steady drip, drip, drip of bad headlines around an unproven and untested candidate. It's not even a little bit hard to imagine much worse things coming out....
Eh the latest NYTimes article is so extremely weak tea it strikes me like grasping for straws.
I don't think a history of casual sexism is grasping at straws
CA-GOV:
With Xavier Becerra potentially nearing advancing out of the top-two primary pending remaining votes to be counted, I just discovered that one of his priorities that caught my attention is the film Industry
I am not too familiar with Becerra’s years in Congress but apparently as far back as in 1999 he was sounding the alarm about changes in the Hollywood film industry. Becerra happened to represent a significant portion of Los Angeles County when he was a House member.
It’s possible with a Governor Becerra that we might see more close attention being paid to the problems with the film industry than with previous Governors. Governor Newsom did try to tackle this issue when he was Mayor of San Francisco but it was more regional and not much actually happened in the process.
https://www.xavierbecerra2026.com/priorities/filmindustry/
You could say a lot about Becerra (he is an uncharismatic buffoon that isn't fit to be an executive, especially considering he was one of the worst Biden cabinet members), but that does sound promising.
And with Becerra actually having direct experience in raising awareness about this, it’s not lip service. Los Angeles County is an extremely expensive real estate market and needs an intelligent conversation about how to keep everyone working in the entertainment industry from being priced out of housing. Same as it relates to allowing productions without costs being too high.
With what Becerra offers as Governor, as a long-time Californian I’m really tired of Governor Newsom and his celebrity-oriented persona that distracts from what CA government needs in competence. Maybe Becerra wasn’t great at HHS Secretary but if it comes to actually being focused on doing the job, I’m fine with him replacing Newsom.
My one gripe with the entertainment industry in general is their and my diametrically opposed views on copyright. Not AI, mind you, I’m against that, but more stuff like “I think people should be allowed to rip DVDs for backup use only”, and “we need orphaned works legislation”, and “the public domain should be strengthened”.
That being said, I do agree those working in the film industry need some help re: AI and similar issues. I do not like AI art, I think it is dramatically inferior to human art and needs to be reigned in.
That's part of the problem but the root of things is that the entertainment industry suffers from a lack of regulation.
With media companies owning Hollywood studios that were once separate on their own and ever-changing consolidation, decision making by studio CEOs makes it harder for enough oversight.