It's so very, very fascinating how Max Miller's problems have become an albatross to the GOP's chances in the House even after Trump himself attended Miller and Emily Moreno's wedding years back.
Reminiscent of the Mark Foley page scandal - it by itself wasn't the killer in 2006, but it added to the sense that the GOP in Congress was in disarray and out of its depth.
It's heartening to see that this kind of stuff still has bite and that at least some public officials still care, and every such instance increases the juxtaposition of just how much absolutely disqualifying, criminal conduct Trump has in his personal life and has been allowed to get away with.
Axios (which is garbage but they do have insider feeds to the White House) had a story today saying Trump doesn't really care about winning the midterms or dealing with Congress. In his final two years he's just going to focus on stretching his power to the limits and enjoy playing 2028 kingmaker and humiliating both Rubio and Vance as they get swollen knees from bending and kissing the ring.
Actions like the above confirm it. He really hasn't shown to give a f^&* about the Senate or passing legislation since the shutdown.
Acton taking a bad news story and seemingly doing everything she can to keep it in the news. Regardless of if people think she was wise to make her original remarks (I don't, but that's neither here nor there), she's fumbling the process.
Since Ohio is such a tough state for us this is not a blunder she can easily afford, even if it might not be particularly large by election day. Which I presume is what she is banking on. Every media cycle lost to this story is a media cycle that isn't being spent on improving her chances of winning.
Missing my point. She's losing media cycles, which costs her the chance to gain votes.
The position itself is, strategically, not likely to be a big factor. Which means pissing away attention and time on it when she could have the spotlight on literally anything else is a strategic misstep.
I’m over the purity tests. Do we want a Democratic Ohio Governor or not? Andy Beshear and Laura Kelly had to say similar things in their reelection bids, and I can tell you I prefer them as governors compared to the trash we would’ve gotten otherwise.
If we end up with a 50-50 Senate (which would mean a nominal Republican majority due to Vance being the tie-breaking vote) and Ohio remains in the GOP column by a very slim margin, the transgender community is going to blame Acton for us failing to win a Senate majority, even if she's not a U.S. Senate candidate herself.
I don't know if I've seen you before, so welcome! I feel like some of these stories are not about campaigns or elections, though. Also, you could consider covering more than one story in each post.
I guess Jeanine Pirro is not willing to get disbarred and possibly indicted over this to please the orange anus. She is now getting blasted by Doug Burgum and Trump himself.
Well, Paris was...mixed, but now I'm in England and not only feel calmer but can also post here a little more often.
Everyone's talking about upcoming Democratic primaries in Michigan and Wisconsin. But today's Tennessee poll in the digest as well as the scuffle in South Carolina has gotten me interested in Republican ones too. Curious to see how Trump's endorsement becomes a factor in each of these later races.
-Weather could be calm and temperate one day and scorching hot the next
-The drought in France from wildfires and the architecture created a mirage that the city was dusty and beige, lacking in color
-While a lot of the food was good, only a meal or two really blew me away with quality
-Partially due to my own fault and not, transportation in and out of the city was a nightmare (left hotel for De Gaulle at 5 AM only for the taxi to come late, a whole list of problems at the airport itselt)
-In museums like the L'Orangerie and Musee d'Orsay, the works of art were overshadowed by tourists standing in the way and taking selfies. This is part of why I didn't go to the Louvre or go inside the Eiffel Tower.
-I was severely jetlagged for most of the start of the trip and by the time I came to was the heat wave-like days
I found the food to be pretty overrated in Paris. Not bad but not way better than any other major city. Breakfasts were good though, great bread and pastries
Exactly. I loved croissants and crepes but didn't love dinner. Lunches like roasted chicken and steak frite were below my expectations. The pizza was better than anything else, surprisingly.
French steak tartare with frites and wine is one of my favourite meals, that I always seek out when there. Of course this raw beef does not suit everyone's taste. (For me, with burgers and steaks, the rarer the better.)
In most foreign cities (and probably in the US as well) I find that it's often better, in terms of price and food quality, if you avoid the most touristy places and seek out lesser known ones, often on side streets or some distance from the biggest attractions, which often have better quality food for less. Often that will take some advance research, but sometimes you just randomly stumble on something great.
You're absolutely right, though sometimes, there are surprisingly good and authentic places near tourist attractions. We randomly found a trattoria specializing in Roman dishes a couple of blocks from the Colosseum about half of whose patrons were Romans, and it was so good and such a good value that we went back for a 2nd dinner during a 4-day stay in Rome 2 years ago. There also are some very good eateries just a few blocks from the Duomo in Florence.
To be fair, Paris is not considered the focus of French gastronomy, which instead is traditionally attributed to Lyon. However, it is not difficult to eat either well or mediocrely in Paris, much like in New York. And patronizing boulangeries and boucheries - and not just for breakfast - is generally good advice in France.
Confession: I've done the "me and the Mona Lisa" selfie at the Louvre, getting as close as I could without crossing the semicircular barrier that protects her from the masses. This was on a Wednesday evening when it's open later and not as crowded.
My partner insisted on taking selfies with La Grande Jatte in Chicago because it's the subject of "Sunday in the Park with George", which she and her mother, both actor/singers, know and love. She apologized to me, knowing I was very embarrassed and wouldn't have done it in a million years on my own accord. My father was a painter. I go to museums to view artworks, not to take selfies.
The GOP could have a real headache if state rep. Monte Fritts is their nominee. Senator Blackburn and Rep. Rose have been nuking each other for months and are in a dead head but state rep. Fritts is within striking distance. Fritts is a bigot and a religious fanatic who believes that Tennessee should ban mosques and all non-Christian religions.
Lately, I've taken an interest in asking the question: if Democrats had full redistricting control in states, had no constraints, and knew they'd never do worse than the Presidential numbers in 2024, how extreme could they get in their gerrymanders?
Thus, I decided to see if I could make an 8-1 Democratic gerrymander in Arizona with contiguous districts. And shockingly, it's possible!
Only the turquoise blue district (AZ-09) is Republican, having voted for Trump 72-27. All other districts supported Kamala Harris. Barely.
Now, granted, all the Democratic districts are actually Tilt D swing districts, and Republicans could win all of them in an especially bad year. So even if we only cared about Democrats winning, this map would be foolish to use.
Still, it was an intriguing exercise! And it suggests that in the future, a 7-2 or 7-3 Arizona map (some of which I've made in the past) is attainable.
Worked hard to ensure that not a single district would flip under the 2022 New York governor's election dataset, which is more than likely the absolute high point of Republican performance statewide, atleast for a long while. And I didn't even play around with a lot of the districts in the New York City area because I didn't want to mess with VRA compliancy even if it's legal now, so there's definitely a lot of potential to make the long island districts bluer
Labor candidate Bev Craig, the leader of the Manchester city council, will become mayor of Greater Manchester, winning 66-34 in the 2nd round over a Reform candidate.
The Greens had their best performance yet, only coming within 9 points of making it to the 2nd round. But Labour seems to have at least momentarily consolidated power on the British left, despite the Greens having an MP within Greater Manchester who ran against Burnham in 2024. Green leader Zack Polanski is also under fire for saying Reform leader Nigel Farage should be decapitated.
She will succeed Andy Burnham, who resigned to first join Parliament and then become Prime Minister. Burnham won in the first round with 63% in 2024.
I'm currently just outside of the constituency and my ultra conservative grandparents will likely be livid at the landslide victory on their home turf.
Have you seen much coverage of the Clacton election coming up in two weeks? While it is hard to imagine Nigel Farage actually losing to Count Binface, it is a delicious fantasy. Nigel is the UK Tr*mp, and I don't want to see him in power. Wasn't Boris Johnson enough of a buffoon?
No, the news cycle seems to only treat stories happening in the moment and not upcoming as major stories. For example, yesterday the talk of the day was about 50,000 migrants crossing from Morocco to Spain.
Democrats up 9 points among “Registered voters in Cook Political Report Toss Up Districts (AZ-01, AZ-06, CA-22, CO-08, FL-25, IA-01, IA-3, MI-7, NJ-7, NY—17, OH-09, PA-07, PA-08, PA-10, TX-34, VA-02, WA-03, WI-03) and Voters in Michigan.” Trump won all of these except for Harris +0 NY-17.
A very distinct possibility that I haven't heard much in the all the discussions around the "disappointing" GCBs (which I think is ridiculous when D+6 or 7 is labeled as disappointing); like in 2022, Dems could very well overperform the GCB in competitive/swing districts.
Promises in writing from the Trump Administration are not to be taken seriously.
That is a staggering amount of hubris crossed with stupidity. You have to have the IQ of a potted plant to still be a member of MAHA.
Don't count your chickens while the hen is incubating the eggs.
It's so very, very fascinating how Max Miller's problems have become an albatross to the GOP's chances in the House even after Trump himself attended Miller and Emily Moreno's wedding years back.
Reminiscent of the Mark Foley page scandal - it by itself wasn't the killer in 2006, but it added to the sense that the GOP in Congress was in disarray and out of its depth.
It's heartening to see that this kind of stuff still has bite and that at least some public officials still care, and every such instance increases the juxtaposition of just how much absolutely disqualifying, criminal conduct Trump has in his personal life and has been allowed to get away with.
Axios (which is garbage but they do have insider feeds to the White House) had a story today saying Trump doesn't really care about winning the midterms or dealing with Congress. In his final two years he's just going to focus on stretching his power to the limits and enjoy playing 2028 kingmaker and humiliating both Rubio and Vance as they get swollen knees from bending and kissing the ring.
Actions like the above confirm it. He really hasn't shown to give a f^&* about the Senate or passing legislation since the shutdown.
He is a sociopath who does not care about anyone but himself.
Amazing how people raised on Donald Trump, Andrew Tate and extreme fundamentalist Christianity would grow up to be repulsive assholes.
Does she want to lose her Senate race? Collins should have retired if that is the case.
I would say she probably would be just fine with losing and "getting to spend more time with the grandkids" and not be seen as a quitter.
Collins is tired of playing the moderate and hiding her true conservative preferences.
I don’t think she wants to lose, but she’d rather deal with a higher chance of defeat than keep playing the same role 24/7.
What's fake about it?
It’s not written on a slate, it’s really a webpage
Hah hah.
Slate is generally left-of-center and factual, I'm not sure why you're calling it "fake news", the piece is not terribly slanted in either direction.
Also, it's usually not appreciated when someone makes a bunch of back-to-back posts mostly just sharing links.
Acton taking a bad news story and seemingly doing everything she can to keep it in the news. Regardless of if people think she was wise to make her original remarks (I don't, but that's neither here nor there), she's fumbling the process.
Since Ohio is such a tough state for us this is not a blunder she can easily afford, even if it might not be particularly large by election day. Which I presume is what she is banking on. Every media cycle lost to this story is a media cycle that isn't being spent on improving her chances of winning.
She’s not going to lose many votes over this. In fact, she may gain.
Missing my point. She's losing media cycles, which costs her the chance to gain votes.
The position itself is, strategically, not likely to be a big factor. Which means pissing away attention and time on it when she could have the spotlight on literally anything else is a strategic misstep.
I’m over the purity tests. Do we want a Democratic Ohio Governor or not? Andy Beshear and Laura Kelly had to say similar things in their reelection bids, and I can tell you I prefer them as governors compared to the trash we would’ve gotten otherwise.
Except Beshear literally did not. Beshear generally supports Trans Rights and most certainly has never called transgender girls, boys.
https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article302756994.html
https://apnews.com/article/transgender-genderaffirming-care-kentucky-governor-945f8097fb04fdb25e1767cae052a413
https://www.them.us/story/andy-beshear-kentucky-governor-democratic-party-nyt-op-ed
If we end up with a 50-50 Senate (which would mean a nominal Republican majority due to Vance being the tie-breaking vote) and Ohio remains in the GOP column by a very slim margin, the transgender community is going to blame Acton for us failing to win a Senate majority, even if she's not a U.S. Senate candidate herself.
I'm not sure I'm sold on Acton making an impact on the OH-SEN race. Previously as Senator, Sherrod Brown had a pro-LGBTQ and pro-transgender record.
If anything, Brown's candidacy may be judged separately than Acton's.
https://www.banking.senate.gov/newsroom/minority/brown-statement-on-huds-new-anti-trans-rule
https://www.advocate.com/opinion/sherrod-brown-lgbtq-ohio
They can blame themselves for not voting for Brown.
You think transgender people didn't or won't vote for Brown?
I don't know if I've seen you before, so welcome! I feel like some of these stories are not about campaigns or elections, though. Also, you could consider covering more than one story in each post.
I guess Jeanine Pirro is not willing to get disbarred and possibly indicted over this to please the orange anus. She is now getting blasted by Doug Burgum and Trump himself.
What does this have to do with downballot races?
You posted this one twice on the digest + once more here
I must've gotten confused. Thanks for informing.
Well, Paris was...mixed, but now I'm in England and not only feel calmer but can also post here a little more often.
Everyone's talking about upcoming Democratic primaries in Michigan and Wisconsin. But today's Tennessee poll in the digest as well as the scuffle in South Carolina has gotten me interested in Republican ones too. Curious to see how Trump's endorsement becomes a factor in each of these later races.
What did you find mixed about Paris, if you don’t mind me asking?
-Weather could be calm and temperate one day and scorching hot the next
-The drought in France from wildfires and the architecture created a mirage that the city was dusty and beige, lacking in color
-While a lot of the food was good, only a meal or two really blew me away with quality
-Partially due to my own fault and not, transportation in and out of the city was a nightmare (left hotel for De Gaulle at 5 AM only for the taxi to come late, a whole list of problems at the airport itselt)
-In museums like the L'Orangerie and Musee d'Orsay, the works of art were overshadowed by tourists standing in the way and taking selfies. This is part of why I didn't go to the Louvre or go inside the Eiffel Tower.
-I was severely jetlagged for most of the start of the trip and by the time I came to was the heat wave-like days
I found the food to be pretty overrated in Paris. Not bad but not way better than any other major city. Breakfasts were good though, great bread and pastries
Exactly. I loved croissants and crepes but didn't love dinner. Lunches like roasted chicken and steak frite were below my expectations. The pizza was better than anything else, surprisingly.
Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Italian and other restaurants are often better in Paris than traditional French restaurants.
Don't forget North African restaurants! Great couscous!
You might as well go to McDonalds if you're not going to Paris for french food.
Folks, isn't the Guide Michelin still useful in recommending restaurants and brasseries in Paris? Do any of you use it?
French steak tartare with frites and wine is one of my favourite meals, that I always seek out when there. Of course this raw beef does not suit everyone's taste. (For me, with burgers and steaks, the rarer the better.)
In most foreign cities (and probably in the US as well) I find that it's often better, in terms of price and food quality, if you avoid the most touristy places and seek out lesser known ones, often on side streets or some distance from the biggest attractions, which often have better quality food for less. Often that will take some advance research, but sometimes you just randomly stumble on something great.
You're absolutely right, though sometimes, there are surprisingly good and authentic places near tourist attractions. We randomly found a trattoria specializing in Roman dishes a couple of blocks from the Colosseum about half of whose patrons were Romans, and it was so good and such a good value that we went back for a 2nd dinner during a 4-day stay in Rome 2 years ago. There also are some very good eateries just a few blocks from the Duomo in Florence.
To be fair, Paris is not considered the focus of French gastronomy, which instead is traditionally attributed to Lyon. However, it is not difficult to eat either well or mediocrely in Paris, much like in New York. And patronizing boulangeries and boucheries - and not just for breakfast - is generally good advice in France.
Yeah, I hate the selfies in museums! It was bad enough when some people just photographed everything.
Confession: I've done the "me and the Mona Lisa" selfie at the Louvre, getting as close as I could without crossing the semicircular barrier that protects her from the masses. This was on a Wednesday evening when it's open later and not as crowded.
My partner insisted on taking selfies with La Grande Jatte in Chicago because it's the subject of "Sunday in the Park with George", which she and her mother, both actor/singers, know and love. She apologized to me, knowing I was very embarrassed and wouldn't have done it in a million years on my own accord. My father was a painter. I go to museums to view artworks, not to take selfies.
The GOP could have a real headache if state rep. Monte Fritts is their nominee. Senator Blackburn and Rep. Rose have been nuking each other for months and are in a dead head but state rep. Fritts is within striking distance. Fritts is a bigot and a religious fanatic who believes that Tennessee should ban mosques and all non-Christian religions.
Unfortunately, I think Fritts would have no trouble winning in TN with such opinions.
Lately, I've taken an interest in asking the question: if Democrats had full redistricting control in states, had no constraints, and knew they'd never do worse than the Presidential numbers in 2024, how extreme could they get in their gerrymanders?
Thus, I decided to see if I could make an 8-1 Democratic gerrymander in Arizona with contiguous districts. And shockingly, it's possible!
https://davesredistricting.org/maps#viewmap::8f4e8664-76e9-4ade-ac1b-6f0de01d958d
Only the turquoise blue district (AZ-09) is Republican, having voted for Trump 72-27. All other districts supported Kamala Harris. Barely.
Now, granted, all the Democratic districts are actually Tilt D swing districts, and Republicans could win all of them in an especially bad year. So even if we only cared about Democrats winning, this map would be foolish to use.
Still, it was an intriguing exercise! And it suggests that in the future, a 7-2 or 7-3 Arizona map (some of which I've made in the past) is attainable.
Oregon's map is already pretty fucked. But there's still one Republican seat.. one too many if you ask me.
https://davesredistricting.org/join/2493fe2f-5b4f-4898-a806-8569ea9e28e8
And now it's gone. :P
Yes! A 6-0 Oregon map is very doable if we're okay splitting Portland between 4 or 5 districts!
I also crafted this New York state gerrymander
https://davesredistricting.org/join/16f35b7f-db92-4699-ac7a-352572f949e9
Worked hard to ensure that not a single district would flip under the 2022 New York governor's election dataset, which is more than likely the absolute high point of Republican performance statewide, atleast for a long while. And I didn't even play around with a lot of the districts in the New York City area because I didn't want to mess with VRA compliancy even if it's legal now, so there's definitely a lot of potential to make the long island districts bluer
Nice! I like how you did Rochester suburbs to Binghamton, including Ithaca in the district.
That's a pretty wild gerrymander, even without Abgin's bacon strips.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn9nvx2jvl0t
Labor candidate Bev Craig, the leader of the Manchester city council, will become mayor of Greater Manchester, winning 66-34 in the 2nd round over a Reform candidate.
The Greens had their best performance yet, only coming within 9 points of making it to the 2nd round. But Labour seems to have at least momentarily consolidated power on the British left, despite the Greens having an MP within Greater Manchester who ran against Burnham in 2024. Green leader Zack Polanski is also under fire for saying Reform leader Nigel Farage should be decapitated.
She will succeed Andy Burnham, who resigned to first join Parliament and then become Prime Minister. Burnham won in the first round with 63% in 2024.
I'm currently just outside of the constituency and my ultra conservative grandparents will likely be livid at the landslide victory on their home turf.
You're British?
No. They just live here and I'm visiting for a while.
Well, I guess by blood I'm a quarter British since my Nan is.
No way, they wouldn't have spelled Labour like that if they were hehe
He didn’t say Farage should be decapitated. He reposted a photo where someone was wearing a shirt to that effect. Which he says he did not notice.
That's probably a more accurate description, but certainly not the one I got through British media.
If you expect the truth through the British media, you’ll be waiting a long time. It’s worse than ours.
Rupert Murdock ruined their media before he ruined ours.
Lord Rothermere and his Daily Mail preceded Murdoch by decades.
Have you seen much coverage of the Clacton election coming up in two weeks? While it is hard to imagine Nigel Farage actually losing to Count Binface, it is a delicious fantasy. Nigel is the UK Tr*mp, and I don't want to see him in power. Wasn't Boris Johnson enough of a buffoon?
No, the news cycle seems to only treat stories happening in the moment and not upcoming as major stories. For example, yesterday the talk of the day was about 50,000 migrants crossing from Morocco to Spain.
Democrats up 9 points among “Registered voters in Cook Political Report Toss Up Districts (AZ-01, AZ-06, CA-22, CO-08, FL-25, IA-01, IA-3, MI-7, NJ-7, NY—17, OH-09, PA-07, PA-08, PA-10, TX-34, VA-02, WA-03, WI-03) and Voters in Michigan.” Trump won all of these except for Harris +0 NY-17.
https://workingfamilies.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/WFP_Toss_Up_Voter_Poll_073026.pdf
Harris also won the newly drawn CA-22.
She lost it 50-48.
Ah. Sorry, confused its PVI with the 2024 presidential result.
Why also include all of Michigan? That sample is a bit unhinged, but I’ll take any good polling news.
A very distinct possibility that I haven't heard much in the all the discussions around the "disappointing" GCBs (which I think is ridiculous when D+6 or 7 is labeled as disappointing); like in 2022, Dems could very well overperform the GCB in competitive/swing districts.
I’m looking forward to seeing the other pollsters after Sabato and Cook Report push more House and Senate races bluer over the next 90 days.