56 h. ago California set to approve Prop 50 as voters signal displeasure with Trump

Voters set to accept new maps to help Democrats counter Republican gerrymandering – and check president’s powerCalifornia’s Proposition 50 began as a warning from the nation’s largest blue state to its largest red one: don’t poke the bear. But when Texas moved ahead with a rare, mid-decade gerrymander, pushed by Donald Trump as Republicans seek to shore up their fragile House majority in the midterm elections, California made good on its threat.Now, California voters appear poised to approve a redistricting measure placed on the ballot in August by Democrats and the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, who have cast it as a chance to check Trump’s power. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago Gavin Newsom tells Prop 50 supporters to ‘stop donating’ after war chest swells

California governor launched redistricting effort to counter Texas’s gerrymander and has out-raised oppositionWith just one week before California voters are set to head to the polls to decide on the state’s redistricting proposal, Gavin Newsom sent an unexpected message to would-be donors: keep your money.“We have hit our budget goals and raised what we need in order to pass Proposition 50. You can stop donating,” the California governor said in an email. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago How redistricting battles are shaping US congressional maps nationwide

Despite their House majority, Republicans are poised to gain more seats through redistricting

Events

8 d. ago Should Californians vote to redistrict and fight Texas’s fire with fire? | Moira Donegan

A state referendum could give Democrats five more congressional seats. It faces two key critiquesWhat, exactly, is Congress for? In the second Trump administration, it can be hard to tell. The power to declare war, long considered a crucial legislative power, has become a murky prerogative of the executive branch in the years since September 11; Trump, in recent months, has claimed even more of that power for himself, conducting strikes on vessels in the Caribbean.The power of the purse seems to have largely been stripped from Congress, too; now, under the office of management and budget director, Russell Vought, much of the power to appropriate federal funds has also defaulted to the presidency, with the White House claiming the ability to abort congressionally authorized expenditures and seeking to redirect the money elsewhere. It’s not like they’re passing any laws, either; virtually all legislation must now be crammed into budget reconciliation bills, massive perennial must-spen...

Politics

3 w. ago Obama backs California’s Proposition 50 to counter Texas redistricting

Former president urges support for the ballot measure Democrats say could add up to five US House seatsIn a new ad released on Tuesday, Barack Obama urged California voters to support Proposition 50, a November ballot measure that could reshape the state’s congressional map and deliver up to five new Democratic seats in the US House.“California, the whole nation is counting on you,” the former two-term Democratic president says in the video. “Democracy is on the ballot.” Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Takeaways from the AP investigation into ICE's use of a full

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have been using a full-body restraint device called the WRAP during deportations

Events