On Thursday, Georgia state Representative Park Cannon was arrested after she tried to watch Governor Brian Kemp sign SB 202, a divisive voting bill, into law. In a seven-minute Facebook Live video filmed by activist Tamara Stevens, Cannon is seen knocking on the door to the room where the Governor was holding a news conference […]
Candidates Announce their Bids to Unseat Senator Susan Collins
Democrat Sara Gideon, Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, has announced that she is officially running to unseat Republican Senator Susan Collins in 2020. Gideon has declared her bid amid a wave of several other Democratic, Republican, and Independent candidates announcing their campaigns. There are two other Democrats who have also launched their campaigns […]
Lori Lightfoot Elected as First Black Woman to Serve as Chicago Mayor
Lori Lightfoot won the Chicago Mayoral runoff Tuesday, defeating multiple career politicians and prominent local Democratic leaders. Lightfoot will be the first black woman to serve as Mayor in Chicago, as well as the first openly gay person. The race for Chicago Mayor started with over fourteen candidates. Lightfoot faced Preckwinkle in a historical election […]
Democrat Pam Iovino Wins Pennsylvania State Senate Seat in Special Election
Yesterday, Democrat Pam Iovino, a navy veteran and former Veteran’s Affair aide to President George Bush, was elected to represent the 37th Senate District in the Pennsylvania Senate, representing the South Hills suburbs of Pittsburgh, in a highly contested race against Republican D. Raja. Raja conceded last night to Iovino after she won 54% of […]
Trump Administration Argues the ACA is Unconstitutional
The Trump Administration is arguing that a federal appeals court should strike down the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) as unconstitutional, including the popular provisions to protect individuals with pre-existing conditions, the expansion of Medicaid, and the ability for young adults to stay on their parents’ insurance plans until they are 26 years old. In […]
Election Night 2018 Historic for LGBTQ+ Candidates
A week after the midterm election, Kyrsten Sinema was declared the winner of the Arizona Senate election, making her the first openly bisexual person elected to Congress and Arizona’s first female Senator. After Tuesday’s election, the total number of LGBTQ+ members of Congress is now eleven, the first time that the number has reached double […]
Top Afghan General Assassinated by Taliban
Last week, General Abdul Raziq of Afghanistan, 39, along with the Intelligence Chief and Governor of Kandahar City were fatally shot in Afghanistan by one of their bodyguards after leaving a meeting.
Historic Number of Women Running for Afghan Parliament.
On September 28, candidates for the Afghan parliament launched their campaigns ahead of the October 20 elections. Of the 2,565 people running, a historic 417 are women. According to data by The World Bank, the number of seats in parliament held by women rose from 4 percent in 1990 to 28 percent in 2017.
Supreme Court Upholds Ohio Voter Suppression Law
In a 5-4 decision last week, the Supreme Court upheld an Ohio law that removes voters from voter rolls after four years of inactivity. This reversed the 6th Circuit Appeals Court’s decision finding that the Ohio policy violated the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, a law that bans removing voters from voter rolls for failing to vote. The decision fell along ideological lines.
Women Surge in Texas’s Congressional Primaries
On Tuesday, Texas was the first state to hold primary races in preparation for the November 2018 midterm elections. For the first time in 25 years, Democrats are running in all 36 of Texas’s congressional districts.
2018 Women’s March–Reflecting on Challenges and Victories
This past weekend, thousands of feminist activists once again took the streets of cities and towns across the country for the Women’s Marches to protest a number of the policies and positions of the Trump administration and Republican controlled Congress including the dismantling of Title IX, the rollback of birth control coverage, the failure to protect Dreamers, and more.
Judges Rule Two Congressional District Maps Unconstitutional
On Monday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the state’s Republican drawn congressional districts were unconstitutional and ordered they be redrawn in the next several weeks.
North Carolina is Still Trying to Suppress Voting
In the wake of July’s federal appeals court ruling overturning the majority of North Carolina’s 2013 election laws, the state’s 100 local election boards, all comprised of one Democrat and two Republicans, have had to file their own respective election rules with the state, and critics are calling them equally as egregious as the original laws.
Today is the 96th Anniversary of the Adoption of the 19th Amendment
Today is Women’s Equality Day, the 96th anniversary of the adoption of the 19th amendment into the Constitution, outlawing voter discrimination on the basis of sex.
Moderate Republicans Sweep Kansas State Legislature and Senate, Ousting Conservative Incumbents
On Tuesday, moderates swept the Republican primary races in Kansas, ousting 14 conservative state legislator incumbents, and ushering another 7 moderates into open seats, a sign that many Kansans are not happy with Governor Sam Brownback’s slashes to government services.
Election Day Victories Will Bring Paid Sick Leave to Massachusetts, California, and New Jersey
Employees in Massachusetts and in the cities of Oakland, California and Trenton and Montclair in New Jersey will be able to utilize their newly mandated sick leave by 2015.
Minimum Wage Workers Across the Nation Won Raises on Election Day
Voters threw their weight behind state, county, and city referendums raising the minimum wage across seven states on Election Day Tuesday.
Election Day Decisions on Marijuana and Nonviolent Crimes Also Counter Racial Biases of War on Drugs
The new laws could help to significantly reduce the disparate impact of overpolicing and incarceration of people of color.
While Colorado and North Dakota Rejected Personhood on Election Day, Tennessee’s Anti-Abortion Measure Passed
Voters in North Dakota and Colorado handily defeated two state constitutional personhood amendments yesterday. In Tennessee, however, a state constitutional amendment that gives state legislators more power to restrict abortion access and birth control passed.
A Majority of Oregon’s Electorate Voted for Women’s Equality in the Midterm Election
Over 116,000 signatures from registered voters in Oregon put Measure 89 on the ballot.