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Mother Jones

Elon’s “Election Integrity Community” Needs Help With the “Integrity” Part

If you look at Elon Musk’s so-called “Election Integrity Community” on X—a crowd-sourced feed of right-wing keyboard warriors turned self-appointed poll watchers—you will have the impression that our voting system is full of pro-Democratic fraud, making a Kamala Harris victory is inevitable. The feed, which describes itself as a place to “share potential incidents of […]

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Mother Jones

The Future of the House Runs Through Two Blue States: California and New York

This year, the road to take back the House of Representatives runs through California and New York, two states often skipped over when discussing the balance of power in an election year. In 2022, the GOP showed surprising strength in the two blue stalwarts. They won upsets in each, earning Republicans the majority in the […]

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Steve Bannon Says He’s Reviving the Infamous Willard “War Room”

Steve Bannon claims he is setting up a new version of the Willard Hotel “war room”—the infamous locale from which he and other Trump allies attempted to oversee last-ditch efforts in January 2021 to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Bannon told CBS News’ Robert Costa that the “war room” is being “revived […]

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Mother Jones

Russia Just Tried to Disrupt Georgia Voting With a Phony Bomb Scare

The morning of Election Day, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger blamed Russia for creating bomb scares at polling places in the swing state of Georgia. “They’re up to mischief it seems,” Raffensperger said at a press conference of Russia’s efforts. “They don’t want us to have a smooth, fair, and accurate election.” The bomb […]

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The FBI Warns of an Election Day Hoax Video Designed to Scare Off Voters

The FBI issued a warning on Election Day about a hoax video that purports to be a news clip relaying a warning from the agency warning of a “high terror threat” at polling places. “No such warning has been issued by U.S. officials.” “This video is not authentic and does not accurately represent the current […]

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Abortion Foes Are Routing Millions of Dollars Through Obscure Local Candidates

This story was produced in partnership with the National Catholic Reporter. Millions of dollars in last-minute money is pouring into the battle over a pair of abortion-related ballot measures in Nebraska, and it is coming through an unusual and circuitous route. Much of that cash is being spent by a new group called Common Sense Nebraska, […]

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The Men Who Swallowed Everything

Something unusual happened the other week, when podcasting megastar Joe Rogan sat down with Ohio Senator and Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance. In the midst of a conversation about abortion, Vance claimed that liberal women publicly celebrate terminating their pregnancies with elaborate displays on social media: “They’re baking birthday cakes and posting about it,” […]

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He Won Asylum in the United States. He Fears Trump Will Send Him Back.

In 2016, Andrés García fled anti-LGBQT+ violence in his native El Salvador. Until a few years ago, he lived in Virginia without papers. Then, he got flagged by the police over a minor infraction and transferred to the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He spent a year in ICE detention. In July 2023, […]

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Mother Jones

Eight States Where the Planet Is on the Ballot

Today, voters in several states will get a say on ballot measures related to climate initiatives. Across the country, there are hotly debated propositions surrounding pipeline construction, climate infrastructure, and carbon reduction. (And fate of the planet aside, there’s also one referendum that could usher in a new tree-centric, state flag.) Here’s a round-up of […]

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Mother Jones

The Oligarch Election

It feels strange to suggest that the second-most memorable thing that happened on a stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, this year was the former president of the United States getting shot in the face. But if Donald Trump wins the presidential election, the image that will be seared in my mind is that of the world’s […]

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Democrats Need to Convince Latinos Who “Haven’t Felt Seen” to Vote

Claudia Garcia had never watched a televised presidential debate. On September 10, she tuned into ABC News’ showdown between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris and was stunned to hear the Republican nominee repeat lies about Haitian migrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. “I was like, what?” Garcia recalls. “What is he […]

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What the “Most Anti-LGBTQ” Election in Decades Means for Trans People

In the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, GOP consultants were fighting over strategy: Would going all-in on anti-trans messaging deliver then-President Donald Trump the suburbs in his race against former Vice President Joe Biden? Or should his campaign stay away from the issue, given widespread support among the electorate for LGBTQ rights like same-sex […]

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Mother Jones

Watch: Trump’s Most Loyal Fans Say They’ll Refuse to Accept a Loss—No Matter What

On the eve of Election Day, our DC bureau chief, David Corn, traveled to Reading, Pennsylvania, to speak with diehard Donald Trump supporters at what might be one of the final campaign rallies of his political career. Held in a half-filled Santander Arena, this rally marked one of Trump’s last stops in his campaign blitz […]

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Mother Jones

Oakland’s Merchant of Bad Vibes

I was doom-scrolling on X a few months ago when a video about Oakland, California, caught my eye: “Do you know your recaller?” it asked, before an image of a talking white-haired man with a yellow tie flashed across the screen. “Let’s find out.” I’d been curious about the recalls in Oakland for a while: […]

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Mother Jones

Why an Alaskan Talking a Lot About Fish Could Win Democrats Back the House

This year, America’s largest state is primed to play a key role in deciding who controls the House of Representatives. Incumbent Mary Peltola (D-Alaska)—the state’s first Native woman elected to Congress and the first Democratic representative in 50 years—will defend her seat in a close race against challenger Nick Begich III. Begich is a software […]

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Justice Alito Has Already Set the Stage for a Supreme Court Election Showdown

On Friday evening, just as reporters were logging off, the Supreme Court let slip a clue about whether it would take up cases that could determine the outcome of a close election in the coming weeks. Specifically, the hint came in a statement from Justice Samuel Alito. Spoiler: He’s open to it. Alito’s missive came […]

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The Activist Who Accused Pennsylvania Nuns of Voter Fraud Adds a New Allegation

Cliff Maloney is the founder of Pennsylvania Chase, a door-knocking, “ballot chasing” operation meant to encourage conservative voters in that crucial swing state to return mail-in ballots. The 32-year-old is also, of late, the face of a particularly bumbling public attempt to root out supposed illegal voting—one that, despite him having already been heartily scolded […]

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Mother Jones

Iowa’s Surprising Poll Is About Abortion—But Also the State’s GOP Power Grab

J. Ann Selzer has earned several nicknames throughout her 37-year-long stint leading the Des Moines Register’s Iowa Poll. She’s called the “Outlier Queen” when she breaks from what appears to be the consensus of political polls. And when her final pre-election polls paint a complicated picture for otherwise favored candidates, political insiders refer to her […]

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Mother Jones

Elon Musk’s $1 Million Voter Sweepstakes Is Already in Legal Peril

Voters in swing states who received notice of a $1 million check from Elon Musk should know two things: Simple luck is not how this happened—and you are now on the hook to be an official spokesperson for Musk’s America super PAC. That’s according to a lawyer for the tech billionaire, who acknowledged in court […]

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Mother Jones

How a Drastic Drop in Latino Support in California Could Cost Democrats the House

Keyes, California, is not the typical town in which a Republican spends the precious final days of a close campaign. It is a working-class community of less than 6,000 between Merced and Modesto where about two-thirds of people are Latino and six percent of residents have a bachelor’s degree. Yet six days before the election, […]

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Mother Jones

Trump Claims “Illegal Alien” Voting Is Rampant. His Own Party Disagrees.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. This story was published first by ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for ProPublica’s Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox as soon as they are published. In public remarks, former President Donald Trump has repeatedly […]

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Mother Jones

How East Palestine Was Forgotten Again

Two weeks after the Norfolk Southern train derailment upended East Palestine, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) filmed a dispatch to the American public from the edge of a creek. Against a backdrop of brown winter forest and gray limestone, Vance used a stick to stir up a plume of oily contamination. “Do not forget these people,” […]

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How Food Played a Super-Sized Role in the 2024 Campaign

Across the country, you can find small town diners and watering holes proudly displaying photos of a president stopping by on the campaign trail. It’s not only a memento of how the person who got the nuclear codes may have ordered a burger or a slice of rhubarb pie—it’s a reminder of how voters have […]

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Mother Jones

How Food Played a Super-Sized Role in the 2024 Campaign

Across the country, you can find small town diners and watering holes proudly displaying photos of a president stopping by on the campaign trail. It’s not only a memento of how the person who got the nuclear codes may have ordered a burger or a slice of rhubarb pie—it’s a reminder of how voters have […]

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Mother Jones

Arizona’s Election Deniers Say to Trust the Process—For Now

When Tim Stringham arrived at a “Veterans for Harris” canvassing launch on Sunday in a Phoenix shopping center alongside Sen. Mark Kelly and Rep. Ted Lieu of California, the 35-year-old first-time candidate took a moment to acknowledge the obvious. “You know that times are strange when the candidate for recorder gets to come up here […]

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Mother Jones

Can a Waitress Running on Economic Populism Beat a MAGA Republican Who Yells at Teens?

Rebecca Cooke has spent many nights this year waiting tables during her race for Congress in a Wisconsin swing district. She is a 36-year-old service industry worker and nonprofit leader with a chance to secure an upset in a tight House race. It’s not the typical profile for a future member of Congress. She has […]

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Mother Jones

Trump and His Voters: They Like the Lying

The below article first appeared in David Corn’s newsletter, Our Land. The newsletter comes out twice a week (most of the time) and provides behind-the-scenes stories and articles about politics, media, and culture. Subscribing costs just $5 a month—but you can sign up for a free 30-day trial. For almost a decade, our world has been shaped and distorted by the […]

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Mother Jones

Searching for Democracy and Finding America

Democracy is at once everywhere and nowhere—on the lips of the masses calling for freedom and fearing for its safeguarding, while every day asking the question: What even is democracy? Starting in 2018, that is the question the Our Democracy team—me along with photographer Andrea Bruce and educator and videographer Lorraine Ustaris—set out to answer. […]

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Mother Jones

Trump Supporters Love Elon Musk. They’re a Little Confused About His PAC.

Elon Musk’s $150 million pro-Trump super-PAC is one of the biggest campaign-finance stories in years—maybe ever. It’s the first time a presidential campaign has completely outsourced much of its get-out-the-vote operation to an outside group. And so far, it has been more X than SpaceX. Musk has overhauled his staff at least once, been sued […]

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Mother Jones

These Climate-Conscious Nonprofit Leaders are “Very Nervous” About the Election

This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The final days of this election season are wearying for the people who do research and advocacy on the transition away from fossil fuels. For this group, the Biden administration has been a champion, developing landmark legislation and building a […]

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