Mother Jones
Every election is a Judgment Day, but this one more so than any other in the history of the nation. Never before has a major party run a nominee described by retired military leaders who worked with him as a “fascist” and a serious threat to American democracy. Never before has the electorate been provided […]
Mother JonesLate Tuesday night, the Associated Press projected Ohio Republican Bernie Moreno defeated Democratic incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown—and with him, any sense that Ohio was still a swing state. Brown, who served three terms, maintained an edge for most of his US Senate reelection bid against Moreno, a former luxury car dealership owner from Colombia. But […]
Mother JonesOhio voters defeated a major ballot initiative on Tuesday that would have ended partisan gerrymandering in the state and curbed the lopsided majorities Republicans hold in the state legislature and US House delegation. The measure, known as Issue 1, was voted down with 54 percent of the vote. Republicans aggressively used their power to thwart […]
Mother JonesThe first state to ban abortion after the fall of Roe v. Wade just became the first state to have a near-total abortion ban reversed by popular vote. The people of Missouri voted on Tuesday to create a constitutional right to “reproductive freedom”—defined as the ability to make and carry out one’s own decisions about […]
Mother JonesIt started with Georgia: a handful of bomb threats sent to polling locations in heavily Democratic areas. Two polling sites in Union City outside Atlanta, where the population is nearly 90 percent Black, were temporarily shut down. Georgia officials, citing federal law enforcement, named Russia as the culprit, as the threats had come from that […]
Mother JonesAs Georgia vote counters page through the absentee and mail-in ballots, a few folks seated nearby who self-identify as “poll observers” are watching closely. A new election law in Georgia permitted anyone designated by an “independent candidate, nonpartisan candidate, a political party, or political body” to gain more access to voting centers and tabulation sites. Republican […]
Mother JonesIn a victory for abortion rights advocates, New Yorkers just voted to enshrine extensive anti-discrimination protections into their state constitution—permanently insulating the rights of pregnant people, abortion seekers, and the LGBTQ community, among others, from changing political winds. Proposal 1 is one of 10 ballot initiatives to protect abortion rights that went before voters on […]
Mother JonesFlorida’s six-week abortion ban will remain the law of the land, as an abortion rights constitutional amendment failed Tuesday night. With 91 percent of the vote tallied as of 9:20 p.m., support for Florida’s Amendment 4 hovered around 57 percent, according to Associated Press projections—shy of the 60 percent threshold required to pass. The amendment […]
Mother JonesNo matter the outcome, Election Night this year is bittersweet for one particular group of former President Donald Trump’s supporters: The most dedicated of Trump superfans known as the Front Row Joes. There are about 1,500 of them from all across the country, and they got their start with Trump back in 2015 when no […]
Mother JonesIn the days and weeks after the 2020 election, more than 65,000 mail-in ballots were rejected for arriving too late—and given how much is at stake in 2024’s races, nationally and at the state level, it makes sense that American voters would do just about anything to make sure their vote gets counted. For millions […]
Mother JonesAs the sun set over the New York Times building on election night, the Times Tech Guild—the union of workers that power the infrastructure for the company’s news, games, and cooking—closed out their second day on the picket line. Their strike, an attempt to push for a deal they’ve negotiated for over two years, might […]
Mother JonesA Trump-appointed federal judge on Tuesday harshly rejected an eleventh-hour bid from the Republican National Committee and the Georgia Republican Party that sought to force seven historically Democratic counties in the swing state to stop accepting absentee ballots returned after Friday. In a telephone hearing on Tuesday, Judge R. Stan Baker of the US District […]
Mother JonesNevada’s secretary of state, the New York Times’ Danny Hakim reports, is concerned about the large numbers of absentee ballots getting rejected in the state’s most populous counties because of signature mismatches—potentially enough ballots to change election results. From the Times: More than 11,300 ballots were reported by the state Monday night as still needing […]
Mother JonesAs Americans cast their votes in an election dominated by debates over inflation and the cost of living, a ballot measure in Vice President Kamala Harris’ home state is dividing the Democratic Party on the issue of how to address skyrocketing rents. Proposition 33—dubbed the Justice for Renters Act—would repeal the state’s controversial Costa-Hawkins Rental […]
Mother JonesThe first time I met Kamala Harris, in 2007, I was a reporter profiling her for San Francisco magazine. She was in a basement near City Hall, trying to persuade a roomful of low-level ex–drug dealers to find time in their lives for a little self-care. “I have a job that’s just crazy,” she told the […]
Mother JonesIf 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 […]
Mother JonesThis 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 […]
Mother JonesSteve 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 […]
Mother JonesThe 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 […]
Mother JonesThe 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 […]
Mother JonesThis 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, […]
Mother JonesSomething 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,” […]
Mother JonesIn 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, […]
Mother JonesToday, 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 […]
Mother JonesIt 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 […]
Mother JonesClaudia 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 […]
Mother JonesIn 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 […]
Mother JonesOn 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 […]
Mother JonesI 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: […]
Mother JonesThis 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 […]