Tessera
Folgen

James Lambert

@hellofasandwich.bsky.social

Area Man. Meme Specialist. Contributor, @the-downballot.com

103 Posts416 Follower260 Folgt
Niall Stanage@niallstanage.bsky.social · 2mo ago

This is a devastating interview. Scott Pelley tells the NYT that Bari Weiss directly put a “thumb on the scale” for Trump over the killing of Renee Good. Here’s his explanation of exactly what happened.

The Downballot@the-downballot.com · 3mo ago

Former state Sen. Ralph Alvarado (R) will face former federal prosecutor Zach Dembo (D) in general election for open GOP-held #KY06. Trump won it 57-42 in 2023, but Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear carried it 60-40 the previous year. National Democrats have reserved close to $700,000 in fall ad time.

Stephen Wolf@stephenwolf.bsky.social · 3mo ago

The NYT's maps would hurt Black voters & are de facto GOP gerrymanders. The whole premise is flawed. It’s nonsensical that Dems would 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 a seat with "colorblind" nonpartisan maps—the GOP gerrymandered every state here except for AL & LA. Here's how nonpartisan maps might actually look. [Thread]

A graphic comparing two congressional district maps for eight Southern states shown side by side. On the left side are supposedly "colorblind" and "party-blind" maps that The New York Times' Nate Cohn drew by computer algorithms based only on two factors, compactness and limiting splits to counties and cities. The Republican majority in each state would be: Alabama: 6-1 Florida: 21-7 Georgia: 8-6 Louisiana: 5-1 Mississippi: 4-0 North Carolina: 9-5 South Carolina: 6-1 Tennessee: 7-2 Total: 66-23 Cohn's maps purport to be nonpartisan, and he claims Black voters would have just as much voting power without gerrymandering or Voting Rights Act districts as they did with the current maps that included Voting Rights Act-protected districts. However, on his maps, Democrats would lose one seat overall for just 23 total, and several majority-Black districts would be eliminated while he claims Black Democrats could win several crossover districts thanks to white Democratic voters. On the right are maps drawn by The Downballot's Stephen Wolf using a broad range of nonpartisan criteria, which include communities of interest—defined by shared culture, history, demographics, economics, etc.—natural geography, limiting splits to counties and cities, and compactness. These maps comply with the Voting Rights Act and state constitutional requirements. The 2024 election likely would have resulted in the following delegations for each state: Alabama: 5 Republicans, 2 Democrats Florida: 17 Republicans, 11 Democrats Georgia: 7 Republicans, 7 Democrats Louisiana: 4 Republicans, 2 Democrats Mississippi: 3 Republicans, 1 Democrat North Carolina: 7 Republicans, 7 Democrats South Carolina: 5 Republicans, 2 Democrats Tennessee: 7 Republicans, 2 Democrats Total: 55 Republicans, 34 Democrats
The Upshot@upshot.nytimes.com · 3mo ago

Our simulations show that the act isn’t needed for minority representation in the South, if partisan gerrymandering were checked. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/17/u...

Quinn Yeargain@yeargain.bsky.social · 3mo ago

this is the closest I've ever come to actually suggesting a "one neat trick" suggestion for anything, but I'm so serious here. the Virginia Constitution gives the legislature the power to set retirement ages for judges "REGARDLESS OF THE TERM TO WHICH ELECTED OR APPOINTED." make it 54 right now.

How Virginia Democrats can overturn the redistricting ruling: Retire the Supreme Court

The state Constitution gives lawmakers complete latitude to set the judicial retirement age. They should use it.

the-downballot.com

The Downballot@the-downballot.com · 6mo ago

The GOP just had its best chance to finally flip a legislative seat in Trump 2.0. Democrats had other ideas. Chasity Martinez just won a rural Trump+13 in the Louisiana House in a 24-point landslide—an overperformance of 37 points. Our complete writeup on this remarkable outcome -->

Breaking: Democrats resoundingly defend red district in Louisiana, denying GOP its first pickup

Republicans have yet to flip a single legislative seat since Trump's return

the-downballot.com

The Downballot@the-downballot.com · 6mo ago

What would happen if Trump tried to send troops to disrupt the midterms? Undaunted voters in the Twin Cities just gave us an answer: It could backfire very, very badly. New from The Downballot: A wild overperformance in St. Paul shows Minnesotans will "crawl over broken glass" to vote—despite ICE.

Minnesotans just showed they’ll ‘crawl over broken glass’ to vote, despite ICE terror

If Trump sends troops to disrupt voting, he could face a massive backlash

the-downballot.com

The Downballot@the-downballot.com · 6mo ago

LOL. Despite this being a Harris+71 seat, Democrat Meg Luger-Nikolai won tonight by a *91-point* margin. Easily one of the wildest overperformances we’ve ever seen, given the district’s deep, deep blue lean.

The Downballot@the-downballot.com · 6mo ago

Couple of special elections in very blue districts in the Twin Cities area tonight, though only one is contested. It's a +71 Harris seat, so hard for Democrats to overperform when the margins are already so lopsided, but we'll see. Big Board -->

Adam Serwer@adamserwer.bsky.social · 7mo ago

one takeaway from the grok noncon porn thing is that much of the media just isn't interested in an issue they can't pretend has two sides or that doesn't give them an opportunity to shit on the left. Also it would be uncomfortable to justify remaining on twitter after acknowledging it

Stephen Wolf@stephenwolf.bsky.social · 8mo ago

BREAKING: Indiana Republicans FAILED to pass a new 9-0 congressional gerrymander after enough GOP senators sided with Dems. The GOP's 7-2 map stays in place. Trump is trying to re-gerrymander maps nationwide. At least 11 Indiana Rs got death threats after he called for primaries—but it still failed

Image of Indiana Republicans’ attempted new congressional gerrymander that was designed to turn their currently gerrymandered 7-to-2 majority into a 9-to-0 majority. An accompanying chart displays the 2024 presidential results for each district. Every district is a shade of medium to dark red, and five districts crack the Indianapolis metropolitan area to prevent the heavily Democratic city and its suburbs from electing a Democrat or two. Two districts also split the Democratic-leaning northwest along Lake Michigan by combining the region with rural areas further south and east.