Mary Ellen Klas
@maryellenklas.bsky.social
Politics and Policy Columnist, Bloomberg Opinion. Formerly: Miami Herald, Nieman fellow. St. Paul native. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/authors/AWmDah46OJk/mary-ellen-klas
Trump appears increasingly desperate to wrest control over mail ballots. But voting in the November midterms has already begun and so has the chaos he's seeking. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Trump's Mail-Ballot Attack Is Already Sowing Midterm Chaos
Over the holiday weekend, the Trump administration appealed a Friday ruling on mail-in ballots, asking the US Supreme Court to allow it to use the US Postal Service to choke off access to the voting m...
bloomberg.com
NEW: Data advocates with The Census Project tell Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick they're concerned about the indefinite delay of new results from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey after the Trump admin banned a data privacy protection technique that the bureau had used for decades
thecensusproject.org
Food prices just keep rising. They were a problem for Democrats in 2024. They're a problem for the GOP in 2026 — and will likely be a problem in 2028 because the administration's policies have price pressures baked in for months. @opinion.bloomberg.com Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
The Fight Over Food Prices Won’t End Soon
Food prices play an outsized role in how Americans view affordability. When you’re bombarded with bigger price tags and shrinking product sizes on every trip to the grocery store, it’s an in-your-face...
bloomberg.com
Politicians are using AI ads in increasingly sophisticated ways. Do you know what you’re looking at? @opinion.bloomberg.com Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
Welcome to the ‘You Can’t Trust Your Own Eyes’ Election
AI slop is taking over political communication. What could go wrong?
bloomberg.com
Most voters like vaccines. The GOP seems to have forgotten that — most obviously in Florida. @opinion.bloomberg.com Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Florida Is the Epicenter of the GOP’s Vaccine Problem
Republicans have painted themselves into a corner by undermining vaccines. Nowhere is this clearer than Florida, where the outgoing Republican governor and his potential successor have tried to use va...
bloomberg.com
Why did Trump go to the mat for Darline Graham, even though her opponent was almost as MAGA? Here's why, and why it matters. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Trump-Backed Candidates Are Costing the GOP Its Future
Darline Graham, sister to former South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, romped to victory Tuesday over Republican Congressman Ralph Norman, a MAGA conservative, on the strength of her family name and ...
bloomberg.com
President Trump has always liked to boast about the loyalty of his voters. But in South Texas, where the construction industry is being battered by immigration raids, industry leaders are starting to defect from the GOP. (@maryellenklas.bsky.social) 🎁Gift article: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
These Texas Builders Backed Trump. They’ve Had Enough
President Donald Trump has always liked to boast about the loyalty of his voters. But in South Texas, where the construction industry is being battered by immigration raids, industry leaders are start...
bloomberg.com
The 2026 primaries uncovered a yawning enthusiasm gap between Republicans and Democrats. The best part is, voters are taking charge. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
A Voter Enthusiasm Gap Is Steering the Midterms
We’re near the end of the 2026 primary election season and the state of American democracy is looking — sigh of relief — better than expected.
bloomberg.com
Florida Democrats just nominated a DSA member for the Senate, and a former Republican for governor. That's a big tent. Will it be too big? Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Florida Democrats Aren’t in Disarray. They’re in Disagreement
Florida demonstrated on Tuesday that the Democratic Party’s identity crisis is alive and well. It’s the latest signal that while the midterm election will be a referendum on the president’s performanc...
bloomberg.com
Trump tried to abolish Head Start last year. That failed, so now the White House is trying something sneakier. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
This Federal Program Is So Effective, the White House Can’t Stand It
Imagine a federally subsidized preschool program for the neediest families that not only allowed parents to work full-time but also set children up to become better students, earn higher wages, use fe...
bloomberg.com
Mass deportation has disrupted Texas' construction sector. It's leading some Trump-voting builders to abandon the GOP. Could Texas turn purple in November? Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
These Texas Builders Backed Trump. They’ve Had Enough
President Donald Trump has always liked to boast about the loyalty of his voters. But in South Texas, where the construction industry is being battered by immigration raids, industry leaders are start...
bloomberg.com
For the thousands of children who come to the US alone, a government lawyer is a lifeline. But the Trump administration won't pay the bills - so it can accelerate their deportation. Are Americans really okay with doing this to powerless children? Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Immigrant Kids Deserve to Keep Their Lawyers
The Trump administration has jettisoned the way thousands of immigrant children receive legal help. On Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services ended the contract with the Acacia Center for...
bloomberg.com
Texas Democrats have hammered out a platform that tries to let the state party agree to disagree on Israel. The national party should be paying attention. The divide could rip their "big tent." Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Texas Can Teach Democrats How to Disagree on Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington this week as the American public is undergoing a generational shift in how it views his country — especially among Democrats.
bloomberg.com
My time lapse of the Gironde #fire near Bordeaux, viewed on Friday afternoon from about 20 km distance. One minute compressed into 5 seconds. #GlobalHeating
Before we descend completely into one-party rule in every state, it's time to rethink the winner-take-all, single-member-district system. The answer is proportional representation and here's how it works: prospect.org/2026/07/22/p...
Proportional Representation Gets a New Look - The American Prospect
Supreme Court decisions and unrestrained partisan gerrymandering are focusing attention on a fundamental election reform. But one version is more feasible than the others.
prospect.org
There’s a high price when there’s no plan to end a war: Two US service members killed in Iran strike on Jordan. wapo.st/4vWmZ17
2 U.S. service members killed, 1 missing after Iran attack on Jordan, military says
Iran launched a wave of attacks on U.S. allies Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain as the U.S. military hit Iran, in the seventh consecutive day of clashes.
wapo.st
"In normal times, these threats would engender widespread outrage. But the sheer number of attacks on the election framework in this country have become a blurry backdrop to everything else going on. It’s time to sharpen our senses." 🎁🔗
Mary Ellen Klas@maryellenklas.bsky.social · 2mo agoCourts keep blocking Trump's election restrictions. He's not listening. So, everyone else: please pay attention. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
There is a way to force dark money into the open. Hawaii and Montana have the plan. They're the test case that aims to undercut the Supreme Court's ruling that money is speech and it couldn’t have come along at a better time. via @opinion.bloomberg.com Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Two States Are Making the Case That Money Isn't Political Speech
Who should have more power — the people of the states or the corporations that are authorized by them? For legislators in Hawaii and Montana, the answer is most definitely the former, not the latter. ...
bloomberg.com
250 years ago, Americans risked everything for a chance to govern themselves. But courage is a choice. Do we still have that kind of revolutionary courage to redirect ourselves? Here's to flashes of hope. Happy 4th! Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
US Democracy Wasn’t Inevitable. Neither Is 250 More Years
The 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence is a good time to remember that the American Revolution wasn’t inevitable. It took a series of tremendous acts of courage.
bloomberg.com
Courts keep blocking Trump's election restrictions. He's not listening. So, everyone else: please pay attention. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Courts Aren’t Buying Trump’s Voting Lies. He’s Not Giving Up
President Donald Trump’s assault on elections took another hit Monday when the US Supreme Court rejected a Republican bid to restrict mail voting. In a 5-4 decision, the justices upheld Mississippi’s ...
bloomberg.com
The Trump administration wanted to put an ICE mega-prison in Social Circle, Georgia. The GOP-voting town said: not today. Gift link:/1 www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
How a Conservative Georgia Town Defeated an ICE Mega-Prison
A tiny town in rural Georgia, which four months ago was destined to become the home of a massive Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center, has fought the White House and won.
bloomberg.com
Florida needs property tax reform, just not the Soviet style version of centralized government they just put on the November ballot. Best to reject it and come back with something that preserves representative government. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
DeSantis’ Plan to Gut Property Taxes Is a Soviet Power Grab
Florida legislators have approved an amendment for the November ballot that gives new meaning to the phrase “the red state of Florida.” Think Soviet, not Republican.
bloomberg.com
Florida needs property tax reform, just not the Soviet style version of centralized government they just put on the November ballot. Best to reject it and come back with something that preserves representative government. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
DeSantis’ Plan to Gut Property Taxes Is a Soviet Power Grab
Florida legislators have approved an amendment for the November ballot that gives new meaning to the phrase “the red state of Florida.” Think Soviet, not Republican.
bloomberg.com
Texans voted for change. But Ken Paxton's blind fealty to Trump isn't exactly transformational. via @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Ken Paxton Ran as a 'Change' Candidate. How Ironic
“Today, change was on the ballot, and change won,” Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, declared in his victory speech an hour after polls closed in Tuesday’s runoff election. Paxton, buoyed by a l...
bloomberg.com
Miami is the new San Francisco, with the highest out-migration rate of all large metros. jedkolko.substack.com/p/with-less-...
t's been almost two years since I suggested it was time Jill Biden do some explaining about her role in her husband's presidency. She had an obligation to do it then but is doing it now -- to sell her book. That took too long. My column from July 2024: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Jill Biden Has Some Explaining To Do
The first lady has gone beyond the role of protector-in-chief. She’d better be prepared for the scrutiny and questions.
bloomberg.com
"Trump and Paxton understand what Cornyn doesn’t: Voters will overlook legal transgressions and character flaws if a candidate promises change. It can be vague and aspirational — like “drain the swamp” — as long as it sounds good and signals the candidate rejects the status quo." 🎁🔗
Mary Ellen Klas@maryellenklas.bsky.social · 3mo agoTexans voted for change. But Ken Paxton's blind fealty to Trump isn't exactly transformational. via @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Texans voted for change. But Ken Paxton's blind fealty to Trump isn't exactly transformational. via @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Ken Paxton Ran as a 'Change' Candidate. How Ironic
“Today, change was on the ballot, and change won,” Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, declared in his victory speech an hour after polls closed in Tuesday’s runoff election. Paxton, buoyed by a l...
bloomberg.com
Trump may have defeated Thomas Massie, but it came with a cost. Massie exposed the sorry condition of the Republican Party and how voters abandoned conservative principles for allegiance to a narcissist. But he also tapped into a truth. via @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Trump’s Massie Smackdown May Cost Him in November
President Donald Trump’s GOP revenge tour reached a new level on Tuesday with the expensive defeat of Congressman Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who dared to challenge the president over his a...
bloomberg.com
