Elections

Robert Reich - Last week, I listed the top four potential Democratic candidates by current name recognition: Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, Pete Buttigieg, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Out of the 7,174 of you who voted on these four, only 6 percent chose Kamala Harris; 12 percent were for Gavin Newsom; 26 percent of you chose Pete Buttigieg; and 6 percent were for AOC. The rest of you — 49 percent — wanted someone else.

So today we’re going to focus on the top “someone else” options in current polls: Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. (That still leaves a “third tier” comprising California Congressman Ro Khanna, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and former congressman and Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel — all of whom we’ll get to soon.)

Here’s a summary of the current second tier’s pros and cons.

The Congressional Insider - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just dropped a bombshell congressional map that could hand Republicans four extra House seats, supercharging GOP control just in time for the 2026 midterms.

DeSantis unveiled the map hours before a special legislative session, aiming to shift Florida’s delegation from 20-8 Republican to potentially 24-4.

The plan corrects Florida’s “shortchanged” representation from the 2020 Census amid massive population growth and a 1.5 million Republican registration edge.

..... Initiated at President Trump’s urging, this mid-decade redistricting counters Virginia’s recent Democratic gains and tests Florida’s anti-gerrymandering rules.