The Progressive Midwesterner

President Donald Trump is floating a political trial balloon for potentially launching a government-run media outlet that, if launched, would serve as a taxpayer-funded, pro-Trump propaganda outlet that would be comparable to, for example, state-run media in authoritarian dictatorships like North Korea: President Trump on Monday suggested the government start its own television network as he voiced frustration with the way CNN in particular has covered his administration. "Throughout the world, CNN has a powerful voice portraying the United States in an unfair and false way. Something has to be done, including the possibility of the United States starting our own Worldwide Network to show the World the way we really are, GREAT!" Trump wrote on Twitter. It's important to note that Trump is already the beneficiary of pro-Trump propaganda from a segment of the corporate media, including Fox News, Sinclair-owned television stations, and right-wing talk radio. Furthermor...

Here's a couple of interesting points of analysis about the elections in North Dakota earlier this month, which included a whopping 13 (!!!) statewide elections in North Dakota this year (two federal legislative elections, six state executive elections, one state supreme court election, and four state referenda). First, soon-to-be-former U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (DNPL-ND) got a similar percentage of the vote in her unsuccessful U.S. Senate re-election bid this year to the percentage of the vote that she received in her unsuccessful gubernatorial bid in 2000. Here's a set of maps, courtesy of J. Miles Coleman of Decision Desk HQ, comparing the 2018 U.S. Senate election in North Dakota to the 2000 gubernatorial election in North Dakota: The #NDSen result this year was very similar to 2000, when Heitkamp ran for Governor. She lost to John Hoeven by 10% then. Most of her gains in 2018 were around Fargo & in American Indian counties. The western region, however, has gotten...

U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH) is considering a bid for U.S. House Speaker , as it's not clear if the presumed Speaker-designate, U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), has enough votes to be elected speaker in the upcoming Congress that will be sworn into office in January of next year. While I'm open to the idea of new leadership of the House Democrats (I believe that U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) would be a fantastic House Speaker, although, if I recall correctly, she is running for Democratic caucus chair instead of the Democratic nomination for House Speaker), nearly all of the serious opposition to Pelosi within the House Democratic caucus is ideologically to the right of Pelosi, meaning that, if Fudge or anyone else who is supported by the faction of anti-Pelosi Democrats who want to shift the Democratic Party rightward is elected Speaker, there will be immediate criticism towards Fudge or whoever else the new Speaker would be from progressives and Pelosi loyalists, two factions...

Thirty years ago, 1988 Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis actually won an Illinois county that neighbors Champaign County (specifically, Vermilion County), while losing Champaign County en route to losing Illinois as a whole as part of a landslide loss nationally to Republican George H.W. Bush. 1988 was the last time a Democratic presidential nominee lost Champaign County, but, until Tuesday, Champaign County had a strong Republican machine that, with few exceptions, dominated countywide elections. On Tuesday, the blue wave hit Champaign County in a big way, with all of the Democratic statewide candidates carrying Champaign County on the way to statewide victory (even Republican attorney general candidate Erika Harold, who is from Urbana, lost her home county on the way to losing statewide to Democratic Attorney General-elect Kwame Raoul), and Democratic countywide candidates in Champaign County winning five countywide races, including the newly-created office of county ...

Since the population of the average state legislative district in North Dakota is significantly less less than the population of, for example, the population of the average state senate district in my home state of Illinois, it's, as far as I'm aware of, not common to see television advertising for state legislative candidates in North Dakota. However, the all-female Democratic-NPL slate of candidates in North Dakota state legislative district 17, which includes part of Grand Forks County in the northeastern part of the state, is running a high-quality television advertisement featuring state senate candidate Phyllis Johnson and state house candidates Monte Gaukler and Angela Urlacher engaging in conversations with voters: There is immense energy working cooperatively with empowered women. @Angela_Urlacher , Phyllis Johnson, and I have enjoyed our journey together and we are hoping to travel to Bismarck. We would appreciate your support on November 6th. #WorkingTogetherMovin...

After eight years of busting labor unions, mismanaging Wisconsin state government, and alienating some of his own former state cabinet members, it appears that Wisconsinites have finally had enough of Scott Walker's destruction of Wisconsin. It is my hope that this is the final time that I will write a blog post criticizing Walker. Unlike the failed 2012 recall attempt against Walker and the 2014 general election, this time feels a lot different in regards to Democratic prospects of defeating Walker. One reason why Walker is in bigger electoral trouble than in previous elections is because of the Democratic challenger who is running against Walker this year. Unlike past Democratic opponents against Walker, which included Tom Barrett and Mary Burke, Tony Evers is already well-established in Wisconsin politics as the state superintendent of public instruction, so he had an iron-clad electability argument that was one of numerous reasons why he was able to win the Democratic guber...

Yesterday, I created this spreadsheet containing a county-by-county analysis of the 2018 early vote in North Dakota, as of October 20. Early voting participation in North Dakota has been high: some North Dakota counties have already seen numbers of received early vote ballots that are more than one-quarter of the total number of overall votes cast in the 2012 U.S. Senate election in North Dakota. Here are some important notes regarding the analysis of the North Dakota early vote so far: As of this writing, no votes have been actually counted for any candidates in North Dakota in the 2018 elections; vote totals for specific candidates are not reported until after the Election Day polls close. Unlike every other U.S. state, North Dakota lacks voter registration, so there aren't official early voting statistics based on party registration and/or race like some, but not all, other states provide. The North Dakota Secretary of State's office maintains a drop-down list of earl...