2025/2026 Elections Congressional & State

[kalm]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Among 14 prominent U.S. and global figures, Pope Leo XIV has the most positive image by far, with many more Americans viewing him favorably than unfavorably. His 57% favorable rating and 11% unfavorable rating result in a +46 net-favorable score, far ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (+18) and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (+11).

French President Emmanuel Macron and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are each viewed about equally positively as negatively, with large percentages having no opinion of each. All other figures rated in the July 7-21 Gallup poll are viewed unfavorably on balance. This ranges from a slightly negative tilt for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (-5) to strongly negative skews for Elon Musk (-28) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (-23).


Net favorability is most effective for these comparisons because it accounts for large differences in Americans’ familiarity with the various figures, ranging from nearly universal awareness of President Donald Trump, former President Joe Biden and Musk to less than two-thirds knowing enough about Macron or Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to rate them.

Other newsmakers rated more negatively than positively are Biden (-11), Vice President JD Vance (-11), California Gov. Gavin Newsom (-11), Hegseth (-12), Trump (-16) and Secretary of State Marco Rubio (-16).

https://news.gallup.com/poll/693155/pop ... akers.aspx

[BDKJMU]

Do those districts look as absurd as that MD one?

Mr. BDKnitpicker, whether they look absurb or not is irrelevant to the bullshit statement that Republicans are "finally playing the Democrats game".

Nope, it’s completely relevant.

A district doesn't have to look absurd to be gerrymandered. Republicans have been engaging in gerrymandering for political gain for a long time and are not victims of Democrat

Sure, but there’s different levels of gerrymandering. And conks are finally playing the gerrymandering game to the level the donks are at.

[UNI88]

Mr. BDKnitpicker, whether they look absurb or not is irrelevant to the bullshit statement that Republicans are "finally playing the Democrats game".

Nope, it’s completely relevant.

A district doesn't have to look absurd to be gerrymandered. Republicans have been engaging in gerrymandering for political gain for a long time and are not victims of Democrat

Sure, but there’s different levels of gerrymandering. And conks are finally playing the gerrymandering game to the level the donks are at.

That's your opinion. Mine is that both sides have been doing it for a long time. And the data backs me up that Republicans are already just as guilty as Democrats.

It's a race to the bottom and it's idiotic. It's a tit-for-tat game and pushing Texas to do it is demonstrative of self-centered, poor leadership.

[UNI88]

[BDKJMU]

Shouldn‘t this be in the ‘MAQA Civil War‘ thread?

[UNI88]

Shouldn‘t this be in the ‘MAQA Civil War‘ thread?

I thought about it. It fits in both.

[BDKJMU]

[BDKJMU]

[kalm]

Indeed.

The richest country on earth can afford these things. But hey…tax cuts and shit.

[UNI88]

Indeed.

The richest country on earth can afford these things. But hey…tax cuts and shit.

That ad rocks!

[UNI88]

The ALL CAPS deadline and hinting at a major deadline is a nice touch. Will he NACO?

[BDKJMU]

The ALL CAPS deadline and hinting at a major deadline is a nice touch. Will he NACO?

Newsom’s congressional redistricting drive in California faces political and legal hurdles
https://calmatters.org/commentary/2025/ ... g-hurdles/

[BDKJMU]

Oh, and to counter Newscum, if he does CA, conks will raise him:
-FL
-OH
-IN
-SC
-MO
-NH

….Vice President JD Vance, meanwhile, headed to Indiana last week to urge Republicans in the Hoosier state to also create a new map. Separately, Ohio is mandated to redraw districts in the state, while talks are underway in Missouri, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida. In total, Republicans could gain 10 or more seats ahead of the midterms….

In a Monday afternoon interview with Fox News, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to escalate his state’s redistricting plans if Newsom moves forward with retaliatory redistricting.

“If California thinks they’re going to move their needle to the extreme and eliminate five Republican numbers of the United States Congress there, Texas is not going to do five: We will add 10 more Republican seats using the same procedure they are using in California,” Abbott said….

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/1 ... p-00502701
Bring it on Newscum!

[Bobcat]

Newscum must suck at math

[UNI88]

'It's high season for hypocrisy': The godfather of the Indiana GOP slams Trump's redistricting push

Former Gov. Mitch Daniels said he didn’t “see the point” of redistricting in Indiana, just as Vice President JD Vance was in the state pressing Republicans for an edge in the contest for control of the House.

“It would just be wrong,” Daniels told POLITICO. “People there have a right to pick the person they want.”
...
Daniels had sharp criticism for President Donald Trump’s redistricting push, saying the president “could’ve just kept quiet.”

“By spouting off in that way, he turns it into this partisan wrangle that we now see,” Daniels said in the interview.

Still, Daniels accused Democrats of having a history of using redistricting against Republicans over the years.

“It’s high season for hypocrisy,” he added, noting Democrats have also gerrymandered.

A Real Republican adult who actually knows how to lead and make things better pushes back against the RINOs pushing for redistricting.

[UNI88]

A strange GOP divide is forming over Trump’s gerrymandering plans

But some senior GOP members of the impacted state delegations are quietly raising concerns about the fallout, though they ultimately fear crossing the president. Other Republicans — particularly those in blue states — are increasingly vocal about the potential fallout as Democratic governors threaten to redraw or outright erase their already difficult-to-win districts in retaliation for Trump’s plan.

New York Rep. Mike Lawler blasted the Trump-driven effort in Texas as “wrong,” while California Rep. Doug LaMalfa warned Texas’ gambit “is going to start a grass fire across the country.” Another New York Republican, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, said she’s “not somebody who’s supportive of any type of gerrymandering.”

House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, the Maryland delegation’s lone Republican, cautioned that “we should probably shy away from mid-cycle redistricting” but also told reporters last week that it’s “pretty hypocritical of Democrats to complain” and if they “want to roll the dice in Maryland, let them roll the dice. … I look forward to more Republican colleagues.”

Qualms are cropping up in other corners. Utah Rep. Blake Moore, the vice chair of the House Republican Conference who previously co-chaired the anti-gerrymandering group Better Boundaries, called mid-decade redistricting “a step too far.” A Utah district judge is poised to rule on a redistricting lawsuit that could force the GOP-controlled Legislature to redraw its congressional boundaries.

[Caribbean Hen]

“Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., declined CNN's invitation to hold a debate between herself and her GOP rival, Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, for the commonwealth's gubernatorial race”

Of course she did

[DSUrocks07]

“Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., declined CNN's invitation to hold a debate between herself and her GOP rival, Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, for the commonwealth's gubernatorial race”

Of course she did

Earle-Sears would the first black governor of Virginia since Wilder in 1990. And, the first female governor of the state in history.

I love when identity politics backfire on the left.

Sent from my SM-S928U1 using Tapatalk

[Bobcat]

Sears is awesome

[Caribbean Hen]

“Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., declined CNN's invitation to hold a debate between herself and her GOP rival, Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, for the commonwealth's gubernatorial race”

Of course she did

Earle-Sears would the first black governor of Virginia since Wilder in 1990. And, the first female governor of the state in history.

I love when identity politics backfire on the left.

Sent from my SM-S928U1 using Tapatalk

Yes, I’m a big fan of hers…. Old school Jamaican upbringing

[BDKJMU]

“Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., declined CNN's invitation to hold a debate between herself and her GOP rival, Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, for the commonwealth's gubernatorial race”

Of course she did

Earle-Sears would the first black governor of Virginia since Wilder in 1990. And, the first female governor of the state in history.

I love when identity politics backfire on the left.

Sent from my SM-S928U1 using Tapatalk

Earle-Sears would be the 52nd female to have served as a gov of a state, but the 1st black female gov of any state in US history.

Now VA is about equally as blue as NJ, both about 7.5 points to the left of the country in 2024 (Trump nationally +1.5, Harris won NJ by about 5.9 and VA by about 5.8). Will be tough for a conk to win either.

[BDKJMU]

The ALL CAPS deadline and hinting at a major deadline is a nice touch. Will he NACO?

Newsom’s congressional redistricting drive in California faces political and legal hurdles
https://calmatters.org/commentary/2025/ ... g-hurdles/

LoL from left leaning Politico.

[BDKJMU]

Could go in the Culture Wars thread as well..

[UNI88]

There’s Only One Real Way for Democrats to Disarm Texas Gerrymandering

There is a way out of this death spiral. It involves a simple concept: automation. By enacting a law that would automatically gerrymander California’s maps if and only if Republican-controlled legislatures do so first, California officials can make clear that the choice is entirely in the hands of Republican state legislators. In other words, just as automated nuclear retaliation systems helped prevent a horrific strike during the Cold War, a similar approach can stop the gerrymandering race to the bottom before it’s too late.

Here’s how the plan would work. A blue state like California, or perhaps New York, could adopt a system similar to the one it presently has, with an independent bipartisan commission drawing the state’s congressional map. Like the current system, the law could require the commission to account for certain criteria like making districts contiguous and compact. Then the new system would add a critical, novel factor: The commission must draw congressional districts to ensure national partisan balance so the percentage of Republican and Democratic seats in Congress closely corresponds to the number of votes for Republicans and Democrats nationwide.

[BDKJMU]

Boom!