Andy Craig
@andycraig.bsky.social
@theunpopulist.net
Election law and policy, liberalism and democracy, and occasional pugs.
Election law and policy, liberalism and democracy, and occasional pugs.
A lot of discourse hasn't caught up with how the strong/somewhat breakdown is even more brutal. His core base of strong support is already falling below a quarter of voters! Even what approval he has is increasingly soft and halfhearted. Whereas disapprovers are much firmer in really hating the man.
November 7, 2025 at 3:16 PM
A lot of discourse hasn't caught up with how the strong/somewhat breakdown is even more brutal. His core base of strong support is already falling below a quarter of voters! Even what approval he has is increasingly soft and halfhearted. Whereas disapprovers are much firmer in really hating the man.
Said resistance was often a bit more emphatic than chucking some bread at a fed, too.
November 7, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Said resistance was often a bit more emphatic than chucking some bread at a fed, too.
TIL the Post has added, inline in their articles, an AI chatbot pop-up that invites you to ask questions of the gibberish machine that makes up facts.
Thanks, I hate it.
Thanks, I hate it.
November 4, 2025 at 9:41 PM
TIL the Post has added, inline in their articles, an AI chatbot pop-up that invites you to ask questions of the gibberish machine that makes up facts.
Thanks, I hate it.
Thanks, I hate it.
The Puerto Rico GOP has long been the more pro-statehood of the two national parties there. It's in their logo!
November 3, 2025 at 4:53 PM
The Puerto Rico GOP has long been the more pro-statehood of the two national parties there. It's in their logo!
Though I agree it's otherwise not an ideal ballot design, with the whole grid for party columns bit. More typical is something like this, which works just as well for fusion nominations.
October 31, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Though I agree it's otherwise not an ideal ballot design, with the whole grid for party columns bit. More typical is something like this, which works just as well for fusion nominations.
I see some grumbling that this is an unfair ballot design for Cuomo, but I don't see the problem. You have the major and minor party nominations and then a random order for the independent (technically, new party) nominations. It's not a favorable spot for Cuomo but they've got be in some order.
October 31, 2025 at 10:02 PM
I see some grumbling that this is an unfair ballot design for Cuomo, but I don't see the problem. You have the major and minor party nominations and then a random order for the independent (technically, new party) nominations. It's not a favorable spot for Cuomo but they've got be in some order.
No constitutional amendments needed. Adopting multi-member districts with proportional representation can be done by simple statute, easily the biggest structural reform we could adopt without having to amend the Constitution.
October 29, 2025 at 4:48 PM
No constitutional amendments needed. Adopting multi-member districts with proportional representation can be done by simple statute, easily the biggest structural reform we could adopt without having to amend the Constitution.
Isn't that some weird European thing? No! There's a long history going back to the Founders of trying to make legislatures more proportional. It's actually why single-member districts were mandated. And the main mathematical formulas for PR were invented in the US, for House apportionment.
October 29, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Isn't that some weird European thing? No! There's a long history going back to the Founders of trying to make legislatures more proportional. It's actually why single-member districts were mandated. And the main mathematical formulas for PR were invented in the US, for House apportionment.
Proportional representation makes gerrymandering moot, it doesn't work. You can do all the cracking and packing you want, all you've accomplished is shifting a party's seats from one district to another, because the seats still follower the voters whether they're a majority in the district or not.
October 29, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Proportional representation makes gerrymandering moot, it doesn't work. You can do all the cracking and packing you want, all you've accomplished is shifting a party's seats from one district to another, because the seats still follower the voters whether they're a majority in the district or not.
America's political geography means Democrats are naturally disadvantaged under single-member districts even if you draw fair, neutral maps. They are less efficiently distributed, perversely punished because they have *more* voters in both safe red seats and deep blue ones.
October 29, 2025 at 4:48 PM
America's political geography means Democrats are naturally disadvantaged under single-member districts even if you draw fair, neutral maps. They are less efficiently distributed, perversely punished because they have *more* voters in both safe red seats and deep blue ones.
Most likely, all this to at best eke out a net gain of a tiny number of seats won't even change who wins the House majority. But it's still bad and toxic. The whole thing is running of admitting voters don't really control their state's outcome, the party results are baked into the lines on the map.
October 29, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Most likely, all this to at best eke out a net gain of a tiny number of seats won't even change who wins the House majority. But it's still bad and toxic. The whole thing is running of admitting voters don't really control their state's outcome, the party results are baked into the lines on the map.
Single-member districts make the map wars inevitable. Trump's set off a more extreme version of it, but the race to the bottom incentives are baked into the system. It's not reasonable to expect a party to engage in unilateral disarmament. But the whole thing highlights the absurdity.
October 29, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Single-member districts make the map wars inevitable. Trump's set off a more extreme version of it, but the race to the bottom incentives are baked into the system. It's not reasonable to expect a party to engage in unilateral disarmament. But the whole thing highlights the absurdity.
Come on, Ninth Circuit en banc draw.
October 29, 2025 at 4:15 AM
Come on, Ninth Circuit en banc draw.
There are people who stay up at the observatory on the summit year round, professional meteorologists. The only way to get to it during those months is with this thing.
October 29, 2025 at 2:56 AM
There are people who stay up at the observatory on the summit year round, professional meteorologists. The only way to get to it during those months is with this thing.
Mt. Washington in late October? The cog railway only goes halfway up this time of year and even there it looks like this. This is where these people hopped off and thought yeah I'll just keeping strolling up into the freakish Extreme Frozen Hell zone.
October 29, 2025 at 2:45 AM
Mt. Washington in late October? The cog railway only goes halfway up this time of year and even there it looks like this. This is where these people hopped off and thought yeah I'll just keeping strolling up into the freakish Extreme Frozen Hell zone.
They are. It's a standard procedure. Every state does some form of it. Post-election audits were done in all of the swing states. People quibble over the best way to do it but it's complete misinformation to say it's not done at all.
October 28, 2025 at 8:46 AM
They are. It's a standard procedure. Every state does some form of it. Post-election audits were done in all of the swing states. People quibble over the best way to do it but it's complete misinformation to say it's not done at all.