More from The Appeal:
Proposed legislation would allow people accused of crimes to tell juries if they had a mental illness, autism spectrum disorder, or an intellectual or developmental disability at the time of a crime. The bill could have helped individuals like Matthew Rushin.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | February 24, 2021
The four candidates vying to replace the mayor are each promising to build a better St. Louis, and in a little over a week, voters will decide which visions they endorse.
Meg O'Connor | February 22, 2021
Months after footage emerged of officers fatally suffocating Daniel Prude, police were caught on video pepper-spraying a 9-year-old girl. Advocates say the incident highlights the shortcomings of Mayor Lovely Warren’s crisis response team.
Meg O'Connor | February 16, 2021
The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice.
Jody David Armour | February 11, 2021
The political paradigm emerging in Louisville is being formed by newcomers to local politics.
Jerry Iannelli | February 8, 2021
It’s the latest bill in the state legislature’s long history of meddling with voter-approved amendments.
Jerry Iannelli | January 27, 2021
The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes.
Jay Willis | January 22, 2021
More than 35 members of Congress signed a letter asking Biden to commute the sentences of the remaining 50 people on federal death row.
Meg O'Connor | January 22, 2021
There may be one reason for local progressives to support Walsh for the U.S. secretary of labor: He’ll leave town.
Jerry Iannelli | January 12, 2021
It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic.
By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so.
Jay Willis | December 18, 2020
Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists.
Zephyr Teachout | December 4, 2020
Incumbents Jimmy Flannigan and Alison Alter have been targeted by conservative challengers because of the council’s votes to cut police funding and repeal a ban on public camping.
Meg O'Connor | December 1, 2020
Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman has jumpstarted the state’s pardons process, while Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s self-styled progressivism isn’t winning over advocates.
Joshua Vaughn | November 24, 2020
None of the Austin City Council members who voted to cut police funding lost their elections, but a police union vice president who fearmongered about the defund movement did.
Meg O'Connor | November 20, 2020
In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway.
Jay Willis | November 18, 2020
A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly.
Jay Willis | November 12, 2020
Voters decided to keep Adel in charge of the third-largest prosecuting agency in the country. She is recovering from emergency surgery for bleeding in her brain.
Meg O'Connor | November 11, 2020
Fife has pledged to reinvest in the local community, aggressively combat the housing crisis, address income inequality, education, healthcare and more.
Eoin Higgins | November 9, 2020
Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise.
Aidan Smith | November 9, 2020
Candidates promising to remake Southern California’s legal system, won major races for DA, county supervisor, and City Council, among others while overcoming significant spending by pro-law enforcement groups.
Jerry Iannelli | November 6, 2020
Los Angeles County, with the country’s largest jail system and largest local prosecutor office, is considered a crown jewel in a nationwide push for criminal justice reform.
Eliyahu Kamisher | November 6, 2020
The ideological change is a boon for the left, as states prepare for redistricting in 2021 and the challenges that may come with it.
Joshua Vaughn | November 6, 2020
The LA County supervisors are poised to tackle a wide range of criminal justice reforms, including moving children and people struggling with mental health issues out of the criminal legal system, and redirecting millions of dollars away from law enforcement and back into communities.
Piper French | November 5, 2020
Current law mandated that the city have at least 1,971 full-time police officers.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | November 4, 2020
Jones has vowed to support expansion of the Supreme Court, back the Green New Deal, and push for criminal justice reform.
Lauren Gill | November 4, 2020
The chef and restaurant owner says she plans to support the fight for a $15 minimum wage and other reforms that will make ‘Wisconsin work better for more people.’
Dawn R. Wolfe | November 4, 2020
“I have always had a focus on public service, always a desire to make sure that I’m using my skills and talents to help people and to make the community around me a little bit better,” she said.
Dawn R. Wolfe | November 4, 2020
Hollins’s ‘very personal’ decision to run was sparked in part by the Trump administration ‘catching everything on fire.’ Now she wants to advocate for subsidized child care, police reform, and more.
Dawn R. Wolfe | November 4, 2020
Houston area voters re-elected Gonzalez after he supported bail reform, cleaned up the county jail, and provided aid to incarcerated people living with opioid use disorder.
Jerry Iannelli | November 4, 2020
The ballot initiative would have bloated prisons and jails in the state and undone important criminal legal reforms, advocates say.
Ray Levy Uyeda | November 4, 2020
Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices.
Jay Willis | November 4, 2020
Simmons, an attorney, is fighting to give people “a first chance so they won’t need a second chance later on in life.”
Eoin Higgins | November 4, 2020
Minnesotans, Fateh said, “should be able to access the folks that are representing us and make sure that they’re partnering with the community.”
Dawn R. Wolfe | November 4, 2020
Leger Fernandez wants to pass universal healthcare and improve infrastructure in tribal and rural communities.
Lauren Gill | November 3, 2020
“This economy doesn’t work for everyone; it works for very, very few people,” Newman said.
Cinnamon Janzer | November 3, 2020
Bowman has also advocated for an eviction moratorium and for rental payments to be cancelled for the duration of the pandemic.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | November 3, 2020
Bush’s victory in Missouri’s First Congressional District makes her the first Black woman elected to represent Missouri in Congress.
Lauren Gill | November 3, 2020
Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way.
David A. Love | November 3, 2020
First-time state Senate candidate Jackie Fielder’s housing plans are geared toward government investment, while incumbent Scott Wiener’s plans have relied on the construction of market rate housing with some affordable units.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | November 3, 2020
If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible.
Jay Willis | November 2, 2020
Sanchez is running for one of the state House seats that Democrats are hoping to flip.
Meg O'Connor | November 2, 2020
If he wins his bid to represent the state’s Sixth District, Hoadley says he would reallocate police funding, improve health care, and invest in rural communities.
Dawn R. Wolfe | November 2, 2020
The Second District candidate, who has been endorsed by more than 50 Black leaders in Omaha, also wants to make investments in Black and Latinx neighborhoods.
Lauren Gill | October 30, 2020
She is running for a historically Republican-controlled seat, and if she wins, it could help turn the state House blue.
Meg O'Connor | October 30, 2020
If she’s successful in her bid to represent Texas’s 24th Congressional District, Valenzuela will flip the district to blue and become the first Black and Latinx member of Congress.
Joshua Vaughn | October 30, 2020
The chef and restaurant owner is running for State Assembly in part to fight for a $15 minimum wage and other pro-worker reforms from within the halls of government.
Dawn R. Wolfe | October 30, 2020
If Chambers can unseat the Republican incumbent in her district, she said she’ll prioritize expanding Medicaid, improving public education funding, and lowering property taxes.
Meg O'Connor | October 29, 2020
The state representative wants to pass paid family leave, repeal Arizona’s pre-Roe vs. Wade abortion ban, and increase access to the ballot through automatic voter registration and same-day registration.
Meg O'Connor | October 29, 2020
Fatima Iqbal-Zubair, who seeks to represent South Central Los Angeles in the State Assembly, wants 'clean air, clean water, and clean food' for her constituents.
Jerry Iannelli | October 29, 2020
The party's national director tells The Appeal about candidates in New York, Washington, D.C., and New Mexico that the WFP would like to see oust the establishment.
Joshua Vaughn | October 28, 2020
Leger Fernandez, whose district includes Navajo Nation and several Pueblo reservations, wants to pass universal healthcare and improve infrastructure in tribal and rural communities.
Lauren Gill | October 28, 2020
Corporate backers of a group opposed to Proposition 21 don’t match the protective image it portrays. And a nonprofit that has contributed to supporters has been accused of financial improprieties.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | October 28, 2020
Newman, who is running for a U.S. House seat, wants Medicare for all, green jobs, and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
Cinnamon Janzer | October 27, 2020
Graybill’s experience with suing the state’s current AG, Tim Fox, to protect a land easement program “really pushed me over the edge,” he told The Appeal.
Dawn R. Wolfe | October 27, 2020
Quezada has supported progressive policies since starting out in the state legislature in 2012. He’s now running for his final term, which could be his most important, given the state’s changing power dynamics.
Meg O'Connor | October 27, 2020
‘Our Congress should be reflective of the people here, and it’s not,’ the Texas resident said.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | October 27, 2020
The current Democratic state senator, Jeff Hayden, lacks the progressive vision that Minnesotans seek, Fateh says.
Dawn R. Wolfe | October 26, 2020
A measure on the ballot next month would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote, a change that advocates say would crucially expand the voting pool.
Lauren Gill | October 23, 2020
Incumbent Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel is backed by police unions and has declined to charge officers in high-profile killings. Challenger Julie Gunnigle says she wants to create an independent unit to review police use-of-force cases.
Meg O'Connor | October 23, 2020
The Adolescent Redemption Project, a new group organized by Michigan prisoners sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, is advocating for progressive prosecutors.
Marcia Brown | October 22, 2020
Chrysta Castañeda wants to use the state Railroad Commission’s powers to stop energy companies from engaging in environmentally harmful practices like burning excess gas.
Jerry Iannelli | October 22, 2020
Efforts by elected leaders in several states are making it harder to get to the polls and fomenting misinformation about the election amid a pandemic.
Joshua Vaughn | October 21, 2020
The Board of Supervisors wields enormous power over a county government apparatus that includes the DA’s office, probation department, and sheriffs.
Piper French | October 21, 2020
The group is seeing real challenges posed by the pandemic, voter suppression tactics, and threats of intimidation.
Kira Lerner | October 20, 2020
The attorney, who is a person formerly convicted of a felony, has attracted support and praise from people around the country.
Eoin Higgins | October 20, 2020
If she wins her bid for office in November, Bush will become the first Black woman elected to represent Missouri in Congress.
Lauren Gill | October 19, 2020
If she wins at the ballot box in November, Agbaje would become the state’s first Nigerian American state legislator.
Dawn R. Wolfe | October 16, 2020
A coalition of organizations is hoping Michael Toomin, who is also unwilling to implement diversion programs, loses his retention election.
Kira Lerner | October 16, 2020
When it comes to public safety, Hollins doesn’t want to stop with reallocating police funding. She’d like her state to track both proven and alleged instances of police misconduct.
Dawn R. Wolfe | October 16, 2020
After defeating long-time incumbents in Democratic primaries, progressive candidates are championing cancelling rent and banning evictions.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | October 15, 2020
Jones, who is running in New York’s 17th District, says fighting systemic racism and hyperpartisanship are top priorities.
Lauren Gill | October 14, 2020
In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process.
Jay Willis | October 14, 2020
The state representative wants to bar landlords in Pennsylvania from reporting missed or late rent payments to credit agencies.
Joshua Vaughn | October 13, 2020
The party needs to win two state House seats and three state Senate seats in next month’s election to flip the chambers. Here are the candidates running in hotly contested races.
Meg O'Connor | October 13, 2020
DA Jackie Lacey and challenger George Gascón outlined diverging visions for the top prosecutor’s office in the nation’s most populous county.
Kira Lerner | October 9, 2020
The ballot initiative, supported by police, corporations, and even big grocery chains, would use more taxpayer money to incarcerate people, rather than invest in other social services.
Ray Levy Uyeda | October 8, 2020
Last week’s problems in New York were part of a widespread series of issues, both systemic and targeted, that are only now becoming fully apparent, activists say.
Eoin Higgins | October 8, 2020
Mayor Ted Wheeler’s popularity has declined after a summer of protests against police violence in the Oregon city.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | October 7, 2020
Proposition 17 would allow people with felony convictions to cast ballots while they are on parole.
Kira Lerner | October 6, 2020
Allister Adel paints herself as a reformer, but her record shows otherwise.
Meg O'Connor | October 5, 2020
Although some GOP election officials have moved to allow mail-in ballots to be counted early, outdated rules in other key Republican-led states could feed President Trump’s Election Day fearmongering.
Spenser Mestel | October 2, 2020
In her run for City Council, Fife pushes back on the institutional barriers to Black people that come from a history of oppression.
Eoin Higgins | October 1, 2020
If he becomes president and Democrats win the Senate, Biden should push a federal spending bill that includes money for civilian first-responder programs.
Aaron Stagoff-Belfort | October 1, 2020
Late-stage donations to the Los Angeles DA race increase concerns about the influence of law enforcement money on politics.
Piper French | September 24, 2020
In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future.
Tiffany Cabán | September 23, 2020
As the country reopens, we can’t quickly forget these failures of government, which have disproportionately harmed Black, Latinx, and Native people.
David A. Love | June 12, 2020
Governor Tate Reeves has touted the state’s testing efforts as ‘aggressive,’ but testing rates in the state’s prisons, where the coronavirus has already claimed at least one life, remain low.
Ko Bragg | May 13, 2020
‘This is by far, by far, the biggest impact on our people since our return from the Long Walk in 1868,’ a Navajo Nation leader said.
Daniel Moritz-Rabson | May 13, 2020
Governor Kristi Noem’s threat to sue two South Dakota tribes shows the callousness of her coronavirus plan, which seems to encourage exposure and prioritize the economy over the lives of at-risk Natives.
Ruth Hopkins | May 11, 2020
After a man incarcerated in a New Jersey state prison was hospitalized with COVID-19, he said he was handcuffed for 36 hours. The cuffs got tangled in his IV, causing it to rip out, he said. “It was so painful. You have no idea.”
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | May 5, 2020
Segregation not only increases individuals' exposure to the novel coronavirus, it also leaves them more susceptible to its effects and limits the quality of care they will receive, experts say.
Akilah Wise | May 5, 2020
An overwhelming majority of Americans support the federal government paying all healthcare costs for the duration of the coronavirus emergency.
Alison P. Galvani | April 30, 2020
‘I would go to the hospital very often and they wouldn’t do anything for me.’
Kim Kelly | April 23, 2020
A trio of cases in Wisconsin and Texas illustrates how Republican judges are feigning helplessness in the face of a public health crisis while furthering their own ends.
Jay Willis | April 22, 2020
The city has created the structural conditions that have engendered disproportionately high rates of infection and death among its Black and Latinx residents.
By letting people out now, we can avoid overwhelming our healthcare system with sick prisoners later.
Oliver Hinds | April 15, 2020
For many people across the U.S. who need methadone treatment, sheltering in place during the coronavirus outbreak is impossible.
Elizabeth Brico | April 15, 2020
Advocates say the “progressive” city has left them to die.
Rebecca Chowdhury | April 14, 2020
Recent successes in stemming the opioid crisis could be reversed if public health budgets are cut or the crisis is seen as secondary to the pandemic.
A Brooklyn teacher tried three times to get treatment for the coronavirus. Now she’s fighting for her life.
Erin Clare Brown | April 10, 2020