It's an excellent film~

Thank you to my brothers and sisters of Fond Du Lac local 400 for their endorsement of my campaign. Public safety workers, and all working people of this district deserve a voice to represent them in DC, rather than the interests of corporate lobbyists and billionaires.

The cycle of fear-based voting and deepening polarization keeps us trapped in the same broken two-party doom loop. It doesn’t have to be this way. Let’s break the loop. 🔄

Very exciting race this cycle

At 3 pm eastern today I am interviewing Dan Osborn about his independent Senate candidacy in Nebraska.

Tune in!

open.substack.com/live-stream/...

Same Voters, Different Winners: Why Head-to-Head Works YouTube video by Better Choices for Democracy

"Same Voters, Different Winners: Why Head-to-Head Works"

Great video of why election systems matter and why it matters for democracy: www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-oR...

Supreme Court Term Limits Staggered 18-year terms would bring regular turnover to the bench. The result would be a Court that better reflects prevailing public values.

I really like the idea of staggered 18-year terms. Pretty common sense. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/pol...

Last week Wisconsin and 26 other states rejected a DOJ settlement offer to Live Nation and Ticket Master. These two companies have functioned as a monopoly price gouging Americans at concert venues, and I commend these states for not giving in to the DOJ’s weak settlement offer.

A Home for Independents: Why I Joined the Forward Party I’ve spent more than two decades on the front lines of the major forces that have reshaped American democracy.

Mindy Finn joins the Forward movement. @fwdparty.bsky.social

"If we want a different kind of politics, one that is more responsive, more representative, and more solutions-oriented, we have to create competition and a better way."

www.forwardparty.com/media/blog/a...

The Coalition for Healthy Democracy - The Coalition for Healthy Democracy Across the country our political system is worse than ever. And Massachusetts is no longer the exception: we have the least competitive elections and the least transparent legislature in the country. ...

I recently learned of a group called Coalition for Healthy Democracy trying to bring CA's "top-two" system to Massachusetts. Totally insane you would look at CA and think you wanted to bring that system anywhere else.
coalitionforhealthydemocracy.org

Yes, great system, but with a slight tweak that the ranking stage should not be instant runoff voting, but instead something like BTR-IRV or "Consensus Choice". Otherwise you get weird results, like in the 2022 House special election, which can cause backlash.

bustingbigpolitics.com/mitigating-b...

It's sort of a Catch 22 because the Two Parties don't want ranked voting. Additional competition threatens their hold on power. In 2024, *both* parties were advocating against those reforms in all states it was on the ballot.

More details: bustingbigpolitics.com/team-overhau...

If you watch the film Majority Rules, I wonder if you would find that compelling. I was convinced they showed changing the system caused a better political discourse in Alaska.

The Coalition for Healthy Democracy - The Coalition for Healthy Democracy Across the country our political system is worse than ever. And Massachusetts is no longer the exception: we have the least competitive elections and the least transparent legislature in the country. ...

Yes. And that's why I was shocked to learn there is a group in Massachusetts trying to implement exactly that system for themselves. Crazy they would go through so much time and effort to try to implement such a bad system, no?
coalitionforhealthydemocracy.org

Fully agree. This is why election reform is the most important change to work on. We need an election system that *actually* reflects the will of the people.

Lots of people lament how Party Politics has replaced the system of checks and balances across branches of government - Forward Party is a movement actually trying to do something about it.

Using an election system like this would elevate our political discourse

Nice piece. I would just add that reforms like bottom-two runoff IRV and the "Consensus Choice" method that Better Choice for Democracy promote would also be great ways to make gerrymandering ineffective and break the two-party system.

More on BTR-IRV: bustingbigpolitics.com/btr-irv-a-vo...

Exactly right: "Winner-take-all elections mechanically produce two parties. Any third force either gets absorbed or destroyed. The two mega-organizations persist no matter how dysfunctional they become, because they don’t need to be good. They just need to be less unpopular than the other one."

Official statement on the Iran conflict

David French on the Iran attack and why we are right to question its manner, not because evildoers like Khamenei deserve better but because we do as citizens of a free republic. /1

Lot's of exciting campaigns this year!

Beyond the Label: Who Independents Are and Why They Matter in 2026 Headlines Say “Year of the Independent.” The Data Say It’s More Complicated.

There are a lot of independents. But they have diverse views and interests. Carah Ong Whaley has a piece today at the "Better Politics" Substack exploring the data on who these independent voters are, and how they might matter in 2026:

carahw.substack.com/p/beyond-the...

Chris Zillizza on the Forward Party Podcast: "more [political] competition is good for the average person"
Exactly right!
@chriscillizza.bsky.social @fwdparty.bsky.social @fwdvirginia.bsky.social

More details:
bustingbigpolitics.com/chris-cilliz...

Endorsed candidate for Governor Mike Newcome will be on At Issue with Tom Hauser this Sunday morning. Be sure to tune in to KSTP at 10:00 a.m. to hear him discuss the race and our vision for Minnesota.

'Every Vote Counts': What Women Leaders Know About Fixing Broken Political Systems—From Iceland to Washington The Reykjavík Global Forum in November gathered women to discuss using campaign funds for childcare, ranked-choice voting and online abuse.

'Every Vote Counts': What Women Leaders Know About Fixing Broken Political Systems—From Iceland to Washington msmagazine.com/2026/01/23/r...

Being independent is a good thing, right?

Like, are there really a lot of people out there thinking, “What I really need is to be trapped in a framework that takes away my options and doesn’t care what I think?”

This district includes Alexandria and parts of Arlington

Election reforms like ranked choice voting are extremely important to me. I've looked through the campaign websites of the four candidates, and the only one listing election reform or ranked choice voting is Mark Levine.

Don't threaten me with a good time!

#RCV #RankedChoiceVoting