Ballotpedia is keeping a close eye on ballot measures across the country as we head towards November 8th. Managing Editor for the Ballot Measures Team, Ryan Byrne, and staff writer, Victoria Rose, are digging into ballot measure trends that have been identified this year across a myriad of topics including abortion, marijuana, voting policy, and more.
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Why One Young Engineer Rejects the Two‑Party Binary
Aug 30, 2026
When Joshua Summers was in elementary school, his dad would come to class to perform science experiments. One time, they did an experiment to show how lightning bugs lit up.
“That was pretty cool,” he says. There was never one moment that drew him to science, but it may have helped that his mother was a nurse and his father was a mathematician.
“I was raised in a house where the benefits of science were made known,” says Joshua. “It can help you get ahead in life if you align your beliefs with something that can be proven. You’re just going to be able to do more.”
The popular science-infused YouTube channel Vsauce and his high school physics class helped him get into the University of Pittsburgh, where he recently completed a degree in mechanical engineering. So too did Minecraft, the sandbox multiplayer game where players can gather resources and build structures.
“I think Minecraft actually had a huge effect on me,” he says. The game’s constraints made it interesting. “You can’t do everything in the game, but you have to use the building blocks of the game to do what you want. And to me, that’s what engineering is.”
These days, he designs printed circuit boards at a lab. He’s hoping to pursue graduate study in engineering, with long-term aspirations to work in a university lab or for the Department of Energy.
“Being a scientific thinker can help you avoid a lot of fallacies,” he says. “You can have as many beliefs as you want, but believing in science helps you make sure that your beliefs are aligned with reality.”
That mindset applies to realms beyond engineering—including politics. An independent voter, Joshua seeks exposure to different viewpoints. Collecting many perspectives, like data, helps him sharpen his political positions.
“Imagine you’re looking at a house,” he says. “If everyone is standing on the north side of the house and looking at it, you’re only going to have twenty-five percent of the picture. You don’t know what exists on the other sides.”
However, hearing different voices can clarify the picture: “If you have people on the other side all looking at it, and you’re all communicating, you can have a better view of the house and a more informed view.”
A more informed view also entails going beyond the Democrat-versus-Republican binary. “I think if there was a two-party system and one of the parties perfectly represented my views, maybe I wouldn’t be complaining.”
Yet, he says, nuance across many political issues prevents him from affiliating with either party. With guns, for example, he sees some value in safety regulations: “I think you can treat a gun in some ways like a car,” he says. “But I’m not someone who’s like, ‘we should ban all of them.’ I think giving some power to the common citizen is a good thing.”
On foreign policy, he doesn’t identify as a hawk. “But I’m not pro-appeasement. As a Jewish person, I look at the historical background of what happened in World War II, and obviously, I don’t want that to happen again.”
But he doesn’t allocate too much political attention to the big issues. “If everyone spends their energy and money trying to get, for example, abortion or gun laws changed, we’re at a political equilibrium. We’ve been debating these issues for hundreds of years.”
In contrast, government reform has greater potential. “I think something like entropy exists in the government. It’s like rust. In general, the forces of business interests and all of these people add rust to the machine. And I think our government could operate more efficiently, like a brand new car. We can do things to get rid of the rust.”
Some starting points include making it easier to pay taxes, imposing term limits, and instituting prohibitions on stock trading by members of Congress. These issues go beyond viewing politics through a “Democrat” or “Republican” lens.
“From a general standpoint, only having two options is a terrible thing,” he says. “If you went to the grocery store and there were only two types of bread, two types of fruit—they only had apples and oranges—and there was no variation, it would suck.”
Harry Patton is Managing Editor of Independent Pennsylvanians and a Swarthmore College Lang Social Impact Fellow.
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Understanding The Dissolution of Federal DEI Offices and Initiatives: Debate and Implications
Aug 30, 2026
This nonpartisan policy brief, written by an ACE fellow, is republished by The Fulcrum as part of our partnership with the Alliance for Civic Engagement and our NextGen initiative — elevating student voices, strengthening civic education, and helping readers better understand democracy and public policy.
Background
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is a buzzword often used in political spaces, and its implementations, or lack thereof, have repercussions on many groups. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts are organizational policies and initiatives that aim to equitably distribute opportunities and to create accepting workplaces for marginalized populations. These policies create hiring and recruitment guidelines to hire, retain, and promote individuals from those backgrounds. Supporters of these policies argue they are necessary in driving meaningful social progress, while critics argue they subordinate the role of merit in awarding opportunities.
A Recent History of Executive Orders on Federal DEI
In 2021, President Joe Biden issued Executive Order (E.O.) 13985. It was intended to provide reparations to marginalized communities in an effort to advance social and economic equity. It functioned by directing agencies to establish equity action plans and create DEI departments in federal offices. The order also created diversity-focused hiring initiatives and required the progress of DEI programs to be tracked.
In 2025, President Trump issued E.O. 14151 to roll back Biden-era DEI programs. The order characterized Biden’s DEI initiatives as unlawful and discriminatory, and claimed the programs had been embedded across virtually all federal government operations. E.O. 14151 also revoked E.O. 11246, which was signed in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson to protect federal contractors from discrimination.
The Trump administration used this order to inform the Office of Personnel Management’s hiring plan, stating that “the hiring freeze” related to reducing the federal workforce “required that agencies only hire for mission-critical roles.” Social service departments and DEI-related offices were disproportionately impacted during broader, agency-wide layoffs.
Arguments Against DEI Rollbacks in the Federal Workforce
Critics of federal DEI rollbacks contend that dissolving DEI initiatives is an economic attack on Black American communities. Opponents draw attention to data from the Economic Policy Institute, which showcases the change in employment rates of Black women between 2024 and 2025; the net decrease in employed Black women was driven primarily by the loss of public-sector jobs, especially within the federal government. This trend is also noticed in metro areas in the U.S., coinciding with the Trump administration’s attacks on DEI through federal hiring. The Economic Policy Institute also found that 10 different metro areas making up 38.6 percent of the black labor force have experienced increased job losses, as well as a decrease in median household income.
Opponents of DEI rollbacks also point out that these initiatives are detrimental to veterans. E.O. 14151 directed government agencies to eliminate all DEI positions, including those in the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA). As a result, all staff with DEI-related positions at the VA were placed on administrative leave within 60 days of the order’s signing.
Opponents argue the order could result in decreased safeguards and workplace protections for disabled workers in the United States. Biden’s order embedded DEI performance requirements and disability inclusion mandates into federal hiring; these initiatives also ended within 60 days of Trump’s order being signed.
Arguments for DEI Rollbacks in the Federal Workforce
Proponents of rollbacks express concerns that DEI initiatives can cause preferential treatment towards minorities at the expense of non-minority candidates. The Heritage Foundation’s analysis on DEI in the federal workforce, specifically within the Department of State, found that the agency’s approach prioritized the sex of employees over performance indicators. The report concludes that the department should depoliticize hiring and promotion processes and return to merit-based principles.
The CATO institute, another supporter of DEI rollbacks, analyzed fiscal waste around DEI and equitable hiring initiatives. The Institute claims that these policies create administrative bloating; they argue the more discrimination is perceived, the more DEI-related positions must be filled and DEI training must be held. They argue that maintaining DEI programs in the federal government allows resources to be allocated to non-critical services. Between 2021 and 2025, approximately $1 billion was spent on DEI initiatives, all of which could be spent on more critical projects, according to supporters of rollbacks.
Future Outlook
Agencies continue to lose diversity offices and funding meant to provide supporting infrastructure for equity and inclusion. The legality of President Trump’s order still remains uncertain, with groups challenging these policy changes and looking to restore DEI policies. Despite downsizing, the federal government remains still the largest employer in the United States; its hiring procedures set the standard for the private sector. Federal DEI rollbacks have resulted in private corporations canceling previously announced initiatives, which showcases the federal government’s role in broader debates regarding labor.
Understanding The Dissolution of Federal DEI Offices and Initiatives: Debate and Implications was first published by ACE and is republished with permission.
Simon Ghebretensae and James Hollander are fellows with ACE.
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The 50: Louisiana
New Orleans LGBTQ+ Community Fights for Recognition
Aug 30, 2026
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana — a city shaped by more than three centuries of cultural exchange — is once again confronting a political reality that diverges sharply from the rest of the state. The Crescent City remains a cultural refuge for queer and trans residents, yet statewide policies have increasingly restricted legal protections, creating a widening disconnect between lived experience and state law.
The LGBTQ+ community is entering one of its most consequential periods in recent memory, driven by escalating statewide anti‑LGBTQ+ legislation and a surge in local organizing. Leading organizations — including Forum for Equality and Human Rights Campaign (HRC) New Orleans — say the stakes have never been higher as lawmakers prepare for another legislative session expected to include bills targeting transgender residents, workplace protections, and civil rights.
Advocates say the wave of anti‑trans legislation has become the central civic concern for LGBTQ+ New Orleanians. Scott Roos, Chair of Forum for Equality, explained that the newest laws are designed to erase legal recognition of transgender people, noting that lawmakers replaced gender references in state statutes with “sex determined at birth.” “One of the things he (Governor Jeff Landry) passed in this past legislative session was removing gender from all state laws... removing gender out of state law and replacing it with sex determined at birth has really only one action, and that's to punish trans people,” Roos said. “…but still in principle, it's an affront and an insult to all trans people in the state.”
I spoke with Roos for an episode of The Fulcrum's award-winning series The 50: Voices of a Nation, on how local protections collide with statewide restrictions in Louisiana’s LGBTQ+ policy fight.
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Forum for Equality, Louisiana’s oldest statewide LGBTQ+ civil‑rights organization, has sharpened its focus on defeating bills that would erase transgender people from state law and undermine workplace protections. The group is actively fighting HB 578, the “Restoring Biological Truth Act,” which removes the word gender from dozens of Louisiana statutes, and HB 1137, which shields employees who deliberately misgender coworkers. It is also supporting HB 808, a bill modernizing Louisiana’s HIV criminalization laws, while continuing its decades‑long push for statewide employment non‑discrimination protections. A broad coalition of civic leaders and sponsors backs its advocacy.
Roos says the political climate shaped by President Donald Trump has set the tone for Louisiana politics — an environment Governor Landry operates within as conservative lawmakers advance bills they fear opposing could jeopardize their standing in local elections. Roos points to a newly enacted workplace‑speech law as a prime example. “The other state law they passed was you as an employer or as a business can no longer discipline your employees for misgendering another employee. So if one employee misgenders or uses the wrong name on another employee, you can no longer file an HR complaint in the state... In principle, it's an affront and an insult to all trans people in the state.”
As sweeping state laws override many local protections, transgender safety, healthcare access, and workplace rights have become the primary organizing focus for the city’s LGBTQ+ community. Randy Evans of Forum for Equality says the organization is fighting to slow the pace of legislation targeting LGBTQ+ residents. “So, the organization I'm with is doing everything we can to stop the bad bills and to promote good bills. And, it's a very, very difficult fight right now, particularly now that we have a Republican governor,” Evans said. “…all we can do is try to slow down the freight train that's running down the tracks towards us.”
Evans emphasizes that long‑term progress requires building relationships rather than relying on pressure tactics. Reflecting on past legislative wins, he said, “We weren't trying to intimidate people. We weren't trying to coerce people in any way. We were changing hearts and minds, and that's why it passed, and that's why it's never going to be repealed. When you coerce someone, you create an enemy—you create a problem for you for the rest of your life. When you interact with someone on a respectful level, and you work to change their hearts and mind, you create an ally for the rest of your life. Those are two very different outcomes.”
As the broader gay community has secured key legislative victories, organizers note that the transgender community is fighting for the same visibility, representation, and basic equity. “And now the trans community is looking for that same type of visibility, representation, equity,” Brent Mundt, an LGBTQ+ community advocate, said. “…because unfortunately there isn't true representation of the LGBT community at the local, state, let alone federal level.”
For LGBTQ+ youth navigating school and the challenges of coming out, safe environments are essential. Groups like Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) New Orleans and the HRC help provide these spaces, offering support for students facing bullying and isolation. But inside schools, support is limited. “If there's sixty school buildings in New Orleans, only five have any modicum of a place for you to go. So from the other fifty‑five schools, those kids who can show up, meet other people like them, learn how to come out to their parents, learn how to navigate the minefield of their own school—I feel as though that's the whole reason we're doing this,” Mundt said. With an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 LGBTQ+ students in the city, most lack in‑school resources.
The political climate has also shaped how LGBTQ+ residents interact with the legal system. Judge Simone Levine says statewide rhetoric often discourages marginalized groups from seeking help. “People feel that they cannot speak up for themselves,” Levine said. “They won’t even give these actors a chance because they’ll say, ‘I’m not going to be heard.’” To rebuild trust, some judges are engaging directly with community organizations. “This court hears you. This court will give you the respect you deserve. This court wants you to engage,” she said.
New Orleans’ LGBTQ+ leaders say the coming legislative session will test the resilience of a community long accustomed to navigating political headwinds. Whether through courtroom outreach, school-based support, or statewide advocacy, they argue that the fight for dignity, safety, and legal recognition is far from over—but the city’s commitment to its queer and trans residents remains unwavering.
The The 50: Voices of a Nation is a four‑year multimedia initiative from The Fulcrum traveling to communities in every state to document the challenges and opportunities shaping civic life across the country. Through deeply reported, on‑the‑ground storytelling, the project examines how the Donald Trump administration is responding to those hopes and concerns — and elevates civic‑focused organizations working to inform, educate, and empower the public to take part in strengthening American democracy.
Hugo Balta is the executive editor of The Fulcrum and the publisher of the Latino News Network.
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Do Six Political Factions Cause Congressional Gridlock?
Aug 29, 2026
A recent congressional voting record report of our 535 delegates in D.C., published by the Institute of Legislative Analysis, found that significant voting behavior shifts have occurred within both major political parties over the past three years.
According to tracking from YouGov and Marquette Law School, roughly 28% to 35% of self-identified Republicans explicitly state they are not Trump- MAGA fans. Meanwhile, data published by the Pew Research Center shows that 67% of Democrats are frustrated with their political party.
Confusion reigns in Congress and among 342 million Americans.
It should come as no surprise that the political landscape features distinct wings within both major parties. While the phrase “Do Nothing Congress” originated during Harry Truman’s 1948 presidential campaign, research shows it re-emerged during the Trump 1.0 administration (2017) and remains today.
Political gridlock is real, and it may be partly because we have six distinct political factions within the two parties fighting each other on Capitol Hill.
Three factions of the Republican Party
MAGA Republicans (Right-Wing Populists)
The core philosophy of this GOP faction heavily prioritizes loyalty to President Trump, Stephen Miller, and an “America First” agenda. Their key policies include aggressive use of tariffs, mass deportations, tight immigration restrictions, strict border isolationism, skepticism toward NATO, the United Nations, and foreign-aid relief, exercising domestic and foreign military might, and pushing back on diversity, equity, inclusion, racial awareness, sexism, and constitutional rights. Sen. Chuck Grassley (IA), Rep. Ashley Hinson (IA), and Rep. Jim Jordan (OH) are right-wing populists.
Traditional Republicans (The Establishment/Pre-2016 Right)
The traditional GOP’s core philosophy is constitutional conservatism, norms, and institutional stability. Their key policies include free-market capitalism, strong opposition to broad tariffs, low corporate and personal income taxes, foreign policy that favors alliances with other countries, and cutting federal spending and the federal debt. Traditional GOP includes Sen. Mitch McConnell (KY), Sen. Susan Collins (ME), Sen. John Thune (SD), Rep. Tom Cole (OK), and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA).
Right-Wing Republicans (Social and Religious Conservatives)
The core philosophy of this group is viewing politics primarily through a cultural, moral, and faith-based lens. Their key policies are grounded in restriction of abortion access, opposition to LGBTQ+, strong advocacy for school choice, integrating religious expression into public life, and robust defense of religious liberty exemptions for businesses and institutions. Rep. Mike Johnson (LA), Sen. Ted Cruz (TX), Sen Josh Hawley (MO), and Sen. Rick Scott (FL) are examples of the cultural conservative wing.
Three factions of the Democratic Party
Traditional Democrats (The Moderate/Center-Left Establishment)
The core philosophy of this faction is leveraging existing government systems to achieve steady social and economic progress. Their key policies focus on regulated capitalism, relying on targeted tax credits and public-private partnerships, strong support for NATO and United Nations, global diplomacy with 181 other countries, and balancing border security with paths to legal status. Politicians like Rep. Amy Klobuchar (MN), Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY), Sen. Chuck Schumer (NY), Sen. Chris Coons (DE) and Sen. Mark Kelly (AZ) best represent this entity.
Progressive Democrats
The Progressive Democrats' core philosophy centers on social justice. Their key policies include aggressive green infrastructure mandates, phasing out fossil fuels, expanding civil rights, criminal justice reform, strong protections for gender identity, and substantial corporate tax hikes to fund universal childcare and paid family leave. Progressive Democrats include Sen. Elizabeth Warren (MA), Sen. Ed Markey (MA), Rep. Parmila Jaytapal (WA), and Rep. Ro Khanna (CA).
Socialist Democrats (Democratic Socialists)
The core philosophy of this wing is to advocate for massive wealth redistribution and democratic control over the economy. Their key policies include Medicare for all, federal job guarantees, universal rent control, tuition-free public college, unionized workforce mandates across all employment sectors, a sharp reduction in defense spending, and a foreign policy focusing on global human rights rather than American military dominance. Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Rep. Summer Lee (PA), and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI) are left-wing advocates.
Hope springs eternal
Maybe by knowing we have six distinct political factions within two political entities operating in D.C., it may help you understand why we have an unproductive and divisive `Do Nothing Congress.’
Four concrete, structural recommendations address the partisan gridlock on Capitol Hill that would help lawmakers deliver results. First, reinstate the Joint Bipartisan Committee, which would mandate bipartisan member retreats at the start of each session and the sharing of staff resources.
Next, the House and Senate need to have the same calendar of working and constituent service days so they can meet across chambers and create better working relationships.
Then, expanding the “Rule of 49” would allow bills to be debated, rather than the current situation where leadership can block bills from any discussion.
Finally, our 535 delegates need to establish a joint bicameral task force to focus on “kitchen table” infrastructure topics where consensus agreement already exists (e.g., modernized grid infrastructure, expanding rural broadband access, strengthening domestic manufacturing, banning congressional stock trading, etc.).
Voting in the Nov. 3 “mid-term” election and Nov. 7, 2028 presidential elections is where `We the People’ can start eradicating the political gridlock by voting for candidates who will endeavor to move to the middle of their political party and vow to represent Americans in a give-and-take and across-the-aisle bipartisan cooperative manner, advocate for legislation, term limits, and abide by the Constitution.
Steve Corbin is a Professor Emeritus of Marketing at the University of Northern Iowa and a non-paid freelance guest columnist and contributor to 148 newspapers and 37 social media platforms in 44 states.
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