Skip to content
Election Overtime Project
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories
Ducks

The 12 worst House districts: Experts label gerrymandering's dirty dozen

Mike Pence

Understanding the Electoral Count Reform Act

Remembering Jan. 6 with an officer injured in the line of duty

D.C. Police Officer Daniel Hodges shakes hands with Rep. Liz Cheney at a hearing

Officer Daniel Hodges of the D.C. police force shakes hands with then-Rep. Liz Cheney at a July 21, 2022, House committee hearing investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Our Staff
By Our StaffJan 24, 2024
Our Staff
The Fulcrum staff.
See More Writings by author

To mark the third anniversary of the attacks on the Capitol, the hosts of the “Politics Is Everything” podcast talked with D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges, who was beaten by rioters that day.

On Jan. 6, 2021, Hodges responded with Civil Defense Unit 42 as Capitol Police units were overrun. Hodges fought those who assaulted the Capitol on the west lawn, the west terrace, and in the tunnel leading out to the inaugural platform, sustaining many injuries in the process. While fighting in the tunnel, he was crushed by rioters and beaten. He returned to full duty within a month and continues to serve as an officer. Hodges also has testified in court cases about Jan. 6 and in a case in the Colorado Supreme Court, which recently ruled that Donald Trump is disqualified from the state's 2024 ballot under the Constitution's 14th Amendment. (Trump formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse that decision on Jan. 3.)

Along with others who defended democracy on Jan. 6, Hodges received a congressional medal, the Presidential Citizens Medal and the Center for Politics’ 2023 Defenders of Democracy award.

Hodges joined the police department in 2014. He has received multiple awards for his services with MPD, including a commendation medal for responding to a man brandishing a gun and threatening MPD officers and talking him into disarming and surrendering. Civil Disturbance Unit 42 is a "rapid response" platoon that is equipped with non-standard defensive gear and is activated for policing a variety of First Amendment assemblies, protests and riots.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Latest news

Capitoll colored red and blue, split down the middle
Election 2024

Prepare for heightened political trench warfare beyond Nov. 5

Read More

Donald Trump

Former President Donald Trump

Jabin Botsford/Getty Images

Scholars unmask Trump election lawyers’ use of falsified evidence

Rosenfeld is the editor and chief correspondent of Voting Booth, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

After 2022’s midterm election, I had an email exchange with Robert Beadles, a combative northern Nevada businessman and Donald Trump devotee. His post-2020 hounding of Reno’s top election official had pushed her to resign. Beadles didn’t trust the midterm results either and offered a $50,000 reward to anyone who’d prove that it was not stolen.

Easy money, right? Beadles’ distrust was tribal. But his reward hinged on refuting a statistical analysis that he waved like the flag. His statistician, Edward Solomon, who lived halfway across the country, found mathematical aberrations in the results that he didn’t like. The men claimed that was proof enough that the announced election results were dishonest.

I, and several experienced analysts — a math PhD, a computer scientist, and an election auditor who had spent years studying election systems, voting data, and procedures — tried to explain why the statistics, alone, did not prove anything. We politely told him what records to obtain, why they mattered, what methodologies to use. Beadles didn’t care and soon lashed out.

Keep ReadingShow less
Election challengers in Detroit in 2020

Election challengers demand to observe the counting of absentee ballots in Detroirt in 2020. The room had reached capacity.

Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images

It's 2024 and the battle for democracy in the U.S. continues

Merloe provides strategic advice on democracy and elections to U.S. and international organizations. He is a former director of election integrity programs at the nonpartisan National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.

The U.S. political environment is suffering from toxic polarization, with election deniers constantly spewing noxious vapors to negate belief in the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election, the integrity of election administration, and the honorableness of their political opponents. The constant pollution has blinded many from seeing the real state of things and is causing others to close their eyes to avoid the irritation. The resulting diminished public confidence and perhaps participation in elections creates more precarious conditions in 2024 than it faced in 2020 and 2022.

I’ve learned an important lesson from observing elections in more than 50 countries: Even when elections are credible, if a large segment of the population is made to believe otherwise their outcome and the fate of democracy can easily be placed in jeopardy. Unfortunately, that is a central feature of the present electoral circumstance, and concerted action is needed to mitigate that damage and prevent it from worsening.

Keep ReadingShow less
Americans wrapped in a flag

"We must reaffirm the principles under which our country will function," writes Goodrich.

SeventyFour/Getty Images

Together, we can save our democracy

Goodrich is the president and CEO of The Center for Organizational Excellence.

Our democracy is being challenged and, if lost, will impact our way of life in more ways than most may realize. I have given a lot of thought as to why our country’s political environment is in such chaos, facing significant turmoil that challenges our present and our future.

It is important to note that I am truly politically independent. I do not carry the water of any political party and always attempt to consider what is in the best interest of our country. I can have both conservative and liberal tendencies, depending on the issue being addressed, and believe at times each party goes to unhelpful extremes. Occasionally they get it right, but perhaps it’s time to rethink our two-party model.

The foundation of our democracy is the Constitution. I believe it is an imperfect document but provides a strong foundation for the democracy it established. I am in awe that the Founding Fathers thought so much through that it is still applicable today. Every American should read it, and there are “plain language” versions online if it helps. While still strong, it perhaps needs some updating, expanded explanation and more precise language.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump

On Jan. 6, 2021, then-President Donald Trump exhorted followers to object to the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Why 14th Amendment bars Trump from office

Graber is the University System of Maryland Regents Professor of Law at the University of Maryland.

In 2024, former President Donald Trump will face some of his greatest challenges: criminal court cases, primary opponents and constitutional challenges to his eligibility to hold the office of president again. The Colorado Supreme Court has pushed that latter piece to the forefront, ruling on Dec. 19, 2023, that Trump cannot appear on Colorado’s 2024 presidential ballot because of his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump and Mike Pence

Supporters of Donald Trump wanted Mike Pence to throw out lawfully named electors and swing the 2020 election.

Aurora Samperio/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The Electoral College must be held to the highest standards

Schmidt is a syndicated columnist and editorial board member with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Thought leaders have long understood that honor and integrity are imperative when choosing the leader of an idealistic society. America’s Founding Fathers understood this as well and therefore established the Electoral College, making electors a set of guardians within a system that would more times than not select the best person to be president. The Founders also thought these electors should be of upright character as well.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2024