Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

N.C. elections board to wrap up fraud hearings Wednesday

Three days of hearings into allegations of Republican ballot fraud will conclude Wednesday as North Carolina's elections board decides what to do about the vacancy in the state's 9th congressional district, which stretches from Charlotte to Fayetteville.

The House seat has been empty since Congress convened in January because the board declined to certify the 2018 election results, which showed a 905-vote victory for Republican Mark Harris. Accusations surfaced soon after the election that Leslie McCrae Dowless, an operative hired by GOP campaign consultants, orchestrated a scheme to collect absentee ballots from unwitting voters and use them to illegally plump up vote totals for Harris. The first witness at the hearing was Lisa Britt, who worked for Dowless and admitted marking votes on other people's blank ballots. She also said she heard Dowless regularly speaking with Andy Yates of Red Dome consulting, the firm hired by the Harris campaign.


There are three Democrats and two Republicans on the board, meaning one of them will have to cross party lines to either declare Harris the winner (three votes needed) or call a new election (four votes required.)

Read More

The State of Health in America: A Political and Scientific Crossfire

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. testifies before the Senate Finance Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on September 04, 2025 in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The State of Health in America: A Political and Scientific Crossfire

At the heart of the Trump administration’s health agenda is a dramatic reorientation of public health priorities. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared during a Senate hearing last week:

“We at HHS are enacting a once-in-a-generation shift from a sick-care system, to a true health care system that tackles the root causes of chronic disease.”

“Make America Healthy Again” has been met with both praise and fierce resistance. Republican Senator Mike Crapo supported the initiative, saying:

Keep ReadingShow less
The Promise Presidency: How Trump Rewrote the Rules of Political Accountability

President Donald Trump reacts as he speaks to the media while signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on September 05, 2025 in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The Promise Presidency: How Trump Rewrote the Rules of Political Accountability

In the theater of American politics, promises are political capital. Most politicians make promises cautiously, knowing that if they fail to fulfill them, they will be held accountable

But Donald Trump has rewritten the script. He repeatedly offers sweeping vows, yet the results often don't follow; somehow, he escapes the day of reckoning.

Keep ReadingShow less