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Democracy reform: Do you have a plan for that?

Got a great idea for how to fix the electoral system? Now you can share your ideas with some of the reform community's leading researchers.

The newly created Electoral Reform Research Group put out a call this week for research papers "into how changes in electoral rules impact political participation, processes, partisanship, power, and policy outcomes."

Proposals are due Dec. 6 and selections will be discussed at a workshop in Washington in February. Chosen participants will receive a $500 honorarium and additional funds will be made available to run research programs based on the proposals.

The group is primarily focused on ranked-choice votingat this point, although its members acknowledge RCV is just one piece of the larger electoral reform debate.


"We're heavily focused on RCV because that's the live issue right now," said New America's Lee Drutman, one of the organizers of the research group. "It's getting a tremendous amount of momentum."

In addition to Drutman, this effort has been organized by Avi Green of the Scholars Strategy Network, Kevin Kosar of R Street Institute and Didi Kuo of Stanford University.

More details, including sample questions to guide proposal writing, are available here.


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Trump’s Second Year and the Crossroads Facing Latinos

illustration depicting Latinos at a crossroads

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Trump’s Second Year and the Crossroads Facing Latinos

As President Donald Trump enters his second year of his second term, the nation’s 62 million Hispanics and Latinos are bracing for a turbulent 2026 shaped by economic uncertainty, shifting political allegiances, and intensified immigration enforcement. New polling and research released throughout late 2025 paint a complex picture of a community that is increasingly anxious about its future and deeply skeptical of the administration’s direction.

Across multiple surveys, Latino voters consistently identify the economy, affordability, and jobs as their top concerns heading into 2026. A sweeping national survey of 3,000 registered Latino voters found that 65% believe President Trump and congressional Republicans are not doing enough to improve the economy, a five‑point increase since April. Half of respondents said they expect Trump’s economic policies to make them personally worse off next year.

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Can Things Get Even Worse for Mike Johnson?

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) lat the U.S. Capitol on January 7, 2025 in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

Can Things Get Even Worse for Mike Johnson?

Two weeks ago, a column in the Fulcrum warned that Speaker Mike Johnson was entering a political season defined by "ritual human sacrifice," noting that in a Trump‑branded GOP, someone must absorb the blame when governing goes sideways. In this context, the "sacrifice" refers to the erosion of institutional norms, accountability, and the potential jeopardy of individual reputations. Jonah Goldberg wrote that "Mike Johnson might as well be tied to a stake in the lion’s den."

That line feels understated now, as cascading crises over the past several days have closed in even further around Speaker Johnson.

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Hollywood Gets Congress Wrong—and It’s Costing America Trust in Democracy

Hollywood sign and The Capitol

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Hollywood Gets Congress Wrong—and It’s Costing America Trust in Democracy

The following article is excerpted from "Citizen’s Handbook for Influencing Elected Officials."

Since the 1970s, public trust in American institutions—including Congress—has steadily declined. Approval ratings for the House and Senate usually hover in the teens. Certainly, some misdeeds by our elected leaders have contributed to this decline, and mainstream national media can claim its fair share of “credit” in portraying Congress in a negative light. Yet another major ingredient in the ugly formula poisoning public opinion of Congress is Hollywood. Movies and TV shows routinely portray Congress as craven, corrupt, selfish, and completely indifferent to the public interest. Regrettably, this is a wholly incorrect portrayal of our nation’s legislators.

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Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs: A Defining Force in Milwaukee

Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs

Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs: A Defining Force in Milwaukee

Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs has been a defining force in Milwaukee civic life for nearly two decades, combining deep community roots with a record of public service grounded in equity, cultural investment, and neighborhood empowerment. Born and raised in Milwaukee, she graduated from Riverside University High School before earning her bachelor’s degree, cum laude, from Fisk University, where she studied Business Administration and English.

The Fulcrum spoke with Coggs about the work she leads, including eliminating food deserts in her district on an episode of The Fulcrum Democracy Forum.

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