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Reposted by Danielle Thomsen

dr. jordie davies @jordiedavies.bsky.social · 1d

New article: "Fundamentals of Solidarity: Race-Based Caucus Organizing in Houston" is live at Urban Affairs Review. I'm grateful to the organizers who let me into their world and work so we could produce this piece. Check it out 👇

Fundamentals of Solidarity: Race-Based Caucus Organizing in Houston - Elizabeth Jordie Davies, 2025

Grassroots organizations often espouse multiracial solidarity as a value but struggle with putting this value into practice. How can organizations, especially t...

doi.org

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 4d

What do you have to do to a person to make them behave like this? What brings a person to a point in their life where they’re gleefully inflicting lawless, unjust violence like this?

Raider @iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social · 4d

ICE officers stopped a family at gunpoint and smashed the car window on top of the newborn baby. “I was screaming that there was a baby,” cried the mother. “But they didn’t care,” and covered the baby with their bodies, fearing that the glass would hurt him.

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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 5d

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com

“By many measures, it’s been the most successful season in league history” for the WNBA, David Berri, a sports economist, writes. “But the players aren’t fully sharing in that success.”

Opinion | The W.N.B.A. Is Making More Money Than Ever. Why Aren’t the Players?

Other professional sports leagues give their players roughly 50 percent of the revenue, but the W.N.B.A. players get less than 10 percent.

nyti.ms

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Danielle Thomsen @daniellethomsen.bsky.social · 5d

Excellent overview

The Downballot @the-downballot.com · 5d

There's been a lot of confusion about which states could redraw their House maps before the midterms, so we've put together a definitive guide to every state that could actually do so—16 in all.

We explain the likelihood of new maps, probable targeted districts, and any obstacles to passage.

Here's every state that could draw a new congressional map by 2026

Most states can't pass new maps quickly—but those that can favor Republicans

www.the-downballot.com

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Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 15d

Political campaigns now burn 30¢ of every dollar raised just fundraising for more dollars (up from 9¢ in 2004).

In 2024, $3 Billion was spent on fundraising.

In 2026, fundraising costs are on track to exceed advertising spending for the first time.

The Fundraising-Industrial Complex Is Eating American Politics

New data reveals campaigns burn about a third of donations raised just asking for more donations

open.substack.com

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 15d

"When nearly one-third of all political contributions get recycled back into asking for more contributions, we've created a system that exists primarily to perpetuate itself while enriching fundraising consultants." data4democracy.substack.com/p/the-fundra...

The Fundraising-Industrial Complex Is Eating American Politics

New data reveals campaigns burn about a third of donations raised just asking for more donations

data4democracy.substack.com

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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 24d

“It will take decades to recover from this, if we ever do.” America’s cancer research system, which has helped save millions of lives and is in one of its most productive moments, is under threat by the Trump administration.

Trump Is Shutting Down the War On Cancer

America’s cancer research system, which has helped save millions of lives, is under threat in one of its most productive moments.

nyti.ms

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Sara Doskow @saradoskow.bsky.social · Aug 22

Danielle Thomsen's (@daniellethomsen.bsky.social) The Money Signal will change how you think about the function of money in US elections. A must-read! press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

The Money Signal

A data-rich, eye-opening look at how, when, and why political fundraising is consequential. Over the last two decades, the number of competitive congressional races has declined precipitously. Yet ca...

press.uchicago.edu

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Danielle Thomsen @daniellethomsen.bsky.social · 26d

APSA folks: Free on Saturday, 9/13 at 10 am? Come to an Author Meets Critics panel for my new book, The Money Signal! Thanks to an amazing group of scholars: Larry Bartels, Brandice Canes-Wrone, @carnes.bsky.social, @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social, and Frances Lee. @uchicagopress.bsky.social

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Dawn Teele @teele.bsky.social · Aug 28

Have you ever wanted to hear the stories of pathbreaking LADIES of political science? these new podcasts tell their stories. #GenderSky #Polisky #Behaviorsky #EGEN @egenpolisci.bsky.social

The Gender and Security Sector Lab @gsslab.bsky.social · Jul 17

Check out this new podcast "Pathbreaking Women in Comparative Politics" by the Governance and Local Development Institute! 🎧

The first episode interviews Margaret Levi of Stanford University.

Listen and learn more ⬇️
gld.gu.se/en/governanc...

@gldinstitute.bsky.social #comparativesky #gendersky

Governance Uncovered - A Podcast by GLD

In the podcast Governance Uncovered, we discuss the intricacies of governance, state and non-state actors, and local development dynamics. Whether you're a student, professional, or simply curious abo...

gld.gu.se

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Danielle Thomsen @daniellethomsen.bsky.social · Aug 17

Exactly right. And no incentives for strong GOP challengers to run. Problematic in era of uncompetitive general elections.

Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · Aug 17

We needed to expel every GOP Representative who voted against certifying the 2020 election results. We didn’t. So here we are. As with everything else in 🇺🇸 history from 1/6/21 to Iran-Contra to Watergate all the way back to 1865. People respond to incentives, especially lawless authoritarians.

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · Aug 17

If pundits would like to talk about violence, a terrorist recently shot up the CDC and another assassinated Democratic officials in Minnesota but they sort of let both stories disappear

Not as threatening as motorbikes in DC I know but maybe we could circle back?

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · Aug 16

Very bad sign when masked, unidentified agents of the security state are not just grabbing people off the street but openly identifying with the regime's politics

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Lauren Ross @laurennross.bsky.social · Aug 16

Enjoyed giving a keynote at CogSci 2025! 🧠 🖥️ 🌉@cogscisociety.bsky.social ‬ #CogSci2025 #philsci #philsky #HPS

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Danielle Thomsen @daniellethomsen.bsky.social · Aug 16

Thanks for the shoutout, Mirya! Book is hot off the press! Full thread soon.

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Danielle Thomsen @daniellethomsen.bsky.social · Aug 13

SNA is amazing. No lines, efficient, small but mighty.

Matt Brown @mattbrown.bsky.social · Aug 13

Actually, you know what? Let’s stop complaining for a second. QT this with a GOOD airport. Defend that title as much or as little as you like. But let’s hear about airports that don’t suck.

Reposted by Danielle Thomsen

David Nir @davidnir.com · Aug 13

Something I love about running a tiny independent media outlet that's beholden only to our readers: We get to do awesome public service journalism like this.

Don't get me wrong—this redistricting war is terrible. But we don't have to worry about clicks or shareholders. We just do work that matters.

The Downballot @the-downballot.com · Aug 13

The new redistricting wars triggered by Trump & the GOP have unleashed a torrent of news. To help keep track of it all, we've published a guide to the latest developments in every state—28 in all—and we'll update it every time there’s something new to report.

You'll want to bookmark this one —>

The Downballot’s live guide to redistricting in every state

As states move forward with mid-decade redraws, we're continually updating this tracker

www.the-downballot.com

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · Aug 13

DOGE cut less than 5% of claimed savings in contracts
www.politico.com/news/2025/08...

graph showing DOGE only saved 5% of claimed savings

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Daniel Donner @donnermaps.bsky.social · Aug 13

Republican open House seats are tracking the massive 2020 and 2018 years so far. Notably all but one of this year's open GOP seats is due to the member running for Senate or governor. 1/2

Data: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Chart showing progression of the number of open Republican house seats over the election cycle for the years 2006 to 2026. 2018 and 2020 had the most retirements, and 2026 looks similar so far.

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Reposted by Danielle Thomsen

ProPublica @propublica.org · Aug 13

In agency after agency, the U.S. government is losing its capacity to measure how American society is functioning, making it much harder to gauge the nature and scale of the problems we are facing and the effectiveness of policies.

(Published April)

Trump’s War on Measurement Means Losing Data on Drug Use, Maternal Mortality, Climate Change and More

By slashing teams that gather critical data, the administration has left the federal government with no way of understanding if policies are working — and created a black hole of information whose…

www.propublica.org

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eric gonzalez juenke @egojunk.bsky.social · Aug 12

Great thread about a very cool paper about elite behavior that shapes voter choices.

Danielle Thomsen @daniellethomsen.bsky.social · Aug 12

Excited that my paper on early money and dropout decisions is out at @bjpols.bsky.social! A brief thread:

Main finding: Experienced candidates who struggle to raise money are more likely to drop out before the primary. Pattern is even more pronounced in the current money-driven era.

British Journal of Political Science @bjpols.bsky.social · Aug 8

NEW -

Early Money and Strategic Candidate Exit - cup.org/3HnnDBk

"The exit of experienced candidates has important implications for the choices that voters have."

- @daniellethomsen.bsky.social

#OpenAccess

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Danielle Thomsen @daniellethomsen.bsky.social · Aug 12

Some papers take longer than others. I've been studying dropouts for nearly a decade. I think they hold important lessons for who runs for office, which indicators are used as signals of viability, and how we measure and count political candidacies. Many more questions remain for future work.

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Danielle Thomsen @daniellethomsen.bsky.social · Aug 12

The now publicly available dataset includes measures of early money and prior office experience for 26,000 U.S. House candidates who ran from 1980 to 2022. I have collected and re-collected (and re-collected) these data for years. Thanks to the dozens of RAs who have helped along the way.

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Danielle Thomsen @daniellethomsen.bsky.social · Aug 12

The fact that money is such a strong predictor of exit decisions matters for the choices on the ballot and contributes to biases in representation. The exit of experienced candidates in particular leads to less competitive primaries and fewer choices for voters.

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Danielle Thomsen @daniellethomsen.bsky.social · Aug 12

We know a lot about who runs for office but much less about why candidates change their mind and drop out before the primary. Early money is a potent signal of viability in the initial weeks of a campaign. Those who post impressive early totals are seen as more formidable by competitors.

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