Republicans who voted to repeal pre-existing conditions protections run ads pretending they didn’t

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 banned the long-standing practice of health insurers discriminating against customers on the basis of their pre-existing conditions. The Trumpcare legislation that narrowly passed the House of Representatives last May would have repealed these protections and replaced them with a system in which insurers could charge much higher premiums to those patients. Now, vulnerable House Republicans who voted for the wildly unpopular bill have to defend their votes th...

The subtle way Neil Gorsuch stabbed Brett Kavanaugh in the back

As recently as two years ago, there was a very clear playbook for federal appeals court judges who hoped to someday sit on the Supreme Court. Keep your head down. Build prestige in the subtle ways judges gain status within the elite ranks of the legal profession. And whatever you do, don’t take positions on issues that inflame political debate about the Supreme Court.

There’s at least one exception to this rule. Justice Samuel Alito had a very clear anti-abortion record ...

Absurd GOP attack ads claim candidates who back Medicare for All want to take away your health care

Faced with tough November races, several Republicans who supported GOP-led proposals to roll back Americans’ health coverage are now attacking their Democratic opponents for supposedly threatening Americans’ health care access by supporting a “Medicare for all” system — which would extend the existing Medicare program’s protections to cover everyone.

Republican Reps. Andy Barr (KY-6), Dave Brat (VA-7), and Kevin Yoder (KS-3) all voted for the Trum...

Republicans in swing districts are scared to tell voters the truth about Planned Parenthood

Since anti-abortion advocates released a series of selectively edited and highly misleading videos in 2015 intended to give the false impression that Planned Parenthood clinics inappropriately profit from the sale of aborted fetuses, Republicans in Congress have repeatedly tried to cut off all federal funding that goes to the health non-profit. But as the 2018 midterms draw near, few Republican House candidates in swing districts are talking about it at all — even those who are runni...

A slew of down-ballot progressive victories will hold Andrew Cuomo’s feet to the fire

Progressive insurgents toppled six Democratic state senators in New York’s primary elections Thursday night, decimating a group of breakaway Democrats formerly known as the Independent Democratic Caucus (IDC) that caucused with Republicans — and likely reshaping the state legislature for years to come.

While Gov. Andrew Cuomo easily won his Democratic primary, staving off a primary challenge from actress-turned-activist Cynthia Nixon, it was a big night for progressives ...

Inside Kevin de León’s quest to topple Dianne Feinstein, the queen of California

CLAREMONT, CALIFORNIA — Kevin de León is cool in that way your dad is cool, which is to say he’d be insanely cool for the United States Senate. This particular Sunday, he’s sporting bright white Adidas sneakers, which are somehow scuffless even after the morning’s Central American independence parade. He’s wearing jeans; he left his tie at home.

De León is running late, but the 40 or so people gathered at a Persian restaurant in Claremont, California, are unbothered. When he ...

How ‘Medicare for All’ became a rallying cry in California’s most conservative districts

ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA — “We have to make America mentshlekhkeyt again,” Rabbi Arnold Rachlisl declared with a grin at Sabbath service at University Synagogue in Irvine, California.

The rabbi was clearly proud of his joke. Mentshlekhkeyt means “humanity” or “human decency” in Yiddish, he explained to the crowd gathered at the synagogue.

Many in the congregation Friday evening had not been aware that the campaign event for Katie Porter would begin with a Shabbat ser...