Who are the online political experts in each US state?
October 29, 2024 12:06 PM Subscribe
In each US state, who are the people with blogs, columns, or other web presence that report on politics from a position of deep and/or longstanding expertise? (State or Federal level politics coverage are equally appreciated.)
Against my better judgment, I've been following Jon Ralston's "early voting blog, 2024." It's not exactly a comforting read as of today, and of course early voting isn't determinative, and it has the shortcomings of all horserace polling (here's a bunch of numbers, the purview of my reporting does not go beyond the numbers).
Still, I appreciate someone who has been rooted in a place for 40 years doing political reporting. It reminds me, in a way, of Rich Miller's legendary Capitol Fax in Illinois, published daily for thirty years now.
Miller and Ralston have very different projects, but the commonality is "longtime political reporter talking about politics in a specific state, in an often insider-y way." Who is doing that in every state you can think of? (I much prefer written coverage to video, but I guess if some video personality earns it, I'd appreciate that too.)
Against my better judgment, I've been following Jon Ralston's "early voting blog, 2024." It's not exactly a comforting read as of today, and of course early voting isn't determinative, and it has the shortcomings of all horserace polling (here's a bunch of numbers, the purview of my reporting does not go beyond the numbers).
Still, I appreciate someone who has been rooted in a place for 40 years doing political reporting. It reminds me, in a way, of Rich Miller's legendary Capitol Fax in Illinois, published daily for thirty years now.
Miller and Ralston have very different projects, but the commonality is "longtime political reporter talking about politics in a specific state, in an often insider-y way." Who is doing that in every state you can think of? (I much prefer written coverage to video, but I guess if some video personality earns it, I'd appreciate that too.)
More general but you should check out Bolts Magazine, which covers basically all the local election news that typically has huge implications in their respective states but are often overlooked nationally.
Following their founder on Twitter or Bluesky also provides a huge wealth of knowledge, updates, and threads about different state level elections.
posted by windbox at 12:28 PM on October 29 [3 favorites]
Following their founder on Twitter or Bluesky also provides a huge wealth of knowledge, updates, and threads about different state level elections.
posted by windbox at 12:28 PM on October 29 [3 favorites]
in Arizona (Phoenix based) I'd recommend Brahm Resnik and @brahmresnik on threads (and probably on twitter too, but I'm not there any more).
bio
posted by museum nerd at 2:51 PM on October 29
bio
posted by museum nerd at 2:51 PM on October 29
New Jersey Playbook newsletter
New Jersey Globe
New Jersey Monitor
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 2:56 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]
New Jersey Globe
New Jersey Monitor
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 2:56 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]
Wisconsin Watch
I’m in Wisconsin; what early voting situation are you referring to? The technological issue that increased wait times initially, or something else? I can probably dig up some stuff by reputable local sources if I know what to look for.
posted by brook horse at 4:28 PM on October 29
I’m in Wisconsin; what early voting situation are you referring to? The technological issue that increased wait times initially, or something else? I can probably dig up some stuff by reputable local sources if I know what to look for.
posted by brook horse at 4:28 PM on October 29
In Nevada, it's Jon Ralston and the Nevada Independent, which he founded.
posted by bgrebs at 4:32 PM on October 29
posted by bgrebs at 4:32 PM on October 29
Not video, but mostly audio, in Georgia, it's the Politically Georgia public radio show/podcast. The hosts are all Atlanta Journal-Constitution staffers who ran a show on (state-owned) Georgia Public Broadcasting for years. It was a thorn in the Republican Party's ass, and the state has far too much control over GPB, so they shut it down, and it was picked up by (independent public radio station) WABE and the AJC itself. In spite of the AJC's involvement, they do good stuff, even if I don't always agree with them. And you can access their content through WABE rather than the AJC's paywall. WABE also does some web text versions of some of their work.
posted by hydropsyche at 5:15 PM on October 29
posted by hydropsyche at 5:15 PM on October 29
One of my favorites is Tom Schaller but I haven’t been following him since I gave up doom scrolling. Here’s a recent sample https://washingtonmonthly.com/2024/02/28/how-to-end-republican-exploitation-of-rural-america/ but he’s more National/MD, not WI.
posted by childofTethys at 6:16 PM on October 29
posted by childofTethys at 6:16 PM on October 29
Minnesota Reformer. Those of us who follow it were much less surprised than everybody else when Tim Walz leaped into the spotlight. It's about Minnesota, but it is part of the States Newsroom network, so it gets news from all over the country.
posted by ALeaflikeStructure at 10:07 AM on October 30
posted by ALeaflikeStructure at 10:07 AM on October 30
She's been a bit less active lately but Carolyn Fiddler is pretty great for VA politics (Bluesky profile).
posted by skynxnex at 5:59 PM on November 3
posted by skynxnex at 5:59 PM on November 3
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posted by kensington314 at 12:07 PM on October 29