This deep dive reflects laws, regulations and polling available as of Oct. 31, 2026. Open enrollment for 2027 marketplace plans begins Nov. 1, and several figures here will change after the Nov. 3 midterms and as new data is released. Overview The United States spends more on health care than any other country, yet it … Read more
This deep dive reflects laws, court rulings and data available as of Oct. 31, 2026. The Supreme Court hears arguments on state assault weapon bans on Dec. 2, and this page will be updated after that case is decided. Overview The United States is unusual among wealthy democracies in treating gun ownership as a constitutional … Read more
With Election Day on Nov. 3, campaigns and outside groups are spending their final dollars on closing messages, last-minute attacks, and a few spots built mainly to go viral. This post collects eight ads released or first reported between Oct. 20 and Oct. 27, four aimed at helping Republicans and four aimed at helping Democrats. … Read more
In the last two weeks before Election Day on Nov. 3, both parties sent their biggest names onto the road, and rallies produced some of the most widely shared moments of the 2026 campaign. This post collects eight from Oct. 20 onward: four from Republican events, three from Democratic ones, and one night in Lubbock, … Read more
Reading Since 2025, the Justice Department has pursued criminal cases against a number of public figures who have clashed with President Donald Trump. Several of those cases have collapsed, and some were stopped at the very first step, when a grand jury refused to approve the charges. This reading explains how grand juries work, what … Read more
Figures current as of Oct. 25, 2026. Majorities of both Republicans and Democrats say they want tougher rules on political money, according to recent national polls from three organizations. The widest agreement is on donor disclosure, which 85% of Republicans and 88% of Democrats backed in a Brennan Center survey. Support also clears 55% in … Read more
Five debates in four races since the Oct. 15 dispatch put governor and Senate candidates on stage in Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota and Michigan between Oct. 19 and Oct. 21. Candidates traded accusations on taxes, fraud, the Iran war, and ties to Trump or to national Democrats, and several checkable claims drew disputes. This dispatch covers … Read more
Early voting for the Nov. 3 midterms is running ahead of the 2022 pace in several states that publish comparisons, including Georgia, Ohio, North Carolina and the largest North Texas counties. National counts passed 12.6 million early votes by Oct. 20, according to Axios’s analysis of University of Florida Election Lab data. The figures show … Read more
Reading Federal campaign finance law rests on one distinction. Money given directly to candidates is capped by contribution limits, while money spent independently of candidates faces far fewer restrictions. Who may give, how much they may give, and how much the public can learn about them all depend on the type of donor and the … Read more
Once the primaries were settled, the 2026 midterm campaign moved into rallies aimed at the general election, and the moments that broke through from August to mid-October ranged from personal insults to policy promises worth more than a trillion dollars. This post collects eight of them, from Aug. 1 through Oct. 19. It is the … Read more
Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan said Tuesday that her conservative colleagues’ rulings on voting rights, campaign finance and partisan gerrymandering have weakened American democracy and deepened political polarization. She spoke at Catholic University’s law school in Washington, two weeks before the midterm elections. Her remarks put a familiar dispute in unusually direct terms: when courts … Read more
Some Medicare Advantage insurers are cutting benefits or ending plans for 2027, and the changes arrive while Medicare’s annual enrollment period is under way. The cuts are uneven. Analysts find smaller dental allowances at some large insurers and reduced Part B premium refunds at others, while the federal government says supplemental benefits remain stable nationally. … Read more
