Taniel

Daniel Nichanian. & founder of @BoltsMag. Local politics, criminal justice, voting rights.

[Taniel @Taniel]

NEW: My midterms cheat sheet features 670+ races—up and down the ballot, & why they matter.

Now it's in PDF, printable form!

Save it, print it, give it to your kids to color the Senate map, & use it your worksheet on election night.

Find it here: https://t.co/1isjomoYEh

[Bolts @boltsmag]

South Dakotans once again defeated a GOP proposal that would have raised the threshold for direct democracy. “I don’t know if they will ever give it up,” says an organizer. “This is the third time at the altar, and they were resoundingly rejected.”

https://t.co/62z5qUSO8W

[Taniel @Taniel]

@truthjusticehph @boltsmag Thank you !

[Taniel @Taniel]

Weekend plug for our fundraising drive that launched 6 days ago:

Are you enjoying @boltsmag’s coverage of local politics? Then this is a great time to support us!

Your donation is being matched at the moment, so you can double it (or more)! https://t.co/HWONNaKRCP

[Taniel @Taniel]

NEW: A big day for us at Bolts: From today thru 12/31, NewsMatch matches any gift you make.

In a nutshell: It'll double your gift.

If you start a monthly subscription, amount you choose is matched x12 (!)

Ideal time to support our journalism: https://t.co/Nb9lR4GPHW

[Taniel @Taniel]

As you watch the MS count, recall a shocking number of Mississippians can’t vote because of the state’s lifetime ban https://t.co/zxwmIQhjxA

[Taniel @Taniel]

A large share of Mississippians are disenfranchised due to a felony conviction.

@alex_burness talked to someone who served one year in prison in 2007 for theft—and has been banned from voting since (and for life):

[Bolts @boltsmag]

Donald Trump famously pressured Georgia's Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes to overturn his 2020 defeat.

Georgia on Tuesday elected Democrat Penny Reynolds Brown to succeed the retiring Raffensperger.

https://t.co/oO4l5HfEfW

[Taniel @Taniel]

So, how did public transit fare?

—Bay Area approved funding
—San Francisco approved (for Muni)
—Lawrence, Kansas, approved
—Riverside County, CA, approved
—Charleston, SC, approved
—Stark County, OH, approved
—Pierce County, WA, approved
—Seattle approved
—Colorado approved funding for train service

[Taniel @Taniel]

for transit folks, where public transit is on the ballot tomorrow

https://t.co/1isjomoYEh

[Taniel @Taniel]

What's frustrating is Bolts tries to be collaborative with this stuff! Our story here was just republished today by our great partners at @NCNewsline; we love to see our content republished... with credit!

Anyway, read and support @boltsmag. https://t.co/RkYqSE3F0m

[Taniel @Taniel]

Disappointing to wake up to this.

On the left, the 1st sentence of a New York Times article, published today on overall results in NC.

On the right, the subheading of our Bolts article on the Alamance County sheriff's race. (No credit/link to it in the NYT piece).

[Taniel @Taniel]

When NYT eventually circles back to Alamance, only links to an old N&O story from 2018. No reporting on pastor's views.

It takes time to ID what local elections matter, figure out stakes, learn what candidates are saying. This pastor told us his views for 2 separate stories.

[Taniel @Taniel]

This is also the county you heard about last month because the GOP commission (the same commission that just flipped blue) closed dozens of polling locations.

[Taniel @Taniel]

TX Republicans in Tarrant County, one of nation's biggest counties, drew new gerrymander to force Alisa Simmons out of seat on county commission.

So Simmons ran for county executive instead.

She won. AND Dems overcame gerrymander to win board control. https://t.co/IBr4X8vmsD

[Taniel @Taniel]

Simmons has been a big advocate for voting access—and she has been a remarkably loud voice against the human rights abuses in the jail, an issue no one ever talks about.

Just read this and see for yourself. https://t.co/pyf0cO3cRM

[Taniel @Taniel]

The fact that Michigan's two Democratic supreme court justices kept the supreme court there to a 6-1 majority.

It also means that the GOP cannot flip that court in 2028 either. They needed to flip at least one seat to have a chance in two years.

[Taniel @Taniel]

The Georgia results both in November 2025 & November 2026 really make the spring's supreme court elections stand out — Democrats mobilized in the final weeks to boost their two candidates, but in an election with no partisan ID on the ballot, it was way too little.

[Taniel @Taniel]

NEW: Two supreme court justices prevailed in Georgia with GOP support, holding back a pair of liberal attorneys who stressed importance of state courts.

The result continues a streak of no incumbent justice losing reelection in Georgia in 100+ years. https://t.co/RpMc0PVBou

[Based Tom 🇺🇸🇻🇦✝️☦️ @TomEDewey1948]

How Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith did in her fifth bid for the United States Senate in 1972 vs how Susan Collins did in her sixth bid for the US Senate in 2026.

[Tom Wood @thomasjwood]

The Texas Democratic earthquake is also a story of skyrocketing participation.

4.7 mil Governor's votes were cast in 2014
9.9 mil Governor's votes were cast in 2026.

Incredible!

[Ellis Bates @ElliscbIV]

El-Sayed received more votes in Dearborn than Harris and Trump combined in 2024.

[Taniel @Taniel]

Kobach in Kansas, Kari Lake or McSally in Arizona, another RNC chairman in North Carolina, and Michael Gableman in Wisconsin

[Frap Slim🦃 @FrappuccinoSlim]

@Taniel Need him to run for Senate in 2028

[Taniel @Taniel]

Kobach is also partly responsible for this era of Democratic wins in Kansas, as his victory in the 2018 governor primary paved the way for Laura Kelly to flip the state.

[Taniel @Taniel]

Big: Kris Kobach, the Kansas attorney general, one of the country’s most notorious far-right figures who charted the way for Trump’s election denialism well before Trump got to it, has lost his reelection bid.

Democrat Chris Mann will be new Kansas attorney general, AP
calls.