Taniel Profile picture
23 Feb, 3 tweets, 1 min read
Over the past twelve hours:
— New Jersey legalized marijuana
— Illinois adopted a law ending the use of cash bail
— The Virginia legislature sent to the governor a bill abolishing the death penalty
🔥
If you’re not watching state governments, you’re only getting half the story.
Obviously this is also very true, just in a different way, when it comes to voting rights:

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More from @Taniel

13 Feb
First Republican to vote to convict: Richard Burr.
Second Republican to vote to convict: Bill Cassidy
Third Republican to vote guilty: Susan Collins
Read 8 tweets
11 Feb
The Houston DA is getting a mountain of Eyes today for prosecuting a doctor.

She was up for re-election in 2020, & challenged by a few progressive candidates in a Dem primary that just didn't generate that much buzz & attention.

(Which is just to say, local elections matter!!)
ALSO, are you paying attention to 2021 elections for DA yet? Because things are starting to heat up. theappeal.org/criminal-justi…
Houston's Ogg secured the nomination in March with 55%, avoiding runoff. I've wondered how well she'd have fared in July runoff (after attn to George Floyd, police, inequality) had she dipped below 50%.

Austin's DA went from being down 44/41 in March to losing 68/32 in July.
Read 4 tweets
21 Jan
exactly 2 weeks ago , at around this hour, Ted Cruz voted to disenfranchise every single voter of Pittsburgh (a city that went for Biden) by throwing out their state's electoral votes.
now that that's been said, I'll add: worse things to do than listening to the citizens of Paris when it comes to climate
(also watch out to see if Hidalgo runs for president in France next year))
Read 4 tweets
20 Jan
Georgia is transformed.

And this is not just happening in *federal* elections & policy.

Yes, the state is run by the GOP, still. But locally, just since Nov., there've been huge flips & changes toward Dems in general & toward progressive policy in particular.

Some examples. ⬇
Gwinnett & Cobb counties, populous suburbs of Atlanta, were long conservative bastions — & known for very anti-immigrant policies.

Two black Dems flipped both sheriffs' offices in November away from longtime GOP sheriffs.

And both VERY quickly ended ICE contracts this month.
Cobb & Gwinnett are important for 2 reasons: partisan shift at top of ticket also applied to local offices.

*And* these Dems ran on big meaningful transformations like ending ICE contracts, *&* kept their words.

That wasn't obvious at all. Took work. (theappeal.org/politicalrepor…)
Read 6 tweets
19 Jan
A big day in Georgia today: The new sheriff of Cobb County terminated the county's (287g) contract with ICE.

This used to be Newt Gingrich's base; it had a longtime GOP sheriff who targeted immigrants. But in 2020 a Black Dem ran on this, flipped office: theappeal.org/politicalrepor…
"Let me be clear: there’s a new day and a new era in Cobb County," the new sheriff (Craig Owens) said today. ajc.com/news/atlanta-n…

Indeed!

Here's what he told The Appeal in September on why he'd do this: theappeal.org/politicalrepor…
And 👀: this is 3rd populous Southern county that has quit ICE's 287(g) this month due to the 2020 races! (And there've been more since 2018.)

Gwinnett County (GA) & Charleston (SC) also just elected sheriffs who ran on this.

My thread on Charleston:
Read 4 tweets
18 Jan
big news in Virginia: a bill to abolish the death penalty passed the state Senate's Judiciary Committee, 10-4.

All Democrats voted yes. And one Republican voted yes.

(Just a year ago, the bill had failed in the same committee. So this was one of the clear obstacles.)
3 Dem senators who last year had voted to delay the bill (as well as one Republican) voted to advance it today.

The Republican who joined proponents of abolition is Bill Stanley, from the 20th district. [**corrected**]
Virginia is the likeliest state to abolish the death penalty in 2021, as I've said, & keep up the trend of yearly abolition.

But many steps remain.
Read 4 tweets

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