Taniel Profile picture
Jun 21, 2021 9 tweets 5 min read Read on X
The policy stakes of DA elections are always so obscure. This year, I got to work with @SamMellins & @akashvmehta on putting out a series on how the Manhattan DA race could change the city — what candidates are saying EXACTLY & why it matters.

It's been a great ride. A thread:
1️⃣ Turns out the Manhattan DA's office has a ton of discretion on the power & resources of a citywide office that's fueled the war on drugs, the Special Narcotics Prosecutor.

A great opportunity to look at how local institutions work, & space for change.

theappeal.org/politicalrepor…
On the Special Narcotics Prosecutor's office, the candidates were very split on what should be done: especially when it comes to the power-move the DA's office could pull: withdraw staff it lends.

theappeal.org/politicalrepor… Image
2️⃣ We've seen prosecutors leave tough-on-crime DA associations now in California and Pennsylvania. None yet in New York. Will the next Manhattan DA?

here's why it matters: theappeal.org/politicalrepor…

and what candidates said: Image
3️⃣ Activists in NY have been working to decriminalize sex work. And there's a striking amount of consensus in the DA race around supporting that, testifying to broad momentum for this effort.

why it all matters: theappeal.org/politicalrepor…

But differences emerged, here as well: Image
4️⃣ Reform candidates have been looking at the huge share of people serving life sentences. (See the latest from New Orleans! theappeal.org/politicalrepor…)

How will that play up in Manhattan? Some candidates drew some new lines: theappeal.org/politicalrepor….
It's striking to see candidates for DA say they'd never seek LWOP sentences, for instance, or that they'd never jump in to oppose an parole application (which is different than actually supporting it). Image
5️⃣ Evverywhere, prosecutors routinely keep using the testimony of police officers who're caught lying, or even framing defendants. There's finally more attention to this—and demands for DA candidates to sideline such officers, & go further in oversight. theappeal.org/politicalrepor…
Here again, plenty of policy divides between the DA candidates -- their powers are so crucial.

One issue that's very important is how DA candidates would go back and address *other cases* when misconduct in one case emerges. theappeal.org/politicalrepor… Image

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More from @Taniel

Nov 22
Pam Bondi was Florida's attorney general during Trump's first campaign & some of his first first term—and that generated plenty of stories on her legal decisions.

Here's just a slice of what you should know, featuring great reporting from the mid-2010s:
1—As Florida AG, Bondi nixed suing Trump over Trump U after she solicited a contribution from him & he gave $25,000: floridapolitics.com/archives/21237…Image
2—Bondi's office justified nixing Trump U suit by saying she'd only receiving only one customer complaint, but the AP found this: jacksonville.com/story/news/201…Image
Read 8 tweets
Nov 4
these are getting underplayed this year, but the rules of democracy are *directly* on the ballot in many places

here, quickly, is my top 5 referendums on that
1️⃣ Arizona organizers worked hard to put an abortion rights measure on November's ballot.

But the GOP made its move too: They've put a separate referendum on the ballot.

It'd basically shut the door on future ballot initiatives in Arizona. boltsmag.org/arizona-ballot…
2️⃣ Connecticut, somehow, still requires an excuse for people to vote absentee.

A ballot measure this November will open the door to finally allowing everyone to vote by mail.

And this'll be particularly major for people with disabilities:

boltsmag.org/connecticut-ba…
Read 7 tweets
Nov 3
Abortion is big in the presidential race, of course, & there are many referendums on it.

But there's more: there are many races that are too overlooked where abortion rights is a key issue, for downballot offices that really matter to abortion policy.

My thread of the top 5: ⬇️
1️⃣ I have to start with Arizona's judicial elections.

Two things simultaneously:
1. Two of the 4 justices who voted to revive a near-total abortion ban this spring are up for retention.
2. GOP has advanced a measure to nullify these judicial elections. boltsmag.org/proposition-13…
2️⃣ DeSantis removed Tampa's elected prosecutor from office, citing in part the prosecutor's decision to sign a letter saying he wouldn't prosecute abortion. cases. (DeSantis has signed strict restrictions.)

That prosecutor is now running for his job back: boltsmag.org/hillsborough-c…
Read 8 tweets
Nov 2
Here's the final Ann Selzer/DMR poll of Iowa:

Harris is up 47% to 44%. 
(Not a typo. Last DMR poll had Trump up 47/43 in September.)
In 2016 & 2020, Selzer’s final poll looked like an outlier in opposite direction; days after, we learned it was actually not off, & had foreshadowed polling error in Rust Belt.

This, again, is just one poll; we’ll see soon enough whether it captured something no one else did.
Other details in poll:
—Poll was this Monday through Thursday.
—Margin is within MoE of 3.4%, of course (though this is a looooot more off from expectations).
—Harris up 28% among independent women, though Trump up among men.
—RFK at 3%

Link to the poll: desmoinesregister.com/story/news/pol…
Read 5 tweets
Nov 2
Here's what I'd say about why people care about the Selzer poll, besides the mythologizing. In final days of both 2016 & 2020, as polling had Dems in strong shape (well, esp. in 2020), it was the rare sign that something could be amiss in other polling. (1/3)
Extent to which Rust Belt white voters swung to Trump was just not understood before we saw results in 2016, tho Selzer gave a preview. (She also was first to capture IA changed in 2014.) There was this idea in 2020 that had swung back; her poll was clearest cold shower.
But of course: IT'S JUST ONE POLL! It's subject to the same margin of error, can be off in any direction, and in the moment it wasn't clear what they meant.

Same today: IT'S JUST ONE POLL.

But that gets to other thing about Selzer poll: it's clearly uninterested in herding.
Read 4 tweets
Oct 25
I think Arizona's elections may be the single most important rn — even putting aside the presidential election.

The amount of items on the ballot that could transform state politics, upend the election systems, as well as criminal justice and courts, is remarkable. Here's why.
Let's start with: Democrats have a chance to take control of the state government by flipping two seats each in the Senate & the House. That'd be the first time they do that since *1966*.

If you've followed MI and MN politics recently, you know a new trifecta can get very busy.
Despite GOP control of the legislature, progressives have managed to pass reforms like minimum wage through ballot measures.

But Republicans have put a ballot measure on the ballot... that would squash future ballot measures. boltsmag.org/arizona-ballot…
Read 14 tweets

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