by Sasha Abramsky | May 3, 2026 | Alaska, California, elections, Eric Swalwell, Gubernatorial elections, Louisiana, Maine, Op-Ed, primaries, Ranked Choice Voting, Republicans, Runoff Election, Runoff Elections, Washington D.C., Washington State
With just weeks until California voters cast ballots for the next governor in the primary, five candidates are clustered atop the polling, each with at least 10 percent but less than 20 percent support among the electorate. A sixth candidate, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, is at 5 percent and has been gaining visibility in recent weeks. More than a quarter of the electorate has yet to make up its mind.
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by Eleanor J. Bader | May 2, 2026 | Adjunct Faculty, Connecticut, education, faculty, Higher Education, Interview, labor, Labor Organizing, Maine, Massachusetts, National Labor Relations Board, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, NLRB, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, shared governance, solidarity, Students, Unions, Vermont
When East Coast members of Higher Education Labor United (HELU) got together in January, they set their sights on developing a national plan to improve working conditions for university and college faculty and staff, enhance learning conditions for students, and build lasting partnerships with local communities to promote the common good. Together, they drafted a document called the Amherst…
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by Amy Goodman | Jan 23, 2026 | DHS, ICE, immigration, Interview, Maine, Trump Administration
Trump’s deportation machine has touched down in Maine. As the state, home to a significant share of the Somali American community, faces a surge of ICE activity, we’re joined by Safiya Khalid, the first-ever Somali American city councilmember for Lewiston, Maine’s second-largest city. Lewiston’s “streets are completely empty” as residents of all immigration statuses fear harassment and violence…
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by Luke Goldstein | Dec 3, 2025 | 2026 election, Chuck Schumer, Democratic Party, elections, Farmworkers, Graham Platner, housing, Indigenous Rights, Janet Mills, labor, Maine, News Analysis, Susan Collins, Tribal Sovereignty, Wealth Tax
At a time when Democratic voters are demanding new, antiestablishment leaders, the Democratic Party’s power brokers are pushing a 77-year-old candidate for a key 2026 Senate race who’s spent the past six years as governor vetoing collective bargaining rights for workers, tax increases on the wealthy, renter protections, and tribal sovereignty protections, according to a Lever review.
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by Eileen Appelbaum | Oct 17, 2025 | California, Elizabeth Warren, health care, Maine, Massachusetts, News Analysis, Oregon, Private Equity
New legislation in California is poised to rein in the financialization of healthcare — part of a growing trend of states taking action while federal legislation struggles to move forward. On October 6, California enacted legislation (Senate Bill 351) that restricts financial firms’ ability to influence how physicians in practices they own treat patients. It prohibits the firms from setting…
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