The Electorette

How flipped seats are shaping the response to federal immigration enforcement — A conversation with Sarah Curmi of ⁠States Win⁠

From lawsuits to new legislation, states are beginning to push back on federal immigration enforcement in ways that were once unthinkable.

This shift isn’t happening in a vacuum. Since the last election, Democrats have flipped 30 state legislative seats—changing who holds power in key chambers across the country.

In this episode, Sarah Curmi of States Win explains how those gains are translating into policy—and why state legislatures may be the most important political battleground right now.

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ICE at airports, a weeks-long shutdown, and why the DHS Secretary may not be in charge

The Department of Homeland Security has been partially shut down for weeks. At the same time, ICE agents are showing up in airports, and Markwayne Mullin has just been confirmed as DHS Secretary.

So what’s actually going on—and who’s really in charge?

In this conversation, I’m joined by Andrea Flores, former DHS and White House official, attorney, and immigration policy expert, to break down the reality behind the headlines. We talk about why this leadership change may be more symbolic than substantive, how immigration enforcement is expanding in ways most people aren’t noticing, and why this moment may be less about policy—and more about power.

We also dig into what Democrats should be doing right now, what’s at stake heading into the midterms, and why it’s important to understand just how far outside the norm this moment really is.

From this episode:

A New DHS Secretary Won’t Change Trump’s Immigration Agenda

Securing America's Promise

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Kelly Hall on how lawmakers are quietly dismantling ballot initiatives—and how voters are fighting back.

Ballot measures have become one of the most powerful tools voters have to bypass politicians and pass policy directly—from raising the minimum wage to expanding Medicaid to protecting reproductive rights. But according to Kelly Hall of The Fairness Project, that power is under coordinated attack.

In this episode, Jen Taylor-Skinner talks with Hall about the organization’s new report, Direct Democracy Under Assault, and the accelerating effort to weaken the ballot initiative process across the country. They discuss how lawmakers are changing the rules to make ballot measures harder to qualify, harder to pass, and easier for politicians to manipulate after voters have already spoken.

They also explore why these attacks are not just procedural—they’re a warning sign. Rights are often lost gradually, through technical changes and bureaucratic barriers that seem small on their own but add up over time. If voting rights are eroded drip by drip, Hall argues, direct democracy can disappear the same way.

This is a conversation about ballot measures, yes—but also about power, representation, and what it means when politicians decide they no longer need to listen to voters.

READ THE REPORT: ATTACKS ON DIRECT DEMOCRACY DOUBLED IN 2025

EPISODE CHAPTERS:

00:00 — What ballot measures are and why they matter Kelly explains the ballot initiative process and why it has become such an important democratic tool in an era of political dysfunction.

04:15 — The Fairness Project’s new report: Direct Democracy Under Assault Kelly breaks down the report’s central finding: attacks on ballot measures are accelerating fast.

08:20 — The numbers behind the backlash Jen and Kelly discuss the scale of the legislative assault, including the dramatic rise in anti-ballot-measure bills.

09:30 — Why the backlash is happening now Kelly connects the attacks to recent ballot measure victories, especially on reproductive rights.

11:15 — Why this isn’t just about abortion The conversation widens to include wages, Medicaid, voting protections, gerrymandering, and other policies voters can pursue through ballot initiatives.

12:00 — Who is behind these attacks? Kelly draws an important distinction between Republican voters and a small group of extremist Republican lawmakers attacking direct democracy.

14:45 — What it means when politicians refuse to listen to voters Jen and Kelly discuss the deeper democratic crisis revealed by these efforts.

19:20 — What would a healthy balance look like? A discussion about how ballot measures and legislatures might work together in a better-functioning democracy.

22:10 — Why voters split their tickets but support progressive ballot measuresKelly talks through the complexity and nuance of how people vote.

26:20 — How rights erode “drip by drip”One of the most powerful parts of the conversation: how democratic rights are lost gradually, through cumulative procedural attacks.

28:50 — The Florida exampleKelly explains how Florida has become a case study in making ballot measures harder to use.

32:20 — The Missouri exampleA look at how politicians use delay tactics and bureaucratic obstruction to interfere with the process.

36:50 — Fighting back: ballot measures to protect ballot measuresKelly explains how some states are going on offense by using ballot initiatives to strengthen direct democracy itself.

39:20 — Can there be federal protection for ballot measures?A discussion about the limits of federal intervention and why this remains a state-level fight.

40:20 — What people can do right nowKelly shares where the front lines are and how listeners can support this work.

42:20 — Why this matters even if you don’t live in a ballot-measure state

The episode closes with a reminder that these fights affect all of us.

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In this episode of The Electorette, Jen Taylor-Skinner speaks with Rebekah Caruthers, President and CEO of the Fair Elections Center, about growing concerns around voter intimidation and the potential role of federal agencies like ICE at or near polling places.

They discuss how proposed laws like the SAVE Act could change voter registration requirements, the broader strategy behind voter suppression efforts, and why some Americans are increasingly anxious about voting. Caruthers also puts this moment into historical perspective, reminding us that the fight over voting rights is not new—and that Americans have defended the ballot through some of the most difficult periods in the nation’s history.

Chapter Timestamps

00:00 — The State of American Democracy

02:30 — A Long History of Fighting for Voting Rights

06:00 — ICE, Voter Intimidation, and the Politics of Fear

07:30 — The SAVE Act and New Voting Restrictions

11:30 — Barriers to Registration and Voting Access

17:00 — What Voters Can Do Right Now

20:00 — Disinformation and Targeting Black Voters

24:00 — Elections in Times of Crisis

27:00 — Hope, Resistance, and the Future of the Vote

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Democracy Is Not Passive: Chris Melody Fields Figueredo on Ballot Power in 2026

When we think about elections, we think about candidates. But some of the most consequential fights in 2026 won’t be about who’s on the ballot — they’ll be about what’s on it.

Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, Executive Director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, joins me to break down the 24 democracy-related ballot measures already approved for November — and the wave of defensive measures, voter suppression tactics, and anti-trans initiatives emerging across the country.

We discuss Missouri lawmakers overturning voter-approved minimum wage and paid leave, how supermajority thresholds weaken majority rule, and why ballot initiatives remain one of the most powerful tools for multiracial democracy — even in red states.

Democracy cannot be passive. And this year, it’s on the ballot.

From this Episode:

Ballot Initiative Strategy Center (BISC)

BALLOT MEASURE HUB

LUCHA AZ —Living United for Change in Arizona is an organization led by changemakers fighting for social, racial, and economic transformation.

Missouri Jobs With Justice: A place for people who want to stop the wealthy few from mistreating and dividing us - and who want to start getting the dignity we deserve.

 Voices of Florida: Voices of Florida is a Florida-based 501(c)(4) nonprofit formerly known as Women's Voices of Southwest Florida Fund dedicated to defending reproductive freedoms and human rights, and empowering our communities through education, outreach and direct action.

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The Librarians: Censorship Comes for Democracy
Inside the fight over books, schools, and power: A conversation with Kim Snyder, director of The Librarians

Award-winning filmmaker Kim Snyder joins The Electorette to discuss her latest documentary, The Librarians, which examines the nationwide rise in book bans and the political targeting of librarians.

The film follows librarians across the country as they navigate harassment, threats, and mounting political pressure—all while defending access to information in their communities. In this conversation, Snyder breaks down how these censorship efforts are organized, who benefits from them, and why they pose a serious threat to democratic institutions.

The Librarians premieres on February 9th on PBS.

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In this episode of The Electorette, host Jen Taylor-Skinner speaks with Suzanne Jimenez, Chief of Staff at SEIU-UHW, about the looming healthcare crisis facing California — and the ballot measure designed to stop it.

Their conversation begins with the fallout from the federal budget reconciliation bill (HR 1), which delivered historic tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans while triggering over $100 billion in healthcare cuts to California over the next several years. Jimenez explains how those cuts are already showing up across the state: rising insurance premiums, hospital layoffs, threats to Medi-Cal, nursing homes, community clinics, and serious risks to maternal care and children’s health.

From there, Jimenez lays out California’s proposed solution: a one-time emergency 5% tax on billionaires, affecting just over 200 individuals. The measure would generate more than $100 billion to stabilize the healthcare system, protect Medi-Cal, support K–14 education, and fund emergency food assistance. She breaks down how the tax works, why claims of billionaire flight are largely a distraction, and how healthcare workers themselves are leading this effort after elected leaders failed to offer a viable alternative.

The episode also explores why ballot initiatives have become one of the most effective tools for protecting public goods, how this proposal could serve as a model for other states facing similar cuts, and what Californians stand to lose if the measure does not pass.

This is a clear, urgent conversation about who pays when government priorities shift — and how voters can intervene when the safety net is at risk.

🔗 Learn more about the California Billionaire Tax Act:
https://www.cabillionairetax.org/

🔗 See how healthcare workers are supporting the measure:
https://www.seiu-uhw.org/ca-billionaire-tax-act/

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The American middle class didn’t disappear by accident—it was dismantled by design.

In this episode of The Electorette, host Jen Taylor-Skinner is joined by Professor A. Mechele Dickerson, author of Middle-Class New Deal: Restoring Upward Mobility and the American Dream, for a clear-eyed conversation about how deliberate public policy once built a strong middle class—and how decades of political neglect slowly unraveled it.

Dickerson explains why the middle class exists at all, how housing policy, labor protections, education, and debt once worked together to create upward mobility, and what changed beginning in the 1980s. We also discuss why conversations about the middle class so often erase race—and how ignoring systemic inequality ultimately weakens the entire economy.

There’s a personal thread woven throughout this conversation as well: both Dickerson and Taylor-Skinner grew up in Memphis and even attended the same middle school, a shared history that mirrors many of the book’s core themes around affordable housing, public education, and economic opportunity.

This is a grounded, urgent conversation about what Americans have lost—and the open question of whether a new middle-class deal is still possible if the collective political will can be summoned.

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After users discovered they could use Grok, the AI tool embedded in X, to generate nonconsensual nude images of women and girls, the backlash was swift. And the story raised a deeper question: are these harms a failure of artificial intelligence itself, or a reflection of the people, power structures, and incentives behind it?

In this episode, Jen Taylor-Skinner is joined by Tazin Khan, CEO of Cyber Collective, for an important conversation about feminist AI, technology-facilitated gender-based violence, and the limits of blaming “innovation” for harms that are deeply human. From deepfakes and data exploitation to capitalism, surveillance, and platform responsibility, this discussion challenges the idea that technology is neutral—and asks who is protected, who is exposed, and why accountability so often stops at the code.

This is a conversation about AI, yes—but even more so about power, responsibility, and the systems we continue to build without reckoning with their consequences.

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As The Electorette returns with a new season, there was only one place to start: the front lines of civil liberties.

In this episode, Jen Taylor-Skinner is joined by Deirdre Schifeling, Chief Political & Advocacy Officer at the American Civil Liberties Union, for a wide-ranging and urgent conversation about what Trump’s second term really represents—not chaos, but a calculated “shock and awe” strategy designed to overwhelm the law, the courts, and the public.

They discuss the ACLU’s unprecedented legal response, the escalating attacks on immigrant communities, and why the Supreme Court’s upcoming birthright citizenship case could fundamentally redefine what it means to be American. Deirdre also explains how coordinated legal and civic pressure can slow executive overreach, why public engagement still matters in moments like this, and what people can do right now to meaningfully defend civil liberties and the rule of law.

Mentioned in this episode:

Firewall For Freedom: States Must Safeguard Our Rights

Stop ICE's Attack On Our Communities

Episode Chapters & Timestamps

00:00 — Season Return & Why the ACLU Now

02:00 — “Shock and Awe” as a Governing Strategy

06:30 — The Scale of the ACLU’s Legal Response

09:30 — Immigration Enforcement, Due Process, and Escalation

14:30 — Public Backlash and the Limits of Fear Politics

18:30 — Are the Courts Holding Up?

22:30 — Birthright Citizenship and the Supreme Court Test

28:30 — What Birthright Citizenship Really Means

33:30 — Executive Power and the Role of the Courts

38:30 — What Comes Next for Civil Liberties

42:30 — Civic Engagement Beyond the Courts

46:30 — The ACLU’s “Firewall for Freedom” Strategy

51:30 — What Individuals Can Do Right Now

55:30 — Final Thoughts & The Work Ahead

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