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Whether you’re frantically refreshing your favorite publication's homepage for updates or avoiding the news altogether, there are still ways you can stay involved and make an impact in these final days. We recommend supporting groups on the ground who are doing the work to drive voter turnout through Election Day in swing states. 

This week we take a look at the NY-22, where Democrat and Working Families Party nominee John Mannion is challenging incumbent Republican Brandon Williams for the chance to represent this highly competitive district nestled in the Mohawk Valley and central New York State. The district is home to several universities, including Syracuse, Hamilton, Colgate, and Utica.

Grab your paddle and hop in a canoe because this week we’re featuring some of the most beautiful parts of New York State at this time of the year — the Catskills, Hudson Valley, and Finger Lakes regions that are home to some of the best paddling east of the Mississippi River.

The NY-01 encompasses the eastern two-thirds of Long Island and includes places of extreme wealth such as the Hamptons, as well as working-class towns and farming communities. The district is currently represented by freshman Republican Nick LaLota and is considered a competitive district. 

This week we take a look at a very competitive seat, the CA-40, currently held by Republican Young Kim. In 2018, Kim challenged the incumbent, Democrat Gil Cisneros and lost by a very slim margin. But two years later, she prevailed in a rematch with Cisneros during the 2020 presidential election, with a lead of only 1,000 votes on election night.

This week we’re taking a look at AZ-06, a district held by Democrats for several cycles until Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick retired in 2022.

For the third time, Republican Congressman Mike Garcia is about to face off against a Democrat in a Southern Californian district (CA-27) that favors Democrats in both registration share and partisan preference. Can he beat the odds and get reelected yet again, or will the Democratic nominee this time — George Whitesides — motivate the district’s voters to finally oust Garcia?

This week we’re taking a look at the NY-04, which is located in affluent southern Long Island in New York and includes the towns of Hempstead, Mineola, Oceanside, Woodmere, and Long Beach. Republican Anthony D’Esposito is the district’s current representative. This race is yet another rematch of 2022.

This week we turn to New York, where progressives are mounting a strong challenge to unseat several Republican incumbents in toss-ups and seats that lean Democratic. In New York’s 17th congressional district, located in the southern portion of the state, Mondaire Jones is trying to return to Congress.

This week we take a look at the race in Arizona’s 1st congressional district where incumbent Republican David Schweikert will defend his seat against the Democratic nominee in November. The AZ primary will be held on July 30. 

This week we focus on a district race in the Lone Star state where Democrats are fighting to turn the state a little less Red with each electoral cycle. The TX-15 district includes a thin strip of the far south of Texas.

This week we’re looking at the CA-45 race in Southern California between Republican incumbent Michelle Steel and her Democratic challenger Derek Tran. This is considered one of the most hotly contested races nationally. The district includes parts of Orange County as well as a small part of Los Angeles County and is home to one of the nation’s highest concentrations of Asian Americans.

This week we feature yet another California rematch. In this newly draw CA-13, in the San Joaquin Valley, incumbent freshman John Duarte (GOP) faces challenger and Democrat Adam Gray in this district that was newly drawn after the 2020 Census redistricting process.

This week we’re looking at another California rematch: in CA-22. Democrat Rudy Salas is back for another shot at this House seat held by incumbent Republican Rep. David Valadao in this highly competitive district, one with a long history of bouncing back and forth between the two parties. Redistricting has changed the regions included in this district, which is located in the San Joaquin Valley, yet it remains a toss-up.

In 2022, we identified the CA-41 in Riverside County in Southern California as a flippable district in the 2022 midterm election, and continued to do so in the 2024 rematch between incumbent Republican Ken Calvert and the Dem challenger, Will Rollins, despite Rollins’ 2022 loss by over 11,000 votes (4.6 percentage points) out of over 239,000 votes cast.

Republicans have made it abundantly clear that they cannot be entrusted to control the U.S. House of Representatives. Whether it’s dragging their feet to fund the most critical functions of our military and social safety nets, failing to ensure that we comply with international pacts, or refusing to respond to unanticipated crises like the tragic destruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, they have proven they need to give up the reins.

Drawn as a white-majority district by the California Redistricting Commission in 2022, it is considered one of only three competitive toss-up districts in the state by the Commission.

In a recent, now viral, sit-down interview with Don Lemon, Elon Musk, one of DEI’s top public enemies, doubled down and continued to assail diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Musk said society should stop making racism a “constant subject,” adding: “I think we need to move on.”

Two weeks ago, thousands of people around the country celebrated Juneteenth, commemorating the day enslaved people in Galveston, Texas found out they were free.

In the short period between Juneteenth and July 4th, the U.S. Supreme Court dismantled decades of progress towards freedom and equality for all, from allowing business owners to lawfully discriminate against LGBTQ+ people to gutting affirmative action in higher education. 

In September 2021, the city of Atlanta approved the creation of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center that has come to be known as Cop City.

The fight for LGBTQ+ rights has always been inextricably tied to the fight for Black civil rights. While more LGBTQ+ leaders of the civil rights movement have begun to receive acknowledgment in recent years, this was not always the case.

A few weeks ago, when this year's Pulitzer Prize award winners were announced, I was struck by the number of Asian American winners and finalists. 

By my count, out of the 23 categories, there were at least eight Asian Americans named (see list below). Given that May is also Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, this all felt serendipitous, significant, and magnificent—a true cause to celebrate!

On Sunday, as I watched Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan tearfully accept their Oscar awards, I pumped my fists and dabbed my eyes. Asians sweeping the freakin’ Oscars! 

This time last year was a difficult one for me and my family. A health diagnosis had taken us all by surprise, creating a cognitive dissonance between the holiday we were supposed to be celebrating in a spirit of gratitude and the reality of our life circumstances. At the same time, there was no shortage of distressing news in the country and world at-large.

Incumbency is supposed to have its privileges, but somebody forgot to tell that to the Ohio Republicans who drastically altered OH-01 after the 2020 Census, essentially leaving their incumbent Steve Chabot to sink or swim as Democratic challenger Greg Landsman and party members go all out in an attempt to flip the seat and retain control of the House of Representatives.

Early voting is underway in AZ-01 as David Schweikert, campaign finance violator extraordinaire, tries to convince voters to ignore his indiscretions and send him back to Washington for a 7th term in Congress.

The race in CA-45 pits the Korea-born right winger and first-term incumbent Michelle Steel against Taiwanese American and Democratic party challenger Jay Chen.

Ken Calvert’s record-setting 30-year term as a member of Congress appears to have run its course. Not only has CA-41 become less red over the past decade as more voters of color have moved in but the longest-serving member of the California delegation is running in a redrawn district that now includes Palm Springs.

The right to choose is front and center in CA-40 this cycle. Physician Asif Mahmood (D) cleared the field before the 2022 primary, demonstrating both his fundraising prowess and his ability to harness the energy of the district’s pro-choice voters by trouncing the incumbent Congresswoman Young Kim by just over 6 percentage points.

Republican fighter jet pilot Mike Garcia is battling for his political life in CA-27, a congressional district where President Biden won easily with a 10.1% margin of victory in 2020.