Calling for “systemic change,” former Alaska Congresswoman Mary Peltola announced on January 12 that she will run for the U.S. Senate in 2026, setting up one of the most closely watched races in the country. Peltola will challenge incumbent Dan Sullivan in a contest likely to be shaped as much by Alaska’s unique election system as by the candidates themselves.

Gallup released findings Monday that show independent voters make up a new record-high percentage of the U.S. electorate. Its data shows 45% of American voters self-identified as independent in 2025, breaking the 43% record in 2014, 2023 and 2024.

In California, the birthplace of much of the world’s technology innovation, virtual reality is being used in an unexpected setting: inside prisons.

While the media has kept people’s focus on the Epstein files, Venezuela, or a potential invasion of Greenland, the United States Postal Service adopted a new rule that will have a broad impact on Americans – especially in an election year in which millions of people will vote by mail.

Wondering how a major political figure walks away from power, and what that says about the system behind the scenes? This episode unpacks Tim Walz’s decision to step aside in Minnesota and how allegations around daycare funding brought to light by YouTuber Nick Shirley have cracked open a wide-open governor’s race.

Job vacancies in prison and state hospital health care have grown even as California has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to fill medical and mental health positions, according to a new state audit.

The American River connects the cities of Folsom, Rancho Cordova, and Citrus Heights, forming the core of California’s 7th Assembly District, which also includes the unincorporated communities of McClellan Park, North Highlands, Foothill Farms, Fair Oaks, Orangevale, Gold River, Rosemont, Mather, and most of Carmichael. The district lies entirely within Sacramento County.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat and Kamala Harris’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election that Donald J. Trump ultimately won, announced January 5 that he will not seek a third term in 2026.

California Assemblymember Carl DeMaio’s Reform California, which has proposed amending the California Constitution with a voter ID ballot measure, says it has crossed a major threshold going into 2026 – and it is not slowing down.

Missouri state officials are getting slammed with lawsuits over a new congressional map that People Not Politicians (PNP) says should be frozen after it submitted over 300,000 signatures to let voters decide to keep or reject the map.