Jonathan Shorman

Jonathan Shorman

[email protected] https://bsky.app/profile/jonshorman.bsky.social

Jonathan Shorman covers democracy for States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. Based in Kansas City, his coverage area includes elections and voting rights, fights over state and federal power, civil liberties and more. An alumnus of the University of Kansas, he previously covered politics for The Kansas City Star.

States will shape America’s future as nation confronts a pivotal choice
Stateline

States will shape America’s future as nation confronts a pivotal choice

Jul 07, 2026
Jonathan Shorman Kevin Hardy
A quarter millennium after its founding, the United States faces a stark choice that will define its future. In the years ahead, the country can continue to follow the path blazed by President Donald Trump, who is attempting to bring...
Democrats, Republicans alike focus on states’ rights as a way out of America’s political woes
Stateline

Democrats, Republicans alike focus on states’ rights as a way out of America’s political woes

Jul 02, 2026
Kevin Hardy Jonathan Shorman
Democrats are seizing the mantle of states’ rights to oppose the agenda of President Donald Trump, who has sought to reset Washington’s relationship with the states. While the party out of federal power has always pushed its agenda in statehouses...
The U.S. Supreme Court on April 9, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
National

US Supreme Court in Virginia case says police need warrants for cellphone location data

Jun 29, 2026
Jonathan Shorman
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that law enforcement searches for the location history of cellphones near crime scenes are covered by the Fourth Amendment, requiring warrants to obtain the data. But the high court left unsettled when searches for...
Greg Lange of Bismarck, North Dakota, drops off absentee ballots for himself and his wife at the Bismarck Burleigh County Office Building on June 8, 2026. (Photo by Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
National

US Supreme Court deals blow to Trump, ruling states can accept ballots after Election Day

Jun 29, 2026
Jonathan Shorman
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that states can count mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, a blow to the Trump administration and some Republican states that had urged the justices to require all ballots to arrive by the...
As President Donald Trump's administration pursues multiple election probes in advance of the midterm elections, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents carried out a raid on Jan. 28, 2026, at the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center in Union City, Georgia. (Photo by Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)
National

Trump’s sharpened focus on investigating elections raises fears of midterm meddling

Jun 29, 2026
Jonathan Shorman
President Donald Trump was speaking to supporters at a Pennsylvania rally June 23 when he made an extraordinary admission about an election a continent away. Trump and his allies had spent several days in June savaging California over its slow...
An election worker processes mail-in ballots for the California state primary election at the Los Angeles County Ballot Processing Center on June 05, 2026, in City of Industry, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
National

Trump order limiting voting by mail halted by federal court

Jun 25, 2026
Jonathan Shorman
A federal judge on Thursday blocked major portions of President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting voting by mail, finding he had exceeded his constitutional authority. The decision halts, at least until a nearly certain appeal is heard, efforts by the...
Voters in Grand Rapids, Michigan, cast their ballots during the state’s August 2024 primary. (Photo by Matt Vasilogambros/Stateline)
National

Judges block Trump push for Michigan voter info, setting up possible Supreme Court fight

Jun 24, 2026
Jonathan Shorman
A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled the Department of Justice isn’t entitled to access the sensitive personal data of Michigan voters, a setback in President Donald Trump’s push to assert power over state-run elections. The decision moves the country...
Ahead of the May 2024 primary, a drop box for mail-in ballots sits outside the Shelby County Courthouse Annex in Shelbyville, Kentucky. (Photo by McKenna Horsley/Kentucky Lantern)
National

States that won't obey Trump order will have their mail ballots halted, postmaster says

Jun 24, 2026
Jonathan Shorman
The U.S. Postal Service won’t deliver mail ballots in states that refuse to turn over lists of voters under a proposed rule, the agency’s chief executive said Wednesday, angering Democrats who warn the decision will disenfranchise voters. Postmaster General David...
Voting at the Portland Expo in Maine’s June 9, 2026 primary election. (Photo by Jim Neuger/Maine Morning Star)
National

Trump ‘trampled’ voter privacy by feeding info into Homeland Security system, judge says

Jun 22, 2026
Jonathan Shorman
The Trump administration illegally overhauled a U.S. Department of Homeland Security computer program in its hunt for noncitizen voters, a judge ruled Monday in a stinging decision that laid into federal officials for violating the privacy of millions of Americans...
Open Democracy, a New Hampshire voting rights group, has spent several years working to improve the registration rate among 18-year-olds. Shown are New Hampshire voters. (Photo by Will Steinfeld/New Hampshire Bulletin)
National

When teens drive less, they don't register to vote. Here's how civic groups are adapting.

Jun 19, 2026
Jonathan Shorman
American teens are driving less than in previous decades, prompting civic advocates to warn that fewer young people may register to vote. Yet at least one state — New Hampshire — offers insight into how civic groups can work around...
Voters fill out their ballots at a Sioux Falls polling place during the South Dakota primary election on June 2, 2026. (Photo by Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
National

Trump couldn't send troops to the polls without approval of Congress under Dem bill

Jun 18, 2026
Jonathan Shorman
U.S. Senate Democrats introduced legislation on Thursday to require Congress to sign off on any deployment of federal troops to the polls, as President Donald Trump and his administration refuse to rule out the idea. Fears of troops or other...
Maine's Graham Platner is the Democratic candidate for what's considered one of the nation's most competitive battle for the U.S. Senate. Platner, who is challenging incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, is shown at a rally at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland on April 18, 2026. (Photo by Jim Neuger/ Maine Morning Star)
National

Mildly blue or a blue tsunami? 9 states will decide if Dems flip control of U.S. Senate

Jun 18, 2026
Jacob Fischler Jonathan Shorman
Democrats are growing hopeful they can recapture the U.S. Senate in this fall’s midterm elections amid President Donald Trump’s plummeting approval ratings. But they still need nearly everything to break their way against a map that put them at a...