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.

An election worker processes mail-in ballots for the California primary election at the Los Angeles County Ballot Processing Center on June 5, 2026 in City of Industry, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
National

Trump’s DOJ threatens 'criminal liability' for California officials in vote counting suit

Oct 27, 2026
Jonathan Shorman
The U.S. Department of Justice in a federal court hearing Tuesday warned California election officials could be prosecuted if they count ballots cast by noncitizen voters, in a case brought by the Trump administration demanding that the state set aside...
Early voters line up at the Midtown Mall in Anchorage on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (Yereth Rosen photo/Alaska Beacon)
National

Courts to decide fate of Trump’s latest push to control voting as Election Day nears

8:00am ET
Jonathan Shorman
Less than a week before Election Day, President Donald Trump’s unprecedented drive for power over elections has set the stage for a series of courtroom fights that could quickly lead to a high-stakes showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court over...
Voters line up outside Shiloh Hills Baptist Church in Kennesaw, Georgia, on Election Day, May 19, 2026. (Photo by Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)
National

Trump's DOJ sends 1,000 election monitors to 50 states; locations not yet disclosed

Oct 27, 2026
Jonathan Shorman
The U.S. Department of Justice plans to send election monitors to every state ahead of Election Day, expanding a long-standing practice that’s spurred concern this year among Democrats and voting rights advocates because of President Donald Trump’s push to influence...
A banner showing President Donald Trump hangs on the Robert F. Kennedy Building of the U.S. Department of Justice on Feb. 20, 2026. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)
National

Trump DOJ’s demand for emergency order in California vote counting dismissed by appeals court

Oct 26, 2026
Jonathan Shorman
President Donald Trump’s 11th-hour campaign to intervene in California’s vote counting encountered its first resistance from federal courts on Monday, with appellate judges ruling against the effort. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled against...
Competing signs in the same Anchorage, Alaska yard, seen Aug. 7, 2026, support the candidates for U.S. Senate in Alaska: incumbent Dan Sullivan, a Republican, and challenger Mary Peltola, a Democrat. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
National

Trump’s DOJ sues over Alaska Senate race, expanding preelection legal fights

Oct 23, 2026
Jonathan Shorman
The U.S. Department of Justice is stepping up its legal campaign over the midterm elections, suing Alaska over its U.S. Senate election and appealing a lawsuit against suspected noncitizen voters in California. Election law experts have cast doubt on the...
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner speaks with reporters in the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
National

Dems in Congress say they’re wary Trump won't accept results of election

Oct 22, 2026
Jonathan Shorman
As Election Day approaches, top Democrats on the intelligence committees in Congress are preparing for the possibility that President Donald Trump will allege foreign interference to discredit unfavorable results. And they want leading U.S. intelligence officials to be immediately reachable...
Voters line up outside Shiloh Hills Baptist Church in Kennesaw, Georgia, on Election Day, May 19, 2026. (Photo by Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)
National

Judge blocks Homeland Security from conducting election-related sweeps in 9 states

Oct 21, 2026
Jonathan Shorman
A federal judge on Wednesday night blocked the Department of Homeland Security from conducting election-related field operations that could sweep up U.S. citizens in nine states. Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, an appointee of President Joe Biden in U.S. District Court in...
A ballot drop box sits outside the library at Virginia Avenue Park in Santa Monica, California on July 14, 2026. (Photo by Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)
National

Dems sue Trump, alleging election interference, as DOJ battles with California

Oct 21, 2026
Jonathan Shorman
National Democrats are suing President Donald Trump, accusing his administration of intimidating election officials and asking a federal court to block him from interfering in the midterm elections. The lawsuit, filed late Tuesday in Washington, D.C., comes as the Trump...
Voting at the Portland Expo in Maine’s June 9, 2026 primary election. (Photo by Jim Neuger / Maine Morning Star)
National

Trump’s DOJ steps up pressure on California over noncitizen voters 2 weeks from election

Oct 20, 2026
Jonathan Shorman
The U.S. Department of Justice is intensifying its campaign against voter fraud with a spree of arrests in the final weeks before Election Day, an effort that voting rights advocates warn risks instilling fear among voters. Over the past week...
Dan Osborn, an independent candidate for U.S. Senate, sits at a conference room in Hyannis, Nebraska, on Oct. 15, 2026. Osborn met with three voters, including a local rancher who supports President Donald Trump. (Photo by Jonathan Shorman/States Newsroom)
National

How Nebraska helped turn 2026 into the year of the independent US Senate candidate

Oct 20, 2026
Jonathan Shorman
HYANNIS, Neb. — With 19 days until Election Day, Dan Osborn sat across from three skeptical voters in a conference room in this blink-and-you-miss-it rural Nebraska town. Osborn, a bearded former union leader and Navy veteran, wants to become the...
The U.S. Department of Justice on Feb. 20, 2026. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)
National

Last-minute Trump DOJ suit in California targeting noncitizen voters alarms advocates

Oct 16, 2026
Jonathan Shorman
After the U.S. Department of Justice sued California over its refusal to remove voters the federal government alleges are noncitizens, voting rights advocates fear the Trump administration is violating a court order blocking it from rooting out noncitizens with states’...
A ballot drop box sits outside the library at Virginia Avenue Park in Santa Monica, California on July 14, 2026. (Photo by Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)
National

Trump’s DOJ demands California halt ballots to suspected noncitizens

Oct 14, 2026
Jonathan Shorman
The U.S. Department of Justice is demanding California not count ballots from voters it says are suspected noncitizens, a move by the Trump administration to apply last-minute pressure as voting begins in the midterm elections. The Justice Department on Tuesday...