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Mamdani Dismisses Business Leaders Advising NYC’s Mayor’s Fund
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani dismissed the business and civic leaders who advised a multimillion-dollar fund that channels private donations into public programs, removing a longstanding group of corporate advisers from City Hall’s philanthropic arm.
Jorge Elorza to endorse David Morales for Providence mayor
Incumbent Mayor Brett Smiley served as one of Elorza’s top aids during his first term. This will be the second time Elorza has endorsed a candidate over his former ally.
Milton Keynes youth mayor inspired by sister's political journey
Tito Adeyale, 16, will attend civic and community events over the next 12 months in Milton Keynes.
Trailblazing former Republican Rep Kay Granger dies at 83: 'Broke barriers'
Former Rep. Kay Granger, a trailblazing Texas Republican who served nearly three decades in Congress and became Fort Worth’s first female mayor, has died at 83.
Downtown Rochester business owner calls on city to step up and fix sidewalk
A Third Street shop owner is calling on the city to repair uneven pavement near Mayo Clinic after repeated attempts to get a response from local officials were unsuccessful.
Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias is running for mayor
Giannoulias sits on $22 million in campaign funds, roughly three times the total of his competitors.
The Manchester mayoral result holds the key to the future of progressive politics
Voters on the left may be fragmented – but they will pull together behind a convincing cross-party message, says Neal Lawson, director of cross-party campaign organisation Compass
'Zombie cells,' inflammation, and other health issue
Dr. Marissa Schaffer with the Mayo Clinic discusses 'zombie cells' and how they cause inflammation and other health issues.
Pueblo mayor, council concoct Trumpian Texas Two-Step
Several weeks ago, an article was published positing Pueblo Mayor Heather Graham is a disciple of the calamitous Donald Trump school of governance — specifically as it related to questionable ethical practices and the misuse of public funds. Recently, Graham confirmed her allegiance by implementing the Trump tactics of deflect and divide to continue her […]
What Mamdani is doing with city-run stores is illegal and irresponsible, small business owner says
Multicultural Business Coalition Chairman Frank Garcia says the mayor did not want to meet with his group over concerns about the city-run grocery store project on ‘The Bottom Line.’
Immigrant Business Owners Preparing to Sue NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani Over Supermarket Plan
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani‘s plan to open taxpayer-funded supermarkets is angering some immigrant business owners. The New York Post reported on Tuesday, July 28, that the Multicultural Busine...
Brandon Johnson credits Chicago for leading progressive politics
Amid uncertainty about whether he’ll seek reelection, Chicago mayor discusses Democratic climate and progressive politics
Mamdani takes heat from NYC business leaders over pied-à-terre tax
‘The Big Money Show’ discusses why NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani's proposed pied-à-terre tax and publication of targeted property owners are fueling backlash from New York's business community.
Tampa Bay Times splits St. Pete Mayor endorsement, but snubs Ken Welch twice
The recommendations arrived after a particularly combative stretch in the race.
Who will replace Andy Burnham as Manchester mayor?
Despite early predictions of a close battle with Reform, Labour on course to win first electoral test for new PM
Clinton, Obama-era Democratic heavyweights Penn and Emanuel rip NYC's Mamdani over taxes, Israel, blast DSA
Democratic power players Mark Penn and Rahm Emanuel publicly criticize NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani over his property tax plan and Israel positions.
Chicago politics: New mayoral candidate, push to delay Snelling's replacement, and more
Lone Star Politics: July 26, 2026
More local leaders are beginning to speak up about the need for a “strong mayor” system in Dallas. Plus, Talarico and Paxton swing through North Texas in opposing campaign styles.
3 takeaways from Mamdani's city-run grocery stores
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani promised city-run grocery stores. This week, he announced kitchen staples will have a 30% discount over private retailers.
St Pete Mayor drama; Florida fundraising totals
Political Connections airs each weeknight at 7 p.m. on Spectrum News.
Council caught off guard as mayor seeks funding from local business owners
WOAI NBC News Channel 4 San Antonio provides local news, weather forecasts, traffic updates, investigations, and items of interest in the community, sports and entertainment programming for San Antonio and nearby towns and communities in South Central Texas, including Windcrest, Uvalde, Universal City, Somerset, Seguin, Schertz, San Marcos, Sabinal, Poth, Poteet, Pleasanton, Pearsall, New Braunfels, Live Oak, Kerrville, Hondo, Helotes, Goliad, Fredericksburg, Floresville, Eagle Pass, Devine, Del Rio, Cuero, Crystal City, Converse, Cibolo, Castroville, Carrizo Springs, Boerne, Bandera.
Newsom affair as mayor resurfaces amid presidential run rumors
Rippey detailed her ongoing struggle with alcoholism and sobriety.
Doctors want Yale Bologna Festival to ban youth from event
A health group is urging the mayor of Yale in St. Clair County to restrict the Yale Bologna Festival, citing cancer risks.
🇮🇪 Y! Sports AM: 75-year wait
Mayo finally won the All-Ireland title on Sunday, breaking one of the longest curses in all of sports.
‘I’ve Never Lost’: Rahm Emanuel Makes His Case
The former Chicago mayor discusses Israel, Democrats and whether he’ll run in 2028.
Democratic Socialists of America is a 'flesh-eating virus,' political strategist says
Political and legal strategist Katie Zacharia discusses the Democratic Socialists of America's platform and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's proposal for city-run grocery stores on ‘Fox News @ Night.’
Mamdani Is Makes City-Owned Grocery Stores Sound Pretty Good
The mayor revealed that the five planned municipal stores will sell staples like produce, meat, and cheese at 30 percent below retail prices.
Downtown Salisbury projects are stalled. Business leaders blame the mayor.
Salisbury business leaders say Mayor Randy Taylor has slowed or stalled key downtown projects, including a state-backed affordable housing plan and other redevelopments.
NYC's city-owned stores to sell grocery staples at 30% discount
The discounts will be available to all shoppers regardless of income.
Mamdani and Netanyahu Are in a Vicious War of Words
Mamdani has accused Netanyahu of committing genocide while the prime minister claims the mayor is “fomenting hate.”
The mayor, the king and the long way home: an American odyssey
Odysseus ultimately discovers that getting home requires more than defeating enemies.
After voting against rent control, a Providence councilman’s political future is at stake
Progressive groups are trying to oust Councilman John Goncalves, and the race for his Ward 1 seat may be seen as a proxy for the mayoral contest.
Wu-backed state Sen. candidate is Beacon Hill lobbyist, secured millions for nonprofit
A Democratic state Sen. candidate backed by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is a registered lobbyist who has secured tens of millions of taxpayer dollars for the nonprofit organization she works for.
Money in Ann Arbor politics: Where does it come from, and where does it go?
Pre-election campaign finance statements for candidates of the Aug. 4 Ann Arbor mayoral and City Council primaries were due Friday. The statements report all campaign contributions and expenditures — from five-figure donations, to a $3.99 purchase of water made by mayoral candidate Yousef Rabhi’s campaign. Collectively, candidates for mayor and City Council have raised more […]
What does it mean to end 75 years of heartbreak?
After Mayo ended their 75-year wait to win the All-Ireland, what does it mean to finally end the 'Mayo curse'?.
Netanyahu accuses Mamdani of 'fomenting hate' and calls ICC war-crimes charges 'bogus'
Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu says New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is “fomenting hate” by calling the prime minister a war criminal who should be arrested if he visits the city.
Netanyahu accuses Mamdani of 'fomenting hate' and calls ICC war-crimes charges 'bogus'
Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu says New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is “fomenting hate” by calling the prime minister a war criminal who should be arrested if he visits the city.
From 6 staffers to 75: Mamdani expands coastal resilience workforce amid growing flood threat
Mayor Zohran Mamdani is spending $43.2 million to expand New York City’s coastal resilience bureau from six employees to roughly 75.
Katie Wilson tries to find balance in move from organizer to mayor
Wilson said she’s trying to make the right decisions for the city, but admits the balancing of her time, priorities and projections is still a work in progress.
Gov. Jeff Landry, former Mayor Mitch Landrieu spar on social media amid feud between city, state
The two leaders spent Friday trading barbs over New Orleans' place in the state economy and the former mayor's record.
Andy Burnham and the rise of ‘aura farming’ in politics
Is “aura farming” the new political superpower? There are some days in TV news when you find yourself standing in the middle of a farm, surrounded by baby goats, trying to explain internet slang. Subscribe This was one of those days. There I was, in wellies, trying to unpack aura farming - a Gen Z term for carefully cultivating your image online so that you look effortlessly cool, authentic and charismatic. The trick, apparently, is that it can’t look like you’re trying too hard. Which, I’ll admit, felt slightly ironic as we filmed an entire report on a farm purely because the word farming is in the title. ‘Shaped by algorithms’ Whether you like it or not, politics increasingly feels like it’s being shaped by algorithms as much as manifestos. Take Andy Burnham. Since arriving at Number 10, he’s been impossible to miss online. One minute he’s out for a casual jog with Mo Farah. Next he’s announcing policy alongside TikTok high priestess Bus Aunty. His social media paints a very deliberate picture: less polished Westminster operator, more bloke from the North who just happens to be running the country. It’s not accidental. Burnham’s “King of the North”, New Order-loving persona has become part of a carefully constructed political brand. Authenticity is now something politicians work incredibly hard to make look effortless. But Burnham isn’t inventing this playbook. Like so many of us doomscrolling on an evening, he’s been influenced online. The digital strategy of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, pictured above right, has become a case study in viral political communication, and some of the people behind that campaign have recently been advising the Labour Party in Britain. Their message is simple: if you want to reach younger voters, you need to show up where they already spend their time. Embracing content creators And increasingly, that doesn’t mean traditional news interviews (awkward). It means speaking to content creators like Max from The Career Ladder, whose channels reach around 20 million followers worldwide. His interview with Burnham, pictured below, was posted almost immediately after he became Prime Minister. What struck me wasn’t just the audience size, but something Max told me afterwards: many people in the comments said they’d discovered Britain had a new Prime Minister through his interview. Think about that for a moment. Not through rolling news. Not through newspapers. Through a creator they were already following while scrolling. Share That’s a profound shift in how political information reaches people, one that’s been gathering momentum for some time. It also explains why politicians are embracing content creators and spending millions on digital marketing. Of course, this isn’t unique to one party. ‘Personality before policy’ In many ways, the right were quicker off the mark in building their aura online. Donald Trump built much of his political identity on social media. Nigel Farage remains one of Britain’s strongest political performers on TikTok. Politicians across the spectrum now understand that personality often reaches people before policy does. During a six-week UK general election campaign alone, overall digital ad spending routinely tops £11m. Share Channel 4 News Former Number 10 social media adviser Andrew Wong put it well when he told me that “vibes” can help someone get noticed, but they only work if they’re rooted in a genuine personality. Force it, and audiences spot it instantly. The bigger question is whether internet charisma can backfire on you - especially when you’re Prime Minister. Because behind Burnham’s carefully curated videos is a veteran politician with decades of Westminster experience. The spontaneity is produced. While the authenticity may be genuine, it’s managed. That’s not necessarily a criticism. It’s simply the reality of modern political communication. Aura farming alone is not enough to harvest change. But in the age of algorithms, winning attention may be the first battle. Subscribe Share Channel 4 News Leave a comment
Jewish leaders directly criticize mayor for Israel rhetoric
Morales is accused of stabbing an Asian man and a Jewish man wearing a kippa.
Flock license plate readers 'destroyed' in Troy, mayor says
A trio of the devices were taken down Thursday night, Mayor Carmella Mantello said.
Kendrick taps commissioners, former administrator, business leaders for transition team
Mayor-elect Steven Kendrick has named three sitting commissioners and a cross-section of Augusta business and community leaders to examine the government before he takes office.
Cincinnati mayor announces $1 million in flood relief for residents, businesses
Cincinnati officials are rolling out flood relief funding for residents and business owners hit by recent flooding, as the city pushes for more state and federal help.
Mayo relishing 'step up in pressure' at Aberdeen
Defender Lewis Mayo has described his move to Aberdeen as "a step up in expectation and pressure". Mayo arrived at Pittodrie from Kilmarnock on a three-year deal earlier this summer and has settled in well, being deployed at centre half – and right back – helping the Dons to victory in all three of their League Cup group stage games so far. "It is a fresh start for me," the 26-year-old said ahead of Aberdeen's next League Cup game against Kelty Hearts.
Fast-tracked, but falling short? Mamdani’s efficiency measures head to NYC voters
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s government-efficiency panel unanimously approved five proposed City Charter changes for the November ballot Thursday evening, setting
Who's running for Coachella mayor, council amid recall drive?
It's a busy time in Coachella politics, as the backers of a recall drive against two council members consider running for office themselves.
Mamdani's 'small-biz' plan is a complete bait-and-switch
It shouldn’t surprise you that Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s new “help small businesses” plan won’t do much for what most folks think “small business” means....
Clint Reilly, Political Consultant Known for Feuding, Dies at 79
As savvy as he could be volatile, he advised Nancy Pelosi and Dianne Feinstein, ran for mayor of San Francisco and bought The San Francisco Examiner.
Mayor Lucas says lawsuit over Kansas City contracts is political stunt, frivolous
Quinton Lucas accused Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway of engaging in a “culture war issue” and a “political stunt.”
A closer look at Mamdani’s small-business agenda
The New York mayor wants every business owner to have a sherpa to navigate regulations.
What does Cincinnati's emergency declaration mean for residents, business owners?
Cincinnati is transitioning from emergency response to recovery after two rounds of flooding prompted the mayor to declare a state of emergency to provide financial relief to affected homeowners and businesses.
Mamdani names new Economic Development Corporation president and chair
Anthony Shorris will be the EDC president.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani Just Rolled Out 50 Small Business Reforms. An Advocate Says It's Only the Beginning
While the reforms aim to ease some of the day-to-day burdens facing small businesses, not everyone agrees they go far enough.
Jen Palmieri Has a New Politics Show
Jennifer Palmieri has also brought on former NOLA mayor Mitch Landrieu and journalist Errin Haines for 'Long Play,' a six-part docuseries about the region’s complexities.
Mamdani says U.S. authorities should arrest Netanyahu as ‘architect of a horrific genocide’
The New York mayor has repeatedly denounced the Israeli leader despite criticism from other Democrats. He challenged the federal government to ensure that Netanyahu be tried for war crimes by the International Criminal Court.
In new video, Mamdani acknowledges he doesn’t have authority to arrest Netanyahu
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a new video Tuesday that he does not have the legal authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he were to come to New York City.
Former Ohio governor, mayor urge local leaders to team up with experts on public health
Republican former governor John Kasich and Democratic former Cincinnati mayor John Cranley are urging local officials and experts to get prepared for a public health crisis.
Zohran Mamdani on Six Months in Office and the Democrats' Future
New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani on six months in office, the future of the Democratic Party, Israel-Palestine, Taylor Swift's wedding and more.
Teresa Jacobs to depart Orange County politics after decades of service
Jacobs, 69, was first elected to the Orange County Board of County Commissioners in 2000 and has served as county mayor and school board chair in the decades since.
New Super PAC with ties to Boston Mayor Wu draws rebuke from the senator she’s trying to defeat
A new Super PAC that appears to be aligned with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has emerged ahead of the state primary, where two Wu-backed challengers are vying to expel the two senators Wu blames for killing her tax bill.
Mamdani rolls out 50-plus fixes for NYC’s small-business bureaucracy
Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled more than 50 changes Monday aimed at making it easier to open and operate a small business in New York City — from seeking to
McCain: If 2028 Dem nominee has Mamdani’s tone on US politics, GOP has ‘huge f—ing problem’
Meghan McCain, the daughter of former Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), said Monday that if the 2028 presidential nominee for the Democrats shares New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s (D) tone about poli…
Clint Reilly, longtime San Francisco power broker, dies at 79
Clint Reilly advised some of California’s biggest political names, ran for San Francisco mayor and fought to preserve newspaper competition before purchasing the Examiner himself.
Mayor Mamdani signs executive order to help NYC small businesses
NEW YORK CITY (PIX11) – Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday announced reforms and a new executive order to alleviate bureaucratic obstacles for small business owners. Mamdani announced over 50 reforms t…
Shaky political "science": breakdown of the peer review process
[This article is the latest in our “Shaky Political Science” series. In our 38 page report, “Shaky political ‘science’ misses mark on ranked choice voting,” released in December 2025, we examined over 40 studies focused on ranked choice voting (RCV). Many of these studies suffered from puzzling research methodologies, poorly constructed surveys, unrealistic simulated elections, cherry picked data and faulty analyses that often were contradicted by results from real-world elections (a link to our full paper is here). Here are links to the first four articles in our series: the first one summarizing the overall results of our report; the second one analyzed a study co-authored by University of Minnesota academic Larry Jacobs, which was one of the most error-prone of all the research we reviewed in our report; a third article showing an admirable example of two political scientists holding two other political scientists accountable for their flawed, sloppy research; and a fourth article that analyzed seven studies sponsored by New America’s political reform program that deployed flawed methodology based on “simulated” elections instead of real-world elections, which when combined with some basic misunderstandings of RCV, produced odd and misleading results]. In this fifth article in our “Shaky Political Science” series, we examine two flawed studies on the impact of RCV on voter turnout authored by San Francisco State University professor Jason McDaniel. McDaniel’s research in these two papers stands out for its puzzling methodology, inadequate and cherry-picked data, and faulty analyses that not only misunderstands ranked choice voting but reflects a basic misunderstanding of politics in general. The first of the McDaniel studies actually passed through a peer review process and then was subsequently published by the Journal of Urban Affairs, despite its obvious errors. It is perplexing that a jury of peer political scientists did not catch the errors and send it back to McDaniel for a rewrite or outright rejection. This calls into question the credibility of the peer review process itself. The peer review process is supposed to represent the intellectual pinnacle of the profession – a way for academics to certify the quality of each other’s work, and to act as a check against sloppy research. In the case of the McDaniel study, the peer review process failed. Yet his flawed study has been cited dozens of times by other political scientists in their own flawed works — an unvirtuous circle of academic research. Here is the first Jason McDaniel study that we analyzed: “Writing the Rules to Rank the Candidates: Examining the Impact of Instant-Runoff Voting on Racial Group Turnout in San Francisco Mayoral Elections,” by Jason McDaniel, 2016, Journal of Urban Affairs. This study covered San Francisco’s use of ranked choice voting (RCV) in mayoral elections, purporting to show that RCV reduces voter turnout overall, increases voter errors, and has a negative impact on “marginal populations,” i.e. racial minorities, mainly as the result of the alleged complexity of RCV asking voters to rank candidates and having to be familiar with multiple candidates and related dynamics. McDaniel reached these conclusions by examining five San Francisco mayoral elections taking place in odd years (i.e. where there are no federal or state races on the ballot) from 1995 to 2011, comparing three earlier non-RCV races (in 1995, 1999 and 2003) with the later two RCV races (in 2007 and 2011). Only two RCV races were studied, and as McDaniel acknowledged, only the contest in 2011 was “competitive” (that contest in 2007 was the first mayoral election using RCV, and incumbent mayor Gavin Newsom won easily in the first round of counting, earning 74% of first choices and far ahead of the second place candidate who had just 6.3% of first choices). Yet even the allegedly competitive contest in 2011was won by an incumbent with a landslide margin of nearly 20 points. No other elections were studied by McDaniel, even though San Francisco elects 17 other offices besides mayor with RCV, including the 11 seats on the Board of Supervisors (the name for the city council) in even years, and six other citywide offices in odd years. Previous academic research has found that competitive elections can stimulate greater voter involvement and higher turnout. For unexplained reasons, this study ignored at least 34 other RCV races between the years 2004 to 2011, many of which were very competitive and had high voter turnout. Instead, McDaniel’s analysis based its conclusions on data from only a single, marginally-competitive mayor’s race using RCV. These 2007 and 2011 mayoral elections were the only two RCV elections that McDaniel used as the sole basis for his small data set to determine the impact of RCV on voter turnout. Despite having no meaningful data to inform his study, McDaniel nonetheless concluded that RCV lowered turnout when compared to the previous three mayoral non-RCV elections using two-round runoffs. Then, using the same inadequate database of San Francisco elections, McDaniel also found that “Instant-runoff voting is associated with a significant decline in Black voter turnout and White voter turnout…On average, Black voter turnout decreases by 18 points and White voter turnout decreases by 16 points …” But how could he credibly arrive at that conclusion when his study was based on voter turnout in two RCV contests that were not even remotely competitive? Beyond that, McDaniel tacitly admits that the key determining factor driving Black voter turnout was not RCV vs non-RCV elections, but the presence of a viable Black candidate. McDaniel wrote, “Black voter turnout was about 17 percentage points higher for the two elections that featured an African American candidate compared to the three elections that did not” — but one of those three elections did not use RCV. The same dynamic was present for White voter turnout, in which higher turnout was not correlated with RCV vs non-RCV elections, but the presence of a viable White candidate. Beyond that, McDaniel’s voter turnout results, whether correlated with the race of the candidates or RCV vs non-RCV elections, showed no clear patterns. In his Figure 1, he shows low Asian voter turnout in the non-RCV elections in 1999 and 2003 when there was no viable Asian candidate running, but in the 2007 mayoral election using RCV, there is still no viable Asian candidate, yet Asian turnout increases dramatically. For Latinos, voter turnout is virtually the same in 1999 (no viable Latino candidate, non-RCV elections), 2003 (leading Latino candidate, non-RCV elections), 2007 (no viable Latino candidate, RCV elections) and 2011 (leading Latino candidate, RCV elections). Meanwhile White voter turnout increased dramatically from a low in the 2007 mayoral election, in which the leading candidate was a white incumbent, to the 2011 election in which there were no leading white candidates that finished any higher than sixth place with 5.6% of the vote. Clearly other factors were determining voter turnout than either the race of the candidates or RCV vs non-RCV elections. Despite these inconsistent findings, McDaniel boldly marches forth to render conclusions about the impact of RCV on different groups of racial voters, even though his conclusions are not remotely supported by his data. This looks like the worst kind of “data cherry picking” to cover up a puzzling conclusion based on a poor data set involving only two RCV elections, neither of which were remotely competitive. McDaniel’s cherry picking didn’t stop there. In calculating voter turnout for the three non-RCV mayoral elections in 1995, 1999 and 2003, he failed to mention that in each of these years there was a two-round runoff election, with a first round election in November in which no candidate garnered a winning majority of the vote, followed by the decisive runoff in December. So there were two non-RCV elections in each election year. But McDaniel only decided to include one of the two elections in his data set, apparently the December runoff in each year (which had higher turnout in two out of the three mayor’s races, and lower turnout in the third). So he ignored the November 1995 election, the November 1999 election when turnout was only 45 percent, and the November 2003 election when turnout was only 45.7 percent. This is flawed methodology based on blatant cherry picking, since McDaniel simply omitted three elections worth of data that did not fit within his frame. His study should never have made it through a peer review process, and it is an embarrassment to political science that not only was it approved for publication, but it has been uncritically cited by dozens of other political scientists. Share A “study” without wider context or credible data Lacking a data set that included even a single competitive RCV mayoral race, McDaniel declared that RCV lowered voter turnout in 2011, when turnout was 42.5 percent. But he also ignored -- or did not realize -- that voter turnout in mayoral elections during 2011 had sharply declined in all big cities, including far more steeply in nearby Los Angeles and other cities. In fact, San Francisco’s election in 2011 had the second highest turnout of any mayoral election in the nation’s 22 largest cities from 2008-2011. Was 2011 just a particularly low turnout year all across the country, perhaps because the country was still reeling from the aftermath of the housing market collapse in 2008-2010? McDaniel ignored this factor and did not search for alternative explanations beyond his flawed thesis. Furthermore, while McDaniel suggested that RCV leads to more “overvotes” – which is an invalidated ballot in which a voter, in either a non-RCV or RCV race, makes a mistake and selects two candidates for a single choice – he failed to address that in the June 2012 US Senate primary contest, which used the typical “one-choice” plurality method and did not use RCV, there was more than five times as many overvotes in San Francisco and Oakland than in the RCV mayoral elections in those cities. Additionally, turnout had been significantly higher and more representative in RCV elections for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors races -- that McDaniel didn’t even bother to study -- as compared to previous “delayed two-round runoffs” for those offices, often higher by as much as 40% in the RCV races. Perhaps the most surprising irony was that an earlier study co-authored by McDaniel (Overvoting and the Equality of Voice under Instant-Runoff Voting in San Francisco by Francis Neely and Jason McDaniel, 2015, California Journal of Politics and Policy) found that overvotes are often more common in lower-income precincts, but that the pattern of overvoting is similar in both RCV and non-RCV contests. Wrote Neely and McDaniel: “[Overvote] errors appear to be a function of complexity in general and not IRV per se…. the pattern of overvoting is similar in both IRV and non-IRV contests…Even among votes cast in a top-of-the-ticket race like U.S. Senate, overvoting occurs in an uneven fashion” (IRV, or ‘instant runoff voting,’ is another name for ranked choice voting in single-winner contests). So McDaniel not only contradicted his own conclusion in his earlier study with Neely, but the earlier study had been an important corrective for one of the most frequently made mistakes made by anti-RCV political scientists – a continual failure to provide crucial context by pairing a comparative analysis of real world RCV elections with an analysis of real world plurality or other electoral methods. Unfortunately McDaniel’s earlier study does not get cited much by other researchers, and McDaniel did not even cite it in his own flawed study analyzed above. Incredibly, McDaniel cherrypicked McDaniel, even as his flawed study has been cited dozens of times. Despite being a textbook example of poor political “science,” featuring both inadequate as well as cherrypicked data, the shelf life of McDaniel’s study has been extended endlessly by other political scientists and media outlets who have cited it uncritically. Equally troubling, the Journal of Urban Affairs put this paper through its peer review process and published it despite its numerous flaws. McDaniel gets it wrong, Part II Not content with producing one shoddy, confused paper, McDaniel produced another one a few years later, here is the link: Electoral Rules and Voter Turnout in Mayoral Elections: An Analysis of Ranked-Choice Voting by Jason McDaniel. San Francisco State Univ. (McDaniel, 2019). In this paper, McDaniel extended his previous flawed research focused on San Francisco, about voter turnout and voter impact, to multiple RCV cities through the 2018 elections. In his data set he included San Francisco, Minneapolis, St Paul, Oakland, Berkeley, San Leandro and Santa Fe. He then compared their turnout in mayoral elections to non-RCV cities, and to mayoral elections in those cities held before first RCV usage, and concluded “a significant decrease in voter turnout of approximately 3–5 percentage points in RCV cities after the implementation of RCV.” But he replicated many of the same mistakes as his first study presented above. While in this study McDaniel attempted to distinguish between various factors, such as odd year vs. even year elections, competitive races vs. noncompetitive, contests with open seats and other factors, the analysis is superficial and inadequate. He attempts to incorporate so many often-conflicting variables that his conclusions are once again unsupported by the actual data, and ultimately unconvincing (this second study never underwent a peer review process). For example, McDaniel declared that for RCV cities “in elections that are more competitive than average (margin of victory less than 20%), there is no significant RCV effect on voter turnout.” Yet McDaniel is a professor in a city, San Francisco, in which the 2018 special election using RCV to fill a mayoral vacancy was exceedingly close, decided by a margin of only one percentage point, and resulted in the second highest turnout in San Francisco history for a mayoral election. Illustrating the complexity involved in assessing the critical factors in turnout, that special election was held on the same election day as federal and state offices, which tends to boost turnout. Yet more voters participated in that RCV mayoral election than voted on the same day in the non-RCV primary for governor in which former San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom was running. Even more puzzling, in this study McDaniel inaccurately cited his own previous study from 2015 with Neely. McDaniel wrote, “Neely and McDaniel (2015) examine individual ballot image files within a natural experiment, and find higher rates of ballot errors in RCV elections compared to non-RCV elections” (emphasis added). However, we quoted from that 2015 study several paragraphs above, and in actual fact Neely and McDaniel actually concluded the opposite -- that the pattern of overvoting – which is the most common form of ballot error – is similar in both RCV and non-RCV contests. McDaniel also ignored the fact that in Bay Area RCV elections held in even years – at the same time as federal and state elections, when turnout is highest -- the “undervote” (that is, the dropoff in ballots cast for governor or mayor) has declined, which contradicts his thesis that the act of ranking ballots in RCV elections is too complex and presents a barrier for certain demographics of voters. To his credit, McDaniel actually acknowledged another contradiction in his own paper, which found a negative RCV turnout effect in some odd-year elections but not others, admitting that “may present a challenge to the theory that increased complexity [from RCV] will have a marginal negative effect on voter turnout.” But he tried to wallpaper over that contradiction by blaming it on an unlikely source -- bad election administration. McDaniels wrote, “This would suggest that the negative impact of RCV on voter participation may be alleviated by high quality election administration,” without presenting any data or even anecdotes to support such an unfounded theory. While competent election administration of any election, whether RCV or non-RCV, is crucially important, there is no credible research that supports the far-fetched notion that the quality of election administration has much of an impact on voter turnout in US elections, whether using RCV or otherwise. Upgrade to a $5 subscription The unvirtuous circle of academic research It is puzzling how McDaniel’s first study could have survived the peer review process for the Journal of Urban Affairs. The mistakes in McDaniel’s first study above should have been obvious to anyone with a basic understanding of ranked choice voting as well as elections in general, and elections in San Francisco specifically. It undermines faith in the credibility of the peer review process to think that a jury of peer political scientists did not catch the egregious errors and reject McDaniel’s sloppy research and paper. And it remains a black mark on political science that this thoroughly discredited study has been cited dozens of times by other researchers. Indeed, in our research paper it became apparent that many political scientists cite each other’s flawed research to pad their list of citations and to legitimize their own flawed research, creating an unvirtuous circle of political science. More broadly, McDaniel’s voter turnout studies, like other studies evaluating RCV’s impact on turnout, lacked a recognition that no credible opinion or research can claim that RCV increases voter turnout merely because so many voters are excited to vote for their favorite candidates instead of “lesser evil” candidates without worrying about spoilers. Instead, with respect to turnout, the advantage of RCV has always been that, in most places where it has been used, it has eliminated a pre-November primary or post-November runoff, which usually saw about half the turnout of the November general election. This is especially true during even years when there are state and federal elections on the ballot which substantially drive turnout more than local contests. Any study that does not adequately account for this non-November primary/runoff vs November general election dynamic, or odd year vs even year election factors, is simply not credible. Both of McDaniel’s studies largely failed on those grounds. Steven Hill and Paul Haughey Share Upgrade to a $5 subscription Thanks for reading DemocracySOS…your digital portal for the pro-democracy movement. Subscribe for only $5 per month to receive full benefits and to support our work. Subscribe
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