2025 saw an unprecedented assault on our democracy by the world’s most powerful person and his enablers. Throughout the year, our original journalism shone a light on schemes by Trump and his allies to undermine fair elections and dangerously expand presidential power.

Friday, December 26

View in browser ([link removed] )

NL-Header_OTD-4 ([link removed] )

Hi - While Jen takes a well-deserved holiday break, we’re doing something a little different with On The Docket this week.

Simply put, 2025 saw an unprecedented assault on our democracy by the world’s most powerful person and his enablers. To meet the moment, we hugely expanded our reporting capacity and ambitions, allowing us to update you every step of the way on President Donald Trump’s war on voting, his bid to rig the midterms via gerrymandering, his executive power grab, and much more. Throughout the year, our original journalism worked to shine a light on schemes by Trump and his allies to undermine democracy, and to help ensure our readers were empowered to fight back — all while legacy media capitulated.

Thanks for following along when it matters most. Here are some of the highlights…

Zachary Roth, Managing Editor



Members say they joined because Democracy Docket gives them the facts legacy media won’t. Keep it free for all — become a member ([link removed] ) .





SUPPORT OUR MISSION
([link removed] )



The Justice Department’s crusade for state voter data

We were first to report ([link removed] ) that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) intended to demand private, unredacted state voter roll information from all 50 states.

We highlighted ([link removed] ) the glut of sloppy, and sometimes hilarious, typographical, spelling and other errors that have plagued DOJ’s rushed campaign.

We unveiled ([link removed] ) a timeline for tracking each step in the department’s effort, as well as other moves that have made up its stark anti-voting shift under Trump.

And we documented ([link removed] ) the stunning ideological flip undertaken by the DOJ official leading the push — from arguing under former President Joe Biden that the federal government has almost no role in voting issues to insisting under Trump that it has an unfettered right to force states to hand over their voter rolls.

The election deniers and conspiracy theorists who found a home in the Trump administration

We sounded the alarm ([link removed] ) about some of the leading architects of Trump’s failed bid to steal the 2020 election being rewarded with jobs in the administration.

And we exclusively revealed that:

…a leading election denier who launched a false conspiracy theory spread by Trump on Jan. 6, 2021 had landed ([link removed] ) a senior elections post at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

…DOJ’s new top voting lawyer had worked for ([link removed] ) a leading right-wing law firm that pushes for more restrictive voting rules.

…and another top DOJ voting lawyer has a web of ties ([link removed] ) to election conspiracy theorists, including teaming up ([link removed] ) with one far-right group to bring a flawed local prosecution that cost taxpayers $5 million.



Democracy won’t defend itself. Help fund the journalists holding the line ([link removed] ) with a premium membership for $120/year.





FUND FEARLESS JOURNALISM
([link removed] )



Trump’s bid to use gerrymandered maps to rig 2026

We revealed ([link removed] ) how Texas’ claim that it needed to redistrict because it might have illegally used race in drawing its existing map came just weeks after it had denied doing so in court.

Not long later, we showed ([link removed] ) that Texas had flipped again, now denying that racial concerns spurred the redraw, and blaming the U.S. Department of Justice for the confusion.

We unearthed ([link removed] ) racist comments made by a GOP senator who played a key role in ramming Texas’ gerrymander thru — later cited in legal filings challenging the map. Our reporting led him to apologize ([link removed] ) — kind of — on the Senate floor.

And — something we’re especially proud of — we were the only national outlet to cover the full 10-day court hearing in El Paso, Texas over the federal challenge to the map. Our string ([link removed] ) of ([link removed] ) reports ([link removed] ) from the courtroom shed crucial light on the role of the national GOP ([link removed] ) in directing the redraw, among other issues.

Trump’s grab for monarchical powers

We reported on ([link removed] ) a leaked DOJ memo that laid out plans to target anti-Trump activists as “domestic terrorists.”

When Trump appointed a loyalist with no prosecutorial experience as an acting U.S. attorney so that he could target perceived enemies with bogus charges, we explained ([link removed] ) how our justice system had hit a “new low.”

We highlighted ([link removed] ) the “profound investigative missteps” that a court later found in those cases.

And we exposed ([link removed] ) how Trump’s hand-picked prosecutors continued to claim the title of U.S. Attorney, in defiance of court rulings finding that they were improperly appointed.

The GOP’s war on mail voting

We were first to report ([link removed] ) on a pledge by the House GOP’s point person on election issues to introduce legislation barring states from accepting mail ballots postmarked by election day but arriving after.

We also reported exclusively ([link removed] ) on a threat by the administration to sue Ohio for accepting these ballots, which led the state to quickly pass a law banning them from being counted.

We kept readers up to date ([link removed] ) on an important Republican lawsuit, now before the Supreme Court, which likewise aims to prevent states from counting late-arriving ballots.

And we pointed out ([link removed] ) , for the benefit of some of our media colleagues, that the GOP isn’t somehow opposed to Trump’s anti-mail-voting crusade — in fact it’s in lockstep behind him.

But that’s not all…

We exposed ([link removed] ) a top federal election official's unhinged rant about Democrats and illegal voting — leading to calls for her to step down.

We revealed ([link removed] ) that DHS gave a briefing to Cleta Mitchell’s anti-voting group on how to use a federal database to remove voters from the rolls.

We created innovative maps that tracked Trump’s National Guard deployments ([link removed] ) and that kept readers up to date on the redistricting wars ([link removed] ) .

And we surfaced fears ([link removed] ) that Trump’s National Guard takeover could allow him to put troops at the polls next year, or otherwise seize control of elections.

2026 figures to be even more consequential for the future of our democracy. And once again, we’ll be keeping you in the loop, every step of the way.

This is one of our free weekly newsletters. If you were forwarded this email, you can subscribe to our newsletters here ([link removed] ) . For questions or help with your subscription, please visit our Help Center ([link removed] ) .

Unsubscribe ([link removed] ) | Manage Preferences ([link removed] ) | Donate ([link removed] )

Democracy Docket, LLC

250 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 400

Washington, D.C., 20009