UNITED STATES

When Laura Gillen first stepped onto Georgetown University’s campus as a transfer student over 35 years ago, she had no idea that the very streets of Washington, D.C., would one day lead her back as a freshman congresswoman. After a decisive victory in the November 2024 election, she now represents New York’s 4th Congressional District in the 119th Congress, carrying with her the lessons instilled during her time on the Hilltop.

 During the inauguration prayer service for President Trump, Bishop Mariann Budde of the Episcopal Church asked President Trump to be merciful to marginalized communities such as LGBTQ+ people and migrant workers.

Whether emanating from Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, or, yes, Donald Trump, the charge that liberal America is pursuing a “war on faith” predates the rise of Trumpism but has proliferated exponentially since 2016. While stated emphatically and often to much applause, the narrative obfuscates the reality beneath.

On Feb. 5, U.S. President Donald Trump announced his intentions to gain control over the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

Trump’s form of governance is different from what we are used to. To successfully navigate the next four years we must adapt. The issues of tariffs, the TikTok ban and birthright citizenship, provide key insights into how Trump operates and how we must in turn adjust our expectations and understanding of politics under this administration.

Politicians have thrown around the term “constitutional crisis” often in recent election cycles. As people grow desensitized to this phrase, we forget how significant constitutional checks and balances are to the health of our democracy.

On Monday, Jan. 27, the Idaho House of Representatives passed a resolution calling on the Supreme Court to overturn the landmark case Obergefell v. Hodges.

On Feb, 13, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to the White House in Washington D.C. for a working visit to meet President Donald Trump. Narendra Modi served as the Prime Minister of India during Donald Trump's first term, fostering a well-established relationship between the two leaders. At face value, both leaders are generally full of praises of each other and the media has even dubbed their friendship as a “bromance.”

While President-elect Donald Trump has never shied away from the unsubstantiated, his statements on Israel are perplexing even by Trump-era standards. For example, Trump has repeated in various ways that “our wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of [his policies on Israel]…than the people of the Jewish faith,” while demanding Jewish Americans “appreciate what they have in Israel…[b]efore it is too late.”

In 2023, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser spoke at a "Hands Off D.C." rally. Now, as Republicans control Congress and the White House, she is adopting a quieter approach to protect the District’s autonomy.

On Feb. 11, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order mandating federal agencies to coordinate with the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to downsize their workforce and restrict future hiring. The order requires agencies to develop plans for "large-scale reductions in force" and limits new hires to one employee for every four who depart from federal service.

While searching for consensus in post-election autopsies is often a futile quest, there seems to be at least one nearly universal narrative emerging out of November: Democrats lost the working class. The numbers paint a stark picture, but turning to 2024 for the origins of the problem misses the forest for the trees. Democrats’ working-class woes long predate Kamala Harris’ campaign. Democrats are living in the wake of damage self-inflicted over thirty years ago.

For students wanting a career in politics, studying in the capital is the obvious choice. With limitless chances for new experiences such as internships and networking, new political science students in Washington are thrilled to begin their academic journey.

In an announcement that shocked Republican lawmakers, President-elect Donald Trump nominated controversial Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to serve as attorney general in his new administration on Wednesday, Nov. 13. Less than ten days later, Gaetz withdrew his nomination, resigned from Congress and created an account on the personalized video platform, Cameo.

How can one look into the eyes of a protester with family in the Middle East and tell them to vote for a candidate whose administration helped send arms to the devastation happening in Gaza?

WASHINGTON, D.C.—“Wherever I work, I always have my grandfather's Bracero papers with me,” said Cristóbal Alex. Alex comes from a proud line of Mexican agricultural workers. Today, Alex carries that spirit forward by cultivating the seeds of Latino political power.

As with all communities heading into the presidential election, the American Jewish community is divided on which candidate will win its support. Beyond the platforms of each candidate, there is a deeper question fundamental to Jewish identity: Which candidate will have greater support for Israel?

s millions of Americans head to the polls on Nov. 5, it would be easy to mistake this year’s presidential election for a two-candidate race. The constant stream of polls, pundits on cable news and social media activity seemingly purports that Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are the only two candidates in the race.

onald Trump claimed his role as an American savior as he returned to the site of his assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, this time with Elon Musk by his side.

The Republican Party faces a significant challenge in terms of its lack of diversity.  According to polls conducted by Pew Research Center, the Republican voter base is about 85% white, 7% Hispanic, 2% Asian, and 1% Black.

As the Supreme Court suffers from widespread disapproval in the aftermath of controversial decisions, such as the reversal of Roe v. Wade and the proscription of race-conscious college admission programs, the refusal of various justices to recuse themselves from cases in which their impartiality is questionable has only added to the Court’s crisis of legitimacy. 

Kamala Harris and Michelle Obama addressed thousands in Kalamazoo on Saturday evening, marking Obama’s first appearance on the campaign trail since Harris was nominated for the Democratic ticket. She focused heavily on reproductive rights and women’s health care, emphasizing that these issues affect everyone.

On September 10, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo testified before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic to defend his handling of the disease’s spread through the state’s nursing homes beginning in 2020.

Representative Adriano Espaillat of New York’s 13th District was nine years old when he first came to the United States in 1964. Escaping the civil war in the Dominican Republic, Espaillat and his family anxiously awaited new beginnings in America, with a humble apartment in Washington Heights on 153rd St. and Broadway becoming their new home.

Since the assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump, outspoken conservatives have publicly lamented what they characterize as unnecessarily inflammatory rhetoric from the left. Figures from Matt Walsh to Piers Morgan have derided liberal critics of Trump as overly divisive, pointing to descriptions of the former president as fascist, anti-American, and even like Hitler.

During the first presidential debate between Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants from Springfield, Ohio eat household pets. This claim was fact-checked and disproven by ABC News’ David Muir. However, the former president's claim had already left its toll on the Springfield community.

As November’s presidential election draws nearer – the result of which is increasingly dependent on eight tightly contested “swing states” – candidates, allies, and experts alike are placing a renewed focus on Georgia, arguably the tipping point in 2020 when President Biden won the “Peach State” by just 12,670 votes.

As the Nov. 5 presidential election approaches, America continues to watch Michigan - the Great Lakes swing state. While the election results are in the hands of swing state voters, another race is worth highlighting as well: the Michigan U.S. Senate race.

Addressing the enduring question of “how to reconcile faith with our modern, pluralistic democracy,” Obama called on the audience and, by extension, Americans en masse to engage in “deeper, fuller conversation about religion in this country.” With American democracy at a crossroads amidst the 2024 elections, resurrecting Obama’s call to action has never been so imperative.

Much like disenfranchised voters nationally, the upcoming election is a referendum on how voters feel about the trajectory of their community.

— Patrick McFarland