Simon D. Schuster

15h

RFK Jr, meeting with the Kent County GOP alongside Mike Rogers and John James, railed against the Muslim Brotherhood by claiming the organization is “why you don’t see any Arab Muslims winning the Nobel.”

15h

RFK: “There's 500 million Arabs in the world, and yet they don't produce science. They don't win the Nobel Prize. They don't win the Fields Prize. They don't win the Wolf Prize. They don’t produce literature.” Every aspect of that statement (save Fields) is absolutely false.

16h

Michigan's legislative caucus PACs, via @bridgemialerts.bsky.social

Simon D. Schuster reposted

23h

💰 New Ballot Question Filing 💰 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗢𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 Receipts: $1,307,449 Total Spent: $1,157,328 Debt: $73,075 Cash On Hand: -$67,143 All Filings

Simon D. Schuster reposted

💰New Gubernatorial Filing💰 John James* (R) Period: Pre-General Status: Candidate Receipts: $4,022,885 Total Spent: $4,297,213 Debt: $36,886 Cash On Hand: $1,252,225 **Due to MITN, numbers are provisional pending campaign/state verification. All filings: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

A good day to follow @bridgemialerts.bsky.social

bridgemi.com‘Please, I need a clerk!’ No candidates for almost 500 positions on Michigan ballots - Bridge MichiganLow pay and public criticism makes local government jobs less appealing than in the past, officials say.

In Michigan, ~9% of the 5,400+ local offices up for election this November have no one running to fill them. For small towns across our state, those vacancies have very real consequences. Grateful to work with @bridgemi.com colleague Ron French on this important story: bridgemi.com/michigan-gov...

bridgemi.comStudy claims Michigan’s high point has changed, but is it official? - Bridge MichiganFor decades, Mount Arvon has been recognized as Michigan’s highest natural point. A study published in 2025 claims Mount Curwood is in fact taller but the lead researcher has struggled to get recognit...

Tie-in to some old reporting of mine: Michigan may have a new highest point. The land, like 5% of the UP, is owned by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund. bridgemi.com/outdoors-lif...

Hyperlocal Lansing battle lines drawn in US Senate fundraising - Local developer Pat Gillespie: $5,165 to Rogers - LAN native/actor Matthew Lillard: $1,000 to El-Sayed

Simon D. Schuster reposted

💰New October Quarterly Congressional Filing💰 Callie Barr (D-1) Received: $725,371 Spent: $487,585 Debt: $0 Cash on Hand: $768,511 Filing URL Itemized donation maps: By state | By MI ZIP

I can't stop laughing. It just gets worse the further down you go. AI slop is the worst.

A comparison: By Sept. 29, 2022, Dems had $24M in ad reservations for Whitmer vs. $4M for Dixon. Whitmer beat Dixon by nearly 11 points. James is getting even less help here.

Simon D. Schuster@simon.schuster.press

No cavalry coming to help John James in the Michigan governor’s race.

No cavalry coming to help John James in the Michigan governor’s race.

propublica.orgDonald Trump Jr.’s Wedding Bankrolled by Putin-Linked Russian OligarchThe oligarch, Umar Kremlev, spent hundreds of thousands on expenses like renting out a private island. He appears to have met Trump Jr. only recently, but he attended the intimate wedding with a large...

14 Sept

Crazy scoop from ProPublica here ⬇️

ProPublica@propublica.org

NEW: Donald Trump Jr.’s Bahamas Wedding Was Secretly Bankrolled by Russian Oligarch Close to Putin Umar Kremlev footed the bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars of wedding expenses at Donald Trump Jr.’s lavish wedding, including renting out a private island and paying for the fireworks show.

newyorker.comThe Courageous Life and Death of Rick Rescorla, a 9/11 HeroThe Vietnam veteran helped save hundreds of lives on September 11th, before he was swallowed by the South Tower collapse. “For Rick Rescorla, this was a natural death,” his best friend said—a hero’s e...

11 Sept

Can’t help but think of this story on 9/11 — and all the other moments of heroism and sacrifice that defined that day. www.newyorker.com/magazine/200...

9 Sept

New: Weeks before Republican gubernatorial candidate John James announced he wanted to “repeal or sharply reduce” Michigan's new 24% tax on wholesale marijuana, he attended a fundraiser hosted on his behalf by pot industry executives.

bridgemi.comJohn James pitches marijuana tax repeal, courts industry donors - Bridge MichiganMichigan Republican gubernatorial nominee John James is raising money from marijuana industry donors as he calls to repeal or reduce a new wholesale marijuana tax that raises money for road repairs.

9 Sept

James has been courting their support, rather than the other way around, and I'm told they're mulling an endorsement. bridgemi.com/michigan-gov...

bridgemi.comJocelyn Benson outraises John James. See top donors in Michigan governor race - Bridge MichiganDemocratic gubernatorial hopeful Jocelyn Benson got donations from DTE and Blue Cross executives, while the DeVos family continued to contribute to Republican John James.

8 Sept

ICYMI: As recently as Friday, Jocelyn Benson's campaign touted her as "the only candidate not taking utility money in this gov race." But her campaign accepted $3,000 from DTE Energy’s executive chairman, her fundraising disclosure showed. (via @bridgemi.com) bridgemi.com/michigan-gov...

4 Sept

About 18 hours ago, GOP gubernatorial candidate John James' campaign finance filing disappeared from the state website and has not returned.

4 Sept

His campaign is blaming it on MITN, the transparency portal which has had a lot of bugs. But last night the department told me they reached out to the campaign to verify the accuracy of James' report before posting and have not hear back. I'm still waiting on an update.

4 Sept

After denials at the US and Michigan supreme courts, Americans for Citizen Voting-Michigan say they're going to regroup and try for 2028. Constitutional amendment would've required proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID to cast a ballot.

Simon D. Schuster reposted

3 Sept

💰 New Gubernatorial Filing 💰 Name: 𝗝𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗹𝘆𝗻 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗻 (D) Status: Won Receipts: $1,791,424 Total Spent: $2,261,777 Debt: $0 Cash On Hand: $5,934,240 All Filings

3 Sept

Good day to follow @bridgemialerts.bsky.social

3 Sept

Can people please stop being murdered on the Lansing river trail? That's my running route

2 Sept

Making a personal resolution to use the term "newsless" more frequently when warranted

Simon D. Schuster reposted

The New York Times

@nytimes.com

24 Aug

Breaking News: The Supreme Court has allowed the Trump administration to proceed with plans to restrict mail-in voting. The decision clears, for now, an executive order that would create “citizenship lists” and directs the Postal Service to decide who gets a mail-in ballot. nyti.ms/3Ukqoti

bridgemi.comJocelyn Benson picks Winnie Brinks as running mate in Michigan governor race - Bridge MichiganDemocrat Jocelyn Benson adds an experienced legislator to the Democratic ticket by selecting Senate Majority Leader Leader Winnie Brinks as her running mate.

19 Aug

Jocelyn Benson picks Winnie Brinks as running mate in Michigan governor race bridgemi.com/uncategorize...

9 Aug

Abdul El-Sayed coming to the podium at Michigan Democrats’ Friday rally. Pete Buttigieg spoke before him, and this was the first Dem event I’ve seen where another politician (El-Sayed) drew more applause from the crowd.

7 Aug

Debate update for #MIGOV Jocelyn Benson yesterday: I will attend 2 televised debates John James today: I challenge Benson to 5 debates (and accepted the same two as Benson) James also agreed to the debate organized by the Michigan Debate Commission. It appears Benson has not.

6 Aug

Michigan Debate Commission invitations have been sent to candidates: Sept. 15: Abdul El-Sayed + Mike Rogers in #MISEN Sept. 21: Jocelyn Benson + John James in #MIGOV Nice to see these debates would both occur before absentee ballots are mailed to voters.

“John James is like a fancy sports car in a Michigan winter,” Whitmer says. “Looks real sharp parked in the driveway, but the second there’s slush on the road, no help at all.

Simon D. Schuster@simon.schuster.press

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is campaigning for Jocelyn Benson in Lansing

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is campaigning for Jocelyn Benson in Lansing

Texted by a staffer from Abdul’s gubernatorial campaign sent

Something to keep in mind from @bridgemi.com’s pre-primary coverage

cambridge.orgWhat Happens When Extremists Win Primaries? | American Political Science Review | Cambridge CoreWhat Happens When Extremists Win Primaries? - Volume 109 Issue 1

…and the abstract from that (highly-cited) study linked in the story. Much has changed in US politics since 2010, but history offers some pretty strong signals. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Abdul El-Sayed has won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, per the Associated Press

Example No. 1 million of ideological labels and policy preferences being largely unrelated

This is a mess in the making for MI-8 Republicans. Thomas Smith dropped out. Reminder: this is Rep. Kristen McDonald-Rivet's seat and was considered highly competitive just two years ago

Simon D. Schuster reposted

Hayley Harding

@hayleyharding.com

*smacks the roof of the U-Haul rented by the city of Detroit to ensure ballots arrive safely and securely* you can fit 3500 ballots the entire country is waiting on in this bad boy

after midnight, "too close to call" is journalism speak for "i'm going to bed"

Way too much MI-7 discourse has been about @wewill2026.bsky.social's ideology and message. But the reality is Lawrence's ground game and organizing ran circles around Brink and Maasdam, and honestly, those likely had an even larger impact on his rout tonight.

From a campaign office in Frandor to an election night party at The Avenue, Lawrence ran a Lansingmaxxed primary campaign. It+East Lansing are the anchor of Dem support for this district, but won't decide the district in November. MI-7's hinterlands are a whole different beast.

bridgemi.comJohn James wins Republican primary for Michigan governor over Perry Johnson - Bridge MichiganJohn James defeated Perry Johnson in Michigan's Republican gubernatorial primary. He'll face Democrat Jocelyn Benson in November.

NEWS: Surviving a barrage of advertising and attacks from self-funded businessman Perry Johnson, US Rep. John James won the race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination Tuesday evening. (via @bridgemi.com) bridgemi.com/michigan-gov...

bridgemi.comJocelyn Benson wins Michigan Democratic governor primary - Bridge MichiganJocelyn Benson won Michigan's Democratic gubernatorial primary and will advance to the general election.

NEWS: Jocelyn Benson wins Michigan Democratic governor primary (via @bridgemi.com) bridgemi.com/michigan-gov...

4 Aug

Two teams of U.S. Department of Justice observers are swinging through polling places in Lansing, MI today. They sit off to the side, jot a few notes and move on. A Michigan Department of State official monitoring the monitors tells me they’ve been uniformly kind and cordial.

Reported on Friday this gaming industry group had spent nearly $3 million running ads under "American Conservative Fund" instead of the name they registered in Michigan, a violation of state campaign finance rules. The bot just caught them changing their name.

Bridge MI Campaign Finance Alerts@bridgemialerts.bsky.social

📝 Committee Name Changed 📝 Old Name: 𝗠𝗜𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗔𝗡 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗩𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗙𝗨𝗡𝗗 New Name: 𝗔𝗠𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗡 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗩𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗙𝗨𝗡𝗗 Type: Independent Expenditure Committee ID: 0614962

bridgemi.comSports gambling super PACs place big bets on Michigan legislative races - Bridge MichiganSports betting companies pumped nearly $3 million into Michigan legislative races this month. The spending mostly benefited current lawmakers and followed rejection of a proposed gambling tax.

The story: bridgemi.com/michigan-gov...

The state's own $9 million system doesn't record these name changes, only the bot does, so give @bridgemialerts.bsky.social a follow.

edition.cnn.comThe fight for Michigan: How a marquee Senate primary became the Democrats’ latest proxy war | CNN PoliticsTuesday’s Michigan Senate primary between Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed has become a bitter referendum on many of the fights Democrats are having nationally.

Lots of palace intrigue-y details in this CNN writeup of Michigan’s U.S. Senate primary edition.cnn.com/2026/08/02/p...