NBC News: “Texas Republicans are rolling out a slew of restrictive election bills, taking particular aim at early voting after Democrats enthusiastically embraced the practice last year. More than two dozen GOP-sponsored elections bills are under consideration in the Legislature as lawmakers seek to tighten ID requirements and voter rolls, limit early voting and up the penalties for…

NY Times: “People tend to speak of Georgia politics these days in the most dramatic of terms: A struggle is underway “for the soul of Georgia,” and the New South in general. Every week seems to bring a new “existential battle” over some defining issue. A “foundational tension” is playing out in the racial politics…

USA Today: “But the days of conservatives being taken for granted by the business community are over. Here’s my standard: When the conflict is between working Americans and a company whose leadership has decided to wage culture war against working-class values, the choice is easy — I support the workers. And that’s why I stand with those…

Texas Observer: “In response to this incident and other efforts to remove Confederate memorials across the state, the commission has strengthened protections for Texas historical markers and enacted a new rule requiring a majority vote of the 15-person commission before a state antiquities landmark can be “retired.”… The campaign to remove Confederate symbols and monuments…

The Progressive Pulse: “By all indications, North Carolina and the nation at-large have entered a critical and, perhaps, hopeful phase in their centuries-old conversations about race, crime, punishment and the undeniable links between them. If you missed it this week, Policy Watch hosted a powerful conversation via Zoom exploring where things stand, how we got…

AL Political Reporter: “For the last few weeks, House Bill 445, the so-called “anti-riot bill,” has drawn the ire of Democrats in the state because of its absurdly broad language that would inevitably leave peaceful protesters arrested and facing felony charges. But for Rep. Mary Moore, D-Birmingham, it’s personal. Moore appeared on the Alabama Politics This…

AL Political Reporter: “The Alabama Republican Party Executive Committee declared former President Donald Trump on Feb. 28 to be “one of the greatest presidents of all time.” This weekend, one of the sponsors of that resolution, Republican insider and former state Rep. Perry Hooper Jr, R-Montgomery, announced that he will travel to Mar-A-Lago, Florida, to…

Rolling Stone: “2021’s Senator Tom Cotton must be really upset with 2020 Senator Tom Cotton. For days now, the Republican from Arkansas has been whining to anyone who will listen about “how crazy some of the Democratic ideas” made it into the Covid-19 relief package. Specifically, Cotton has taken issue with the possibility that some prisoners, who’ve recently…

The Intercept: “SENATE MINORITY LEADER Mitch McConnell has compiled a short list of successors in his home state of Kentucky, preparing for the possibility that he does not serve out his full term, Kentucky Republicans tell The Intercept. The list is topped by his protégé, state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, and also includes former United Nations Ambassador…

Jacobin Magazine: “One of the most historic union votes of our era is underway right now: fifty-eight hundred workers at the Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama, are currently voting on whether or not to unionize with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). If the vote is successful, workers at the Bessemer facility…