​In a tight intra-party conference battle against California Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-Pacoima/Los Angeles) for Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair, New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-Cold Spring/Peekskill) emerged victorious and will replace Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL) who did not seek a second term in the position in the wake of significant 2020 election losses.  Rep. Maloney’s task is now to keep and expand a Democratic majority that could be as small as five seats in the face of political history that finds the party controlling the White House almost always losing House seats in a new President’s first midterm election.

​A segment of the Bernie Sanders progressive left movement has formed a new political party, the People’s Party, and they have now qualified for the ballot in an initial state.  The People’s Party will have qualified for ballot placement in the state of Maine for the 2022 midterm elections.  They are attempting to qualify in other states, so it remains to be seen if this becomes a credible movement.

​Those who predicted that 2020 presidential election turnout would exceed 155 million people have now been proven correct.  According to The Green Papers statistical website, the entire voting universe in the 2020 presidential election, while still growing as states finish their canvassing process, has reached 155,043,792 voters. 
 
This figure represents an increase of more than 18.25 million people since the previous presidential election in 2016.  The totals represent at least a 13.3% uptick in voter participation between the two presidential years at a time the national population grew only 1.2% during the same time span.

​There are now only two presidential candidates in United States electoral history who have received more than 70 million votes, and they are Joe Biden and Donald Trump, both in 2020.  Mr. Biden is the only person ever to receive more than 80 million votes and, despite losing the popular vote, President Trump increased his vote total by just under 11 million when compared to his aggregate 2016 number.

​CBS News/YouGov conducted a national poll (3/21-23; 2,190 US adults) about who they trust with information about the COVID-19 virus.  Not surprisingly, the partisan split we are seeing on virtually every issue also carries through to this one, as both Democrats and Republicans have differing views about some information sources they most trust:

Democrats                                                                    Republicans
87%                   Center for Disease Control                    84%   
75%                   Respondent's Governor                          65%
75%                   National Media                                         13%
72%                   Family/Friends                                         81%
44%                   Religious Leaders                                    71%
14%                    President Trump                                      90%

Not surprisingly, the biggest gaps are associated with President Trump, the national media, and religious leaders.