Skip to content
ProPublica Donate
ProPublica Donate

Politics

Holding Political Actors Accountable

Impact of Our Reporting
Caret

Texas Lawmakers Pull Funding for Child Identification Kits Again After Newsrooms Report They Don’t Work

For the second legislative session, lawmakers have withdrawn funding for a company selling kits that promise to help find missing kids after ProPublica and The Texas Tribune reported there’s no evidence to support that claim.

Texas Lawmakers Push to Enforce Election Transparency Law After Newsrooms Found School Districts Failed to Comply

ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found nearly three dozen school districts were missing required campaign finance reports online. Now lawmakers are pushing to impose steep penalties on local governments that fail to abide by the law.

North Carolina Lawmakers Ask for Investigation Into Funding Disruptions for Sexual Abuse Survivors

In response to ProPublica’s reporting, a bipartisan committee of senators is asking the state auditor to investigate how $15 million intended to stop human trafficking had been spent and managed.

Series

464 stories published since 2016

North Dakota Ethics Commission Has No Authority to Punish Officials Violating Ethics Laws, State Leaders Argue

Texas Lawmakers Pull Funding for Child Identification Kits Again After Newsrooms Report They Don’t Work

Red State Voters Approved Progressive Measures. GOP Lawmakers Are Trying to Undermine Them.

Texas Lawmakers Push to Enforce Election Transparency Law After Newsrooms Found School Districts Failed to Comply

Texas Lawmakers Are Again Pushing to Spend Millions on Kits to Find Missing Kids. Experts Say They Don’t Work.

The Untold Story of How Ed Martin Ghostwrote Online Attacks Against a Judge — and Still Became a Top Trump Prosecutor

North Carolina Lawmakers Ask for Investigation Into Funding Disruptions for Sexual Abuse Survivors

Texas AG Ken Paxton Won’t Face Federal Corruption Charges as He Gains Momentum for Likely Senate Run

How Elon Musk, George Soros and Other Billionaires Are Shaping the Most Expensive Court Race in U.S. History

A Political Power Grab Redirected Funds for North Carolina’s Sexual Abuse Survivors. Women in Crisis Paid the Price.

How Texas Conservatives Use At-Large School Board Elections to Influence What Students Learn

How a Push to Amend the Constitution Could Help Trump Expand Presidential Power

Secretive D.C. Influence Project Appears to Be Running a Group House for Right-Wing Lawmakers

Ethical Concerns Surround Sen. Joni Ernst’s Relationships With Top Military Officials Who Lobbied Her Committee

Speaker Mike Johnson Is Living in a D.C. House That Is the Center of a Pastor’s Secretive Influence Campaign

“We Feel Terrorized”: What EPA Employees Say About the Decision to Stay or Go Under Trump

ProPublica’s Coverage of Donald Trump’s Appointments — and How They Could Reshape Federal Agencies

North Dakota Sued the Interior Department at Least Five Times Under Gov. Doug Burgum. Now He’s Set to Run the Agency.

Women Made Electoral Gains in Statehouses Across the Country in 2024. The Southeast Is a Different Story.

A Trump DOJ Could Bring an End to the Yearslong Investigation of His Ally Ken Paxton

Gretchen Whitmer’s Chance for Wide-Ranging Legacy Derailed by Botched Legislative Session

Despite Trump’s Win, School Vouchers Were Again Rejected by Majorities of Voters

Trump’s Near Sweep of Texas Border Counties Shows a Shift to the Right for Latino Voters

What to Expect From ProPublica in a Second Trump Administration

El sheriff fronterizo pro armas y provida que perdió la lealtad de sus vecinos por ser tachado de “blando” con la inmigración

Trump Claims “Illegal Alien” Voting Is Rampant. His Own Party Disagrees.

Watch: How the Race for Sheriff in Del Rio, Texas, Became a Referendum on Immigration

A Pro-Gun, Anti-Abortion Border Sheriff Appealed to Both Parties. Then He Was Painted as Soft on Immigration.

Trump Media Outsourced Jobs to Mexico Even as Trump Pushes “America First”

ProPublica’s Coverage of the Election Issues That Matter to Voters

Trump Says He’ll Fight for Working-Class Americans. His First Presidency Suggests He Won’t.

In Minnesota, the Mayo Clinic Sometimes Called the Shots With Gov. Tim Walz

The Small Midwestern Cities That Could Play a Pivotal Role in This Year’s Elections

Without Knowledge or Consent

Who’s Mailing the Catholic Tribune? It’s Not the Church, It’s Partisan Media.

JD Vance Campaign Event With Christian Right Leaders May Have Violated Tax and Election Laws, Experts Say

Opponents of Missouri Abortion Rights Amendment Turn to Anti-Trans Messaging and Misinformation

Battle Over Ballot Drop Boxes Rages On in Wisconsin as Officials Put Them at Center of Election Integrity Debate

North Dakota’s Likely Next Governor Brushes Off Conflict Concerns, Says His Oil and Gas Ties Would Benefit the State

Heritage Foundation Staffers Flood Federal Agencies With Thousands of Information Requests

Emails Reveal How Walz Struggled to Deal With Unrest, Reach Consensus With Critics After Police Killings

Officials Voted Down a Controversial Georgia Election Rule, Saying It Violated the Law. Then a Similar Version Passed.

A Vexing To-Do List for Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer

Election Deniers Secretly Pushed Rule That Would Make It Easier to Delay Certification of Georgia’s Election Results

Inside Project 2025’s Secret Training Videos

Watch: 14 Hours of Never-Before-Published Videos From Project 2025’s Presidential Administration Academy

The Man Behind Project 2025’s Most Radical Plans

Trump Media Quietly Enters Deal With a Republican Donor Who Could Benefit From a Second Trump Administration

Narcotraficantes mexicanos dijeron que apoyaron la primera campaña del ahora presidente de México. Agentes estadounidenses ya habían dejado de investigar.

La historia oculta de la arriesgada investigación estadounidense de las acusaciones de que narcotraficantes financiaron una campaña del presidente mexicano López Obrador

What We’re Watching

During Donald Trump’s second presidency, ProPublica will focus on the areas most in need of scrutiny. Here are some of the issues our reporters will be watching — and how to get in touch with them securely.

Learn more about our reporting team. We will continue to share our areas of interest as the news develops.

Photo of Sharon Lerner
Sharon Lerner

I cover health and the environment and the agencies that govern them, including the Environmental Protection Agency.

Photo of Andy Kroll
Andy Kroll

I cover justice and the rule of law, including the Justice Department, U.S. attorneys and the courts.

Photo of Melissa Sanchez
Melissa Sanchez

I report on immigration and labor, and I am based in Chicago.

Photo of Jesse Coburn
Jesse Coburn

I cover housing and transportation, including the companies working in those fields and the regulators overseeing them.

If you don’t have a specific tip or story in mind, we could still use your help. Sign up to be a member of our federal worker source network to stay in touch.

Most Read

    Why Gov. Greg Abbott Won’t Release His Emails With Elon Musk

    We asked Abbott for his and his staff’s emails with Elon Musk and Musk’s companies. The governor’s office won’t turn them over, saying some contain “intimate and embarrassing” information that is “not of legitimate concern to the public.”

    Some Texas Officials Didn’t Respond to Flood Alerts, Echoing the Tragedies of Hurricane Helene

    Weather warnings predicted devastation from both the Texas floods and Hurricane Helene. But in both disasters, people were left in harm’s way.

    The Texas Flash Flood Is a Preview of the Chaos to Come

    Climate change is making disasters more common, more deadly and far more costly, even as the federal government is running away from the policies that might begin to protect the nation.

    George Mason Is the Latest University Under Fire From Trump. Its President Fears an “Orchestrated” Campaign.

    When university president Gregory Washington received notice that the Trump administration had opened an investigation into complaints of antisemitism, he was “perplexed.” But there are signs it may be part of a coordinated campaign to oust him.

    The End of Aid

    Death, Sexual Violence and Human Trafficking: Fallout From U.S. Aid Withdrawal Hits the World’s Most Fragile Locations

    Exclusive State Department records show: As the Trump administration abandons its humanitarian commitments, diplomats are reporting that the cuts have led to violence and instability while undermining anti-terrorism initiatives.