Managing editor, digital news @MSNOW Former @WashingtonPost, @Politico, @RollCall. Proud swamp creature. Chappell not Taylor. 666 with a princess streak.
Washington DC
Joined August 2011
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Rachel Van Dongen retweeted
AM update. We continue to see a significant surge of blacks, young people, & Hispanics in the early vote. Compared to 2022 share of vote:
- Black vote is up 11%
- 18-29 vote is up 25%
- Latino vote is up 42%!!
It's an electorate Dems wanted to see.
Hakeem Jeffries told @alivitali he’s watching TX and FLA to see how big a Dem night be, given GOP redistricting efforts there ms.now/news/midterm-election…
Rachel Van Dongen retweeted
NEW: One White House official told me that President Trump, in an earlier meeting that Katie Zacharia was not present for, told attendees that she had no talent and shouldn’t be on television. politico.com/news/2026/10/16…
Rachel Van Dongen retweeted
NEWS: A surprise new Democratic donor has emerged to fund his own super PAC and is spending $7 million in final weeks to blitz four red-state Senate races: FL, SC, MS and KS.
Meet the man behind the money —> w/ @teddyschleifer nytimes.com/2026/10/14/us/po…
Rachel Van Dongen retweeted
Exclusive: While planning a wedding and preparing for a move to China, @PressSec Katie Zacharia sat for the California bar exam but did not pass, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told the @WSJ.
wsj.com/business/media/white…
Rachel Van Dongen retweeted
New: Trump and his advisers are debating whether to call off plans to livestream the firing squad execution of the Fort Hood shooter, with Trump having remarked privately that he did not initially know that Nidal Hasan was paralyzed from the waist down, two sources familiar with the discussions told CNN cnn.com/2026/10/13/politics/…
Read our story here: ms.now/news/senate-elections…
Very excited for this new partnership
MS NOW Partners With FiftyPlusOne For Polling Analysis And Election Modeling As Midterms Approach
deadline.com/2026/10/ms-now-…
Rachel Van Dongen retweeted
NYT reports: David Milstein a top aide to U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee suppressed and altered reports by U.S. diplomats critical of Israel and skewed information to portray the Netanyahu government in a favorable light
nytimes.com/2026/10/08/world…
Polling averages via @50plus1news @MSNOWNews
show Dems ahead in TX, AK, OH and NC, as well as neck-and-neck with Rs in ME, IA and KS. Ds also lead in 3 competitive seats they’re defending: GA, MI and NH, via @HunterMw @kabir_here
ms.now/news/senate-elections…
‘Biggest endorsement fail’: Why Texas has become personal for Trump vis @jake__traylor & @SooRinKimm
ms.now/news/trump-texas-rall…
Troy Jackson has had his own evolution on abortion rights, via @ebonyjdavis:
ms.now/liveblog/susan-collin…
Rachel Van Dongen retweeted
JD Vance heads to Lima, Ohio, on Friday for a midterm rally, per the RNC.
That means Trump and Vance are on track to have held three rallies in Ohio in 10 days.
Rachel Van Dongen retweeted
New: Trump talks 2028, midterms and media woes at Murdoch dinner
— Asked about WSJ subscription biz
— He said it was too soon to make a decision around who he would support in 2028
@axios
axios.com/2026/10/02/trump-m…
Rachel Van Dongen retweeted
Emmanuella is one of the thousands of Haitians who were living and working in the U.S. legally when Trump revoked their TPS. She left her job, desperately tried to find a husband, and began to disappear. The quiet unraveling of a Haitian life in America: newyorker.com/news/our-local…
Rachel Van Dongen retweeted
New: More than a year after Trump attempted to dismantle Voice of America, the gov't is paying an estimated $1.6 million a week to keep 420 of its staffers on administrative leave, according to July numbers revealed in a State Department IG report. washingtonpost.com/business/…
Rachel Van Dongen retweeted
NEW: DHS agents tracked people observing ICE arrests, photographed them, ran their plates, pulled personal information, and added them to a Palantir database, according to newly unsealed court filings.
wired.com/story/ice-has-been…
Rachel Van Dongen retweeted
NEW: Jared Kushner is the largest shareholder in an Israeli firm investing in companies supplying equipment for the Israeli military. He is also negotiating a deal for Gaza.
Reporting with @goodwinallegra and @MajliedePuyKamp
Edited by @timelfrink_dc
cnn.com/2026/10/01/us/jared-…
So the NYT has unearthed the apparent reason for the $20M in taxpayer funded ads featuring Trump.
It’s bc campaign ads featuring Trump would hurt Republicans.
But Trump wants to see himself in the ads. So the govt has to pay for them?
nytimes.com/2026/10/02/us/po… via @NYTimes
In Clewiston, Florida, Penny Lee, a 55-year-old who voted for Trump in 2024, was blunt about her past support for the president: “I was a dumbass.”
“I’m pissed off about the gas prices, the food prices, everything,” @wrmcduff @NnamEgwuon @AlexanderTabet
ms.now/news/republicans-midt…
Rachel Van Dongen retweeted
The anonymous “senior administration official” behind one of the stories the White House cited to justify banning POLITICO was none other than Vice President JD Vance, @oliverdarcy scoops
status.news/p/white-house-pr…
