In The News: Department of Political Science

Democrats in Congress led the charge to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. Now, prominent party power brokers and allies are paying a price, losing their jobs and seeing their reputations tarnished as a result of information in the documents.
A trend of "Chinamaxing" has swept the Western internet world, with people imitating Chinese lifestyles such as drinking warm water and taking off their shoes when entering a house. Scholar Austin Horng-En Wang pointed out that this trend is more like young people being quirky, rather than the "sudden surge in pro-China sentiment among American youth" that the media is worried about.
OpenAI, the developer of the chatbot ChatGPT, released a report indicating that the Chinese government used ChatGPT to generate images and text to launch cyberattacks. Scholar Austin Horng-En Wang pointed out today that the development of artificial intelligence (AI) has made related cyberattacks and cognitive warfare larger in scale and lower in cost.

If you've ever wanted to make a suggestion for a new law, now just might be your chance. The Southern Nevada Forum held its initial meeting on Monday, with the goal of coming up with a dozen new ideas to fix problems faced by residents of the Las Vegas Valley. The 13-year-old organization — created by the Vegas Chamber, the City of Las Vegas, Brookings Mountain West and former Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick in 2013 — brings together lawmakers and community leaders to brainstorm ideas.

Rep. Mark Amodei’s recent decision to retire opens a Northern Nevada House seat long considered untouchable – giving Democrats a rare chance to test Republican dominance in the state’s most conservative congressional district. Political scientists say midterm backlash, economic pressure and weak candidates can sometimes turn “safe” districts into November surprises.
Taiwanese researchers and security officials are sounding the alarm after CCP-linked content farms were caught using AI-generated propaganda, while accidentally leaving behind prompts showing the posts were tailored specifically for Taiwanese audiences

About 44 percent of the money came through a legal maneuver that experts say skirt the spirit of campaign finance limits. Democrat Aaron Ford was less reliant.

Nevada’s congressional races are quickly becoming contests between incumbents and wealthy challengers bankrolling their own campaigns, with one exception, new campaign finance filings reveal.

Nevada is starting to feel the effects captured in new U.S. Census data showing population growth slowing, driven by a drop in international migration. The number of foreign migrants coming to the Silver State plunged by more than half from 2024 to 2025.

Nevada is starting to feel the effects captured in new U.S. Census data showing population growth slowing, driven by a drop in international migration. The number of foreign migrants coming to the Silver State plunged by more than half from 2024 to 2025.

UNLV political science professor Kenneth Miller said the easiest way to win an election is to run without a credible opponent. Having a lot of money heading into an election can scare potential challengers away.
The Supreme Court is set to revisit one of the most consequential and contentious areas of election law this term in National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission. At issue is a decades-old federal limit on how much money national political parties may spend in coordination with their own candidates. The court’s decision could reshape campaign strategy and party infrastructure as the 2026 midterm elections approach.