Celeste Katz

Celeste Katz was senior political correspondent at Mic, covering national politics. She is based in New York and can be reached at celeste@mic.com.
Mike Pence’s solidarity with Donald Trump on Charlottesville doesn’t extend to blaming “both sides”
By Celeste Katz
Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump has been “clear” on the recent deadly demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, but stopped short of agreeing with his boss that “both sides” were to blame for the weekend’s…
Government, demonstrators consider the future of “the resistance” after Charlottesville
By Celeste Katz
Last Saturday, legions of torch-waving white supremacists descended on Charlottesville, Virginia, for a “Unite the Right” march. This coming weekend, conservatives plan to converge on Boston for a “free speech” rally that has police on high…
NYPD — and protesters — are gearing up for President Donald Trump’s return to New York City
By Celeste Katz
Despite Thomas Wolfe’s assertion to the contrary, sometimes you can in fact go home again — but for President Donald Trump, that’s way more complicated than it used to be. The billionaire commander in chief has largely stayed away from his hometown…
President Donald Trump says he’s doing the US military “a great favor” by banning trans people
By Celeste Katz
President Donald Trump gave himself a hearty pat on the back Thursday for trying to drum transgender people out of the U.S. armed forces, saying he’s “doing the military a great favor” by clearing up a “complicated” issue. Trump, who’s in the midst…
A member of Trump’s “voter fraud panel” is all for Ohio’s push to purge its voter rolls
By Celeste Katz
Legal arguments are flying over what election experts say could be a landmark moment in deciding who stays on the voting rolls and who gets the boot — and a member of President Donald Trump’s “voter fraud panel” has taken his side. J. Christian…
Trump election integrity panel won’t seek data on some of the nation’s most vulnerable voters
By Celeste Katz
When President Donald Trump’s “election integrity commission” started asking for reams of information on voters nationwide, the fears cropped up immediately. Where would millions of records including voters’ names, addresses and other vital data be…
CA Secretary of State Alex Padilla: 52 years after its passage, Voting Rights Act is “under assault”
By Celeste Katz
On the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which paved the way for African-Americans to participate in the electoral process, then-President Barack Obama invited California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to Washington. Padilla and…
Despite Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s defiance, White House election panel will get some New York voter data
By Celeste Katz
When the election integrity commission created by President Donald Trump asked all 50 states to provide reams of data on registered voters, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wasn’t interested. Cuomo pushed back, saying in a June statement that “New York…
Elections watchdog group seeks answers after Georgia drops 590,000 from voter rolls
By Celeste Katz
A watchdog group is pushing the state of Georgia to explain why more than 591,000 people were struck from the voter rolls. “Each of the 591,548 voters affected by the move had already been on the state’s ‘inactive’ registration list,” the Atlanta…
Obama, Clinton campaign veteran team pledges $1.5 million to progressive political tech companies
By Celeste Katz
Now that President Donald Trump has rewritten the rules on running for president, a coalition of operatives who worked with former President Barack Obama and on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign is paying technologists to rewrite the code for 2018 and…
New Franchise Project voting group offers state scorecards — and scorn for Trump fraud panel
By Celeste Katz
Emma Olson Sharkey met Sarah Esty when both women were trying to get Hillary Clinton elected as president. “I was the Wisconsin voter protection director and Sarah was in Brooklyn, overseeing voter protection directors in several battleground…
Sen. Cory Booker wants to take marijuana off the federal controlled substance list
By Celeste Katz
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker says marijuana should come off the controlled substance list — and he’s introducing a bill to do just that. The Garden State Democrat’s Marijuana Justice Act, which he’ll formally announce today via Facebook Live, would…
In MS-13 speech, Trump was cheered for endorsing brutal practices used by police arresting “thugs”
By Celeste Katz
BRENTWOOD, N.Y. — President Donald Trump scored applause Friday while talking to police about the fight against the brutal MS-13 gang by saying he doesn’t mind if suspects get roughed up during arrests. “When you see these thugs being thrown into…
Election Assistance Commission official on meeting about voting threats: “There was a real urgency”
By Celeste Katz
In the world of voting, “we talk a lot about ‘election speed,’” Matthew Masterson said. “[It’s] basically a way of saying that every day, we’re closer to another election,” Masterson, the commissioner of the federal Election Assistance Commission,…
After court win, Trump “voter fraud panel” renews data request to states
By Celeste Katz
He’s back — and now he’s trying to make it more personal. On Wednesday, Kris Kobach, a leader of President Donald Trump’s Election Integrity Commission, reissued his call to state officials to release detailed information on all registered…
The White House is leaving everyone in the dark as to how its transgender military ban will work
By Celeste Katz
For those looking for details about President Donald Trump’s surprise ban on transgender people serving in the military, the Brady Briefing Room was decidedly not the place to be Wednesday afternoon. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee…
Chelsea Manning blasts Trump’s surprise transgender military ban with a little context
By Celeste Katz
Chelsea Manning, the transgender soldier released from military prison this year after serving seven years for leaking documents to WikiLeaks, laid into the president Wednesday for banning trans people from the armed forces. The former Army private…
Federal judge denies attempt to block election integrity panel from collecting voter data
By Celeste Katz
Opponents of the Election Integrity Commission suffered a blow on Monday when a federal judge dealt a defeat to a privacy group that’s trying to prevent the collection of data on voters nationwide. The panel, which met in Washington for the first…
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe ahead of Drive for Our Lives tour: “Health care is a right”
By Celeste Katz
Republican efforts to kill the Affordable Care Act may be on the ropes, but progressive Democrats are still hitting the road to speak out against the plan. “I caution Democrats: ‘Til they’re done, they’re not done,’” Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe…
New study projects stunning drop in 2018 millennial voter turnout in battleground states
By Celeste Katz
The 2016 presidential election — and its outcome — may have given plenty of Americans a new sense of urgency when it comes to civics. But a new study projects that 40 million Americans who voted last year will likely not show up at the polls for the…