One of the best things to emerge from Election Twitter is Split Ticket, a site—like ours—devoted to rigorous election analysis. We're delighted to welcome founder Laskhya Jain on this week's episode of The Downballot podcast to tell us about how Split Ticket came to be and how he learned to trust the data over his vibes. He also gives us a sneak preview of the next update to his Senate model and spotlights several House races he thinks could be bellwethers in November. We knew we'd found a kindred spirit because we could have gone on for hours, but we're sure we'll have Lakshya on again!

Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard also discuss the shock Democratic flip in the race for Tulsa mayor, where Republicans got locked out of the general election in Tuesday's primary. Is Nir now a convert to the wisdom of top-two primaries? They then drag Utah Republicans for their naked attempt to eviscerate citizen-sponsored ballot initiatives just so they can keep gerrymandering before returning to Alaska to catch up on the surprising exit of a top GOP recruit in the state's House race.

If you're looking for signs of good news for House Democrats, look no further than … Alaska? Believe it or not, yeah! On this week's episode of The Downballot podcast, co-hosts David Nir and David Beard lead off with the remarkable Mary Peltola, who continues to defy political gravity. Despite sitting in the reddest House seat for a Democrat, she's pulling in a majority of the vote in Tuesday's top-four primary—a result that can't have Republicans feeling great about unseating her in November.

And we're getting super nerdy in our deep dive this week. Our guest is Doug Kronaizl from Ballotpedia, a site you know well because it's one of the most indispensable resources for elections research on the internet. Kronaizl tells us how his organization tracks tens of thousands of races every year and why in recent years it's expanded even further down the ballot. He also discusses the sorry fact that so many local elections go uncontested—including more than half for school board—but explains how Ballotpedia can help remedy the problem.

It's our biggest news in the 21 years since we began covering elections: Daily Kos Elections is striking out on its own to launch a new, independent site with a name that will be very familiar to our listeners. We're calling it The Downballot, but have no fear—we'll still be bringing you this podcast weekly! In fact, our mission isn't changing at all. To learn all about our new venture, including why we're making this change and what to expect, dive right into this week's episode.

Most importantly, we're asking folks to support our work shedding light on critical but often overlooked downballot elections by becoming paid subscribers. You can do so right here: https://www.the-downballot.com/subscribe

Of course, the world of election news hasn't slowed down one bit! Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard recap a pair of major losses for the GOP at the ballot box in Wisconsin, where Republicans tried to kneecap the state's Democratic governor via constitutional amendment. They also zoom in on Nebraska's swingy 2nd District, where a Democratic hopeful will soon get a boost from the very top of the ticket. And finally, they provide an update on the abortion rights amendment in Arizona, where the arch-conservative state Supreme Court could strike it from the ballot.