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SourceLineThe Black Civic Data Platform

Our mission is to make sure Black communities are not simply informed about the decisions shaping our future, but equipped to help make those decisions. An informed community is a powerful community.

Stories

Stories from November 2026

Each story starts with the national record, then breaks it down to your state, county, city and address: how it affects you, who decides and who pays. Newest first.

Showing 7 of 17 stories. See every story

On the record · DeKalb County

What does DeKalb's new camping law actually say?

DeKalb passed a camping law 5 to 2. What the text says, how each commissioner voted, and what officials told you, checked against the record.

Start with what the county wrote into its own law. The ordinance says being unhoused "is a condition that cannot be criminalized," and that enforcement should target "obstructive behaviors rather than the status of being homeless." It also requires an offer of help before any arrest.

Inside: How each commissioner voted, by district · What the law does, in plain words · What people are saying, beside the text · The gray area: panhandling, selling and living on the street · Check what you were told · Commissioner Ted Terry, who voted no · The county and CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson · Commissioner Nicole Massiah, who sponsored it · Who it reaches · Who decides next · What you can do this week · Where you live

Read the story › November 6, 2026 · 8 minute read

National · Jobs · Black men

69,000 Black men lost federal jobs. Why didn't anyone count them?

About 69,000 fewer Black men work federal jobs than in 2024. Their count beside Black women, where it hit hardest, and who can act.

Federal jobs built the Black middle class, and Black men built them too. In 2024 about 409,000 Black men worked for the federal government, as mail carriers, VA nurses, Social Security staff, engineers and managers. Nearly 1 in 5 federal workers is Black, 18.5% in 2024, against about 1 in 8 of all American workers, according to the Pew Research Center.

Inside: The count for Black men · Side by side with Black women · Where it hit hardest: the Washington region · Who pays, and who decides what happens next · What you can do this week · Where you live

Read the story › November 6, 2026 · 3 minute read

The 2026 midterm, national

Black voters moved in 2026. What did it win, and what comes next?

A record 124 million voted. About 9 in 10 Black voters backed House Democrats, and five Black governors won. State by state, and what comes next.

More than 124 million ballots were cast in the 2026 midterm, a record, the University of Florida Election Lab reports (ABC News).

Inside: Across the country: a record midterm, and one voice · State by state: where every Black ballot can be counted · Five Black governors in one night · More Black voices in the U.S. Senate · Mississippi is still counting · Your vote, from your street to Congress · Who decides, from you up · What you can do this week · One thing to do · Where you live

Read the story › November 6, 2026 · 5 minute read

Count watch: Mississippi U.S. Senate

Mississippi Senate count: who leads, and which ballots are still out?

Scott Colom leads Cindy Hyde-Smith by about 2,000 votes in news counts. What is left to count, the dates, and how to make an affidavit ballot count.

Just after midnight Wednesday, Democrat Scott Colom led Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith by 28 votes in unofficial returns, The Mississippi Independent reported. Since then, as more ballots were counted, the lead has grown. By late Friday morning, the Associated Press showed Colom ahead by 2,010 votes, 467,066 to 465,056, or 49.1% to 48.8%, the Mississippi Free Press reported.

Inside: How the count has moved since Election Night · Why the whole country is watching · How Colom got here without the national money · The ballots still being counted · The dispute over affidavit ballots · Who decides, and the question to ask · If you vote in Mississippi · If you vote anywhere else · The next dates · One thing to do · Where you live

Read the story › November 6, 2026 · 7 minute read

Georgia 2026

7 statewide offices won by Black women in Georgia

One campaign spent $220 million. Black women won 7 statewide offices anyway. The votes, the money and what these offices can now do.

Disclosure: SourceLine’s founder, Kazemde Ajamu, was part of Real Men for Keisha, a supporter group that backed Keisha Lance Bottoms for governor and held a fundraiser for her campaign. Every figure in this story comes from the public record and is checked the same way for every candidate.

Inside: Georgia’s new leaders · Where the votes came from · What these offices control · People power and big money · How close the legislature is · What she promised · What comes next · What you can do · Where you live

Read the story › November 4, 2026 · 5 minute read

About these figures

Every figure on this page shows the year it describes. Public agencies release their numbers on their own schedules, often a year or more after the work of counting is done. The Census Bureau, for example, publishes its five year community survey each December, and the national reading test is given every two years. That is why some figures are not from this year. SourceLine updates each one as soon as the agency publishes it.

For some counties and small towns, SourceLine has not found meeting records online. Where it has not, we add them as they become available. A page that says SourceLine hasn’t updated a record yet means exactly that.