TL;DR
Battleground is a newsletter examining our nation’s electoral geography primarily through the lens of state and local politics.
Posts are typically written with a “maps-first” approach. I create my own custom maps to illustrate voting patterns for every state and district in the country.
All posts are written by me, Justin Brown, a newsroom analyst that has worked with publications like The Atlantic, Vox Media and Scientific American.
As of January 2024, all new Battleground posts are hosted on a new domain.
This Substack will remain as an archive of past posts.
For inquiries send an email to battlegroundmaps@gmail.com.
What is this?
Battleground is a blog and newsletter devoted to surveying America’s electoral geography and helping voters understand the political process. Avid readers include active voters, civil rights advocates and Hill staffers who are hungry for new insights.
“I have been hungry for real political insight and analysis for awhile, especially as it pertains to how local and state issues are playing out on the national stage. Battleground has been an immensely helpful professional tool for directing political strategy based on great insight and analysis and the visuals have been clutch in reporting out to my teams on this work.”
Posts typically lead with a map displaying results from a recent election and all maps featured in this publication are of my own creation and design, unless otherwise specified. I write with a “maps-first” approach, therefore, all of my pieces will include at least one map (if not several.) Human geography and how we take up space is paramount in electoral politics so if there’s a way to display a concept or trend in a map, you bet I’ll make one for ya.
Most posts end with “Leftover Links” consisting of relevant news clips that may provide more insight beyond what I can touch on in a single newsletter (email size limits ain’t no joke!). I favor local news sources over national publications whenever possible. These sources do a much better job at contextualizing national issues for local audiences. It’s also sometimes worth a meta-analysis of how local sources cover national issues as these platforms have a unique role in shaping local opinions on unfamiliar topics.
Who writes this?
Hey there! I’m Justin Case Brown. I’m an African American voter and identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community. I was born and raised on the East coast (Marylander here!) and received higher education from an elite institution on the West coast (Go Stanford!). I spent the first two years of my media career covering federal politics in Washington DC with National Journal. I later became a newsroom analyst where I help shape editorial operations and strategy through the use of qualitative and quantitative audience data. I have experience working with major publishers like The Atlantic, Vox Media and Scientific American.
Our political environment’s obsession with identity forces me towards the left side of the spectrum. (I don’t support the party that still stands against my right to get married, actively downplays the lingering effects of slavery, and believes my alma mater is a hotbed of liberal indoctrination.) While this may skew my perspective at times, I try my best to control for my biases when pulling out insights from electoral data. Whether we’re calling each other snowflakes or a basket of deplorables, we’re all still voters. All of our opinions matter. I seek to dig up both the beautiful and the ugly to help us understand how our nation is changing and who exactly is driving that change.
