Politics Brief is the go-to source for 2018 election news, selected from the best WNYC has to offer. Daily segments include original reporting on the New York metro region, along with interviews and analysis focused on the national scene from groundbreaking shows like On the Media, The Takeaway and The New Yorker Radio Hour. Produced by WNYC Studios, home of other great podcasts including Radiolab, Snap Judgment, Nancy and Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin. Category: News & Politics
Devin Coleman has been out of prison for 12 years. Thanks to the passage of Amendment 4 in Florida, he will now be eligible to vote once more. Steve Bousquet of the Tampa Bay Times joins the Takeaway to discuss the implications of the amendment.
Nancy Solomon, managing editor of New Jersey Public Radio, talks about election results in New Jersey. Joining her are Kai Wright, editor and host of WNYC’s narrative unit, and Gabriel Debenedett, New York Magazine national political correspondent, to take a look at other races around the country.
It's Election Day on The Brian Lehrer Show. Scott Bland, editor of Campaign Pro for Politico, and TIME National Correspondent Charlotte Alter discuss how both parties have worked to get out the vote in the run-up to the midterm election. And later, listeners share their stories of voting for different candidates than their loved ones.
A group of progressive Texas women who are organizing in secret, out of fear of retaliation from neighbors, friends, and even family. Now, as WNYC's Amanda Aroncyzk reports, some are ready to speak out.
Lilliana Mason is professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland and author of Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity. She joins On The Media's Bob Garfield to discuss how anger and tribal identity have gotten us to the current political moment, and how we might move past it.
In the latest episode of The United States of Anxiety, we meet Rena Cook, a voice coach in Oklahoma who’s training progressive, female candidates on how to subvert our inbuilt biases about women’s voices. Plus, we look back on what the 1977 National Women’s Conference did (and didn’t) do for feminism.
Just four percent of T.V. campaign ads explicitly mention climate change despite warnings from the United Nations and others that predict catastrophic damage from climate change as early as 2040. Millennials are the only generation where a clear majority believes that there is solid evidence of global warming and who also attribute this primarily to human activity. The Takeaway holds a roundtable discussion with three millennial voices on why climate change matters to them and their generation.
Charlie Sykes, longtime conservative talk host and MSNBC contributor, Eddie Glaude, chair of Princeton's new department of African-American studies and president-elect of the American Academy of Religion, and Alexis Grenell, co-founder of Pythia Public, a political and public affairs firm, look back at what issues both Democrats and Republicans have chosen to campaign on this election season, and what the choices say about the culture. This segment is part of The Brian Lehrer Show's 30 Issues in 30 Days series.
On The Brian Lehrer Show, Dean Baker macroeconomist and co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. and Stephen Moore, fellow at the Project for Economic Growth at the Heritage Foundation and author of Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy, debate about whether Trump's approach to the economy is responsible for the wage growth, and how to keep it going for all Americans. This segment is a part of the series 30 Issues in 30 Days.
Drew Desilver is a senior writer at Pew Research Center. He joins The Takeaway to discuss what some problems may be with a system that hasn’t changed in nearly 90 years.
Reporter Eliza Griswold follows political campaigns in Pennsylvania. She joins The New Yorker Radio Hour to talk about the controversial Mariner East 2 Pipeline Project, which has rare bipartisan support... and opposition.
Melissa Mark-Viverito, vice president of strategic engagement for the Latino Victory Fund and former New York City Council speaker, joins The Brian Lehrer Show to survey how Latino voters are feeling about and voting in the midterm elections. Also joining the show is John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, who talks about the latest polling on young voters.
Clare Malone, senior political writer for FiveThirtyEight, joins On The Media to talk about the figures, myths and exaggerations making their way into the national conversation ahead of the midterms.
Traditional canvassing can help 'get out the base' but it has little success winning over voters on the other side. So, as WNYC's Fred Mogul reports, canvassers on Staten Island are trying an experiment.
WNYC's Brian Lehrer talks with Washington Post national security reporter Nick Miroff about how the caravan of asylum seekers traveling from Central America is playing a role in the midterm elections. Plus New York Times reporter Annie Correal shares snapshots from the caravan of migrants making their way through Mexico to the U.S. border.
The New Yorker Radio Hour takes a look at several candidates on the far right openly espousing white-supremacist and white-nationalist views in this midterms election season. Reporter Andrew Marantz tells host David Remnick that candidates who used to “dog-whistle”—use coded language to appeal to racist voters—now openly make white-supremacist statements that Republican Party leadership won’t disavow.
Danielle Root is the voting rights manager at the Center for American Progress. She joins The Takeaway to discuss what it'd take to make America's voting systems better.
Rachel Silberstein, staff writer at The Times Union, joins The Brian Lehrer Show to talk about the latest debate between incumbent Rep. John Faso and Democratic challenger Antonio Delgado in New York's highly contested District 19 congressional race.
Walter Shaub, senior advisor at the watchdog group CREW, and former director of the United States Office of Government Ethics, joins The Brian Lehrer Show to talk about Capitol Hill's swelling crisis of ethics.
WNYC's Jessica Gould reports on the intense race in Long Island between Democrat Liuba Grechen Shirley and Republican Pete King.
Joining The Takeaway to break down how voting varies across the country is David Becker, the executive director and founder of the Center for Election Innovation & Research.
Last year, when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman became Saudi Arabia's Deputy Prime Minister, the press fawned over his reforms in the arena of women's rights and business. The Western media has devoted less coverage to his regime's human rights violations and destruction in Yemen. Georgetown University in Qatar professor Abdullah Al-Arian speaks to On The Media's Brooke Gladstone about the trope of the Saudi royal "reformers," where it comes from and why it persists.
On The Brian Lehrer Show, Andy Borowitz, comedian and creator of The New Yorker's "The Borowitz Report" column, gives his satirical take on the news.
Trump has been doing business with Saudis for years, even bragging during his presidential campaign about the large amount of money Saudi buyers paid for his apartments.
In this Trump, Inc. podcast extra, WNYC’s Charlie Herman talks with The Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold and Joe Nocera from Bloomberg Opinion about all the ways Saudi Arabia is intertwined with U.S. business interests, including those of the president himself.
WNYC's Nancy Solomon reports on three activists groups changing the political landscape of a large swath of New Jersey suburbs, places that have elected Republicans to local and national office for decades.
New Labor Department numbers this week point to a record number of job openings, and a booming labor market like this means it’s a great time for employees to ask for more money in their current role, or to find new, better work. Harry Holzer, a professor of Public Policy at Georgetown and former Chief Economist for the U.S. Department of Labor, joins The Takeaway to discuss why the economy looks the way it does, how workers can benefit, and who is left out of this prosperous moment.
Hear the latest episode of More Perfect from WNYC Studios, featuring a song the legendary Dolly Parton wrote for the show about the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, which gave women the right to vote.
Ben Sasse, Republican U.S. Senator from Nebraska and author of Them: Why We Hate Each Other--and How to Heal, argues that loneliness is the underlying cause of America's extreme polarization and that the solution lies in finding deepening "rootedness." That's on The Brian Lehrer Show.
Russian intelligence has been probing for weaknesses in our election systems. And there are plenty. Can states secure themselves from attack in time for the midterms? Sue Halpern, who reports on election security, joined The New Yorker Radio Hour to discuss.
WNYC reporter Fred Mogul on the secrets (and limits) to Andrew Cuomo's long-shot Republican challenger for Governor of New York, Marc Molinaro.
Are open borders and #AbolishICE actually stances of a potential Democratic House? Rep. Adriano Espaillat discusses his party's plan for immigration policy if they win a majority. This segment is a part of The Brian Lehrer Show's series, 30 Issues in 30 Days.
Two years ago, then-candidate Donald Trump ran for president on a series of promises to the American people: creating millions of new jobs, revitalizing manufacturing, renegotiating NAFTA, and of course, building the wall. How has he fared? Hear analysis from Politics with Amy Walter.
Jehmu Greene, the only black woman candidate in the 2017 race for DNC chair and founding member of VoteRunLead, joins The Takeaway to discuss why she "ghosted" the Democratic Party and some of the steps it could take to repair the relationship between the party and black women.
Juan Williams, political analyst for Fox News and the author of What the Hell Do You Have to Lose?: Trump's War on Civil Rights, and Roger Clegg, president and general counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity, debate the future of affirmative action under President Trump. This segment is a part of The Brian Lehrer Show's 30 Issues in 30 Days series.
On Trump, Inc.: a look at the relationship between President Trump and Sheldon Adelson. Adelson, a casino magnate, is one of the wealthiest people in the world, and the Trump administration has advanced his ideological and financial interests.
With the midterm elections just weeks away, campaign workers are in crunch time. But there's been a growing movement over the past few months to protect these workers from exploitation. WNYC reporter Shumita Basu takes a look at a new independent union springing out of this movement called the Campaign Workers Guild.
Landing a year into the #MeToo movement, Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger is timely. Written by the feminist journalist Rebecca Traister, the book combines an analysis of the ways in which women’s anger is discouraged, with a historical look at moments when that anger has had political implications. Traister spoke with David Remnick of The New Yorker Radio Hour.
On The Brian Lehrer Show, HuffPost Senior politics reporter Jennifer Bendery offers analysis on the Kavanaugh cloture vote.
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to end Temporary Protected Status for 300,000 people, providing momentary relief for immigrants from Sudan, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Haiti. WNYC's Arun Venugopal reports.
Alexis Grenell, New York Daily News contributor and co-founder of the political affairs firm Pythia Public, joins The Brian Lehrer Show to talk about the impact of #MeToo in New York State with Erica Vladimer, co-founder of Sexual Harassment Working Group.
Trump, Inc. co-hosts Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Marritz talk about the New York Times investigation that calls into question Pres. Trump's claims that he received little of his wealth from his father.
Though President Trump has claimed that trade wars are "easy to win," in states like North Dakota, Ohio, and Tennessee, the effects of protectionist tariffs on Chinese-made goods — and China’s sixty billion dollars in retaliatory duties — could give Democrats control of the Senate. On the New Yorker Radio Hour, staff writers John Cassidy and Sheelah Kolhatkar, parse how candidates in both parties are navigating a new economic order.
On The Brian Lehrer Show, Steve Kornacki, national political correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC, talks about today's headlines and his new book that looks back to the Clinton era as the start of today's hyper-partisanship, The Red and the Blue: The 1990s and the Birth of Political Tribalism.
After the Supreme Court declined to get involved in a lower court case, advocacy groups must disclose donations to political non-profits. But opaque "dark money" practices may wall persist thanks to bureaucratic tangles and cash-flow workarounds. Joining On The Media to discuss is Michelle Ye Hee Lee, a national reporter for the Washington Post.
On The Brian Lehrer Show, hear from a few listeners about how they've felt first-hand the effects of healthcare policy. Then, Heather Howard, former associate director of the Domestic Policy Council during the Clinton administration, Robert Moffit, senior fellow in The Heritage Foundation's Center for Health Policy Studies and Ed Haislmaier, expert in prescription drug pricing at The Heritage Foundation, discuss how healthcare has changed under the Trump administration and debate: for better or for worse?
On season three of WNYC Studios' More Perfect, the teamzooms in on the words of the people: the 27 amendments that We The People have made to our Constitution. They're taking on these 27 amendments both in song and in story. Episode One dives into the poetic dream behind the First Amendment.
The Takeaway's Amy Walter spoke with Professor Barbara Perry, Presidential Studies Director at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, about justices and the partisan divide, and Clare Malone, Senior Political Writer at FiveThirtyEight, about what the Kavanaugh hearings mean heading into the midterms.
The culture of Washington D.C. has come under scrutiny in light of allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh. For years, the center of political power in America has been a boys club. Joining The Takeaway's Tanzina Vega to talk about the culture of the capital are Sheryl Gay Stolberg, a long-time national correspondent based in D.C. for the New York Times, and Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun, former U.S. Senator from Illinois and ex-Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa.
Anna Kaplan, candidate for New York's 7th Senate District, and Michele Sterlace-Accorsi, Executive Director of Feminists Choosing Life of New York, join The Brian Lehrer Show to debate whether New York should pass the Reproductive Health Act, a measure that would allow for late term abortion in the state. This is the third installment in the series "30 Issues in 30 Days."
On National Voter Registration Day, the New York City Campaign Finance Board led efforts to get more people registered to vote in the November midterms by the Oct. 12 deadline. As it turns out, getting young people to register is easy. Getting them to vote is a different story. Hear more, from WNYC reporter Shumita Basu, here.
Paula Casey wants to put up a statue dedicated to the women who fought for a woman's right to vote more than a century ago, but a confederate monument stands in her way. Hear her story on episode 3 of The United States of Anxiety.
Heather Hurlburt, columnist at New York Magazine's Daily Intelligencer and former White House and State Department official under Bill Clinton, offers analysis of the president's speech at this week's United Nations General Assembly in New York on The Brian Lehrer Show.
Anthony Pappas, an associate professor of economics and finance at St. John's University calls himself a compassionate conservative, and he's hoping that'll endear him to his would-be constituents as a Congressman representing parts of the Bronx and Queens, even if not to his local GOP. The issue he really wants to talk about: the courts. "We are living under a judicial dictatorship," Pappas says, pointing to his own rocky divorce. Hear the full story, from WNYC reporter Jessica Gould, here.
Last week, McDonald’s workers rallied to demand the company enforce its sexual harassment policy and better train its managers and employees. This was the first multi-state strike to protest sexual harassment in the workplace in US history, and it united organizers of the TIME'S UP Legal Defense Fund and the Fight for $15.
Annelise Orleck, author of "We Are All Fast-Food Workers Now", has surveyed movements to empower the powerless worldwide. She joined On The Media to explain how low-wage workers have been taking collective action to raise awareness of their stories around the world.
On The New Yorker Radio Hour, historian Jill Lepore speaks to David Remnick about her new book, These Truths, a survey of six-hundred years of American history with a focus on immigration, suffrage and the media.
Washington Post national correspondent Philip Bump is on The Brian Lehrer Show, catching us up on the latest news regarding the allegations against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh and how senators—and the president—are handling them.
Republican congressmen in New Jersey are fighting to hold onto their seats in rare competitive battles. National money is pouring into the coffers of both Democratic and Republican candidates. WNYC's Nancy Solomon explains how New Jersey became a key battleground state in the November midterms.
1992 was hailed as the "Year of the Woman" for the record number of female candidates elected to national office. Today, a wave of women candidates, many inspired by the results of the 2016 election and emboldened by the #MeToo movement, may help Democrats tip the balance of power in Washington. Joining The Takeaway are Tiffany Shedd, who is running for the Republican nomination in AZ-01, and Lauren Underwood, the Democratic nominee in IL-14. Later, we'll hear from Senator Patty Murray, who was sent to Washington in 1992's historic election cycle, and more.
The United States of Anxiety is back with a new season. In the first episode, hear from Jennifer Willoughby and Saily Avelenda, women who toppled two political giants. Plus, want to know the real reason the 2018 midterms could make history? It has to do with a number political scientists call the "gender gap."
John Raskin, executive director of the Riders Alliance, and Aaron W. Gordon, transportation reporter and author of the weekly subway newsletter Signal Problems, join The Brian Lehrer Show to talk about the future of NYC's deteriorating subway system in light of last week's primaries.
Allegations that Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted a high school classmate decades ago have thrown the judge's Supreme Court confirmation into disarray. The Senate has been here before, in 1991, when Anita Hill testified that she was sexually harassed by Clarence Thomas. In the 27 years since then, lots of things have changed, including the number of women in the Senate who will decide whether or not Kavanaugh will be confirmed. This season the WNYC podcast The United States of Anxiety looks at the role of gender in today's political landscape.
Facing the criticism that nearly 3,000 people died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, President Trump has claimed that the death toll was a fabrication by Democrats. Joining On The Media is Yarimar Bonilla, political anthropologist. She argues that Trump's lies could be an opportunity. Instead of allowing the president to drag the debate back to the basic facts of Maria, Bonilla says, Puerto Ricans and their allies could harness the attention for deeper understanding of how the island's problems do not begin or end with President Trump.
On The Brian Lehrer Show, Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, argues New York's elections are in need of reforms. Later, Gloria Pazmino, politics reporter at Politico New York, talks about who may be on the ballot in the November election, and how thay might affect the political makeup of the New York State Senate.
The Pew Research Center has been studying American’s public political values since 1994, and says the gap between Democrats and Republicans is wider than it's ever been. Carroll Doherty, the director of political research at Pew, joins The Takeaway to explain how we got here.
Also joining are John Tanner, a former member of congress; Bruce Reed, former chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden; Helen Milby, founder and board chair of the progressive organization The New Deal; and John Murray, who served as deputy chief of staff to former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
Bill Lipton, director of the Working Families Party in New York, and Maurice Mitchell, the WFP national director, join The Brian Lehrer Show to talk election results and look ahead to November. Later, City Comptroller Scott Stringer weighs in.
In the state of Florida, 40 percent of black men cannot vote, and suppression strategies like voter ID laws and voting roll purges make this possible. Carol Anderson, professor of African-American studies at Emory University joined the Brian Lehrer Show to discuss this and her new book, One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy.
Lauren Chooljian, politics reporter for New Hampshire Public Radio, joins the Takeaway to break down the results of a couple key races in her state.
It’s the day before the New York state primaries, and if you’re a registered Democrat, you might find something a little different in your mailbox. Not those glossy, full-color filers from the candidates. Something a little more … motivating. WNYC’s Shumita Basu explains.
For our Ask a Reporter series, we're answering your questions about civic engagement. One thing we’ve learned so far about getting involved: sometimes it’s a good idea to start with your block. Just ask Blanche Romey, long-time Bushwick resident.
In a new collection of essays called The Free Speech Century, leading First Amendment thinkers reflect on the law's trajectory over the last 100 years. On The Media's Brooke Gladstone spoke with co-editor Geoffrey Stone and law professor Laura Weinrib about how our free speech rights are still evolving.
Cynthia Nixon speaks with Brian Lehrer to discuss her bid for the Democratic nomination for governor of New York.
Jarrett Murphy, executive editor of City Limits, and Ben Max, executive editor of Gotham Gazette, sat down with Brian Lehrer to discuss the competitive races and what's at stake in Thursday's primary election.
After Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's primary upset against a long-time Democrat incumbent, Julia Salazar's Democratic Socialist campaign for State Senate gained a lot of steam. As a first-time candidate up against another longtime incumbent, Salazar's biography was a huge part of her appeal to voters in a north Brooklyn district that appeared open to her progressive politics. Now, a few items in this biography appear to have been false.
Harry Siegel, Daily News columnist, spoke with WNYC's Richard Hake about what this means for the Democratic Socialists of America.
Everyone says the economy is doing great. Is it? Then why aren’t the Republicans and the President better positioned going into the midterms?
Joining Politics with Amy Walter to discuss are Lynn Vavreck, Hoffenberg Chair of American Politics at UCLA, Jim Tankersley, reporter covering economic and tax policy for the New York Times, Colin Gordon, senior research consultant at the Iowa Policy Project and Erika Franklin Fowler, Associate Professor of Government at Wesleyan University.
Ahead of the Sept. 13 primary, Zephyr Teachout, Letitia James, Sean Patrick Maloney and Leecia Eve -- all vying to be the next Democratic Attorney General of New York -- touted their qualifications and experience while debating issues on corruption, voting rights and economic inequality.
NPR White House reporter Ayesha Rascoe and TIME political correspondent Molly Ball sit down with the Brian Lehrer Show to talk this week in politics -- from the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing to policy proposals on the detention of immigrant children and the controversial New York Times op-ed on President Trump's "amorality."
New York Timesstaff writer Emily Bazelon joins Midday guest host Nancy Giles to discuss her latest piece in the New York Times Magazine, about the implications of the court system's move to right of the American public.
Kathy Hochul is a longtime public servant, and since 2015, she's been lieutenant governor of New York. She joined the Brian Lehrer Show to talk about her reelection campaign.
Franklin Graham has no issue with showing his full-fledged support for President Trump. Graham tells the New Yorker staff writer Eliza Griswold that Trump’s critics have forgotten that “he’s our President. If he succeeds, you’re going to benefit.”
Jumaane Williams, candidate for lieutenant governor of New York and city council member for the 45th District, talks about his campaign for New York State lieutenant governor -- the policies and issues he hits on include: legalizing marijuana, marriage equality & abortion, rezonings, fracking, free college tuition and more.
Liuba Grechen Shirley is the Democrat hoping to best longtime New York Republican Congressman Pete King in the race for his seat. Like many other women across the country Grechen Shirley became motivated to run for office in the fallout from the 2016 presidential election.
“I needed to stand up and say something and I decided running for office would be the best way to do that,” she said.
But she also needed childcare for her two young children while she and her husband worked full time. Last spring, she went to Washington to ask the Federal Election Commission for permission to spend campaign funds on a babysitter.
With 10 days to go before the party primaries, Nixon remains the underdog in the polls in the New York governor's race against Andrew Cuomo. But the upset win by Congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez earlier this summer, and Andrew Gillum’s surprising gubernatorial primary victory in Florida, has given many Nixon supporters hope and cemented a strategy: attracting new voters to the polls, or “expanding the electorate.”
Formerly a member of the Clinton and Obama administrations, Eric Liu is the CEO of Citizens University and executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Citizen and American Identity Program. Liu says that he's part of a new generation of activists who are trying to empower people to lead in cities and towns across the country, and is hopeful with what he sees.
In the run-up to and the fallout from the 2016 election, reporters have been accused of normalizing dangerous racist movements or falling for predictable tricks.
Lois Beckett, senior reporter at The Guardian US talks with four seasoned reporters on the far-right beat about what they have learned from covering American hate groups and about the mistakes the media often make.
For our next season of the United States of Anxiety, we’re focusing on power and gender, and we’ve partnered with ProPublica to look at how political advertising targets people of different genders differently on Facebook.
Unlike broadcast television ads, which are heavily regulated, we have no idea how individual voters are micro-targeted on Facebook. It’s still the Wild West. Nor do we know about potentially unethical or misleading advertising that may be happening.
We do know from the Cambridge Analytica scandal that much of the misinformation spread in 2016 targeted people based on their race and gender. And we know that this is an election in which gender is expected to be a decisive factor.
What can you do?
By doing this, you'll be part of groundbreaking research — remember this is the first election cycle since Facebook changed its policies. And you'll also be helping WNYC and ProPublica bring you reporting and analysis about these campaign ads.
To get started, visit propublica.org/facebook.
News out of President Trump's White House moves fast. And you probably have questions about what's been going on. Rebecca Ballhaus, of the Wall Street Journal, and Ken White, a former federal prosecutor and criminal defense attorney, join The Takeaway to demystify some of the big words you hear in the news, from indictment to impeachment.
According to a new study, Americans' perceptions of the opposing political party tend to skew far from the truth. What's more, people's perceptions of their own political parties aren't much better. Perry Bacon, senior writer for FiveThirtyEight, wrote about the study for his column “Secret Identity.” He spoke with On The Media about why the gulf between perception and reality might be so wide.
Borough Presidents Eric Adams (Brooklyn) and Gale Brewer (Manhattan) debate a proposal to impose term limits on community board members, some of whom stay for decades. These are the boards that play a big role in land-use decisions and can be a gateway to public service. The city's Charter Review Commission is considering changes.
For the 2018 midterms, WNYC is sharing the best political coverage from across the station.