The surprising races/states Democrats could still win
Mehdi Hasan, our longtime host of the great podcast Deconstructed, has moved on to his own show on NBC’s new streaming network, Peacock, (which airs at 7 p.m. weekdays). Deconstructed is a podcast that hews close to what’s in the news cycle, but goes deeper and offers perspectives you’re not likely to find elsewhere. With Mehdi moving on, I’ll be hosting Deconstructed going forward, so if you haven’t yet subscribed, please do. You can find it on any podcast platform you use, or at its homepage here. And please post that link on social media or forward to friends who you think would like it. It’s generally once a week and, for a podcast, runs on the shorter side.
This week, I talk to the Washington Post’s Dave Weigel, and we go state-by-state, talking about as many interesting races as we could fit in. There are so many important and close contests, it’s impossible to keep up with them all, and even though it’s my job to follow this stuff, I learned from Dave. We also talk to John Fetterman about the voting situation in Pennsylvania.
In a collaboration with The American Prospect, we have an unusual story up today about the dreaded party establishment coming to the aid of two lefty candidates trying to flip red seats, while progressive groups have largely prioritized elsewhere. Some really interesting dynamics here. Also one semi-related takeaway: The fact that Republicans are spending more than $10 million to protect GOP incumbents in Syracuse and Omaha suggests that they have mostly given up trying to take back Democratic seats and are just trying to minimize losses at this point. Story is here.
What kind of judge, and what kind of person, is Amy Coney Barrett? We have a new story up today by John Washington about her handling of an asylum case, in which she used easily explainable and utterly trivial discrepancies in a person’s application to send him back to El Salvador, where his life is now daily at risk. Full story here.
Have a great weekend. As always, if you know anybody who would enjoy this newsletter, please recommend it to them.