The Downballot

The Downballot podcast live: Holy crap!

So much is still unfolding from Tuesday’s extraordinary election—and our heads are still spinning—that we decided we had to do this week’s episode of The Downballot podca

Our hour-by-hour guide to election night 2026

Finally, Election Day is almost here! But with literally thousands of races on the docket, how will you make sense of election night? The supremely knowledgeable Jeff Sin

What the hell is Ramaswamy thinking?

The most appalling ad of the midterms is also the most inexplicable. On this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast, co-hosts David Nir and David Beard rip Vivek Ramasw

The top ballot measures of 2026

Amid a years-long GOP assault on direct democracy, voters across the country have the chance to turn the tide next month. On this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast

The Senate battlefield is exploding

Republicans are giving up on races that would have once been unthinkable to abandon—and rushing to save candidates in states we can scarcely believe are competitive. On t

Republicans are looking sooo rusty

Here’s the downside to comfortably winning year after year: Your campaign skills get rusty in a hurry. As David Nir and guest-host Joe Sudbay discuss on this week’s episo

Primary turnout forecasts a Dem blowout

Democrats have blown past Republicans in primary turnout this year, but does it mean anything for November? The answer is a very firm “yes,” as co-hosts David Nir and Dav

How the USPS’ mail ballot gambit got smacked down

Donald Trump just tried to interfere with the midterms in a very baroque way—and swiftly got smacked down by the courts. But what exactly was he trying to do, and how was

The GOP cuts its first House candidate loose

Election Day is still almost two months off, but Republicans have already begun making once-touted recruits walk the plank. On this week’s episode of The Downballot podca

How Democratic 'spam PACs' victimize vulnerable seniors

We’ve all been bombarded with those histrionic text messages making over-the-top requests for donations, but they’re more than just annoying—there are hidden victims of t

The Downballot’s ‘Senate flip’ fantasy draft

Runoffs were the big story this week, with close races in South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Georgia. On this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast, co-host David Beard and

Democrats claim another big special election victory

Democrat Brandon Dukes won the last special election before November and became the 31st Democrat to flip a legislative seat since the beginning of 2025—compared to zero

What the hell just happened in Wisconsin?

Wisconsin’s Democratic primary for governor saw a shocking upset Tuesday night as David Crowley, who had dropped out of the race earlier this summer before jumping back i

The pro-pipe bomb Republican running for secretary of state

Once again, Republicans are fielding an array of election deniers who nevertheless want to oversee their state’s elections, though this year’s crop might just take the ca

El-Sayed vs. Stevens tops major primary night

Primary season is back with a vengeance on Tuesday, with no fewer than five states holding elections—chief among them Michigan. On this week’s episode of The Downballot,

The Downballot's first-ever live podcast!

For the first time ever, we broadcast The Downballot’s weekly podcast as a video livestream this week and took questions from viewers! Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard

How Democrats can make Mississippi competitive

“We have to fall in love with math,” Senate candidate Scott Colom tells us on this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast. Colom, a Mississippi district attorney, is vy

The Graham Platner debacle

Maine’s Senate race hangs in the balance following bombshell accusations by a woman named Jenny Racicot, who accused Democrat Graham Platner of raping her in 2021. As we

SCOTUS' war on voting rights

The Supreme Court’s decision gutting the Voting Rights Act two months ago was a devastating blow to American democracy, but it didn’t emerge out of the blue. Instead, it

Georgia gives Trump a black eye

Tuesday’s primary runoffs in Georgia were not good news for Donald Trump—or termed-out Gov. Brian Kemp. On this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast, co-hosts David N