The Downballot

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 these hyper-aggressive fundraising practices.

On this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast, Stanford political scientist Adam Bonica discusses his deep investigation into the ways Democratic organizations and “spam PACs” are de...

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 guest host Kari Chisholm discuss how two Trump-endorsed candidates—Darline Graham in South Carolina and Mike Mazzei in Oklahoma—narrowly won their races, along with their prospects in the general election. They also preview next week’s prim...

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 for Republicans. On this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast, co-host David Beard and guest host Joe Sudbay discuss that race as well as the last big primary night of 2026, with a big upset in Florida’s Democratic Senate primary.

Then in our d...

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 in, defeated Francesca Hong, who’d been leading in polls by double digits.

On this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast, co-host David Beard and guest host Joe Sudbay run through all the key election results from Tuesday night, including Minneso...

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 cake. On this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast, Chelsey Wininger, the executive director of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, walks us through every competitive race her shop is focused on—including the showdown in Ar...

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, we break down the bitter fight between Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed as they vie to become the Wolverine State’s Democratic nominee for Senate, but there’s a lot more on the docket.

The list includes a ballot measure to make future ballot ...

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 recapped Arizona’s primaries, including:

• Rep. Dave Schweikert’s mysterious decision to get predictably crushed by fellow Rep. Andy Biggs in the GOP race for governor

• Why the DCCC keeps losing when it intervenes in Democratic House primaries

• How ...

“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 vying to unseat Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, who blocked his nomination to the federal judiciary in 2023. Now, as the cost of living and political corruption have skyrocketed, Colom is making the case that his home state is a worthy investment ...

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 recorded this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast, Platner’s future was still up in the air, though he dropped his bid soon after. We brought on frequent guest host—and dyed-in-the-wool Mainer—Joe Sudbay to pore over the entire de...

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 was the culmination of a decades-long effort on the right to capture the courts so that partisan jurists could enshrine minority rule.

On this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast, author David Daley takes us on a 60-year journey that began jus...

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 Nir and David Beard explain how the campaign of Trump’s pick to lead the Peach State campaign imploded so badly, and why that in turn helped kill a push by Kemp to further gerrymander the state’s electoral maps.

The Davids also recap thi...

South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace’s political career imploded in astonishing fashion on Tuesday night when she finished fifth in the GOP primary for governor—one of the most notable results that co-hosts David Nir and David Beard recap on this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast. There’s also Lindsey Graham, who needed $15 million in outside help to survive a race against a guy who advocated for “med...

The biggest primary night of the year unfolded on Tuesday—and it’s still not over. On this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast, co-hosts David Nir and David Beard recap all the top action and update listeners on where things stand in key contests that remain uncalled. On the docket is California’s race for governor, where Republicans are now looking at a possible lockout, as well as major battles in Iow...

Nevada is set to host one of the most competitive governor’s races in the country this fall as Attorney General Aaron Ford takes on incumbent Republican Joe Lombardo. On this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast, co-host David Beard and guest host Joe Sudbay talk to Ford about how he got into politics, how Trump and Lombardo have made life hard for Nevada families, and how he’s going to work to bring costs dow...

The news on the redistricting front remains grim for anyone who believes in democracy and minority voting rights. On this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast, co-hosts David Nir and David Beard survey the latest damage, which includes new Republican maps tearing apart majority-Black districts in Alabama, Louisiana, and Tennessee. Democrats’ efforts to fight back were also dealt a devastating blow in Virginia, where...

With the demise of the Voting Rights Act, Republicans are racing like mad to dismantle Black districts across the South. On this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast, co-hosts David Nir and David Beard recap all the latest developments, including Donald Trump’s successful ouster of Indiana Republicans who opposed his drive to gerrymander their state, plus GOP efforts to impose new maps in Alabama, Louisiana, and Ten...

Wednesday was one of the darkest days ever for American democracy, as the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act while pretending it was doing no such thing. But on this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast, co-hosts David Nir and David Beard explain how Democrats can fight back, both by drawing new maps of their own and laying the groundwork for major SCOTUS reforms.

The Davids also talk with Eugene DePasquale, the ch...

Democrats kicked Eric Swalwell to the curb lightning-quick, and it’s a very good thing he’s gone. On this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast, co-hosts David Nir and David Beard discuss the brave women who came forward to accuse Swalwell of sexual assault and wound up ending his political career. We also assess the fallout from his departure—and how it differs so starkly compared to the way Republicans ...

It was a massive blowout for progressives up and down the ticket in Wisconsin on Tuesday night, capped by a rout in the race for the Supreme Court that saw liberals expand their hard-won majority. On this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast, co-host David Beard and guest host Joe Sudbay break down all of the top contests, as well as the special election for Marjorie Taylor Greene’s old seat, which saw another massi...