SYNOPSIS: What do you do if you have to run for office in a district that was drawn so that your political party can't possibly win it? That was the situation Kate Compton Barr faced in a North Carolina state Senate race in 2024. Her solution: radical honesty. She told voters she couldn't win, and instead talked to them about the damage that rigged maps do to democracy. Then she and some partners launched the Can't Win Victory Fund, a political action committee dedicated to recruiting other candidates to do the same — all of it focused not on flipping districts but on redrawing the underlying maps, to allow for actual representative government. Jesse talked to her about that, and about her current political run for Congress — as a Republican.

Also: the ongoing conservative makeover of public education in the South. Florida loses track of thousands of K-12 voucher students; the University of Alabama shuts down magazines for Black and female students; and the University of Texas at Austin comes under the sway of the state's far-right leadership. And as Hanukkah begins, a look at one of the oldest and most important synagogues in the country — Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, founded in Charleston, S.C., in 1749.

SHOW NOTES: Can't Win Victory Fund Fair Map Fight Club "University of Alabama alumni organize fundraiser for suspended student magazines" Alabama Reflector 1956 Magazine Alice Magazine Florida audit of voucher programs "How Florida lost track of 30,000 students, a 'cautionary tale' for vouchers" Washington Post https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/11/21/funding-did-not-follow-the-child-state-audit-displays-school-choice-woes/ "The Conservative Overhaul of the University of Texas Is Underway" The New York Times "Texas Republicans are redefining higher ed. It's creating confusion about free speech on campuses." The Texas Tribune "What a Democrat's victory in the Miami mayoral election may mean for Trump" Associated Press "Democrat flips northeast Georgia state House seat, pulling off special election upset" Georgia Recorder History of Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim CONTACT: Jesse Mayshark [email protected] (865) 214-7764