Midday

Today on Midday on Politics, we assess the state of Senate races around the country, in light of the death on Friday of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. How will her passing and the fight over her successor affect the composition of the United States Senate, and the 2020 presidential election?

Twenty-one Republican incumbent senators are on the ballot. There are three open seats currently held by Republicans. Eleven Democratic incumbents face re-election. There’s one open seat currently held by a Democrat, in New Mexico.

If Democrats win three or four seats currently held by the GOP, they will take control of the upper chamber. Two Democrats, Doug Jones of Alabama and Gary Peters of Michigan are considered vulnerable, and if they lose, the magic number for Democrats is possibly higher.

Some polls suggest that Republicans in North Carolina, South Carolina, Colorado, Montana, Iowa, and elsewhere could be displaced come November.

Tom's two guests today help us take a closer look at these battleground contests for Senate control, and understand how the outcomes may be influenced by the epic Senate battle ahead over the new vacancy on the Supreme Court.


Fred Hill joins Tom first, on Zoom, from his home in Arrowsic, Maine. He is a former reporter, foreign correspondent, bureau chief and editorial writer for the Baltimore Sun. In the 1980s, he served as an aide to Maryland Sen. Charles “Mac” Mathias before moving to the State Department, where he served until 2006.

His latest book is called Dereliction of Duty: The Failed Presidency of Donald John Trump…

Fred Hill has been closely watching the contest in Maine between longtime incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins and her Democratic opponent, Maine's House Speaker Sara Gideon.

Later in the hour, Tom is joined on the line by Susan Davis, NPR’s congressional correspondent and co-host of the NPR Politics Podcast. She and Tom discuss the Justice Ginsburg factor in the country's already deeply polarized election season, and they spotlight some of the other key battleground election contests across the country that promise to change the balance of power in the US Senate.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Whose Baltimore do we see on TV and in film? In her new book, historian Dr. Mary Rizzo examines how our city’s long-standing racial and economic divide has influenced the art that comes from here, and how public policy shapes the way artists choose to depict Baltimore in their work. It’s called Come and Be Shocked: Baltimore Beyond John Waters And The Wire. On next Tuesday, Mary Rizzo will be part of the Enoch Pratt Library’s Writer’s Live Series. You can find more information on the Enoch Pratt Library website.

Dr. Mary Rizzo, is a cultural historian at Rutgers University, who has a special interest in how cities are represented in media and the arts.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

It’s the Midday Newswrap, our review of some of the week's top news developments. On Tuesday night, President Trump left the safe cocoon of Fox News and submitted to a nationally broadcast Town Hall meeting on ABC television. At Constitution Hall in Philadelphia, undecided voters and host George Stephanopoulos challenged the President, who often contradicted his own previous statements on a number of issues. At a press conference Wednesday afternoon, the President directly contradicted the testimony of Robert Redfield, the head of the CDC, about the prospects for a vaccine.

Last night, CNN hosted a drive-in Town Hall with Joe Biden at a minor league baseball field in Scranton, PA. Polls show Biden still in the lead, but the race is tightening.

Tom's guest for the Newswrap today is Jerry Seib. He’s the Executive Washington Editor and columnist for the Wall Street Journal, and the author of We Should Have Seen it Coming: From Reagan to Trump-A Front Row Seat to a Political Revolution.

Jerry Seib joins Tom on Zoom.


A programming note in the world of arts. An Die Musik is a great music venue here in Baltimore, located at 409 N. Charles Street. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, they've been streaming concerts and tonight, they're planning to stream their 100th event. The Hot Club of Baltimore will perform live at 7pm.

For more information and tickets to the event, click here.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Tom's guest for the hour today is Robert B. Reich. He’s a busy and distinguished guy. He served in three administrations, including as Labor Secretary during Bill Clinton’s presidency. He’s a professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, a columnist for Newsweek and The Guardian, an award-winning filmmaker, the founder of the non-profit educational enterprise called Inequality Media, and a frequent presence on television and in the blogosphere.

He’s also the author of 18 books, the latest of which is called The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It. It's a kind of open letter to Jamie Dimon, the CEO of the largest bank on Wall Street, JP Morgan Chase. Dimon is also the Chair of the Business Roundtable, a group of nearly 200 of the nation’s most powerful and influential CEOs. Mr. Dimon and his fellow bankers were largely responsible for the economic catastrophe that gripped the US and the world in 2008, in which the total net worth of American households dropped by $11 trillion dollars.

The net worth of Mr. Dimon has not suffered at all, nor has his influence in the halls of Congress. Robert Reich asserts that Dimon and his fellow members of the Business Roundtable should use their outsized influence to create a society in which no group of people or corporation is as rich and powerful as they currently are.

The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, was published in March by Alfred A. Knopf.

Tom's conversation with Robert Reich was pre-recorded via Zoom, so we aren’t taking calls today, but comments via email and Twitter are welcome.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

MK Asante is the author of the critically acclaimed 2014 memoir 'Buck,' which traces his rise from North Philly hustler to distinguished professor.

Six years on, he remains on the cutting edge of how people are telling the story of the Black experience in America.

In his latest endeavor as the host and executive producer of two Snapchat original series: While Black and Free Tuition, Asante harnesses social media to create a forum for Black youth to discuss the issues of their day including, police brutality, politics, and education.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

There are 49 days to go until the November 3rd elections. Among the many contests voters will be deciding will be the race for Baltimore mayor. In addition to Brandon Scott, the Democratic nominee, and Shannon Wright, the Republican, voters will also have a Working Class Party candidate, David Harding, and a former Republican who is running as an independent, Baltimore businessman Bob Wallace. The 63-year old Cherry Hill native, who founded and runs three local companies, says he’s running to become Baltimore's "mayor-preneur," and to give Baltimoreans a real choice in leadership after a half-century of Democrat control of City Hall.

Today, Bob Wallace joins Tom for the hour on Zoom to discuss his independent mayoral campaign, in another of our continuing series of Conversations with the Candidates. We also welcome calls, emails and tweets from listeners with comments and questions for Mr. Wallace.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Economic assistance to Black-owned businesses has lagged far behind the help given to White firms. The Baltimore Business Journal reports that 600 businesses in predominantly Black areas of Baltimore received forgivable loans in the Payroll Protection Program. But only 45 were minority owned.

Tom speaks with Diane Bell-McKoy, President and CEO of Associated Black Charities; and Andre Perry, a Brookings scholar and the author of, Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Tom’s guest is the best-selling author, Sue Miller. She’s written a dozen novels and a memoir which have been translated and published in more than 20 countries around the world.

Her latest novel Monogamy is a portrait of a decades-long marriage, a marriage full of passion, and problems. It’s a trenchant take on the complications that attend all relationships, the fragility of family, the complexities of friendship, and devastating consequences when closely-held secrets are revealed.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Today on Midday, a conversation about efforts to re-direct youth who are entangled in the criminal justice system and efforts to provide alternative pathways for Baltimore’s high-risk youth.

Sam Abed is the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services.

Eric Ford is the director of UMBC’s Choice Program, which works to prevent the disproportionate incarceration of minority youth through advocacy and community engagement.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Excerpts from Bob Woodward’s new book, Rage, have raised harrowing questions about President Donald Trump’s prevarication to the public about the lethality of the COVID-19 virus, and his lack of action to control the pandemic. As the book reveals in great detail, Mr. Trump knew as early as late January just how serious and how transmissible the virus is, even as he downplayed the virus' threat in his public statements.

That shocking revelation -- coming as the US death toll from COVID-19 nears 200,000 -- also raises questions about Woodward’s decision to withhold the information he had about the virus, and important national security matters, until now. Others have done the same thing. Is it the right thing to do?


Erik Wemple, the media critic for the Washington Post, joins Tom on Zoom to discuss the issues surrounding Woodward's controversial new exposé of the Trump presidency.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.