PBS News Hour - Politics

Polls show that Georgia, which President Trump won by nearly five points in 2016, has emerged as a hotly contested state with Biden and Trump battling it out for the Black vote. Meanwhile, officials are recruiting thousands of tech savvy poll workers and launched a service for voters in the state to track their absentee ballots. Senior Correspondent for Georgia Public Broadcasting, Rickey Bevington joins. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

On Tuesday, President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will face-off in the first presidential debate, which is being billed as a potential "game changer." Special Correspondent Jeff Greenfield looks at the history of presidential debates and tells us why evidence suggests that the impact of these widely watched events may be overstated. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

In Georgia, a new health insurance proposal could upend the Affordable Care Act exchange. While proponents see the changes as a way to increase health insurance enrollment, critics warn that tens of thousands of Georgians could lose healthcare coverage. NewsHour Weekend's Christopher Booker reports. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

In the last four years, Puerto Rico's billion dollar debt crisis, devastation caused by hurricanes, earthquakes, and the mass exodus of half a million to the mainland, have all thrown the territory's relationship to the U.S. in the national spotlight. This November, Puerto Ricans will vote in the statehood referendum of 2020, which asks a question that has been at the heart of Puerto Rican politics for decades: Should the territory be admitted to the union as a state? Ivette Feliciano reports. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

This summer, thousands of residents showed up for the Black Lives Matter protests in Great Barrington, Massachusetts -- a small town of less than 7,000 people. NewsHour Weekend's Zachary Green, who grew up there, reports on how Black people in the progressive town are still facing racial discrimination. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Climate justice organization 350.0rg is hosting an online forum on Wednesday called "Stronger than Storms," where leaders from U.S. communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis will share their experiences. One organization participating in the forum is the Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy based out of Sidell, Louisiana. NewsHour Weekend's Ivette Feliciano spoke with the center's founder, climate activist and Obama Foundation Fellow, Colette Pichon Battle, about civic engagement in the face of hurricane season. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Our ongoing series "Roads to Election 2020" looks at the deep red state of Louisiana where the Democratic party has elected a new leader with the hope of energizing its base and bringing back voters who left the party as it struggled with its identity in the state. Louisiana Public Broadcasting's Natasha Williams joins Hari Sreenivasan for more. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg broke two barriers Friday, becoming the first woman and the first Jewish American to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol. Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt, the wife of a former Ginsburg law clerk, eulogized her as changing "the course of American law." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Joe and Jill Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris also attended. John Yang reports.

PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

During his first term, President Trump has rolled back or weakened more than 100 environmental regulations. On Friday, his administration moved to open up the country's largest national forest for development. Alaska's Tongass National Forest has been called "America's Amazon," and it absorbs about 8 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. Amna Nawaz talks to The New York Times' Coral Davenport.

PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

This year's presidential election faces unprecedented challenges, between the pandemic and President Trump's efforts to sow doubt about the integrity of voting by mail -- and whether he would accept an election loss. Is American democracy positioned to handle the threat? William Brangham talks to Barton Gellman, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The Atlantic, which recently covered the story.

PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders