The 21st Show

A year after his first visit to The 21st Show, retired U.S. diplomat Eric Whitaker returned to talk about the world as it is now.

The former ambassador to Niger grew up in DeKalb and North Aurora and studied at the University of Illinois. He says the U.S. has "unilaterally diplomatically disarmed," pulling back from alliances while China and Russia move into the space it left behind.

Whitaker talked about the war with Iran and what Tuesday's midterm elections could mean for Congress' role in foreign policy. He also discussed the Sahel, where Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso are run by military juntas and Russian forces reportedly helped put down an attempted coup in Niger this summer. And he defended U.S. food aid and the work of USAID, which the Trump administration has dismantled.

Plus, what he's hearing from friends still in the Foreign Service, where he says morale is down after a wave of departures, and his advice for Illinois students who hope to join it.

Democrats won decisively across the country Tuesday, and Illinois was no exception. Gov. J.B. Pritzker won a third term, defeating Republican Darren Bailey for the second time. Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton won the race to succeed U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.

Chicago Tribune political writer Dan Petrella joins The 21st Show to sort through the results. Topics include where Stratton fits in a changing Democratic Party, Pritzker's national ambitions and the money he's spent helping candidates around the country, what's next for Illinois Republicans, Democratic gains in the General Assembly (and DuPage County), and another round of wins for the movement to split Illinois in two.

Plus, listeners from across the 21st state shared their reactions, along with what they want Democrats to do with their new power in Washington.

Civic education is an essential part of democracy. But political scientist Lindsey Cormack argues American schools are not up to the task — which means parents have to take matters into their own hands.

On this Election Day, we're listening back to our conversation with Cormack about her book, How to Raise a Citizen. We also talk about DCinbox, her database of the official email newsletters members of Congress send to constituents, and her work with the nonpartisan group Everything Policy.

This conversation was recorded in September 2025.

Election Day

Polls in Illinois are open until 7 p.m. Tuesday, and Illinois has same-day voter registration. You can find your polling place through the Illinois State Board of Elections — and catch up on all our candidate and issue interviews ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Tonight, The 21st Show host Brian Mackey will anchor Illinois updates during NPR's election coverage at 7:15, 8:15, 9:15 and 10:15 p.m. CT on WILL-AM 580 and most other stations that carry the show. Starting at 8 p.m. CT, he'll also host a livestream with real-time returns and analysis on the Illinois Public Media YouTube page, joined by Kevin Anderson of Eastern Illinois University, Brian Gaines of the University of Illinois and Connor Towne O'Neill of NPR.

Abraham Lincoln is often said to be the subject of more books than anyone except Jesus. So what's left to say about the 16th president?

Plenty, according to Jonathan W. White, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin who calls himself an “accidental” Lincoln scholar. White edited Why Lincoln: Preserving an American Legacy, a new collection in which Lincoln scholars explain why they keep coming back to him. White and Ben Dickstein, showrunner and executive producer of the History Channel podcast History This Week, joined The 21st Show to talk about Lincoln's use of presidential power — including his suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War — and what it can tell us about the presidency now.

White and History This Week host Sally Helm will continue the conversation at a live taping of the History This Week podcast at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum on Friday, Nov. 6. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the taping begins at 6:30. It's free, but reservations are required.

Election Day is less than a week away, and one of the biggest choices before Illinois voters is who will succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.

Democratic Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton is facing Republican Don Tracy, a former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, and Whitfield Harrington Jr., a Chicago pastor running with the American Center Party. Our conversations covered the war in Iran, America's relationship with Israel, immigration enforcement and the Senate filibuster.

We've spoken with all three candidates on our show, and today we listen back to some of the highlights from those interviews.

Among the choices before voters in this year's election — which is less than a week away — is who should be the governor of Illinois.

Incumbent Democrat J-B Pritzker is seeking a third term. He’s once again being challenged by Republican Darren Bailey, representing his party for the second election in a row. And there’s also an independent campaign from Collin Corbett, a former Republican political consultant hoping to build a political movement from the center of Illinois politics.

We’ve spoken with all three men on our show, and will listen to some of the highlights from those interviews today.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood has represented Illinois' 14th Congressional District since 2019. Today the 14th encompasses a large triangle in north-central Illinois, bounded by Joliet, DeKalb, and LaSalle-Peru.

The Democrat joined us live ahead of next week’s midterm elections, in which she’s facing a challenge from Republican Jim Marter (with whom we spoke on Sept. 21, 2026).

We talked with Underwood about a wide range of issues, including the war in Iran, tariffs, health care, government regulation of AI, abortion law, ICE accountability, generation gaps in Congress, and why so many people are disconnected from politics.

Americans have spent years arguing about how police, paramedics, and other emergency personnel respond when dispatched to help people in crisis. But UChicago researcher Rebecca Neusteter says that conversation overlooks an important part of our public safety system: the 9-1-1 call center.

She says too often, emergency call centers default to sending police, when a different type of response would be more appropriate. Neusteter's new book is called, “911, What’s Your Emergency? The Promise and Peril of Crisis Response.”

Illinois-based writer Daniel Kraus has been having a remarkable year. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his novel Angel Down. Another, Whalefall, was made into a movie that hit theaters last week. And he's published his first book of nonfiction, about how the classic horror film Night of the Living Dead (1968) saved his life.

Kraus talks about researching how someone could survive being swallowed by a sperm whale, why he's watched Night of the Living Dead more than 300 times, and how winning a Pulitzer Prize has forced him into writing his next book on airplanes.

Kraus will be at the Virginia Theatre in Champaign on Tuesday, Oct. 27, for a screening of Night of the Living Dead and an onstage conversation about the film and his book.

Harvest season is well underway across Illinois. According to the USDA, 63% of corn and 66% of soybeans had been harvested as of Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026.

It’s been an expensive year, especially with the high cost of diesel and other inputs. We’ll talk about that and the outlook for next year.