The Downballot

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 primaries in Massachusetts, including Rep. Seth Moulton’s faltering challenge to Sen. Ed Markey.

Then in our deep dive, we channel the spirit of fantasy football season for a “Senate flip” fantasy draft. David and Kari take turns “drafting” each of this year’s top Senate contests, based on how likely every seat is to change hands. Of course, as with any draft, there’s plenty of analysis of every prospect!

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 deep dive, we talk to state Sen. Cindy Holscher, the Democratic nominee for governor of Kansas, about her race. She tells us how she got into politics during former Gov. Sam Brownback’s disastrous time in office and how Democrats have strengthened in Kansas during the Trump era. We also discuss her call for a data center moratorium in the state, why it’s become such a big issue for voters, and how to support economic growth while ensuring everyday people aren’t left out of the benefits.

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 Minnesota’s races for governor and Senate, South Carolina’s special Senate primary to replace Lindsey Graham, and the defeat of another House incumbent, this time in Connecticut.

David and Joe then preview the last big primary night of the season, with key races in Alaska and Florida. The hosts explain how Alaska’s unique top-four primary has scrambled the governor’s race, leading to real uncertainty about which major candidates will advance. And in Florida, they discuss the battles for governor and Senate as well as several House races that got upended by the GOP’s extreme new gerrymander.

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 Arizona, where the GOP nominee wants to repeal the state’s ban on pipe bombs. And no, we’re not kidding.

Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard also recap all of this week’s high-profile primaries, including Michigan’s Democratic Senate battle, an extraordinary GOP botch in a swingy House district, and some very good news for an endangered Democrat in Washington state. They wrap up with the latest on two scandal-plagued House Republicans, including one who just bailed on his bid for reelection and another whom fellow Republicans would like to see vamoose as well.

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 measures impossible in Missouri; a GOP effort to turn the Kansas Supreme Court into a partisan rubber stamp; and a House primary in Washington where a Republican is helping the Democrat he beat two years ago.

And speaking of Michigan, co-hosts David Nir and David Beard talk all about its hotly competitive general elections with Curtis Hertel, the chair of the state Democratic Party. Hertel spotlights the GOP candidates for governor and Senate, whose fealty to Donald Trump has taken center stage. He also explains how Democrats can flip several seats in the House and take back control of the state legislature in November.

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 Democrats can flip two seats on the state’s powerful body that regulates utilities—and potentially take control in 2028

And several more contests. The Davids also explain the unfolding drama in Wisconsin’s Democratic primary for governor, where establishment forces are scrambling to halt the rise of a democratic socialist. Then they dive into the races to replace Senate nominees in Maine, where Democrats are in whatever the opposite of disarray is, and South Carolina, where Republicans are very much not deferring to Donald Trump’s pick to replace the late Lindsey Graham.

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“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 because of how cheap it is to campaign there—and how close Democrats have come in several recent statewide races.

Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard also get listeners caught up on the latest developments in both states that suddenly have to pick replacement Senate nominees. They emphasize Lindsey Graham’s rancid legacy, including his effort to help Donald Trump overturn Georgia’s election in 2020, and note that the GOP could wind up with a substantially weaker candidate. They also explain how Maine Democrats will choose a substitute to take on Susan Collins at a convention later this month.

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 debacle.

We discuss all the red flags that brought us to this moment; the arrogant lack of vetting by those who recruited Platner; the mistakes made by Chuck Schumer and Janet Mills; Racicot’s bravery in coming forward; what Maine Democrats are doing to rectify the situation; and the party’s deep bench of potential replacement candidates.

Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard also catch up on recent primaries in New York and Colorado, where candidates connected to the Democratic Socialists of America recently won a string of stunning victories. The Davids explain how DSA’s strategy is paying off, but they also emphasize that the simplistic “socialists vs. establishment” framework glosses over many other faultlines that impacted each of these outcomes. Incumbents everywhere, though, should take heed.

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 just weeks after the VRA first became law, when reactionaries first began plotting to sabotage it. Daley, a senior fellow at FairVote, explains how, after initial challenges failed, conservatives mobilized to ensure favorable outcomes by reshaping the judiciary—a strategy that ultimately worked to perfection.

But nothing in politics is permanent. Daley tells us what supporters of democracy must do to reform the Supreme Court, including how they must make the case for radical changes to both the public and politicians. He also details his wish-list for legislation that would protect voting rights, end gerrymandering, and restore the majority rule in America—measures that only stand a chance under a new-look SCOTUS.

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 this week’s other races in Oklahoma, D.C., and Alabama before diving into a preview of all the major contests coming up in the second half of the month. In South Carolina, Trump could get another black eye as his choice for governor stumbles toward her runoff, while in New York, Democrats are hosting a variety of House primaries that have exposed notable divides—both ideological and geographic. And we’ve got Utah, Maryland, Louisiana, and Colorado all on tap as well!