The Field

Since the presidential election was called for Joseph R. Biden Jr., President Trump has relentlessly attacked the integrity of the count in Georgia. He has floated conspiracy theories to explain away his loss and attacked Republican officials.

The resulting fault lines in the party before a close Georgia Senate runoff vote have caused concern that the cynicism toward the electoral system could translate into suppressed Republican turnout.

Today, we speak to Republican activists and voters on the ground and consider to what extent, if at all, Mr. Trump’s rhetoric could discourage Republicans from voting

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Background reading: 

• Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue have sought to motivate a conservative base that remains loyal to Mr. Trump while also luring back some of the defectors who helped deliver Georgia to a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time since 1992.
• Democrats may have claimed a bigger share of the early vote than they did in November’s vote, election data shows. Here’s what else we know about the voting in Georgia so far.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily 

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A strong Black turnout will be integral to Democratic success in the U.S. Senate races in Georgia this week.

In the first of a two-part examination of election strategies in the Georgia runoffs, we sit down with Stacey Abrams, a Georgia Democrat who has become synonymous with the party’s attempts to win statewide, to talk about her efforts to mobilize Black voters.

And we join LaTosha Brown, a leader of Black Voters Matter, as she heads out to speak to voters.

Guest: Audra D.S. Burch, a national correspondent for The New York Times. 

For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.

Background reading: 

• Control of the Senate could hinge on Black voters in Georgia — and on an ambitious effort by the likes of Black Voters Matter to get them to the polls in the largest numbers ever for the runoff elections on Tuesday.
• Democrats are making their final push to rally supporters, targeting Black voters in regions far from Atlanta but equally important to Georgia’s emerging Democratic coalition.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

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This episode contains strong language.

At the heart of one race for the Wisconsin State Assembly are some of the same political cracks splitting the U.S. as a whole. Some believe keeping businesses running is a priority during the coronavirus pandemic; others think keeping people safe and healthy should be given precedence.

Rob Swearingen is a four-time Republican assemblyman and owner of a local restaurant. He challenged the lockdown imposed by Wisconsin’s governor and, since reopening his business, has taken a loose interpretation of the mask mandate.

His Democratic challenger, Kirk Bangstad, has strictly followed statewide edicts, opening his restaurant outdoors in the summer and, when there were coronavirus infections among his staff, closing down until all could be tested.

What do the different approaches reveal about Wisconsin politics and about broader American divisions? Reid J. Epstein, a politics reporter for The New York Times, and Andy Mills and Luke Vander Ploeg, audio producers for The Times, went to the state to find out.

Guests: Reid J. Epstein, who covers campaigns and elections for The New York Times; Andy Mills, a senior audio producer for The Times; Luke Vander Ploeg, an audio producer for The Times.

Bonus Election Day special: The Daily is going LIVE today. Listen to Michael Barbaro and Carolyn Ryan, a deputy managing editor at The Times, as they call our correspondents for the latest on a history-making day.

Tune in from 4 - 8 p.m. Eastern, only on nytimes.com/thedaily and on the The New York Times iPhone app. Click here for more information.

Background reading:

• Here’s Reid’s story about how the virus has divided the conservative town of Minocqua, Wis.
• President Trump and Joe Biden barnstormed through battleground states, concluding an extraordinary campaign conducted amid a health crisis and deep economic anxiety.

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Florida’s seniors played an important role in President Trump’s victory there in 2016. Older voters, who are mostly conservative, make up around 25 percent of the swing state’s electorate and turn out in astonishing numbers.

They are also disproportionately affected by the pandemic, and polling suggests that Joe Biden is making inroads with Republican-leaning older voters.

In Florida’s conservative retirement communities, however, the decision to switch from Mr. Trump can have consequences and many stay quiet for fear of reprisals.

Some of these consequences are obvious: One resident who erected a sign in support of Mr. Biden woke up to “Trump” written in weedkiller on his lawn. Other effects are more personal, and more insidious.

Today, Annie Brown, a senior audio producer at The Times, speaks to some of Florida’s seniors about their voting intentions — including one, Dave Niederkorn, who has turned his back on Mr. Trump and almost lost a close friend in the process.

Guests: Annie Brown, a senior audio producer for The New York Times; and Patricia Mazzei, the Miami bureau chief of The Times, who covers Florida and Puerto Rico.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

Background reading:

• Older people are a crucial voting bloc in Florida. In a speech earlier this month, Joe Biden made his pitch to them.
• “If it’s here, it’s here” — how retirees in Florida’s Villages confronted the coronavirus in the summer.

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

This episode contains strong language.

With an election in which uncertainty may abound, concerns are swirling around the possibility of political violence. Experts and officials — including those charged with the security of polling stations and ballot counting facilities — have been taking extra precautions.

Americans across the political spectrum appear to be preparing themselves for this possibility, too: Eight of the 10 biggest weeks for gun sales since the late 1990s took place since March this year. Many of those sales were to people buying guns for the first time.

Today’s episode examines these anxieties from two perspectives.

Andy Mills, a senior audio producer for The New York Times, speaks to patrons of gun stores in Washington State about their motivations and sits down with a first-time gun owner who relays his anxiety, ignited by the unrest and protests in Seattle over the summer.

And Alix Spiegel, a senior audio editor for The Times, visits three women of color in North Carolina, one of whom says the scenes in Charlottesville, the killing of Black people at the hands of the police and the threat of white militias have encouraged her to shift her anti-gun stance.

Guests: Andy Mills, a senior audio producer for The New York Times; Alix Spiegel, a senior audio editor for The Times; and Reid J. Epstein, who covers campaigns and elections for The Times.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

Background reading:

• Gun buyers say they are motivated by a new sense of instability that is pushing them to purchase weapons for the first time, or if they already have them, to buy more.

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

In America’s increasingly divided political landscape, it can be hard to imagine almost any voter switching sides. One demographic group has provided plenty of exceptions: white suburban women.

In the past four years, the group has turned away from the president in astonishing numbers. And many of them are organizing — Red, Wine and Blue is a group made up of suburban women from Ohio hoping to swing the election for Joe Biden. The organization draws on women who voted for the president and third parties in 2016, as well as existing Democratic voters.

In today’s episode, Lisa Lerer, who covers campaigns, elections and political power for The New York Times, speaks to white suburban women on the ground in Ohio and explores their shifting allegiances and values.

Guest: Lisa Lerer, a reporter for The New York Times covering campaigns, elections and political power.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

Background reading:

• The white suburban voters the president needs to carve a path to victory have turned away from him, often for deeply personal reasons.

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This episode contains strong language.

In the last decade, elections have tightened in Arizona, a traditionally Republican stronghold, as Democrats gain ground.

According to polls, Joe Biden is leading in the state — partly because of white suburban women moving away from President Trump, but also because of efforts to activate the Latino vote.

Will that turn states like Arizona blue? And do enough Hispanic voters actually want Mr. Biden as president?

To gauge the atmosphere, Jennifer Medina, a national politics reporter for The New York Times, spoke to Democratic activists and Trump supporters in Arizona.

Guests: Jennifer Medina, a national politics reporter for The Times.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

Background reading:

• Though a majority of Latino voters favors Democrats, Hispanic men are a small but enduring part of Trump’s base. Those supporters see him as forceful, unapologetic and a symbol of economic success.
• If Joe Biden wins Arizona, he would be only the second Democratic presidential candidate to have done so since 1952. But the state has been trending more friendly to the party for years.

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This episode contains strong language.

Over the summer, Dave Mitchko started a makeshift pro-Trump sign operation from his garage. By his estimate he has handed out around 26,000 signs, put together with the help of his family.

Mr. Mitchko might seem like the kind of voter Joseph R. Biden Jr. wants to peel away from the Republicans in November. He had always been a Democrat — he voted for Barack Obama twice — but opted for Donald Trump in 2016.

Today, we speak to voters and politicians on the ground in northeastern Pennsylvania, exploring the factors that swung former Democratic strongholds toward Mr. Trump and asking whether Mr. Biden can win them back.

Guest: Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The New York Times.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

Background reading:

• After the turbulent first presidential debate, Mr. Biden embarked on an old-fashioned train tour to cities where the president won over working-class white voters four years ago.

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This episode contains strong language.

During much of this election cycle, Julius Irving of Gainesville, Fla., spent his days trying to get former felons registered to vote.

He would tell them about Florida’s Amendment Four, a ballot initiative that extended the franchise to those who had, in the past, been convicted on felony charges — it added an estimated 1.5 million people to the electorate, the nation’s largest voting expansion in four decades.

On today’s episode, Nicholas Casey, a national politics reporter, spends time with Mr. Irving in Gainesville and explores the voting rights battle in Florida.

Guest: Nicholas Casey, a national politics reporter for The New York Times.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

Background reading:

• Former prisoners can now go to the polls in Florida. But fines remain one obstacle. Believing anything will make a difference is another. That’s where Julius Irving comes in.

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

This episode contains strong language.

In June, weeks after George Floyd was killed by the police, a veto-proof majority of the Minneapolis City Council expressed support for dismantling the city’s police department.

The councilors’ pledges to “abolish,” “dismantle” and “end policing as we know it” changed the local and national conversation about the police.

President Trump has wielded this decision and law-and-order arguments in his campaigning — Midwestern states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota may be decisive in the general election.

He has claimed that Joseph R. Biden Jr. wants to defund the police — which he does not — and told voters that they would not be safe in “Biden’s America.”

On the ground in Minneapolis, Astead Herndon, a national politics reporter, speaks to activists, residents and local politicians about the complexities of trying to overhaul the city’s police.

Guest: Astead W. Herndon, a national politics reporter for The New York Times, speaks to Black Visions Collective co-director, Miski Noor; Jordan Area Community Council executive director, Cathy Spann; and Minneapolis City Council president, Lisa Bender.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

Background reading:

• Across America there have been calls from some activists and elected officials to defund, downsize or abolish police departments. What would efforts to defund or disband the police really mean?
• In the wake of George Floyd’s killing, some cities asked if the police are being asked to do jobs they were never intended to do. Budgets are being re-evaluated.

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.