The Switch Up With Cheyanne M. Daniels

In 1968, the whole world had its eyes on Chicago. The Democratic National Convention (DNC) had come to the city and tensions were high due to Vietnam War protests and the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy.

Fast forward to 2024, and all eyes are once again on the Windy City as the DNC kicks off this week. The past has been on full display as concerns around planned protests in the city have circulated for months.With the ongoing wars between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and Russia and Ukraine, a recent assassination attempt on former President Trump and political division here at home, there’s no denying the similarities between the two years.

In this special election edition, The Switch Up spoke with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson ahead of the convention to take a deeper look at the parallels between 1968 and 2024 — and the implications it could have for November.

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Ten years ago the nation watched as protests spread across St. Louis over the unarmed shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. The unrest in many ways thrust the Black Lives Matter movement into the national spotlight in a way it hadn’t before.

The St. Louis County Prosecutor never brought charges against Officer Darren Wilson, who claimed he shot Brown after the teenager reached for his gun. The Department of Justice (DOJ) in investigating the killing determined there was no evidence prosecutors could rely upon to “disprove” Wilson’s belief that he feared for his safety.

A decade later, Brown's family, advocates, and lawmakers say justice has still not been served.  

On this episode of The Switch Up, we speak with Montague Simmons, Director of Strategic Partnerships for the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL)

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The election is less than three months away — and after a whirlwind primary season, the players have been named: Vice President Harris will take on former President Trump in November.

After President Biden decided last month that he would step aside, Democrats have largely coalesced behind the vice president. Boasting record fundraising hauls, key endorsements and jam-packed rallies, it's hard to believe Harris only joined the fray a few weeks ago.

Now, the Democrats have officially nominated Harris to top the ticket alongside her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who she tapped earlier this week to join her team. Walz will battle Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), Trump's vice-presidential pick, for the No. 2 spot in the White House.

In this special election edition, The Switch Up brought on campaign reporter Caroline Vakil to look deeper into the Harris-Walz ticket and the obstacles the duo will have to face on the road to November.

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Janiyah Thomas has carved her way through the Republican Party, working both for South Carolina’s Sen. Tim Scott’s presidential campaign and for the Republican National Convention. She has since joined the Trump Campaign, where she now serves as the former president’s Black Media Director.

In this role, Thomas works to connect the presidential candidate with Black voters — and urges Black Americans to support him in November.

On this episode of The Switch Up’s Election Series, host Cheyanne M. Daniels and Janiyah Thomas discuss how the ascension of Vice President Harris to the top of the Democratic ticket could impact Donald Trump’s campaign; allegations of racist remarks by the former President; and how Black men could decide this year’s election.

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Just over 100 days remain until the November election.From President Biden's big announcement that he would withdraw his candidacy to the failed assassination attempt on former President Trump, the political landscape has largely changed since primary season.

As Vice President Harris rises as the probable Democratic nominee, with Biden's endorsement, questions are likely swirling as to what that contest will actually look like.

In this special edition of The Hill's Switch Up Election Series, White House reporter Alex Gangitano takes a deep dive into the ever-changing campaign trail and what a Harris candidacy could look like.

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Editor's Note: This episode was recorded prior to President Biden's decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.

On this week’s episode of The Switch Up’s Election Series, host Cheyanne M. Daniels and Adrianne Shropshire discuss the most pressing issues for Black voters, where Black Americans have seen success over the last four years and the work still to be done.

Adrianne Shropshire began her political work as a community organizer in California, organizing in the South Los Angeles neighborhoods around police accountability, economic justice, and youth empowerment.

In 2016, Shropshire founded BlackPAC, an organization dedicated to educating and mobilizing African American voters. Through her work, Shropshire has designed programs to engage hundreds of thousands of voters and helped pass progressive policies nationwide.

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In this special edition of The Switch Up’s Election Series, host Cheyanne M. Daniels and Sarah Chamberlain discuss how the attempted assassination of former President Trump may impact the election, and how women may be one of the most crucial coalitions for this year’s election.

Sarah Chamberlain is the president and CEO of the Republican Main Street Partnership, she began her career in the office of former Republican Rep. Amory Houghton, Jr. in Corning, NY. In 1998, Chamberlain became the first executive director of the John Quincy Adams Society and helped found the Republican Main Street Partnership. She is particularly dedicated to uplifting women voters and their top concerns.

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In the first episode of The Switch Up Election Series, host Cheyanne M. Daniels sat down with Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, to discuss diversity, equity and inclusion, the power of Black voters, and Beatty’s continued support for President Biden amid growing calls for him to suspend his 2024 reelection bid.

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From William Dorsey Swann, the first self-proclaimed drag queen, to sayings like “spill the tea,” Black history and drag are inexplicably intertwined.

But with growing attacks on both Black history and drag performance, advocates and performers alike are concerned about how the politicization of identities will affect Black entertainers.

In this episode of The Switch Up, advocates from the Marsha P. Johnson Institute and The Mahogany Project explain how Black drag performers have influenced the broader culture for decades; while performers like D.C.’s Blaq Dynamite express how the growing limitations impact their ability to entertain.

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For more than 400 years, over 15 million Africans were the victims of the transatlantic slave trade, according to data from the United Nations. By 1860, when the last census before the Civil War was taken, there were 4 million slaves in the South.But three years later, on Jan. 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln made history by signing the Emancipation Proclamation — essentially freeing the slaves in Confederate states. But, it would take over two years for that news to reach enslaved people in Galveston, Texas.That's where the legacy of Juneteenth begins. But it wasn't until 2021 that President Biden signed legislation to make the day a federal holiday.With commentary from guests such as Wisdom Cole, the NAACP's advocacy director, and Congressional Black Caucus chair Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), among others, this episode dives into the significance of Juneteenth and why we still celebrate the day nearly 160 years later.

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