The Fight for Rural America

A year ago, Astead took “The Run-Up” listeners home for Thanksgiving.Specifically, he convened a focus group of family and friends to talk about the election and the question of Black people’s changing relationship to the Democratic Party.This year, he got the group back together ...  Show more

President-elect Trump’s cabinet nominees and major appointments — which have arrived quickly in the days since he won the election — are more than just a list of allies. The roster is a window into how he sees the mission of a second term.One priority will be immigration and bord ...  Show more

Wisconsin wasn’t always a battleground state, but following Trump’s victory there in 2016, Democrats are trying to regain their footing among rural voters. This episode was produced by Avishay Artsy, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Rob Byers ...  Show more

J.D. Vance became a sought-after cultural translator when he published Hillbilly Elegy. Now, he’s a rhetorical bomb-thrower running for the Republican nomination for Senate in Ohio. But underneath Vance’s transformation is a relatively consistent appreciation for a new strain of ...  Show more

In the vice-presidential showdown JD Vance tried to remake himself by being nice, while Tim Walz directed his attacks at Donald Trump. Columnists Karen Tumulty, Dana Milbank and Ruth Marcus discuss the Jan. 6 moment and what Vance’s soft talk on abortion says about Republicans’ f ...  Show more

Donald Trump’s running mate is Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance. Politico’s Ian Ward describes Vance’s transformation from a self-described hillbilly to the political face of the Republican future. This episode was produced by Amanda Lewellyn and Miles Bryan, edited by Miranda Kennedy and Ma ...  Show more