Politics with Amy Walter

New York's 15th congressional district in the South Bronx has been called the poorest and bluest congressional district in America. Ritchie Torres, who served for seven years on the New York City Council announced his candidacy for the seat, left open by retiring Congressman José Serrano, in July 2019. He was one of a dozen in the primary field but came out on top with just over 32% of the vote all but assuring his success in November. Torres will make history as the first openly gay Afro-Latino elected to Congress. Here he talks with Politics host Amy Walter about his experiences growing up in public housing, coming out, running for office, and his hopes for the next Congress.  Check out our 2020 election coverage here. Check out the full freshman conversation series here. Check out our series, "A Votar: A Look at Latino Voters in the 2020 U.S. Election," here. Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this segment. Don't have time to listen right now? Subscribe for free to our podcast via iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts to take this segment with you on the go. Want to comment on this story? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page, Twitter, or Instagram.

President Donald Trump spent his first term undermining the credibility of the media. His tweets, campaign events, and press conferences were tools he used to cast doubt on the legitimacy of reputable news organizations while promoting unfounded lies and conspiracy theories that served his personal agenda. As President Trump prepares to leave office, members of the White House press pool have turned their gaze to President-elect Joe Biden. Due to the virtual nature of campaigning in 2020, Biden was able to avoid much of the traditional back and forth with members of the media. There are some who argue that members of the press didn’t push hard enough to get Biden in front of reporters. But because Biden has spent a considerable amount of time in Washington, he has a track record that he can be measured against. A core part of Biden’s campaign promise was a return to normalcy that would include a more traditional communications team and relationship with the press. Rick Klein, political director at ABC News, Caitlin Conant, political director at CBS News, and Ben Smith, media columnist at The New York Times discuss what the Biden administration’s relationship with the press could look like.  Check out our full media coverage series here.

President Donald Trump spent his first term undermining the credibility of the media. His tweets, campaign events, and press conferences were tools he used to cast doubt on the legitimacy of reputable news organizations while promoting unfounded lies and conspiracy theories that served his personal agenda. As President Trump prepares to leave office, members of the White House press pool have turned their gaze to President-elect Joe Biden. Due to the virtual nature of campaigning in 2020, Biden was able to avoid much of the traditional back and forth with members of the media. There are some who argue that members of the press didn’t push hard enough to get Biden in front of reporters. But because Biden has spent a considerable amount of time in Washington, he has a track record that he can be measured against. A core part of Biden’s campaign promise was a return to normalcy that would include a more traditional communications team and relationship with the press. Rick Klein, political director at ABC News, Caitlin Conant, political director at CBS News, and Ben Smith, media columnist at The New York Times discuss what the Biden administration’s relationship with the press could look like.  Congressman-elect Ritchie Torres (D-NY) is a freshman member of the 117th Congress representing New York's 15th Congressional District. With the balance of the senate up for grabs come January, Congressman-elect Torres describes his expectations for his first months on the job. You can hear extended conversations with the newest members of Congress here. In January, Georgia will hold two runoff elections that will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. To secure the majority, Democrats will need to win both seats. Gradual demographic change, particularly in metro areas like Savannah and Atlanta, have pushed this former Republican stronghold into the swing-state territory. At the same time, grassroots organizations, many of them led by Black women, have spent years organizing and registering voters - especially Black voters. Among those organizers is Deborah Scott, executive director of Georgia Stand-Up. Her organization is working overtime to register voters ahead of the December 7th registration deadline in addition to making sure voters that participated in the presidential race vote in the runoff. In assessing how this once Republican stronghold has become a swing state, most of the attention has been on the influence of the state’s Black voters and white suburban voters. This makes sense given their share of the population. However, the fastest-growing group of voters in the state are Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. While they make up a significantly smaller share of the vote, their political influence can be seen at the congressional and statewide levels. An early analysis of the November elections by a Democratic firm found that voter participation by Asian American and Pacific Islanders in Georgia was up by 91 percent from 2016.  Amy B Wang, a national politics reporter for The Washington Post, described the role Asian American and Pacific Islander voters played in 2020 and the role they might play during January’s special election.

As around 70 percent of Americans consider themselves to be middle class, it’s no surprise that Democrat and Republican candidates spend a considerable amount of time on the campaign trail attempting to make themselves more appealing to this bloc of voters. One of the most enduring tales Americans tell about themselves is that America is the land of great economic opportunity and that anyone who wants it can make it into the middle class. But the path to the middle class has become tougher to navigate over the last three decades. In 2016, candidate Donald Trump was able to build an effective narrative about how the great (mostly white) middle class had been hollowed out by elites and immigrants. In the aftermath of that election, reporters scurried across America, telling the stories of disgruntled white men in the heartland who were unable to access life in the middle class. Jim Tankersley, tax and economic reporter at The New York Times and author of "The Riches of This Land: The Untold, True Story of America’s Middle Class," knows that these stories weren’t telling the whole story of how the middle class came to exist and how it’s been torn apart.

Republican Congresswoman-elect Ashley Hinson is one of a record-breaking number of Republican women who’ve been elected to Congress this year. Prior to becoming a congresswoman, she was a state representative and a news and television reporter. Hinson will replace Representative Abby Finkenauer, who flipped the seat from red to blue in 2018. Hinson, who ran on a message of bipartisanship, spoke with host Amy Walter on Monday while she was participating in virtual freshmen orientation and isolating after receiving a positive coronavirus diagnosis.   Check out our 2020 election coverage here. Check out the full freshman conversation series here. Check out our series, "A Votar: A Look at Latino Voters in the 2020 U.S. Election," here. Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this segment. Don't have time to listen right now? Subscribe for free to our podcast via iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts to take this segment with you on the go. Want to comment on this story? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page, Twitter, or Instagram.

The priority for many Democratic voters in the most recent election cycle was removing President Donald Trump from the White House. This was clear after a crowded primary field coalesced around Joe Biden. But the world is a different place than it was in March and because the election cycle was dominated by the ongoing pandemic and economic crisis, it was difficult for other issues to gain traction. But for younger voters, environmental justice and climate policy are a top priority. Climate change has animated a generation of voters, many of whom spent months making calls and texts to swing states, even though Joe Biden was not their first choice nominee. These voters are paying close attention to who Biden appoints to his cabinet and to lead agencies as a means to gauge how seriously he’ll be taking their top issue. Throughout his time in office, President Trump aggressively went after more than 100 environmental rules aimed at protecting the integrity of water, land, and air.  While President-elect Biden will have the ability to issue executive orders at his disposal, there’s division within his own party about how aggressive he should be on the issue. Coral Davenport, energy and environmental policy reporter at The New York Times, Jody Freeman, law professor at Harvard University and former counselor for energy and climate change in the Obama White House, and Waleed Shahid, spokesperson for the Justice Democrats describe how the Biden administration might proceed with pursuing climate change policy in a hyperpolarized political landscape. As part of our continuing series with the freshman members of the 117th Congress, host Amy Walter spoke with Democratic Congresswoman-elect Marilyn Strickland from Washington and Republican Congresswoman-elect Ashley Hinson from Iowa. They both share what they’re hoping to accomplish in their first term and how they plan on working through partisan gridlock. You can hear extended conversations with the newest members of congress here.

By refusing to concede, President Trump is not only disrupting the peaceful transfer of power, a cornerstone of American democracy, but he’s delaying the Biden administration access to pertinent information. The formal transition process we know today came to exist after the 9/11 Commission Report found that the delay in installing President George W. Bush hurt his administration.  Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a senior fellow at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center and senior research director at the White House Transition Project, describes the impact of a truncated presidential transition.  President-elect Biden is attempting to assemble members of his senior team while the current president seems determined to do the opposite. With just about two months left in his term, President Trump has fired a number of high-profile members of his administration. This includes Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration Lisa Gordon-Hagerty. Lisa Rein, a reporter covering federal agencies and the management of government in the Trump administration for The Washington Post, describes why the president would pursue this avenue at the end of his tenure.  This week, newly elected members of Congress convened on Capitol Hill for freshmen orientation. Although Democrats speculated that they would expand their majority, they ended up losing eight seats. In the days since, some moderate members of Congress have speculated that progressive issues like Medicare for all cost Democrats a supermajority. Congressman-elect Mondaire Jones and Congresswoman-elect Carolyn Bourdeaux share what it’s like to be joining Congress at this moment. This conversation is part of a continuing series on the freshmen members of the 117th Congress. You can listen to extended interviews here. If President-elect Biden holds his lead over President Donald Trump, it would mean that Georgia has moved from red to blue for the first time since 1992. For years, southern states like Georgia have sat reliably in the Republican column, but voters in cities like Atlanta and the surrounding suburbs played a definitive role in moving the state to the left. Georgia's competitive political landscape is emphasized by the fact that the state will soon hold two runoff elections that will determine which party controls the senate. Andra Gillespie, an associate professor of political science at Emory University, describes the state’s changing electorate and the future of state-wide races.  After every election members of the media and politicians attempt to understand patterns that emerged among voters. One element of the 2020 election cycle that stood out to many is how in South Texas, President-elect Joe Biden underperformed when it came to predominantly Latino counties that typically break for Democrats by wide margins.  While Biden won the majority of support in predominantly Latino precincts in El Paso County and Dallas county, in counties along the border including Hidalgo, Zapata, and Starr, Biden’s standing slipped considerably from where Hillary Clinton stood four years ago. Arelis Hernández, a reporter covering the U.S. southern border, immigration, and Texas for The Washington Post, explains how President Trump made gains within these communities.

All week, election results have trickled in from across the country. With just a few states outstanding, Vice President Joe Biden has surpassed the 270 threshold of electoral votes to win the race for the presidency. Maya King, politics reporter at Politico, and Joel Payne, Democratic strategist and host of "Here Comes the Payne," weigh in on what a Biden win means and how political dynamics in Congress could shift. 

Not immediately knowing which candidate won the White House has long been a reality of a world changed by COVID-19. What campaigns, pundits, and pollsters failed to predict was the distance that would separate the results from the expectations. Tim Alberta, chief political correspondent at Politico, Sahil Kapur, national political reporter for NBC News, and Clare Malone, senior politics writer at FiveThirtyEight, analyze the incomplete election results and what Congress could look like when the dust settles.  President Trump has consistently and falsely asserted that losing reelection would mean that the White House was stolen from him. Meanwhile, election officials across the country have been working diligently to maintain free and fair elections. This year, their jobs include responding to a pandemic and refuting conspiracy theories. Election officials from across the country describe how Election Day 2020 went and how things could improve for future elections.  As Joe Biden gets closer to winning the electoral college, the Trump campaign is taking to the courts in an attempt to challenge the results. In the past few days, states like Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania have all seen lawsuits calling into question their process of counting ballots, though there’s no evidence supporting the president’s claims of voter fraud. While some of the lawsuits have already been dismissed, others are still in play. Toluse Olorunnipa, a White House reporter for the Washington Post, breaks down the Trump campaign’s recent legal action. In the Trump era, political polarization has reached a level not seen since the Civil War. Though this polarization didn't start with President Trump's campaign and subsequent administration, it has brought the deepening divide to the surface--and to the ballot box--with voter turnout this week reaching record numbers. Lilliana Mason, professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland and author of "Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity," walks us through the widening political divide in the U.S. and what it means for how the country moves forward, regardless of who wins the 2020 election. Amy's closing thoughts: "The political profession. No other career as prosaic has been glamorized more. In movies and on TV, everyone who works for or as a politician is beautiful, smart, and ambitious. All are doing super important work that is changing the world. Even the interns are drafting amendments that protect our way of life. In real life, of course, politics is messy. And, more important, boring. For every election night balloon drop victory party, there are a million days filled with the crushingly tedious work of voter contact and fundraising and town hall meetings filled with cranky and angry constituents. But, as we learned this week, it is the people who do the non-glamorous work, those who spend almost every single day of their entire career in relative ambiguity, who help keep our democratic institutions steady. I’m talking about the elected officials, poll workers, and office staff, who ensured that this election - an election taking place in the middle of a health pandemic and with record turnout - was conducted as fairly, smoothly, and judiciously as possible. They are doing this work under great duress and stress. They continue to do their job even as the president of the United States - without any evidence - takes to the White House briefing room to question their integrity. When the election is over, these folks aren’t going to get a sweet cable TV gig or their own podcast. Instead, they are going to go back to their offices and prepare for the next election. For all of you who are cynical or anxious about the sturdiness of the guardrails protecting our democratic institutions, look no further than the local officials in charge of voting. They are not bowing to pressure from the president. They are not abandoning their posts for fear of political reprisal. They are doing their jobs. And, doing them well. At the end of the day, it is regular people who are responsible for our democracy. And, the regular people are saving it."

The ongoing campaign cycle was met by a number of twists that couldn’t have been predicted. A consequential presidential race, the pandemic, an economic downturn, and the killing of George Floyd by police. As the election cycle comes to an end, Heather Long, Economics Correspondent at The Washington Post, Maya King, Politics Reporter at Politico and Clare Malone, Senior Politics Writer at FiveThirtyEight analyze the last year of politics and dissect what it could mean for Tuesday’s outcome. A standard election cycle would’ve meant interacting with voters at conventions, town halls, and canvassing events. As the pandemic upended traditional forms of campaigning, we’ve spent the last few months engaging with students, teachers, small business owners, religious leaders, and individuals from across the U.S. They update us on how things have changed since we last spoke and what hopes, if any, they have riding on Election Day.  The most recent national polls shows President Trump is trailing Vice President Joe Biden by almost nine points. Four years ago, pundits and politicians relied on polls that failed to account for counties that should’ve served as warning signs for Democrats. This time around there are fewer undecided and third-party voters who could swing us towards a surprise. Dave Wasserman, House Editor for The Cook Political Report, describes his reporting on key bellwether counties that could determine the outcome of the election.  President Trump has spent the last few months maligning the voting process and attempting to cast doubt on the outcome of the election. He’s made a number of misleading comments regarding absentee voting and has incorrectly stated that the process of counting ballots should end on November 3rd. Grace Panetta, Senior Politics Reporter Covering Elections and Voting for Business Insider, describes what we can expect on election night and beyond. 

This week marked the second and final debate between Joe Biden and President Donald Trump. What has felt like a never-ending election cycle is taking place against the backdrop of a pandemic, an economic crisis, and a groundswell for racial justice and police reform. With less than two weeks until Election Day, Joel Payne, Democratic strategist and Host of Here Comes the Payne, and Patrick Ruffini, Republican Party pollster and political strategist reflect on the rest of the race.  It’s been six months since the $2 trillion CARES Act was signed into law. The bill provided much-needed aid to states, businesses, and individuals who were deprived of traditional means of income as a result of the pandemic. The relief the CARES Act provided has since dried up and millions have fallen into poverty as a result. Emily Cochrane, a congressional reporter at The New York Times, shares the latest from the ongoing stimulus talks between Speaker Pelosi and Secretary Mnuchin and what could happen if a deal doesn’t come together before Election Day. Turnout is up in Wisconsin where voters will play a pivotal role in deciding who will become the next president of the United States. As some Wisconsin neighborhoods have already surpassed turnout levels from 2016, Congresswoman Gwen Moore of Wisconsin shares how the level of enthusiasm compares to four years ago. Plus, Craig Gilbert of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel describes trends in early voting and what’s happened to pockets of support for President Trump since 2016. This election cycle special attention is being paid to growing voting blocs that have the power to move the needle towards or away from a second term for Donald Trump. Since 2016, millions of Latino voters have become eligible to vote, making young Latino voters a powerful political force. Takeaway host Tanzina Vega joins Amy to discuss her A Votar series and what she's observed from the conversations she’s had with this group ahead of Election Day.

After the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on September 18th and nomination of Amy Coney Barrett just a week later on September 26th, there’s been a lot of speculation about the political implications of a Supreme Court fight just days before Election Day. Democrats have seen a boon in fundraising with Jaime Harrison, the Democrat running against Republican Judiciary Chair Lindsey Graham, pulling in millions in the days after Ginsburg’s death. Graham himself, as well as several other vulnerable Republican senators, are hoping that the confirmation of a conservative to the court will help boost GOP enthusiasm and turnout. As the hearing wrapped up on Thursday, it was clear that Barrett had made it through the process unscathed. A vote is expected on October 22nd in the Judiciary Committee and by the full Senate at the end of the month. We spoke about this with Sahil Kapur, national political reporter for NBC News, and Jessica Taylor of The Cook Political Report.  Also on the show, a look at the political landscape in Texas going into the 2020 election. For years now, Democrats have been predicting they can turn this red state blue. But the last time a Democratic presidential candidate actually won the state was in 1976.  However, Texas is changing. A diverse electorate, combined with a backlash to Trump in traditionally Republican suburbs has given Democrats serious political traction. The latest polls show President Trump leading Joe Biden by an average of just two points. We got an overview of what’s happening in Texas from Abby Livingston, D.C. Bureau Chief at the Texas Tribune. There’s also a Senate race in the state this year. In 2018, a Texas Senate race was the center of the political universe. Then, Democratic Representative Beto O’Rourke raised millions of dollars and gained national attention for his race against Senator Ted Cruz. O’Rourke came up short, but his impressive showing gave him enough momentum and fame to mount a presidential run—albeit a short-lived run. Two years later, another Republican Senator, John Cornyn is up for re-election in Texas. We spoke to his opponent, MJ Hegar, the Democratic Senate candidate and U.S. Air Force veteran, about her race against the three-term incumbent. Her campaign brought in $13.5 million in the third quarter and she’s been outspending Cornyn in TV ads over the past few weeks. But even though the race is tightening, polls show Cornyn is still ahead by over seven percentage points.  We also took a look at the Latino vote in Texas with Jason Casellas, an associate professor of political science at the University of Houston. According to recent estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau, the Latino population in Texas grew by two million over the last decade, and it’s on track to become the state’s largest demographic group in 2021. 

There are just over three weeks until Election Day and President Donald Trump is trailing Joe Biden in national polls by double digits. Sidelined with COVID-19 and unable to participate in traditional campaign events, the president has taken to Twitter, cable TV, and homemade videos to pitch voters on promises to deliver everything from free coronavirus drug cocktails to stimulus checks. Amidst the political theatre, more than six million voters have cast their ballots. Laura Barrón-López, national political reporter at POLITICO, and Clare Malone, senior political writer at FiveThirtyEight breakdown the state of the race for the White House. Senator Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence gathered in Utah on Wednesday for the first and only vice presidential debate. The advanced age of President Donald Trump and Joe Biden against the backdrop of a highly contagious pandemic has emphasized the role of vice president. Maya King from POLITICO and Annie Karni from the New York Times explain what role Harris and Pence will play between now and Election Day. An unusually competitive senate race in South Carolina is among the many twists and turns of this election cycle. Lindsey Graham, Senator from South Carolina, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and Trump loyalist is fighting for his political career. The latest polling has Senator Graham virtually tied with charismatic newcomer, Democrat Jaime Harrison. Danielle Vinson, professor of politics and international affairs at Furman University, explains why the state is in play in this year and what Senator Graham misunderstood about South Carolina's electorate.  It's been four years since Donald Trump was elected after one of the most unconventional and divisive campaign cycles in recent history. During his norm-shattering first term, President Trump has been impeached, emboldened far-right groups, refused to release his tax returns, and attempted to use his status to influence the Department of Justice. Moments that would've ended anyone else's political ambitions are just bumps in the road for Donald Trump. The authors of "After Trump: Reconstructing the Presidency" describe how Trump has taken advantage of his office and how the presidency could be reformed to prevent similar abuse. Bob Bauer is a senior adviser to the Biden campaign and former White House counsel to President Barack Obama and Jack Goldsmith is a professor at Harvard Law and served as George W. Bush’s assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel.

On Friday morning, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump said they had tested positive for the coronavirus. More than seven million people in the United States have been infected with the coronavirus and more than 200,000 have died as a result.  With about a month to go before the election, this news could upend a cycle that has already been buffeted by major events on an almost weekly basis. White House Reporter for The Washington Post Toluse Olorunnipa describes what this could mean for President Trump's ability to govern.  Both President Trump and Joe Biden are preparing for a drawn-out battle over election-related litigation. They are going to court over everything from signature-match rules, to who can and can’t collect absentee ballots, to where ballots can be dropped off. The results of these disputes taking place before and after Election Day could have serious implications regarding the future of voting. At the same time, false allegations of voting abnormalities from the White House pose the risk of casting doubt over the final result. Justin Riemer, Chief Counsel at the Republican National Committee, shares how they’re approaching pre-election litigation. Grace Panetta, Politics and Voting Reporter for Business Insider, describes how both campaigns are attempting to substantiate their arguments and how that’s playing out in state courts. Pennsylvania is among a handful of states that will play a decisive role in electing the winner of the upcoming election. In 2016, Trump won the state's 20 electoral votes by less than one percent. Pennsylvania, which recently began allowing no-excuse absentee voting, has also become ground zero for pre-election lawsuits. Jonathan Lai is a reporter covering voting and elections for The Philadelphia Inquirer. He joins Politics with Amy Walter to describe how voting in Pennsylvania has changed since 2016 and he expands on the false assertions the president made about Philadelphia in Tuesday's debate.  The New York Times recently published new reporting about President Trump’s tax returns that detailed how the president avoided paying income taxes. Andrea Bernstein, co-host of the Trump, Inc. podcast from WNYC and ProPublica, outlines how Trump has benefitted financially from the presidency and what it could mean for the Trump Empire when he leaves office. She is also the author of "American Oligarchs: The Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power."

On Saturday, President Trump nominated 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat. If confirmed, conservative Judge Barrett would become the youngest member serving on the court. Senate Republicans will scramble to confirm Judge Barrett ahead of Election Day, while Democrats argue that Judge Barrett's nomination could hurt the Affordable Care Act and Roe v. Wade.  The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to start hearings on October 12, just a few weeks before the general election.  POLITICO White House Reporter Gabby Orr reacts to the announcement and describes how Judge Barrett's nomination and pending confirmation will impact the rest of the race.