News Desk

On Tuesday night, the blue wave that polls predicted landed with extraordinary force across the United States as Democrats flipped control of both the House and the Senate.

Nate Cohn, Lisa Lerer and Shane Goldmacher of The New York Times discuss an extraordinary shift in power and a new era of American politics.

Guest: 

• Nate Cohn, the chief political analyst for The New York Times.
• Lisa Lerer, a national political correspondent for The New York Times.
• Shane Goldmacher, a national political correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Democrats seized control of Congress as voters rebuked President Trump.
• A Democratic rout stunned Texas in a seismic shift that was once unthinkable.

Photo: Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

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After two years of campaigning, the 2026 midterm election is now in the hands of the American voters.

As the ballot counting begins, Nate Cohn, the chief political analyst for The New York Times, offers a guide for how to understand the results.

Guest: Nate Cohn, the chief political analyst for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Here are four scenarios for how the midterms could go.
• The final polls show a blue surge. Can we trust them?
• Here’s what to know about the fight for Congress.

Photo: Erin Schaff/The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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Warning: This episode contains strong language.

In the midterm elections, one of the regions expected to swing away from President Trump and toward Democrats is the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, where life has been transformed by his administration’s crackdown on immigration.

Lynsea Garrison, a producer for “The Daily,” has been reporting on that shift and on the unlikely group leading the charge.

Guest: Lynsea Garrison, a senior producer on “The Daily.”

Background reading: 

• Hispanic voters on the Texas border have soured on Mr. Trump.
• Opinion video: How Texas border voters feel ahead of the midterms.

Photo: Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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Ben Ratliff, a music critic and avid runner, always ran in silence. Then he discovered how music opened up to him — while running. It changed his entire approach to criticism and listening. He calls it “running the song.”

Today, for the New York City Marathon, Ben talks with our host Rachel Abrams about how his listening sharpens when he runs to music.

Then, he goes through highlights from his five-hour New York City Marathon playlist, which is designed to complement a run through the five boroughs, featuring various styles of music connected to the places on the route.

On Today’s Episode

• Ben Ratliff, a former New York Times music critic, a music professor and the author of “Run the Song: Writing About Running About Listening.”

Background Listening

• Ben Ratliff’s New York City Marathon playlist

Photo: Karsten Moran for The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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The writer-director, known for his dark and bleak work, believes in film’s power to change our lives.

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For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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In the final stretch of the midterm election campaign, polls have found that voters are latching onto the perceived corruption of the Trump administration.

Kenneth P. Vogel, a New York Times investigative journalist, explores one major story line feeding that perception: how those around the president have turned the pardon process into a business.

Guest: Kenneth P. Vogel, an investigative journalist for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The pardon industry offers rich offenders a path to President Trump.
• A billionaire wanted a pardon from Mr. Trump. His family gave Alina Habba a $50 million deal.

Photo: Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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An investigation from The New York Times has uncovered how two candidates named Dan Sullivan ended up on the ballot for U.S. Senate in Alaska and the secret role that Democrats played in making it happen.

Kellen Browning, a political reporter for The Times, takes us inside the political scheme and explains what it means for a race that could determine which party controls the Senate.

Guest: Kellen Browning, a political reporter for The New York Times in San Francisco.

Background reading: 

• Inside Democrats’ secret effort to stack Alaska’s ballot.
• After The Times’s article, the governor of Alaska ordered an investigation into Mary Peltola’s Senate campaign over its role in recruiting spoiler candidates.
• Previously, the Justice Department asked a federal court to block Alaska’s results if the Republican incumbent narrowly lost.

Photo: Haven Daley/Associated Press

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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A look at candidates from President Trump’s party who are running on a platform of criticizing him. 

In next week’s midterm elections, a specific kind of Republican candidate is appealing to disillusioned voters of both parties: moderates willing to criticize President Trump.

Jess Bidgood explains how some Republicans are trying to bring back an older version of their party.

Guest: Jess Bidgood, a political journalist for The New York Times

Background reading: 

• A Trump backlash endangers Susan Collins, the only blue-state Republican senator.
• From Opinion: John E. Sununu is running a model campaign. He might still lose.

Photo: CJ Gunther/Getty Images; Sophie Park/Getty Images

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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On July 4, 2025, a group of 10 antifa protesters was arrested, accused of what the federal government called a planned attack on the Prairieland detention facility in Texas. They were prosecuted as terrorists.

Janet Reitman, who has been covering the story, discusses the legal case and the questions it raises about who now qualifies as a terrorist in America.

Guest: Janet Reitman, who writes for The New York Times Magazine.

Background reading: 

• Inside the group of Texans accused of being antifa terrorists.

Photo: Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News, via Getty Images

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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The midterms are shaping up to be the most expensive election cycle in history as campaigns pour huge sums into the ads voters see virtually everywhere.

Today, Shane Goldmacher, a national political correspondent for The New York Times, breaks down how Democrats are tying Republicans to President Trump, inflation and corruption, while Republicans are trying to paint Democrats as too liberal. He also weighs in on what those competing messages reveal about each party’s hopes, vulnerabilities and strategy as Election Day nears.

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

Background reading: 

• Mr. Trump has wielded an unprecedented $277 million in the final stretch of the midterms.
• Both parties are spending enormous amounts of money to try to win whatever votes are left for the taking before Election Day.
• Mr. Trump’s super PAC is flooding Facebook and Instagram with targeted ads as it seeks to turn out Republicans amid the president’s historically low approval ratings.

Photo: Kenny Holston/The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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