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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

Today, millions of voters across six states will cast their ballots for the two viable Democratic candidates left: former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Senator Bernie Sanders. What began as a contest with historic diversity of race, gender and sexual orientation has come down to two heterosexual white men over 70. Astead W. Herndon, who covered Senator Senator Elizabeth Warren for The New York Times, asks: How did we get here? With Austin Mitchell and Jessica Cheung, producers for...

Former vice president Joseph R. Biden Jr. was once a clear front-runner in the race for the Democratic nomination. Now, he is fighting back from a string of losses and staking his candidacy on his ability to win tomorrow’s South Carolina primary, the first in a state with a large black population. But will he win, and if the margin isn’t as decisive as he hopes, can he stay in the race? Guest: Astead W. Herndon, who covers national politics for The New York Times traveled to South Carolina...

Note: This episode contains strong language. Senator Bernie Sanders is a staunchly pro-union candidate. But he has found himself mired in an escalating battle over health care with the largest labor union in Nevada. With what some call “the best insurance in America” — the fruit of struggles including a six-year strike — members of the Culinary Workers Union have been reluctant to support Mr. Sanders’s “Medicare for All” plan. We went to Nevada to ask how what is effectively an...

Voters in New Hampshire pride themselves on helping winnow the nomination field. While many polls show Senator Bernie Sanders leading in this year’s primary, the caucus debacle in Iowa meant no single candidate left that first contest with full momentum. We flew from Iowa to New Hampshire, following the campaign trail and talking to voters about whether Democrats who don’t support Sanders are coalescing around another choice. Guests: Lisa Lerer, a reporter at The New York Times, covering...

With Iowa voters making their choice and the 2020 election getting underway, we’re introducing a new show: one covering the country and its voters in the lead up to Nov. 3. In our first episode of “The Field,” we ask Democratic caucusgoers how they’re feeling about the election. Traveling around the state, we found anxious Iowans asking one question over and over: Who can beat President Trump? Note: This episode contains strong language. Guests: Astead W. Herndon, who covers national...

The media’s coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign has come to be criticized for operating under three key assumptions: that Hillary Clinton was certain to be the Democratic nominee, that Donald Trump was unlikely to be the Republican nominee, and that once Clinton and Trump had become their party’s nominees, she would win. With voting for 2020 set to begin in Iowa on Monday, “The Daily” sat down with Dean Baquet, the executive editor of The New York Times, to discuss the lessons he —...