Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast

Election Day is tomorrow. After the polls close, what will it look like to keep tabs on results as they come in across the country?

On Today's Show:
Domenico Montanaro, NPR's senior political editor/correspondent, offers analysis of all the chatter of an expected blue wave in this year's midterm elections.

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"Diversity" can mean a couple of very different things in the context of higher education, where DEI policies have become a political issue.

On Today's Show:
Neil Gross, sociology professor at Colby College in Maine, and author of What Happened to College?: How Politics Broke Higher Education and What We Can Do to Fix It (Simon & Schuster, 2026), and Natasha Warikoo, professor of Sociology at Tufts University and the author of the book Is Affirmative Action Fair? The Myth of Equity in College Admissions (Polity, 2022), discuss the two distinct groups fighting for diversity -- one for a diversity of viewpoints, and the other for racial and economic diversity in the student body -- and how candidates are talking about the concept of diversity in the run-up to election day.

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As Americans consider their personal pocketbook issues at the polls, what about the nation's financial balance sheet?

On Today's Show:
Jared Bernstein, economist and former United States chairman of Council of Economic Advisers under President Biden, talks about the rising national debt and how candidates are discussing it on the campaign trail ahead of election day.

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With US support for Israel playing a key role in this year's midterm elections, we look at the first results from Israel's national election.

On Today's Show:
Dahlia Scheindlin, Haaretz senior analyst and columnist, political scientist and the author of The Crooked Timber of Democracy in Israel: Promise Unfulfilled (De Gruyter, 2023), talks about the results so far in Israel's election, the first since the October 7, 2023 attacks and the years of war that followed.

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After Roe v. Wade was overturned, state restrictions on abortion access have put doctors in a tough position, between their patients and the law.

On Today's Show:
Alice Miranda Ollstein, senior healthcare reporter at Politico, author of the book, Side Effects: How Abortion Bans Impact Everyone’s Health (The New Press, 2026), talks about her reporting on the impact of abortion bans, and how physicians have had to enter the political arena in order to do their jobs.

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In light of recent midterm polling, Democrats are reportedly considering whether impeachment would be a prudent pursuit.

On Today's Show:
Lisa Mascaro, chief congressional correspondent for The Associated Press, talks about what might happen with investigations and even impeachment proceedings against President Trump or his appointees, should Democrats control congress after the midterms.

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California voters will have to decide on Prop 40, which is a one-time tax on billionaires in order to fund healthcare and education.

On Today's Show:
Marisa Lagos, correspondent for KQED’s California politics and government desk and co-host of the show and podcast, Political Breakdown, talks about the proposal, who is for and against it and the lengths California billionaires have gone to try to sink the tax.

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Elected officials are not supposed to use their positions to boost their own personal wealth.

On Today's Show:
Sam Kessler, Wall Street Journal reporter, talks about the billion dollar profits the president and his family have made in his second term, especially from crypto-related deals.

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With affordability, income inequality, and other consequential pocketbook policy items at play in this year's midterm elections, we look at the financial lay of the land.

On Today's Show:
Theodore Schleifer, who covers billionaires and their impact for the New York Times, talks about the massive amounts of money currently at play in the midterm elections, the billionaires who donate it and how it affects what happens.

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Ahead of the midterm elections, one consequential issue centers the Supreme Court, and whether, amid ethics concerns, the judicial branch needs reform.

On Today's Show:
Kate Shaw, professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, co-host of the Supreme Court podcast "Strict Scrutiny," and a contributing opinion Writer with the New York Times, talks about the various proposals to reform the Supreme Court, including term limits, ethics reforms and reining in the so-called "shadow docket," which she says Democrats must do if they take control of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections.

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Amid reports that would suggest a favorable relationship between President Trump and Russian President Putin, where does that leave Ukraine?

On Today's Show:
Julia Ioffe, founding partner and Washington correspondent of Puck and the author of Motherland: A History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy (Ecco, 2025), shares her analysis of some recent wins that President Trump has handed Russian President Vladimir Putin, and how Russia...and Ukraine have responded.

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A new memoir from an academic international relations

On Today's Show:
Francis Fukuyama, senior fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, former State Department official and the author of The End of History and the Last Man (Free Press, 1992) and his latest, In the Realm of the Last Man: A Memoir (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2026), tells his story and how it intersected with events and his political beliefs.

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With the news that the US will publicly execute the Fort Hood shooter, and the recent botched execution of a woman in Tennessee, capital punishment has taken center stage in the national conversation.

On Today's Show:
Justin Mazzola, deputy director of research at Amnesty International USA, talks about the history and current state of the death penalty and public execution, here in the United States and around the world.

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With last week's ICE shooting, how are swing districts in the area responding on the political hot-button midterm issue of immigration enforcement?

On Today's Show:
Billy House, Washington/Congress reporter for Newsday, talks about the issue of immigration and ICE funding in New York's 4th Congressional district, where the incumbent Democrat Laura Gillen is trying to fend off a challenge from Republican Jeanine Driscoll.

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With AI technology and its accompanying data centers taking up some of the spotlight as a midterm issue, we look at how it's playing out in a key house race.

On Today's Show:
Timmy Facciola, founder of the local news outlet Judge Street Journal, which focuses on New York politics, unpacks Mike Lawler and Cait Conley's positions on AI and data centers.

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As the DSA and other ideologies on the political left begin to gain footholds in elected offices including NYC's mayoralty, we look at what 'socialism' really is, in practice.

On Today's Show:
Bhaskar Sunkara, president of The Nation, founding editor of Jacobin, publisher of Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy, former vice-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America and the author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality (Basic Books, updated 2026) and co-author of The Blueprint: How Socialism Can Work in the Real World (Verso, 2026), talks about today's socialism and its response to today's issues.

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With affordability as a central political issue this midterm season, how are candidates in a key New Jersey race addressing it?

On Today's Show:
Timmy Facciola, founder of the local politics news outlet Judge Street Journal, talks about several 'pocketbook issues' that came up in the debate between U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler and his Democratic challenger Cait Conley, including energy, tariffs, and housing.

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The free market supposedly sets fair prices based on supply and demand. How are algorithmic pricing models helping profiteers charge more for the same?

On Today's Show:
Lindsay Owens, president and CEO of the Groundwork Collaborative and the author of Gouged: The End of a Fair Price–and What That Means for Your Wallet (Viking, 2026), talks about the proliferation of "junk fees" and the hidden risks of loyalty programs, plus the use of data and algorithms to hike prices.

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With right wing voices taking aim at transgender athletes, who they say create unfairness in women's sports, a look at the Trump administration's cuts to Title IX enforcement.

On Today's Show:
Maggie Mertens, journalist, author of Better Faster Farther: How Running Changed Everything We Know About Women (Algonquin, 2024) and host of "The Forecast: Seattle’s Weekly Women’s Sports Show" on KVRU 105.7FM, talks about her Slate article on the Trump administration's stated goal of "protecting" women's sports, while cutting the staff at the Department of Education that would investigate violations.

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The national discussion about sexual assault on campus has been revived in the wake of a scandal at Cornell.

On Today's Show:
Alexandra Brodsky, civil rights lawyer and author of Sexual Justice: Supporting Victims, Ensuring Due Process, and Resisting the Conservative Backlash (Henry Holt 2021), unpacks a recent lawsuit against Cornell University accusing the administration of negligence in their investigation and handling of a reported gang rape

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