The Field – Details, episodes & analysis

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 on the ground and consider to what extent, if at all, Mr. Trump’s rhetoric could discourage Republicans from voting

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Background reading: 

• Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue have sought to motivate a conservative base that remains loyal to Mr. Trump while also luring back some of the defectors who helped deliver Georgia to a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time since 1992.
• Democrats may have claimed a bigger share of the early vote than they did in November’s vote, election data shows. Here’s what else we know about the voting in Georgia so far.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily 

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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 national correspondent for The New York Times. 

For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.

Background reading: 

• Control of the Senate could hinge on Black voters in Georgia — and on an ambitious effort by the likes of Black Voters Matter to get them to the polls in the largest numbers ever for the runoff elections on Tuesday.
• Democrats are making their final push to rally supporters, targeting Black voters in regions far from Atlanta but equally important to Georgia’s emerging Democratic coalition.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

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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 “The Daily,” Mr. Herndon traveled to Massachusetts to find out. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

Background reading:

• Ms. Warren’s position as one of the top-polling candidates early in the race made her a target for attack. Some say the personal criticism she weathered, especially from Mr. Biden, was sexist.
• She began her campaign with an avalanche of progressive policy proposals, but dropped out after failing to attract a broader political coalition in a Democratic Party increasingly, if not singularly, focused on defeating President Trump.

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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 with Clare Toeniskoetter and Annie Brown, producers on “The Daily.” For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

Background reading:

• A new poll showed Mr. Biden with a wide lead in South Carolina, with Senator Bernie Sanders and hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer trailing behind.
• Mr. Biden lashed out after reports that Mr, Sanders considered mounting a primary challenge to President Barack Obama in 2012, saying it was “one of the reasons I resent Bernie.”
• Churches have long played the primary role in mobilizing black support in South Carolina. So how are candidates faring among congregations?

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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 anti-endorsement of Mr. Sanders from the union’s leaders may affect his support in the state’s caucuses on Saturday.

Guests: Jennifer Medina, who is covering the 2020 presidential campaign for The Times traveled to Nevada with Clare Toeniskoetter and Austin Mitchell, producers for “The Daily.” For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

Background reading:

• Mr. Sanders, who is betting on the Latino vote to win the nomination, is trying to convince Nevada’s union members his policies are in their best interest. His rivals are trying to capitalize on the fight.
• The Nevada Democratic Party has been scrambling to put in effect safeguards in its caucuses to avoid the technical issues that created a debacle in Iowa. Here’s how the caucuses will work.

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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 campaigns, elections and political power, and Clare Toeniskoetter and Jessica Cheung, producers on “The Daily.” For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

Background reading:

• Mr. Sanders and Mayor Pete Buttigieg, of South Bend, Ind., are hoping to make the race for the nomination a two-person contest.
• Still, after a voting fiasco in Iowa, it’s possible that five leading candidates will survive beyond New Hampshire.
• President Trump is coming to New Hampshire, too: He’s scheduled to hold a campaign rally in Manchester tonight and will be on the Republican ballot Tuesday. Here are the latest updates from the state’s last day of primary campaigning.

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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 politics for The New York Times, and Austin Mitchell and Andy Mills, producers for “The Daily.” For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

Background reading:

• Confused by the Iowa caucuses? Here’s how they work.
• The New York Times polled 584 Democrats likely to caucus in Iowa. Fifteen of them agreed to talk to us on camera. Here is what they told us.
• The state with a huge influence in picking presidential candidates doesn’t look much like the country as a whole, except in one very striking way: a rapidly aging population.

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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 — and the organization — learned from 2016. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

Background reading:

• This is our guide to the 2020 election.
• We’ve sent reporters to every corner of the country and told them not to make any assumptions in this election cycle. Here are some of the most in-depth stories we’ve told in an effort to help the country understand itself.
• As part of a new approach to election coverage, The Times’s editorial board has re-examined how — and why — it makes presidential endorsements.

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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 his business, has taken a loose interpretation of the mask mandate.

His Democratic challenger, Kirk Bangstad, has strictly followed statewide edicts, opening his restaurant outdoors in the summer and, when there were coronavirus infections among his staff, closing down until all could be tested.

What do the different approaches reveal about Wisconsin politics and about broader American divisions? Reid J. Epstein, a politics reporter for The New York Times, and Andy Mills and Luke Vander Ploeg, audio producers for The Times, went to the state to find out.

Guests: Reid J. Epstein, who covers campaigns and elections for The New York Times; Andy Mills, a senior audio producer for The Times; Luke Vander Ploeg, an audio producer for The Times.

Bonus Election Day special: The Daily is going LIVE today. Listen to Michael Barbaro and Carolyn Ryan, a deputy managing editor at The Times, as they call our correspondents for the latest on a history-making day.

Tune in from 4 - 8 p.m. Eastern, only on nytimes.com/thedaily and on the The New York Times iPhone app. Click here for more information.

Background reading:

• Here’s Reid’s story about how the virus has divided the conservative town of Minocqua, Wis.
• President Trump and Joe Biden barnstormed through battleground states, concluding an extraordinary campaign conducted amid a health crisis and deep economic anxiety.

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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 and many stay quiet for fear of reprisals.

Some of these consequences are obvious: One resident who erected a sign in support of Mr. Biden woke up to “Trump” written in weedkiller on his lawn. Other effects are more personal, and more insidious.

Today, Annie Brown, a senior audio producer at The Times, speaks to some of Florida’s seniors about their voting intentions — including one, Dave Niederkorn, who has turned his back on Mr. Trump and almost lost a close friend in the process.

Guests: Annie Brown, a senior audio producer for The New York Times; and Patricia Mazzei, the Miami bureau chief of The Times, who covers Florida and Puerto Rico.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

Background reading:

• Older people are a crucial voting bloc in Florida. In a speech earlier this month, Joe Biden made his pitch to them.
• “If it’s here, it’s here” — how retirees in Florida’s Villages confronted the coronavirus in the summer.

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.