You're listening to the L.R.B. podcast, and I'm your host, Adam Shats. My guest on this episode is the New York Times columnist Thomas B. Edsel, who's joining us from his home in Washington, D.C.

Edsall is one of the sharpest and one of the most sobering commentators on American domestic politics.

He reported for the Washington Post for 25 years and wrote a number of influential books about the rise of the right, including

building Red America and Shane Reaction. In 2011, he moved to the New York Times, where he

publishes a column every Wednesday. His columns are particularly notable for their attention to

demography, social class, and cultural resentment, and for the way that

he incorporates the findings of academic research, especially political science.

Today we'll be talking about the midterms, which concluded on Tuesday with the election

of Raphael Warnock over Herschel Walker in the Georgia runoff for the Senate. Thanks for joining us, Tom.

My pleasure. Good to be here. I'd like to start with the results in Georgia. Rafael Warnock,

a progressive pastor, defeated Herschel Walker, a former football star, an evangelist, evangelical Christian,

who, in spite of a very checkered past involving physical

abuse of his partners, had a strong race. What do you think is the significance of this election?

Well, in one respect, it shows how Georgia, which has been a red Republican state, has been

steadily moving towards a purple status, you might say.

And this is a phenomena taking place in a lot of states in the United States where there is a

large minority population, which is combining with Hispanic growth, immigrant growth,

and the conversion of suburban whites, well-educated

suburban whites, from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party.

That's been going on in the north for quite a while, but now it's beginning to hit the

south, even places like Texas.

So one major significance in terms of the long run is that Georgia is moving into competitive status.

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