Could next week's elections predict the political future?
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.1 • 5.3K Ratings
🗓️ 31 October 2025
⏱️ 8 minutes
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Summary
Voters head to the polls next week in California, Virginia and New Jersey among other states.
Senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson and senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro explain what they are watching in these elections — and what voters’ choices might say about the political moment.
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It was edited by Kelsey Snell, Ben Swasey, Jeanette Woods and Courtney Dorning.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Polls can be wrong. Sometimes very wrong as anyone who followed the 2016 presidential election knows. |
| 0:07.0 | Respondents can hide their true feelings. Important groups of voters might not respond at all. |
| 0:12.0 | That's why the gold standard for anyone reading political tea leaves is an election. |
| 0:17.0 | But the midterms are still a long way away. And so instead, you see an intense focus |
| 0:22.6 | on the few elections that are happening, whether it's special elections to fill house seats in |
| 0:27.8 | Florida. In both these areas, in both these congressional districts, Trump won by plus 31 points, |
| 0:34.4 | right? So they essentially cut into that half that amount. |
| 0:39.3 | Or a Wisconsin Supreme Court election? |
| 0:41.3 | We hesitate to read too much into one night in Wisconsin in an off year. But what does it tell |
| 0:47.3 | you so far in these early days of the Trump administration? |
| 0:49.3 | Everyone is looking for potential national implications in each off-year race, down to a state Senate seat for Sioux City. |
| 0:57.0 | This morning, a Democratic victory in Iowa is giving that party a glimpse of hope, maybe a rare glimpse of hope, as the country moves toward the midterms. |
| 1:06.0 | Consider this. Next week brings another big batch of state and local elections. What can they and can't they |
| 1:13.1 | tell us about the 2026 midterms? From NPR, I'm Juana Summers. |
| 1:23.2 | This message comes from the Financial Times. Lead poisoning is a hidden epidemic in the UK. |
| 1:29.4 | On the Untold podcast, hear from people who have been affected. |
| 1:32.9 | Where is the national strategy to address this? |
| 1:35.7 | Listen to Untold, Toxic Legacy, wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 1:53.5 | It's Consider This from NPR. Voters head to the polls next week in California, Virginia, and New Jersey, among other states. |
| 2:02.5 | We've asked senior national political correspondent Mara Liason and senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro to help explain what they're watching in these elections and what voters' choices might say about the political moment. Hi, guys. Hi there. |
| 2:07.8 | So I just want to start with two really big governor's races. There's one in New Jersey and also |
| 2:12.4 | one in Virginia. Marr, I'll start with you. Why are Republicans and Democrats both watching |
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