Get Ready To Be Badgered: Wisconsin Is A Presidential Battleground
The NPR Politics Podcast
NPR
4.4 • 25.7K Ratings
🗓️ 25 August 2023
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
And a family's journey to find care for their daughter — from Afghanistan to Mexico and then across the U.S. southern border — exposes the complicated state of affairs for Afghan immigrants and other migrants in the United States.
This episode: White House reporter Deepa Shivaram, senior political editor and correspondent Ron Elving, WUWM reporter Maayan Silver, and Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman.
The podcast is produced by Elena Moore and Casey Morell. Our editor is Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, this is Eleanor and Jason from Portland, Oregon. It's my 50th birthday today. Happy birthday. Thank you, sweetie. |
| 0:10.4 | This podcast was recorded at 12 o' 8 p.m. on Friday, August 25th, 2023. |
| 0:17.1 | Things may have changed by the time you hear it, but we'll still be celebrating. I'm 50! |
| 0:23.6 | Five decades. Half a century. Oof. |
| 0:32.1 | Half a century. That's a big birthday. Oof indeed. |
| 0:35.7 | Yeah, seriously. Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Deepa Shiverum. I cover the White House. |
| 0:40.9 | And I'm Ron Elving, Editor Correspondent. |
| 0:43.4 | And WUWM's My On Silver is here. Hey there. |
| 0:47.6 | So, my aunt, you are based in Wisconsin, which is, of course, getting a lot of attention this week, |
| 0:51.6 | that is where this week's Republican presidential primary debate was held. |
| 0:55.7 | And you report a story along with our colleague, Kelsey Snow, about the state's changing politics. |
| 1:01.7 | There's a lot of power sharing in the state right now. Races in Wisconsin tend to be incredibly close, |
| 1:06.9 | as we've seen in the last several years. Can you walk us through the recent history here |
| 1:11.2 | in presidential politics in Wisconsin? Right. So, you know, when we're really talking about this, |
| 1:16.0 | four of the last six presidential races were decided by less than a single percentage point here in |
| 1:21.8 | Wisconsin. And so, Donald Trump won the state in 2016 by about 20,000 votes. And then Biden, |
| 1:28.8 | he lost the state to Biden by about 23,000 votes in 2020. So, it's just a very narrow shift that |
| 1:35.9 | tipped the state one way or the other. You know, I talked to Ben Wickler for that story. Here's the |
| 1:40.4 | chair of the Wisconsin Democrats. He said, even when there's a bazillion things going on, |
| 1:45.2 | that you think must fundamentally reshape the political landscape, both sides start at about |
| 1:50.4 | 48 percent. So, it's really, really close in Wisconsin. And that's evidenced, you know, |
| 1:56.1 | the states to you as senators are of opposing parties. The legislature is Republican led while |
... |
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