Today on the Playbook podcast, we're dedicating the show to one big topic, the topic that

is defined the political year of 2025. That's the Registriction Wars. Hello, I'm Adam Wren.

And I'm Andrew Howard. It's Wednesday, December 24th.

So without further ado, here is the big topic. Not only driving the day, it's the topic that I think, and that I think Andrew will agree, drove the year. Okay. Redistricting. Andrew, you and I have spent a

significant amount of time this year covering the

redistricting wars. It's important to understand for our listeners because they have really

literally set the map for the 2026 midterms. And so I think it's worth diving in today to talk

about all of the changes that we expect to see, what the map looks like,

what the seat count looks like, and really look at some of the figures, particularly on the

Democratic side, who were responding to the Trump White House that sort of muscled this redistricting

scheme through a number of these red states. And Democrats had to figure out how to respond

in real time. And they

did that. And really, it was one of the one issues that the Trump White House let Democrats kind of

respond to them on in big, fulsome ways that at least, if not move the meter for Democrats,

at least protected them in a lot of ways. And there were key personalities who

are looking at 2028 and potentially running as Democratic candidates for president who played a

significant character arc in these debates. And so I want to just kind of tick through them,

hear what you think of how much each person move the ball forward for their party and look at

what this all means not only for 2026 but 2028. So it's no surprise, I think, that at the very

top of the list, the Democrat who succeeded in advancing, you know, their political brand,

their political cause and the cause of the Democratic

Party more than anybody else this year was California governor Gavin Newsom.

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