The Democratic Party's Civil War

Pod Save America

Society & Culture, News Commentary, Politics, News

4.5 • 87.3K Ratings

🗓️ 19 July 2026

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

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Summary

Amanda Litman, president and co-founder of Run for Something, joins Dan to talk about what the spate of divisive of primaries means for Democrats and how progressives should be feeling heading into the midterms. They dive into the recruitment and vetting crisis that led to Graham Platner dropping out of the Maine Senate race, what comes next in the fight to unseat Susan Collins, and the increasingly contentious Michigan Senate primary between Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed.

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Transcript

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1:06.0	Available in selectedores and Online. Welcome to Pats Save America. I'm Dan Pfeiffer. You're about to hear a great conversation I just had with Amanda Libman, co-founder and president of run for something, an organization that has recruited, more than 250,000 people to run for office since it's founding in 2017. And she's the author of When We're in Charge, the Next Generation's Guide to Leadership.
1:45.6	I invited Amanda on because I wanted to hear her perspective on where Democrats are heading into the 26 midterms,
1:50.6	how the fight between establishment and insurgent candidates is playing out in racism across the country,
1:54.8	especially in a heated Democratic primary in Michigan, and where the party goes from here.
1:59.6	I also asked her about how Grand Platner's
2:01.6	decision to drop out of the main Senate race could impact Democrats' chances of taking back the
2:05.2	Senate and what she thinks is someone who has worked with thousands of candidates about the
	...

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