Hi, this is Lee, an Audubon Park, New Orleans, where the Whistling Ducks have made a stop on their migration path.

This podcast was recorded at...

106 PM on Friday, October 22nd.

Things may have changed by the time you hear it.

Okay, enjoy the show!

Our timestamps have been amazing lately.

I love the sound there. That was incredible.

Yeah, that could have been like the end of a CBS Sunday morning, in our moment of nature.

Hey there, it is the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Danielle Kurtz-Laybon. I cover demographics and culture.

And I'm Dominic Lamont, Senior Political Editor and Correspondent.

And today we are talking about the Virginia Governor's race, the first big electoral test of the Biden presidency.

That election is on November 2nd, so it's coming up really quick. It's just a week and a half away.

And here to talk about that with us, we have Chad Colliel. He covers Richmond for WVTF.

Chad, welcome.

Hi, thanks.

So, okay, we're going to talk about all aspects of this. We're going to start with Domenico.

Let's start with the broad view of this. Why should people care about this race if they're not Virginians?

Well, you know, it's the only game in town, so...

They're...

...but, you know, I mean, look, it's the first, you know, electoral test, as you mentioned, of the Biden presidency.

There's clearly a lot of, you know, attention right now on the Democratic agenda and how it's kind of slowed and stalled and how Biden himself has kind of sagging mediocre poll numbers.

And, you know, Virginia is a pretty good indicator, demographics-wise, of a lot of how the rest of the country has changed over the last couple of decades.

...