Jon Lovett Answers Your Questions
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The New Yorker Radio Hour is a co-production of WNYC and The New Yorker.
Welcome to the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick. The 2026 midterm elections, and we're through most of the primaries at long last, has been a bruising process for many Democrats. On the one hand, the turnout was strong, and that's always good, but very close finishes in crucial swing states have put a spotlight on the divide between the party's moderate and progressive wings, and there's rancor over support of Israel and many other issues. John Lovett straddles that divide. Lovett was a longtime speechwriter for Hillary Clinton and then Barack Obama, so he's tightly linked to the democratic establishment. But as a commentator on the podcasts Pod Save America and Love It or Leave It, he's also been very critical of the party's orthodoxies.
That's put him at odds with defenders of President Biden. and made him a little harder to pin down ideologically. So I wanted to get John Lovett's read on the midterms, which are just around the corner, and what they might suggest for twenty twenty eight. Now you might remember the other day I asked you for your questions about all these issues, and we heard from a lot of you by email, voicemail, and Instagram. So I'm going to pitch John Lovitt some of your questions as well. John, let's start with the most basic thing in the world. Are you absolutely sure that Democrats are going to take the House and what are the odds of the Senate?
No, and I don't think anybody should be sure. Republicans have done a lot to draw maps to give them an advantage. We see that in Texas and elsewhere. Also, the Democratic Party is incredibly unpopular. If people vote for Democrats in this election, and I hope they will. Uh, I ultimately believe they will. It will not be because there's some love for what Democrats are offering. It is because of a revulsion of what Trump has done and the Republicans in Congress who have gone along with it or outright embraced it. We have to really uh pull an inside straint. Did I use a sports analogy correctly? To take the Senate. You do. And I'm hopeful, I'm hopeful we have uh great candidate in Iowa that puts that in play.
We have a great candidate in Texas that puts that in play. We've hopefully gotten to the other side of the the primary mess in Maine.
But no, I think you're leaving out Michigan conspicuously. Abdul El Sayah just won a big primary victory
there. So one thing that's happened uh over and over, and I'm not comparing these races or these candidates specifically. I'm talking about just a broad trend. And this has been true for a long time, which is so establishment figures or organizations put up candidates and they say, vote for us or else. And people just keep picking RLs. And there are a lot of people who lament. They say, these are candidates that are too far to the left. And that's gonna make it harder for us to win these seats. But then across the board, I don't know what this establishment of the Democratic Party stands for, and neither does the country. And so then people say, you know what, we want an alternative where we know what people are gonna fight for, we know what drives them, we know what they care about.
And if you're not offering that From the center or the center left, like you're gonna keep running into this problem. No one's gonna give you these primary victories anymore.
John, I can't quite make out how the kind of remaining Obama wing of the party really feels about the DSA. In some instances, people appreciate the energy, the freshness, the talent, certainly in Mamdani and some others, but are made nervous by some of the ideas or impulses in the DSA. And I wonder if as one of the voices of Pod Save America, which is so associated for obvious reasons with the Obama wing of the party. How do you feel about the DSA and its influence on the midterms?
I think you have to separate Some of the politicians and the organization, which is, first of all, there are many different branches and groups that I honestly have trouble keeping track of.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–7:22
2
What does Jon Lovett think about the Democrats’ chances of winning the House and Senate in the 2026 midterms?
7:22–9:38
3
How do gerrymandering and Republican map‑drawing affect the upcoming elections?
9:38–12:14
4
Why does Lovett describe a “broad trend” of establishment candidates demanding votes ‘or else’?
12:14–18:33
5
What is the Democratic Party’s relationship with the DSA and how does it impact the midterms?
18:33–29:31
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The New Yorker Radio Hour
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