The NPR Politics Podcast - Answering your questions on the midterms & more

Episode Date: September 1, 2026

You had questions about the upcoming midterm elections, and other political topics. In this podcast, we try our best to answer some of them.This episode: senior political correspondent Tamara Keith, political correspondent Ashley Lopez, and senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson.This podcast was produced and edited by Casey Morell and Bria Suggs.Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

All right, as you know, if you've listened to us in the last few days, you heard us ask for your questions about the midterms and politics in general. Today on the pod, we have answers. It's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Tamara Keith. I cover politics. I'm Ashley Lopez. I also cover politics. And I'm Mara Liason, senior national political correspondent. And let's get to your questions. It was so exciting to hear from so many of you. Our first one comes from Alyssa in St. Louis. she wrote to us and asked, what happens to campaign donations after the election?

For example, Alex Vindman's campaign in Florida received a ton in donations but spent very little because he was expecting to breeze through the primary. What happens to the remaining money? What if they leave politics? Ashley, you go first. Where does this money go? Well, I'm going to start with what they can't do with that money, which is campaign cash cannot be used for personal use. So, like, you can't take any surplus from your campaign funds and use that to buy yourself

things or go on vacation, stuff like that. Some people have gotten in trouble for this. That is the baseline of what you can do. Now, what you can do, there are a couple options for candidates. So the first thing that usually campaigns do is what's called like winding down the campaign, like you're paying your pollsters, any debt you have, campaign staff, the rent on all the, like, if you have little campaign offices, stuff like that, that's what you're you can use it for. You can also save it for future elections. Okay, you lost this one. Maybe you start

you start planning for your next election. And then, you know, charitable donations, you know, you can donate to charities. Or what we're seeing with Alex Vimman, who recently lost his Senate primary race in Florida, he announced that he donated a lot of those campaign funds to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is a sort of like big umbrella democratic structure for funding some of their big Senate races across the country as well as he also mentioned that he gave some money directly to some specific campaigns. Probably the biggest chunk of money went to the Florida Democratic Party, which is not surprising. So the person who bested him in his primary state senator Angie Nixon, she would be getting some of that money, but not directly. So really, all the money that he raised, he can just give away to other candidates.

Yeah, well, not all, right? So if some money was earmarked for a general election, right? And we can kind of assume that maybe some of that money because he did sort of run like the primary wasn't that big of a deal and he was looking towards the general election. If that was, if some of the donations he got were earmarked for a general election, he does have to return that to the donors within 60 days per FEC rules. And that's the Federal Elections Commission. Right. And the way this works is there's a limit on the contribution size that a donor, an individual donor can make to a candidate. So the way candidates raise more funds is they say, hey, donate to my primary campaign and my general election effort. And you know, you get the one big check right there, right then.

But it sounds like he's got to give some of that back. Mara, if you're a voter and you give money to a losing campaign that has a ton of money left over, should you be able to ask for a refund? That's just not going to happen. It's kind of like if you give money to a charity that's combating world hunger, and two years later, world hunger is still around. You don't get to get your money back. However, there are cases when candidates do return money. And that is when the donor becomes controversial.

Like people who got Jeffrey Epstein donations, they return them because it's become a negative issue in their campaign. That does happen. Usually those questions are raised by the candidate's opponents. Look, he took money from this or that bad actor. or special interest, and I'm demanding that he return them. And sometimes the candidates come to the conclusion that it's better for them to return the money. All right.

We have another question. This comes from Grant in Denver. My question is, why are so many of the primaries so late in the season and close to the general election? How does this impact the candidates that eventually win their primaries with not too much time before the general? Mara, this one goes to you. Well, I think these are set by state laws and state political committees, the timing of primaries. I think it can work many different ways. It could help a candidate who comes roaring out of the primary with a head of steam,

and his opponent just doesn't have that much time to find out all sorts of bad things about him. That could help him. Or it could leave a candidate who isn't that well known to the public with not enough time to introduce himself beyond his own party primary voters. So it can have many, many different effects. There's not one rule of thumb on this. Yeah. What we're observing in Michigan now is like, do do Democrats have enough time to like get on the same page and like have a kumbaya moment before the general election? Being close to a general kind of creates a shorter timeline for, you know, maybe a contentious primary to get smoothed out. I mean, as far as said, this is set by state.

So you could look up the history for like why a state picked that particular primary date. Some of it is like logistical. I think after the military and overseas voter empowerment act, sorry, voting nerd here. So after that passed, a lot of states had to revisit their vote by mail windows because they had to give those overseas voters more time to get a mail and ballot in. But for the most part, changing those dates is really political and really hard. I think. I think Vermont is a good example of this. Like it was like historical precedent is like this would, they wanted to have their primaries when people were back at work and kids were back in school. So they picked like right after Labor Day to hold their primaries. And that is not a lot of time for like right before a general. And so now that there was chatter among Democrats in the statehouse to move it back a little bit. And Republicans are like, no, no, thank you. that we know that you guys are all fighting each other and we want you to keep having a hard time.

So I don't know. It's like it's it's a mix of logistical stuff. It's a mix of like party politics like usual and just like states. States have their own rules. So they get to do funky stuff with with elections if they want to. And as I was looking up an answer to this question, I found a fun article in the Valley News of New Hampshire all about the effort to move New Hampshire's primary, which is very late. it's in September to move it to June. And it required a state law, the governor, Kelly Ayat signed the bill. And so starting in 2028, the primary will move to the second Tuesday in June, which will give everyone more time for the general election. Here is a fun question. We do have a national election day, a national general election day. in November, why do we not have a national primary day? Because states control elections, as we are learning now, as Donald Trump tries to take more

control over them, states control elections and parties, state parties have a lot to say about when their own primary or caucuses are going to be held. You see that sometimes the Republican primary caucus falls on a different day than the Democratic one. Yeah, that's a big one. Like, party control, it's confusing to a lot of voters because, yes, parties, control so much of like how primaries are structured, including they have influence over when they're held. There's like, I don't know if you guys remember during the last presidential election. That's why sometimes states would hold caucuses because the party would just have more control over that. But all of this is run by public officials. They're run by the same people

who run your presidential elections. Like it's the same election staff. So yeah, it is very confusing and it is like a kind of quirk of how our electoral systems are structured. And I mean, this is also a function of just like Congress has the ability to set an election date. They only set the general election date. They don't have the ability right now to federalize primary dates. Okay, let's take a quick break and we'll have more questions in a moment. And we're back. And again, I want to thank you so much for sending in your voice memos to NPR Politics at NPR.org. Let's turn to Trey from Minneapolis. I wanted to ask a question about

independence running in races like South Dakota's Senate race where there's no Democrat in the race. What does this say about the image or opinion of the Democratic Party? And also, does it really make a difference? Yes. Well, Democrats clearly feel it makes a difference that in some red states, it's better to run as an independent than as a Democrat because the Democratic brand is so bad. Now, it turns out that when independents get to the Senate, I don't think we have a single independent that doesn't caucus with one party or the other. Angus King, for example, from Maine, Senator Angus King, he caucuses with the Democrats. But it does tell you how uncompetitive Democrats are in some of these states and also underscores the necessity of Democrats becoming more competitive in red states because the way that our House districts are drawn and electoral college votes are distributed. put Democrats at a disadvantage.

These are minoritarian institutions, and states who have a lot of acreage, but fewer people, smaller populations, have an advantage over states that are more urban. Democrats do much better in urban states, and they have been on the back foot in red states for a long time. But I would say right now there is a lot of talk in the Democratic Party about how to become more competitive in red states.

The first step is running people who say they are independent, because they know that they can't win as a Democrat. but they also share some of the same values and goals as Democrats and often caucus with them when they get to Washington. Yeah, it's impossible to overstate like how bad the Democratic brand is in rural America right now. I feel like I had a conversation with someone who's running for Congress in West Virginia about this. And I mean, they see the Democratic brand as an anchor almost to their campaign. Like it's a thing they have to contend with all the time. And fixing that, it took generations for the Democratic Party to get here and it's going to take generations or at least a couple of elections.

right for them to dig their way out of this. So in the meantime, I mean, this is like a useful way for the party to still have someone who'll caucus with them, but at least get over the hurdle of the Democratic brand in some states. Yeah. Another example is Dan Osborne, who is running for Senate as an independent in Nebraska. He has negative things to say about the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. He is a progressive populist, though. He is not middle of the road. And I, I, I, I, I saw this interview he did with CNN, which was fascinating because the anchor kept trying to press him on, well, who are you going to caucus with? And he's like, I don't have to say. And I don't want to caucus with anyone. I'm, you know, I will be able to use my independence as a power in the Senate. One fascinating fun fact about the Senate is that you basically can't get committee assignments unless you caucus with one party or the other because they decide the committee assignments. So even people who have in the past studiously said they weren't going to caucus with anyone or they wouldn't say who they were going to caucus with. Eventually they end up caucusing with one party or another so that they can serve on committees. Okay, we have one last question from Sheila in Massachusetts.

My friend Lauren and I are having a midterm watch party and I was hoping you could give us a list of some lesser known candidates. What other stories of you missing that we should focus on? love this. Give us something to look for during our watch party. All right. Well, I don't know if these candidates are lesser known. I think that depends on how much of a political junkie, you and your friends and your watch party are.

But I would suggest two races to watch. The first one is New York 17th district. Mike Lawler is the freshman Republican incumbent. He's in a district that did not vote for Donald Trump. And the reason this is a important race, because it will show us if the Republican Party still has strength in suburban swing districts. This is New York State. It's a blue state. And we'll see how he does. Now, the other race that I would suggest that you watch is in Texas, the 34th district. That's Vincenta Gonzalez. He's the Democratic incumbent. But he's in a seat or a district that was redrawn by the Texas state legislature who did a gerrymanderer after Donald Trump asked them to.

and the district was redrawn to favor Republicans. And what the outcome of this race will tell us is whether all those gains that Donald Trump made with Hispanic voters back in 2024, will they transfer down to Republican candidates in Hispanic areas in the midterms. A lot of that support, according to polls, has been lost. In other words, a lot of Hispanics who voted for Trump in 2024 are unhappy with him. But we'll see what happens if a Republican can still get his. Hispanic support. All right. And I'm going to answer this question in a kind of a different way. I like where your head is at, but I think we can really boost up the sort of whimsy or weirdness

of elections to watch. And I'll tell you why. One of my favorite things to obsess about is things that I don't think need to be elected office and taking up space in a ballot. And like, I grew up in Florida. I'm not going to say this isn't something that should be elected, but for example, like the mosquito control board is something that is an elected office and makes its way onto a ballot. And because you live in Massachusetts, I looked up weird stuff that is elected office in your state. A lot of this, by the way, will not be on the ballot this coming cycle. It's usually off year. So it's going to be next year.

And I'm going to pick my favorites. So one of them is the elector of the Oliver Smith will. This is like the most hyper-specific elected office. I have seen yet. It's in nine Pioneer Valley towns that you vote on this. It's Amherst, Deerfield, East Hampton, Greenfield, Hadley, Hadley, Hathfield, North Hampton, and Wattley. Oh, and Williamsburg. And basically, these are people who are elected to just be the trustee for this man's estate who died in the 1840s. I don't know why this is still there. It is fascinating. And I saw this and I wanted to make sure this is still a thing. So I got a sample ballot from Amherst from last year.

And it is a real thing. The Oliver Smith will elector is a position there. But there are other things like fence viewers that is also an elected position in a lot of townships. The keeper of the town clock also an elected position. So what I'm saying to everyone outside of Massachusetts is if you want to get really excited about elections, pick the weird stuff that shouldn't be an elected position but is because that is one of my favorite things. to look at. And one of the races I'm watching that I might suggest you watch is California's 22nd congressional district. California also had a gerrymander and redrew a bunch of districts

to favor Democrats. California 22 represented by David Valadeo, a Republican, is like the great white whale for California Democrats who have been trying to take him out election after election after election. And they just keep missing. This time, the much more progressive candidate emerged from the primary on the Democratic side, Randy Villegas. So it is something to watch. And in order to watch this, you're going to need your friends to bring sleeping bags. Because in California, it takes a really long time for election results to come in. So actually, your watch party would need to be a week-long slumber party, which is totally fun, right?

Right, right. And you know, the other thing about David Valdeo, I think he's one of the very last House members, Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump. I think you are right. He might be the only one. And yet Republicans do very much want him to hang on. But this is one of those districts to watch because if this tips towards Democrats, that is another signal that it was a good night for Democrats. The other thing I'll just say about California election results is. is on election night, it often looks very different from how it looks, you know, a few days later because the returns come in so slowly there can be a bit of a red mirage in some of these districts. With all that said, I'm wondering for you guys, if there was like a weird job that you think you could get elected for, what do you think that would be? Ha, ha, dog catcher. That's a good one.

Dog catcher. Oh, what is a weird job that I could do? Oh, is there like some sort of roadside aesthetics that I could be in charge of? Oh, like, homeowners association? Oh, God, I don't want to, not a homeowner's association, definitely not that. No, but like, you know, like where traffic circles make sense, where bike lanes don't make sense. I don't know. The planning board.

I guess it's just the planning board. That sounds extremely boring. It is. But you might have a good time. Who knows? It's really important. Yeah. It is very important.

I want to be dog poop pickup enforcer. That's what I want to do. I don't know why this has gotten me so hyped like and angry in the past few years. But the older I get the more, I'm like, clean up after your dogs, guys. I have one. I even want my back hurts. I do it. I pick up the poop.

So I would like to be that. person who's just like giving people a slap on the wrist. Nothing too big. I have a crazy update on this. It turns out that in my driveway, on a regular basis, there is a fox that comes through and poops in my driveway. Oh, but that's whimsical. That's so great. It's, yeah, but it just looks like a dog pooped in my driveway and nobody picked it up. So, you know, it could be an evil fox. Oh, you know, I'm going to just assume it's all foxes doing that then. It might make me less angry. Yeah, because they're majestic. Yeah. And that is all we have for now. This was so much fun. I look forward to doing it again very soon. Thank you for sending your questions. And guess what? We're giving you another chance to get them answered later this month. We're doing a virtual event for our NPR Plus supporters where Mara, Miles and I will break down the midterm races to watch plus a live Q&A. It's on Thursday, September 17th at 2 p.m. Eastern 11 a.m. Pacific over Zoom. For our Plus supporters, check out our politics bonus episode this past weekend for registration details.

And if you haven't joined Plus yet, now's the time. Just go to plus.npr.org. I'm Tamara Keith. I cover politics. I'm Ashley Lopez. I also cover politics. And I'm Mara Liason, senior national political correspondent. And thank you for listening to the NPR Politics Podcast.