Primary voters reject the establishment and choose populism
6/11/202617 min
More than half the states have had their primary contests for this year’s midterm elections. We discuss some key themes that have emerged. Voters are embracing economic populism and rejecting establishment politicians — except when it comes to President Trump.
This episode: political correspondent Ashley Lopez, political reporter Elena Moore, and senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson.
This podcast was produced by Bria Suggs and edited by Rachel Baye.
Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Ashley Lopez· Host0:17
[upbeat music] Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Ashley Lopez, I cover politics.
Elena Moore· Panelist0:26
I'm Elena Moore, I also cover politics.
Mara Liasson· Panelist0:28
And I'm Mara Liasson, senior national political correspondent.
Ashley Lopez· Host0:31
More than half the states have had their primary elections, and we're going to start noticing some big themes taking shape. And today, we're gonna talk about some of the themes we're seeing. Elena, I wanna start with you. What would you say are some of the big takeaways you have across these races so far?
Elena Moore· Panelist0:46
Yeah, I mean, I think probably the one I've been following the most is this narrative around anti-incumbency or rejection of the so-called establishment.
Ashley Lopez· Host0:57
Mm.
Elena Moore· Panelist0:57
And I think what makes it so interesting is it's actually manifesting, I think, very differently on both sides of the aisle, um, but it's being talked about- Mm-hmm ... on both sides of the aisle. So I guess, starting with Democrats, there have been several high-profile races for Senate, House, governor, that have dealt with this, this message. Um- Yeah ... I think the biggest example and the most current one is, um, Maine Democratic Senate nominee, Graham Plattner.
Ashley Lopez· Host1:23
Mm-hmm.
Elena Moore· Panelist1:23
He has the endorsement of Bernie Sanders. He's running on key affordability concerns, pushing things like Medicare for All,