The Run-Up Guide to 2024

A hand-picked selection of episodes to introduce you to the people, places and issues that will make the difference on Election Day. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher . 

Last summer, politics, country music and cultural grievance collided with the growing popularity of a new song from recording artist Jason Aldean. Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk Carjack an old lady at a red light Pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store Ya think it’s cool, well, act a fool if ya like In the lyrics, Aldean lists behaviors he associates with cities, like lawlessness and disres...

Polls suggest that they are – and that Black voters’ support for Donald Trump, especially among men, is rising. In November 2023, Astead W. Herndon convened a special "Run-Up" Thanksgiving focus group to explore what might be behind those numbers. He spoke with family, friends and, parishioners from his father’s church, community members and people he grew up with. Because where better to talk pol...

Arizona is a battleground state that both parties are desperate to win in November. And supporters of abortion rights in the state gathered enough signatures to ensure that, along with the presidential race and a competitive Senate contest, enshrining the right to abortion in the state’s Constitution will be on the ballot this fall. The measure has broad support in the state, and Democrats are ban...

President Biden is telling people to Google it . Former president Donald J. Trump is distancing himself from it. Even the actress Taraji P. Henson talked about it onstage at the B.E.T. Awards. Project 2025. It’s a blueprint for an incoming conservative president — presumably Donald Trump — spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation , a conservative think tank. But what is it? Is it a guide to a possib...

How exactly did we end up with Donald Trump as the Republican nominee again? And why? To answer these questions, we turn to two different branches of the Republican Party today. First, we speak with Henry Barbour, who has been a member of the Republican National Committee since 2005, a consummate party insider. He supported Nikki Haley in the primary but now supports Mr. Trump. Then we speak with...

The June debate between President Biden and former president Donald Trump triggered significant panic among top Democrats, who for months had been dismissing concerns about Mr. Biden’s age. Despite all the concerns polls showed about age, how did the Democratic Party arrive at that moment? That’s a line of inquiry The Run-Up had been putting to senior Democratic leaders for the past 18 months.  An...

Vice President Harris believes that democracy is once again on the line in a presidential election.  In this interview from late summer 2023, as the contours of the 2024 campaign were coming into focus, Astead Herndon sat down with the vice president to discuss her life and work before Washington, and the fight ahead for her party. This interview was conducted as part of the reporting process for...