The Brian Lehrer Show

Susan Page , USA Today Washington bureau chief and the author of several books, including The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters (Simon & Schuster, 2024) and the forthcoming The Queen and Her Presidents (Harper, April 2026), talks about what the New York City mayoral results might mean for Democrats moving forward, and offers analysis of election results in Virginia, New Jersey, an...

Markus Schmidt , senior Virginia politics reporter and deputy editor at The Virginia Mercury, breaks down the latest on Virginia's gubernatorial race on election day, where Democratic nominee and former congresswoman Abigail Spanberger has maintained a lead in polls since very early in the race over Republican nominee Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz compan...

Nancy Solomon , host of the “Ask Governor Murphy” monthly call-in show, talks about the Election Day news in the New Jersey governor's race, and listeners call for an informal, unofficial, thoroughly unscientific exit poll. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Brigid Bergin , WNYC's senior political correspondent, offers analysis of what the early vote numbers might mean for the New York City mayoral race, and more news from the campaign trail on Election Day.  Plus, Zohran Mamdani , New York State assembly member (D, D-36, Queens) and the Democratic nominee for mayor, Andrew Cuomo , former governor of New York and independent candidate for mayor of New...

U.S. Representative James Clyburn (D, SC 6), recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and author of The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation  (Hachette, 2025), tells the story of the first eight Black members of Congress during Reconstruction, and the gap that followed up until his election in 1992.  Event: On Leadership, Legacy, and Democra...

Catherine Rampell , anchor at MSNBC and economics editor at The Bulwark, talks about the latest economic news, including on President Trump's tariffs and China, inflation numbers, SNAP benefits and more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Nicholas Thompson , CEO of The Atlantic and the author of the memoir, The Running Ground: A Father, a Son, and the Simplest of Sports (Random House, 2025), talks about why he runs and joins listeners in sharing stories from Sunday's NYC Marathon.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A. J. Jacobs , host of the "Hello Puzzlers" podcast, essayist, and the author of The Year of Living Biblically , The Know-It-All , It's All Relative and his latest, The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution's Original Meaning (Crown, 2024), reports back on how AI is already woven into daily life with another take on being a "human guinea pig," going 48...

Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them. ACA Open Enrollment Starting  (First) | 30 Issues in 30 Days: NYC's Overdose Prevention Centers  (Starts at 34:26) | Your Newsy Halloween Costumes  (Starts at 1:07:42 )   If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for informatio...

Ahead of Halloween weekend, listeners call in to share their costumes based on news and current events. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ken Burns , documentary filmmaker and co-director of "The American Revolution," and Sarah Botstein , co-director of "The American Revolution," talk about their new, 12-hour docuseries premiering on PBS on November 16th, which is being released ahead of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, in July 2026.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for inform...

Eric Blanc , assistant professor of Labor Studies at Rutgers University, author of several books including We Are the Union: How Worker-to-Worker Organizing is Revitalizing Labor and Winning Big (University of California Press, 2025), and writer of the Substack newsletter Labor Politics, and Michael Aronson , Daily News editorial page editor, debate the mayoral candidates' ability to fulfill their...

John Heinis , reporter for the Hudson County View talks about the Jersey City mayoral race, where seven candidates are running in the nonpartisan election and if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the votes, the top two vote-getters will move on to a run-off election in early December. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and...

Elisabeth Benjamin , vice president of Health Initiatives at the Community Service Society and co-founder of the Health Care for All New York Campaign, talks about what people can expect with next year's health insurance costs and how the government shutdown over ACA subsidies will affect open enrollment. The live-answer helpline to reach a Navigator at CSS is:  1-888-614-5400 The New York State o...

Nikita Biryukov , reporter who covers state government and politics for the New Jersey Monitor , talks about the latest in New Jersey elections news, including early voting turnout, how Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump are weighing in on the gubernatorial race and Justice Department election monitoring for Passaic County. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for in...

Jessie Gómez , reporter at Chalkbeat Newark covering Newark Public Schools, discusses the New Jersey gubernatorial candidates' visions for public education in the state—and how they intend to fund the schools. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Arlan Fuller,   Project HOPE ’s director of Emergency Preparedness and Response, talks about the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica and other countries, as listeners report what they're hearing from friends and family in the area. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Calder McHugh , reporter at POLITICO Magazine , talks about the scandal surrounding leaked messages from the Young Republicans' group chat, and why he thinks they might be a "sign of where we could be headed." Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ethan Geringer-Sameth , discusses the mayoral candidates' stances on overdose prevention centers in New York City, including Zohran Mamdani's reversal of his longstanding stance to increase the centers, Andrew Cuomo's stance to keep existing centers but not expand them and Curtis Sliwa's stance against the existing centers. Plus, Sam Rivera , executive director of OnPoint NYC, talks about the two...

Elizabeth Kim , Gothamist and WNYC reporter, and Brigid Bergin , Gothamist and WNYC senior political correspondent, talk about the early voting numbers—which are way up from both the primary and the last mayoral election, so far—and other news from the campaign trail in the last week before Election Day. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collec...

Seth Berkley , MD, an infectious disease epidemiologist currently advising vaccine, biotechnology, and technology companies; an adjunct professor and senior adviser to the Pandemic Center at Brown University; former CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; cofounded COVAX; founded and served as CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative; and the author of Fair Doses: An Insider’s Story of the Pand...

Nick Garber , politics reporter at Crain's New York Business , talks about where the NYC mayoral candidates stand on jobs and the minimum wage, and discusses their relationships with the broader business community. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listeners still making up their minds on whether and how to vote share their dilemmas on candidates for any office and ballot questions. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Due to the government shutdown, millions of Americans are likely to miss their Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program (SNAP) paychecks starting this Saturday. Grace Yarrow , food and agriculture policy reporter for POLITICO and author of POLITICO Pro's daily Morning Agriculture newsletter, reports on which states will be most impacted and how recipients are preparing. Plus, Karen Yi , WNYC and...

Joyce Vance , a legal analyst for MSNBC and former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, University of Alabama School of Law professor, and author of the Civil Discourse Substack, and of the new book, Giving Up Is Unforgivable:  A Manual for Keeping a Democracy (Dutton, 2025) talks about the rule of law and offers legal and historical context for the current moment in American histor...