The Run-Up

A year ago, Astead took “The Run-Up” listeners home for Thanksgiving. Specifically, he convened a focus group of family and friends to talk about the election and the question of Black people’s changing relationship to the Democratic Party. This year, he got the group back together for a different mission. The question was: What happened? What can Democrats learn from their defeat in 2024? On today’s show: an autopsy conducted not by consultants or elected officials but by committed, everyday Democratic voters. And a farewell.

President-elect Trump’s cabinet nominees and major appointments — which have arrived quickly in the days since he won the election — are more than just a list of allies. The roster is a window into how he sees the mission of a second term. One priority will be immigration and border control, and, more specifically, Trump’s campaign promise of “mass deportations.” On Sunday night, Trump announced the person he was putting in charge of this effort: Tom Homan. Homan was the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the first Trump administration, and he played a key role in the family separation policy. Back in March 2023, we went to see Homan speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference, known as CPAC. After his panel, we sat down to discuss his views on the border and how he and Trump might institute their preferred policies, like mass deportation, if given the chance. Which of course, they now have been. On today’s show, that candid interview from 2023 with Tom Homan, and a possible glimpse at our immigration future.

For more than two years, we’ve been asking pretty much everyone we meet a version of the same question: Who are you going to vote for and why? And on Wednesday morning, we had the answer to that question. Or at least the first part. Donald Trump easily won the electoral vote, and as of early Thursday, he’s on track to win the popular vote too. The second part of the question — the why of 2024 — is a little more complicated. It will take time to answer in its entirety. But we wanted to start small, by talking with one Michigan voter. She came to mind on election night, when it became clear that it was going to be a Trump victory and that the sweep of his support was telling a new story about this country.

For months now, “The Run-Up” has been traveling around the country talking with people, trying to ensure that when today came, whatever happened wouldn’t feel like a surprise. So as people go to the polls to cast their vote for Kamala Harris, Donald Trump or someone else, we wanted to return to the place where we started almost exactly a year ago. Clallam County, in the northwest corner of Washington State. It’s the last true bellwether county in America. Voters there have correctly picked the president every year since 1980. Last year, what we found in Clallam really did match the mood of the country. Democrats were worried about Joe Biden’s age. Some Republicans were hoping they might have an option other than Donald Trump. And overall, people expressed frustration with their options and both political parties. On Election Day, we return to Clallam to hear what’s on the minds of these voters — people whose feelings and decisions could reflect how the country votes.

One phenomenon that’s been getting a lot of attention during this election is the growing gender gap among young people. Young men are leaning right, and young women are moving left. In recent national surveys from The New York Times and Siena College, young women favored Kamala Harris by 42 percentage points and young men favored Donald Trump by 12 points. And Trump has made explicit appeals to men — or at least his version of masculinity — a huge part of his message and campaign strategy. So, as we enter the election’s final days, we wanted to see how these messages were landing in the key battleground state of Wisconsin. On the show today: What’s driving the gender divide in 2024? And is Trump’s bet on young men working?