About this episode
The episode discusses recent political scandals, the Democratic Party's autopsy report, and upcoming primaries in California.
On today’s podcast, I’m back from vacation and joined by Mary Radcliffe of 50+1 and Jacob Rubashkin of Inside Elections to catch up on everything I missed while I was away. We start in Maine, where Graham Platner’s Senate campaign is disputing the number of women he sexted with — a dozen or half a dozen? Platner has already weathered a series of damaging stories about his past, and so far, Democratic primary voters do not seem especially moved. But it’s unclear how the broader electorate will react to the steady drip of scandal. Then we turn to Texas, where Ken Paxton is officially the Republican nominee for Senate against Democrat James Talarico. Paxton comes with his own baggage and a much weaker fundraising operation, though a hotly contested primary against John Cornyn may be suppressing his current polling against Talarico. We’re waiting for the dust to settle. We also discuss the DNC’s unfinished 2024 autopsy report, which was both incomplete and revealing. The report omitted some of the biggest questions about the 2024 campaign: Joe Biden’s age, the debate, the way Kamala Harris became the nominee, Gaza, and the broader failures of Biden’s presidency. So, does the…
People in this episode
Host: Galen Druke
Guests: Mary Radcliffe, Jacob Rubashkin
Topics covered
- Senate campaigns
- political scandals
- Democratic Party analysis
- 2024 election
- primary elections
- fundraising challenges
Keywords
- Graham Platner
- Ken Paxton
- James Talarico
- DNC autopsy report
- 2024 primaries
- political fundraising
- California governor election
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: DNC
Places: Maine, Texas, California, L.A.
More episodes of GD POLITICS
- How Do Democrats Solve A Problem Like Graham Platner? · June 10, 2026 · 13 min
- Why Right-Wing Populism Hasn’t Taken Off In Ireland · June 8, 2026 · 1h 11m
- Is Iowa The New Maine For Democrats? · June 3, 2026 · 16 min
- The Dollar’s Strange, Fragile Power · May 28, 2026 · 17 min
- How Partisan Is The Supreme Court, Really? · May 25, 2026 · 1h 2m
- Trump, The Lame Duck With Teeth · May 21, 2026 · 17 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the GD POLITICS podcast page.