Grounded with Jon Tester & Maritsa Georgiou

As it stands, Democrats have a 54-44 majority in the Senate, with results still pending in Alaska and Mississippi. They have 241 seats in the House and expected to gain more. Kansas is sending a Democrat to the U.S. Senate for the first time since 1932. James Talarico will be the first Democratic senator from Texas since 1988. Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor of any U.S. state, one of a record number of female governors voted in. And Democrats hit a new milestone with 100 women in the House. Sam Forstag is the first Democrat to take a U.S. House seat in Montana since 1994. And yes, the Montana Plan passed.

Adam Klasfeld of All Rise News joins us to break down the results, what comes next from a legal standpoint, and the remarkable absence of wild claims about a rigged election. Plus, could this mean a larger turning of the page?

Three days out and we decided to continue our marathon episode run with another candidate: Justin J. Pearson, known as one of the “Tennessee Three,” who’s now running for U.S. House. Pearson tells us how the redistricting fight in the South has dramatically changed his race, what he’s hearing from Republicans and Democrats alike, and why he frames his politics as “justice rooted in love.”

We also address some of the rumors circulating about Jon and the Montana Senate race… again.

It’s spooky season, which means there are a lot of efforts to spread fear right now. Remember your critical thinking skills and let’s stay grounded in facts, in reason, and in this community. Happy Halloween, friends! We will be back with you Tuesday!

We are days away from ELECTION DAY and we asked our favorite election data nerd (and former Obama campaign manager + University of Montana superfan) Jim Messina to join us to break down the state of the races. And we literally go down the battleground list one by one in a psuedo-lightning round.

Messina breaks down his predictions for the Senate, the House, and another category of races he thinks is commonly overlooked.

“If you care about the presidential election in 2028, you actually care the most about governors' races. Governors' races are the most predictive thing about who wins the next presidential,” Messina said. “And I’ve really spent a bunch of time looking at all these. And I think there’s a chance [Democrats are] going to win every single governor’s race in every battleground state.”

Messina lays out his advice for exactly what the Democrats should do first if they win control of the House and Senate. And just wait until you hear how many potential 2028 presidential candidates Jim has already met with. 🤯

Get out and vote, friends! And bring someone with you!

There’s a whole lot of noise about threats to the midterm elections, now eight days away. We asked David Becker from the Center for Election Innovation & Research to come back and help us get grounded in logic and facts.

Let’s start with the good news: Becker says we will blow past 30 million votes already cast at some point today.

“The highest turnout we’ve ever had for a midterm election was in 2018, 118 million ballots cast,” Becker said. “So we’re going to blow past 25% of that eight days before the election. And still the vast majority of mail ballots haven’t come back in. No one has voted on Election Day yet. Early voting is still going on in almost all of the 47 states.”

Becker notes that we saw the highest ever midterm election turnout in 2018 at 50%. He’s cautiously optimistic we will break that record this cycle, but says if we get to 53%, it would be a “tsunami.”

Now to the bad news. We cover a lot of the major concerns right now, including the fears about ICE at the polls, DOJ voter-data pushes, voting machine worries, and the very real efforts to lay the groundwork to challenge the results of the election. We also talk about why Becker feels confident we will see the results certified.

“I know some people are really worried when they see the federal government mobilize to interfere with our election in a way that we’ve never seen before in American history. And that’s awful,” Becker said. “We should not normalize that. It’s really bad, and it’s taken a lot of work. But on the other hand, it’s really desperate, isn’t it? It’s really kind of pathetic in a way. They’re failing at everything.”

If you haven’t voted yet, make sure you have a plan! If you still have a mail-in ballot to return, it’s probably best to deliver it yourself. Eight days to go!

In the final weeks of the campaign cycle, JT has been traveling across the country stumping for candidates. He returned from Kansas last week and couldn’t quit talking about the Democratic candidate in the KS-02 House race, Don Coover, who’s also a West Point grad, Army vet, veterinarian, and rancher.

Coover joined us to talk about why he jumped into politics, how tariffs are squeezing his fellow ranchers and farmers, and the massive impact ICE raids have had on his community.

You had people, American citizens, afraid to go out and conduct business or travel around because they were afraid of being harassed and picked up. And so It makes a very hostile environment,” Coover said. “I think fear is incredibly contagious. I saw that in the army. And I also believe that courage is very contagious.”

Plus, what’s more difficult? Calving season or campaign season?

Don’t miss our live show Monday, Oct. 26 at noon eastern, when our friend David Becker from the Center for Election Innovation & Research comes back to answer all of your election questions. If there’s something specific you want us to ask him, please drop us a comment!