Each week, Ballotpedia's election experts unpack the week's top political stories. Ballotpedia's here to give you the facts, so you can form your own opinion.
On this episode: Ballotpedia CEO and founder Leslie Graves joins host Norm Leahy to share insights from a yearlong “virtual listening tour” with 100 school board members across 33 states. The conversations revealed struggles that rarely make headlines, including the challenges boards face in accessing reliable data on student achievement, how political tension bleeds into their work, the difficulty of moving past conflict, and the reality that most members are volunteers trying to balance limited time with big responsibilities. The story of these local officials underscores how much of American democracy happens far from the spotlight, and why understanding their struggles matters for anyone trying to make sense of our schools and politics.
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RECENT EPISODES
To mark our 200th episode, Ballotpedia Founder and CEO Leslie Graves joins Host Norm Leahy for the debut of our new monthly series Office Hours. Leslie outlines her ambitious vision to cover all 520,000 elected offices in the U.S. by 2034, explains the mission behind Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey, and makes the case for why voters deserve “robust information” at every level of the ballot.
Political analyst Miles Coleman from the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics and Sabato’s Crystal Ball breaks down the results of this November’s elections, from Virginia and New Jersey to major ballot measures across the country. He explains why polling missed the mark in some races, what surprised him most about the results, and how redistricting in California and Virginia could reshape congressional control heading into 2026.
Erin Covey — Editor of U.S. House coverage at the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter — explains the political strategies at play and the legal uncertainties that surround them, as states move to redraw their congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterms.
California voters decided on November 5th to approve a ballot measure that would amend the state’s constitution to temporarily suspend the state’s independent redistricting commission and replace its maps with new, partisan-drawn districts. Maya C. Miller of CalMatters joins the show to explain everything you need to know.
The Fed has been at the center of America’s biggest economic turning points for more than a century as one of the country’s most powerful institutions. Former Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker joins host Norm Leahy to trace that story—from the banking panics that led to its creation in 1913 to JP Morgan’s role in corralling Wall Street leaders.
Texas Tribune reporter Eleanor Klibanoff and independent election analyst Nathaniel Rakich break down how Texas began their redistricting journey that ultimately led to six states and counting drawing new congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Constitutional scholar Sai Prakash explores the origins, evolution, and modern realities of presidential power. Drawing on historical debates from the Constitutional Convention, Prakash outlines how early framers envisioned a limited executive—primarily tasked with enforcing laws—and how that vision has shifted over time.
Cryptocurrency has evolved from a niche experiment into a disruptive force with global implications—and U.S. financial institutions, lawmakers, and regulators are working to establish clear crypto-related policy. In this interview with former CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo, we unpack the state of crypto policy in 2025: The political realignment around digital assets, the rapid growth of stablecoins, the future of tokenized securities, and the debate over whether the U.S. should adopt a central bank digital currency or establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve.
