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Democrats wouldn’t let themselves believe the polls heading into Tuesday’s midterms, and Republicans didn’t seem all that worried about them either. But as returns started coming in Tuesday night, no one could believe their eyes.

Guest: Molly Olmstead, Slate staff writer.

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.
Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.
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As an electoral issue during the midterms, artificial intelligence was tied up with money in politics, with industry and government in cahoots, and with data centers feeling forced into communities. It was a big winner for Democrats this year, and all of these—plus the implications for employment—are going to be bigger issues in 2028.

Guest: Rob Flaherty, political strategist and founder of Tomorrow Together, a tech-focused political action committee.

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme, Patrick Fort and Micah Phillips.
Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the results of the midterm elections and what they tell us about the state of the country, what kind of balance new Democratic majorities in the House and Senate should strike between legislation and investigations of the Trump administration and what this means for the 2028 conversation already underway, and what ballot initiatives say about voter sentiment on issues like abortion and AI.

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: Jacob Stern for The New York Times Magazine: He Ran a Youth-Basketball Empire. He Also Had a Massive Drug Operation.

John: Kiran Stacey for The Guardian: Andy Burnham launches campaign against ‘headphone dodgers’ on public transport

David: Bullock Texas State History Museum; Exhibit: Building the Lone Star Identity

Listener chatter from George Twigg in Jericho, Vermont: Bill Donahue for Offrange: Moose Tracks

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss their picks for obscure yet interesting midterm election results, including Washington D.C.'s ballot initiative to ban foie gras in restaurants, the apparent failure of the California billionaire tax, and what it could mean for the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact now that enough state legislatures and governors have flipped.

In the latest Gabfest Reads, John Dickerson interviews Angela Duckworth about her new book, Situated: Find the People and Places That Bring Out Your Best. This new book argues that the most successful people don’t just grind harder; they reshape their circumstances to make success feel automatic.

Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Nina Porzucki

Research by Emily Ditto
You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here.

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Find out more about David Plotz's monthly tours of Ft. DeRussy, the secret Civil War fort hidden in Rock Creek Park.

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The Democrats basically got their best-case scenario to play out in the midterms. But that was only the election—so what’s the plan for governing here? A gaggle of Slatesters convenes to discuss live.

Guests:
Jim Newell, Slate’s senior politics writer and author of The Surge newsletter.
Aymann Ismail, Slate senior writer who spent election night at the Abdul El-Sayed watch party in Michigan.
Luke Winkie, Slate staff writer who spent election night with Hasan Piker in West Hollywood.

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.
Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Now we know how effective Trump’s reflecting pool-related closing pitch was.

And join Mary Harris and a team of Slatesters covering the election on Wednesday (11/4) at noon eastern time by signing up here.

Guest: David Faris, professor of political science at Roosevelt University and the author of It’s Time to Fight Dirty: How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics.

Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.
Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.