The Daily News Briefing in Podcasts

The approach to this year’s midterms has brought two hugely consequential changes to voting for Black Americans: the gutting of the Voting Rights Act, and redistricting. In the wake of those actions, efforts are underway to mobilize Black voters in the South.

In Mississippi, the Senate battle is being seen as a sleeper race, and the Black Democrat running has a chance of flipping the seat, but state lawmakers are trying to redraw the maps and do away with their one majority Black district.

Today, Emily Cochrane, a reporter covering the American South for The New York Times, addresses the implications for voters across the region — not just in the midterms, but for years to come.

Guest: Emily Cochrane, a national reporter for The New York Times covering the American South.

Background reading: 

• Black Democratic candidates running in the South have implored Black voters to go to the polls in response to the gutting of the Voting Rights Act.
• High-profile Democrats across the country have some hope in Scott Colom’s bid for a seat in the Senate.

Photo: Anna Foley/The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

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Our Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips, heads to Roraima to hear what’s at stake for the rainforest and the communities that live there in the Brazilian presidential runoff on Sunday. Send your comments and questions to tif.questions@theguardian.com. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus

The first midterms to feature AI slop ads are also on track to be the most expensive ever.

This episode was produced by Danielle Hewitt with help from Hady Mawajdeh, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Gabriel Dunatov, engineered by David Tatasciore, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.

A person holds a smartphone displaying President Donald Trump’s Truth Social post featuring an AI-generated video of him interacting with a tiger, while a laptop screen in the background shows footage circulated on social media of William Chapman being attacked by a tiger at Britain’s Yorkshire Wildlife Park, on October 14, 2026 in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China. Photo illustration by Cheng Xin/Getty Images.

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