where do you think it comes from? What, what surprised you about the South today?

I think that, I mean, there's so much, we should go back and talk about AOC some more.

Cause like, I feel like she is a monster talent.

And like the thing that she has a comment with Bill Clinton is she understands what people's lives are like.

And you get that when you, You know, when anyone speaks with her, they're going to they are going to be able to if she can get in front of people.

Right.

She's going to be able to she's going to be able to translate that.

Came out

No.

Uh, even if you could, l- you know, it's al- it's also, it, it's also if you wanna be president, you wanna lead the country, you need to, you need to lead all of the country.

Um, but now, also, every, every demographic is moving to the South.

It is the fastest growing region.

Texas, North Carolina, Georgia will probably all have more, um, congressional seats after the next census.

You cannot win, a Democratic candidate cannot win going, probably in 2028, maybe you only need to w- win one state in the South, but going forward, you're going to have to win multiple states in the South, multiple states in the South.

Yeah

... would be a fantastic candidate.

We don't know that's gonna happen here, but if you're a Democrat and you're feeling good, you see these numbers, what's the next move? What's the strategy now?

I think that it's not just saying, um...

It's not just, um, beating up on the Republicans, but it's, because that's there.

I think you wanna take it a little higher to make the critique of, of beyond, something beyond Trump, but what, how rep- every way that Republicans have failed to act, you know, to, uh, in the, in the Congress, in the state, in the state legislature if you're in, and if you're in Texas, the governor.

Um, and make it a bigger argument about what you would do and w- and how that it's gonna happen, 'cause credibility is such a hard thing.

I mean, when I was in Texas, I felt like what Ron White said, which is that, which I think it's encouraging for the candidates there, is that people have just decided they're done.

You know, it's not as if they, they, they were moved to, to support James Talarico because of, of, of what you said at the beginning.

[laughs]

Yeah.

That's why you see Tallarico...

You know, one of the reasons why you see Tallarico doing so well in Texas, Ossoff so far ahead in Georgia.

Um, but the other thing that I noticed from this weekend that's really telling is all of the Republicans that, uh, are disagreeing with the President on the economy.

It's as if the, the, the tariff war with Canada gave people another permission structure to take a shot at the President and make it seem like it's warranted, [laughs] and they're not gonna take some blowback from him because there's news about tariffs.

But really, it's an opportunity for Republicans to try to hit him on the economy in general and try to distance themselves, um, from it.

But it's all...

What do we do?"

Can they capitalize on that, or are they gonna be focused on internal divisions amongst themselves?

No, 'cause the individual candidates will be out there m- uh, making their campaign argument around the economy.

And what I think is encouraging for Democrats, it's not just, um, 'cause there's been a few polls over the last couple weeks that show Democratic advantage on the economy, and it's not just that they're doing better compared to Republicans, it's that they're just doing better on the economy.

It's like the, the number of p- p- who i- in terms of do you f- do you trust Democrats with the economy, that regardless of Republicans, that number has gone up.

So that, what does that mean? That means that Democrats are connecting on a message about focusing on all the things that they're gonna do to lower your costs.

And, you know, that's what the individual candidates are gonna be ma- the kinda argument that they're going to be making.

And also, you see even Democrats that are not running, but in positions of power, uh, Democratic governors in particular, uh, very effective at delivering that message, and I think it's, and, and you can see it's breaking through.

Mm

It's amazing.

But it, it just, it feels like, and what's good about it, um, I'm happy to tell both Nicole and Tim this, is that because Trump is not ideological and so many of his supporters were not, you know, c- just y- your, your conventional con- um, conservative Republican, people seem really open now to other alternatives no matter what the party is.

Um, and they, and like you just don't hear, you don't feel any energy about Trump.

You don't see the MAGA hats.

You don't see the MAGA signs.

You don't see Trump signs.

Um, but I do find, you know, in Texas, found a number of Republicans who are voting for both Tallarico and Hinojosa, and it's partly because they feel like they were lied to on the Republican side over the last few years, and things that they were told to be scared of weren't true.

Jen, how do you counter that?

Feels like 49

49It, I know, but it's like, I think it matters that it's happened over that...

Like, it's been very particularly corrosive 'cause it's gone on for so long, and he just seems exhausted by it all now, right? I mean, he used to, he used to be able to act like he cared, and people, so many people supported him 'cause they felt like he, even as wealthy as he was, he understood what their lives were like, he had the same kind of values, he was gonna look out for them, and now he's actively telling people, "I'm not.

I think inflation is fine.

Everything's great." And he's just focused on what, you know, what arcs he can build in the Capitol, and the Reflecting Pool, and more gold in the White House.

And it just seems like all about legacy.

And we're only...

Amazing.

So yeah, an unusual environment for us to find ourselves in.

Uh, Mike, if I...

I, I, I remember this 'cause I remember, um, the fact that the...

I think the audience was told not to s- sit, not to stay in their seats, and it was like, it was not the normal response that Wham! would get when it, when it walked out onto a stage.

And you could see having to really work it to get the audience into it, um, along with all of the political pressures.

What do you think that this story is fundamentally about?

Jen, tell us some of the things you learned.

So, um, the...

Yeah.

Which is like he does not understand Georgia, and Georgia is a...

And this is what's like great about the show is like spend like a week in these states.

Georgia's very different from any other Southern state, and Senator Ossoff kinda gets at that when he talks about the history of the state, right? Like in Atlanta, a decision was made, you know, after Jim Crow by Mayor Hartsfield, "We're gonna be the city that is too busy to hate because racism is bad for business," right? So like Atlanta grew up differently because of that, because of the civil rights movement.

It's the cradle of the Confederacy, but also the birthplace of the civil rights movement.

Jon Ossoff as a Jewish senator reflects that.

You know, he was sworn in with a, with a prayer book that was from a, from a synagogue where Martin Luther King spoke and was bombed subsequently.

What do you see happening there?