• Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz will spend this week barnstorming through the so-called “Blue Wall” states: Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Between now and Saturday, the two have more than a dozen campaign events planned in the three states. While the ‘Blue Wall’ offers Democrats the best shot at winning the White House, the Harris campaign’s slate of stops there this week also reflects the party’s growing unease as the presidential race tightens. All three states also feature major Senate races that Democrats need to win for the party to hold onto its majority. Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin joins us to talk about her race and what the party needs to do to win these battleground states.
• And in headlines: The Pentagon announced plans to send an anti-missile defense system to Israel, Republican Vice Presidential Candidate J.D. Vance still won’t say Trump lost the 2020 election, and a Las Vegas man was arrested outside former President Donald Trump’s rally in California’s Coachella Valley.

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TRANSCRIPT

Jane Coaston: It’s Monday, October 14th. I’m Jane Coaston and this is What a Day. The show where we are disappointed to hear about the closure of more than 400 7-Elevens. How will future generations obtain energy drinks that are days away from being banned by the FDA? The mind shudders to think. [music break] On today’s show, J.D. Vance can’t tell the truth. Plus, the Chicago Marathon is witness to history. But first, with three weeks left to go until Election Day, both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are in nonstop campaign mode. They’re trying to move as many people as they can to their side ahead of what polls show could be one of the closest elections in history. Fun. Harris made that reality clear at a rally Sunday in Greenville, North Carolina, a battleground state that Democrats hope to flip this election cycle. 

[clip of Vice President Kamala Harris] I couldn’t be more excited to see everybody here, but I’m going to tell you, it’s going to be a tight race. Until the very end. And we are running as the underdog. So we have some hard work ahead of us, but we like hard work. [audience cheers] Hard work is good work. 

Jane Coaston: Meanwhile, Trump rallied in central Arizona Sunday, doing his whole apocalyptic anti-immigrant thing. 

[clip of Donald Trump] So I will rescue Arizona and every town across America that has been invaded and conquered. They’ve been conquered they’re conquering the towns. 

Jane Coaston: It’s like he learned what the word conquering meant and now just wants to keep using it a lot. Whatever. Starting today, Harris and her vice presidential pick, Tim Walz, will kick off a major swing through the so-called blue wall states, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Harris will be in Erie, Pennsylvania, today for a rally and a local stop to talk with Black voters, while Walz heads to Eau Claire and Green Bay, Wisconsin. Between the two, the campaign has planned more than a dozen stops in the three states between now and Saturday. Yes, these are big, important swing states, but these stops also reflect the growing unease Democrats are starting to feel about the blue wall. Winning all three gives Harris the best shot of winning the White House and sparing us all the horrors of another Trump presidency. Another thing that all three states have in common is that they feature big Senate races that Democrats need to win if the party has any chance of holding on to its majority. And here, too, the races have tightened considerably, especially in Wisconsin, where two term Democrat Tammy Baldwin is trying to fend off Republican businessman Eric Hovde. Last week, the Cook Political Report moved the Wisconsin Senate race from a lean Democrat to a tossup. So for more on what’s going on in Wisconsin, I spoke with Senator Baldwin. She joined us just after a campaign event in rural northwest Wisconsin. You can hear them breaking down the event in the background. We talked about what Democrats need to do there to win this major battleground state. Senator Baldwin, welcome to What a Day.

Tammy Baldwin: I am so excited to join you. It’s great. 

Jane Coaston: So you’re up for reelection next month and your race has tightened significantly in the last few weeks. Why do you think Republicans in Wisconsin have been able to close some of the gap in your race? 

Tammy Baldwin: Well, a lot of the distance was undecided voters who now they’re looking at the U.S. Senate race. And remember, we’re a 50/50 state. 

Jane Coaston: Right. 

Tammy Baldwin: You know Trump won in ’16 by 7/10ths of 1% and Biden won in 2020 by 6/10ths of 1%. So having razor thin margins is nothing new to Wisconsin, but we have to sprint through the finish line and make sure that we get our folks out, every single one of them. The fact that the race is tightening has not escaped the notice of national Republicans. They are now just putting enormous sums of money into our state in the final days. In fact, last week, Mitch McConnell said he was going to send $23 million of super PAC money into Wisconsin. It’s like $1 million a day. So anyways, we have our work cut out for us. We have got to sprint through the finish line. 

Jane Coaston: You mentioned a little bit earlier that Wisconsin is always a 50/50 state. Polling had Harris with a good lead up in Wisconsin, but now it’s pretty much a tossup again. What do you think her campaign could be doing or should be doing to keep Wisconsin Democrats engaged and excited? 

Tammy Baldwin: In my mind, the way you win campaigns in Wisconsin is showing up. Meeting voters where they are. And you don’t just go to the big blue parts of the state. You go to red parts of the state, you go to rural parts of the state, you go to um suburban areas and purple areas. And I have seen that with the Harris Walz campaign. They have been back to Wisconsin repeatedly. They know how important a battleground state it is. And so I think that’s good. And I think they’re also, you know, sort of following the advice that I share with them, which is show up in places where they’re not expecting you. People get really excited to be seen and heard. And so uh that’s what you got to do to win a race in Wisconsin. That’s what I do, both as senator as well as as a candidate for reelection. Show up. 

Jane Coaston: Yeah, I think that they’re employing what we’ve seen in a couple of other states, kind of a lose by less strategy in more conservative areas. Do you think that that’s more effective than, say, going all in on Milwaukee and Madison? 

Tammy Baldwin: Well, I think in a race this critical, you have to do all of the above. So we’re doing this interview. I am in Dunn County, Wisconsin, which is rural northwestern Wisconsin. We just had this incredible event at a barn with hundreds of Democrats who have come from the area and are really, really excited about doing doors and talking to their neighbors. And they know that their mission necessarily is not to win every county in this region, but to do better to bring the Democratic numbers up, because we want every single Democrat who is there to participate. 

Jane Coaston: Senator, you have an opportunity now to talk to our people, very anxious Democrats. You know that in 2016 and 2020, this was an incredibly close race. There’s a lot of anxiety from a lot of Democrats who are basically thinking about, is this 2016 all over again, especially in a state like Wisconsin. Speak to the anxious Democrats listening to this podcast. What would you tell them? 

Tammy Baldwin: Well, I’d say a couple of things. One, this is night and day different from the anxiety and worry I was hearing in July before Joe Biden did this incredibly patriotic thing to say, you know, I’m not going to run and endorse Kamala Harris as vice president. And we just have to reflect on our joyous warrior inner selves that we all felt in those days after Joe Biden stepped aside. In Wisconsin, you know, her first stop as the presumptive nominee was West Allis, Wisconsin, right outside of Milwaukee. And then to pick a running mate, a governor of our neighboring state who gets us, which is a nod to the Midwest. Yeah. We should be very joyous warriors right now. And yes, there are always anxieties because the stakes are so high. Our reproductive rights and freedoms rest on who our next president is. Our health care system. Whether they’ll try again to repeal the Affordable Care Act or not rests on who our next president is and which party controls the U.S. Senate. So I get that people know that their rights and freedoms and very important things are on the line. But we’ve just got to, as I said, sprint through the finish line. 

Jane Coaston: What do you think needs to happen in the next week to get other swing state Democrats like yourself over the line in November? You talked about sprinting to the finish line. What are you going to be focused on doing over the next three weeks to do that? 

Tammy Baldwin: So I’m planning several tours throughout the state. We’re going to do an RV tour, which I’m kind of excited about. Um. But again, with an effort to get to all corners of the state of Wisconsin, we need to meet voters where they are and every place I’m showing up. I am seeing very engaged, very excited Democrats who are doing their part to get their family members and neighbors registered to help people form a plan to vote. Uh. But it is really about what we’re doing at people’s doors, the conversations we’re having. And we have to do that every weekend between now and Election Day. And um I also would say national Republicans have seen my race get tighter and they’re spending now just millions upon millions of dollars. There’s not that much time left to spend that. And so Democrats are also working really hard to make sure that our voices aren’t drowned on the airwaves and online between now and Election Day. So, you know, when people go to our websites and chip in a little bit, it helps us fight back, too. I wish that weren’t the case. But sadly, some people do make up their decisions based on what they see on TV. 

Jane Coaston: Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are scheduled to make some appearances in Wisconsin this week as part of a big tour they’re doing across six states. What do you think they need to convey to voters to keep them energized? Like, I’m energized and you’re energized, but what do they need to say to everybody else? 

Tammy Baldwin: Look, voters are really concerned about the high price of things. And we know Democrats have a very solid message on that about all the things we’re doing to lower prices and to go after corporate price gouging, etc.. I think it’s going to be really important to highlight those economic issues. But never forget about highlighting the freedoms and rights that we have lost because of the former President Trump and his Supreme Court. These are vital. And in a state like Wisconsin, where we have on our books a criminal abortion ban that was passed in 1849, resulting in the fact that we have 69 counties out of 72 where there are no services available. Reproductive freedoms is a huge issue. Other freedoms are very, very important in this state also. But I will expect and hope that as Vice President Harris and Governor Walz return to the state, that they highlight the issues that are top of mind for Wisconsin voters. 

Jane Coaston: Senator, thank you so much for joining me. Really appreciate your time. 

Tammy Baldwin: Thank you. It’s a delight. 

Jane Coaston: That was my conversation with Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin. We’ll get to the news in a moment but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe. Leave a five star review on Apple Podcasts. Watch us on YouTube and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. [music break]

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Jane Coaston: And now the news. 

[sung] Headlines. 

[clip of President Joe Biden] And it’s in moments like this, we come together to take care of each other. Not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans. Americans who need help and Americans who’d help you if you were in the same situation. We are one United States. 

Jane Coaston: President Biden spoke at a press conference in Saint Pete Beach, Florida, on Sunday. The president visited the state to survey some of the areas hit hardest by Hurricanes Milton and Helene. On Friday, Biden approved a disaster declaration that will open up more federal assistance to the Florida counties recovering from Milton. Also over the weekend, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced the opening of several sites where residents can go to get up to ten gallons of gas for free. Gas shortages following the hurricanes have forced some Floridians to wait hours in line to fill up their vehicles. But on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson again shut down bipartisan calls to bring Congress back early from its current recess in order to pass additional recovery funding. Johnson told CBS that passing the funding, quote, “can wait” because at the end of September–

[clip of Mike Johnson] Congress appropriated 20 billion additional dollars to FEMA so that they would have the necessary resources to address immediate needs. 

Jane Coaston: FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said last week that it has enough money for response and recovery efforts. However, in a letter from earlier this month, President Biden informed Congress that the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program will run out of money before Congress returns in November. The Pentagon announced on Sunday that the U.S. is sending an anti-missile defense system to Israel, along with almost 100 soldiers to operate it. A spokesman for the Pentagon said in the statement that the system is being sent to defend against any future attacks from Iran, which fired nearly 200 missiles at Israel earlier this month. Iran’s foreign ministry responded to the news on X/Twitter condemning the U.S.’s decision and said, quote, “I say it clearly that we have no red lines in defending our people and interests.” In a separate statement, the Pentagon detailed a Saturday call between U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant. The readout says that Austin raised concerns over reports that Israel has fired multiple times on U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon over the past week. But despite that conversation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instead released a video on Sunday telling the United Nations interim forces in Lebanon, also known as Unifil, to leave southern Lebanon. 

[clip of Benjamin Netanyahu] Mr. Secretary General, get the Unifil forces out of harm’s way. It should be done right now immediately. 

Jane Coaston: In an interview released over the weekend, vice presidential candidate Ohio Senator J.D. Vance sat down with New York Times journalist Lulu Garcia-Navarro, and she repeatedly asked Vance to answer a simple yes or no in response to whether he believes Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. Vance gave the same non-answers he used earlier this month during the vice presidential debate. 

[clip of J.D. Vance] I think that Donald Trump and I have both raised a number of issues with the 2020 election, but we’re focused on the future. 

Jane Coaston: Are you? After that he tried to bring the Hunter Biden laptop story back up to deflect from the question. 

[clip of Lulu Garcia-Navarro] Senator Vance, I’m going to ask you again. Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election? 

[clip of J.D. Vance] Did big technology companies censor a story that independent studies have suggested would have cost Trump millions of votes? I think that’s the question.

[clip of Lulu Garcia-Navarro] Senator Vance. I’m going to ask you again. Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election? 

[clip of J.D. Vance] And I’ve answered your question with another question. You answer my question and I’ll answer yours. 

Jane Coaston: That’s not how answering a question works. Answering a question requires an answer. Come on. A Las Vegas man was arrested outside former President Donald Trump’s rally in Coachella Valley, California, on Saturday. According to Riverside County police, the man was illegally carrying a shotgun, a handgun and a high capacity magazine in his vehicle. The suspect was allegedly caught using fake VIP and press passes to get past a checkpoint about half a mile from the rally, which prompted authorities to search his SUV where they found the guns. The suspect, a registered Republican, an online Trump fan, was taken into custody without incident before being released on $5,000 bail. The incident did not affect Trump or any of the rally attendees. However, the Riverside Sheriff, a vocal Trump supporter, said, quote, “We probably stopped another assassination attempt.” Hmm. And that’s the news. [music break] And one more thing. Rarely do I get to have a moment to celebrate something that is just unbelievably cool and good, something that symbolizes human achievement and progress at the highest levels. Of course, I’m here to talk about running. Maybe you’re not a runner. And hey, I get it. But maybe you are. Maybe you, like millions of Americans, got started running during the pandemic or you’ve been running since people were wearing those weird barefoot toe shoes. Marathons are getting more popular and elite runners are getting better at them. New records have been set in 2022 and 2023 for men. And in 2019, 2023 and twice in 2024 for women. For comparison’s sake, between 1988 and 1998, no new world records were set in the marathon for either men or women. The Boston Marathon even announced that in 2026, qualifying times for people ages 18 to 59 will be five minutes faster. Here’s LettyRunz, marathoner and YouTuber. 

[clip of LettyRunz] This reflects the growing trend of faster and more competitive runners and the increasing demand for the race. 

Jane Coaston: Kenyan runner Ruth Chepngetich set a new women’s world record at the Chicago Marathon Sunday with an unofficial time of just 2:09:57. She averaged 4:57 minutes per mile for 26 miles. Here she is talking to a reporter after the race. 

[clip of Ruth Chepngetich] I feel so great. I am mad proud of myself and I thank God for for the victory and the world record. This is my dream that that’s come true. 

Jane Coaston: Hell, yeah Ruth and hell yeah runners, I see you. Trying out new gels and getting your longest long run done while working a nine to five and somehow managing to consume enough food so that you don’t bonk at mile 18. And I hope some of you are doing it all while listening to What a Day. [music break]

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Jane Coaston: That’s all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe. Leave a review. Go for a run and tell your friends to listen. And if you’re into reading and not just FEMA spending documents like me, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Jane Coaston. And Donald Trump did not win the 2020 election. See, J.D., It’s not hard. [music break] What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded by Jerik Centeno and mixed by Bill Lancz. Our associate producer is Raven Yamamoto. Our producer is Michell Eloy. We had production help today from Ethan Oberman, Tyler Hill, JoHanna Case, Joseph Dutra, Greg Walters and Julia Claire. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison and our executive producer is Adriene Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. [music break]

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