The Electorette

The Maryland governor on ICE, AI guardrails, and governing beyond the base Maryland Governor Wes Moore joins The Margin for a conversation about the power—and the limits—of state government as the 2026 midterms approach. The interview begins with election security. Moore responds to attacks on Maryland’s election administration and discusses threats to send federal agents to polling places, arguing that states have an essential role in protecting free and fair elections. The conversation then turns to ICE, including recent confrontations in Maryland, the agency’s dramatic growth in funding, accountability for federal agents, and what governors can do when federal immigration enforcement reaches into their communities. Moore also discusses artificial intelligence, calling for stronger guardrails around children, deepfakes, national security, infrastructure, and weapons systems while arguing that AI can still deliver meaningful benefits in areas such as health and education. And with the midterms approaching, the conversation turns to persuasion. Moore explains why he believes politicians have to talk to voters across party lines and tells the story of a Republican mayor in western Maryland who did not support him the first time he ran—but later endorsed his reelection after working with his administration following devastating flooding. His takeaway: politicians have to “show and prove,” make their case, and accept that persuasion begins with showing people who you’re willing to fight for. The Margin is a collaboration between The Electorette and URL Media, focused on the voters, communities, and issues shaping the margins of the 2026 midterm elections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. James Peterson of WURD Radio on the political legacy of 9/11, the GOP’s unusual midterm convention, Trump’s $5,000 promise, and the road to November. Twenty-five years after 9/11, what does this moment mean to an electorate increasingly too young to remember it? This week on The Margin, Jen Taylor-Skinner is joined by Dr. James Peterson, host of Evening WURDs on WURD Radio, to break down some of the biggest political stories shaping the midterms. They reflect on their own memories of September 11 and the policies and political realignment that followed — including what it means to teach 9/11 to a generation with no living memory of the attacks. Then they turn to the Republican Party's unusual midterm convention, Donald Trump's attempt to put himself at the center of an election in which he isn't on the ballot, his promise of a $5,000 “dividend” if Republicans win, and why some Republican candidates appear reluctant to tie themselves to him heading into November. The conversation also gets into Tim Scott's role at the convention and Peterson's argument about why Republicans want prominent Black surrogates while pursuing policies he describes as anti-Black. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ACLU Deputy Director Ming-Qi Chu on the Trump administration’s latest effort to gut Head Start—and the larger agenda behind it. The Trump administration is taking aim at Head Start, the 60-year-old program that provides early education, healthcare, nutrition, and other critical services to low-income children and their families. Jen talks with Ming-Qi Chu, deputy director of the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, about a proposed rule that would eliminate roughly 90% of Head Start’s performance standards, weaken health and developmental screening requirements, reduce services for children with disabilities, impose English-only instruction, and make enrollment more difficult for some of the country’s most vulnerable families. They also examine the larger agenda behind the attack: the Project 2025 vision of traditional gender roles, the dismantling of America’s care infrastructure, and why weakening childcare ultimately threatens women’s ability to work and remain economically independent. Plus, Jen shares her own connection to Head Start—and why the program mattered to her family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Skye Perryman on reclaiming our power ahead of the midterms In this episode of The Margin, a special midterm election series from The Electorette and URL Media, Jen Taylor-Skinner speaks with Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward and author of Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times. Perryman discusses the erosion of democratic guardrails, why Americans need “information sobriety” in an overwhelming news environment, and what history teaches us about the power of ordinary people to protect and expand democracy. With the midterms approaching, she explains why voting matters—but why the work of defending democracy cannot begin or end on Election Day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniella Mestyanek Young grew up in the Children of God, left at fifteen, and went on to become a U.S. Army intelligence officer. She has spent her career since studying how high-control groups are built — and arguing that the tactics are the same whether the group is a commune, a military unit, or a political movement. In this conversation she and Jen Taylor-Skinner examine what separates a political movement from a cult, and why the distinction matters less than the tactics being used. They discuss the role race has played in American cults from the 1960s onward, the "validity mascot" — the woman brought in to make a leader look normal — and why cult leaders become fixated on birth rates and gender roles. Young explains what she calls trance talk: the deliberate cadence cult leaders use, and a simple test for hearing past it. They also discuss what it takes to leave. Young is direct about the limits: there is no reliable, ethical way to pull someone out of a cult, and the deprogramming of the 1970s amounted to soft torture. What works, she argues, is waiting for the crack — and knowing what to ask when it appears. Daniella Mestyanek Young is the author of The Culting of America and Uncultured. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices