The Downballot: The history of whistle-stop tours (transcript)
Is there anything more iconic in American politics than the whistle-stop tour? Author Edward Segal joins us on this week's episode of "The Downballot" to discuss his new book unearthing the storied history of campaigning by train. Segal takes us through nearly two centuries of rail campaigns, from early pioneers like Abraham Lincoln to the great popularizer of whistle-stop touring, William Jennings Bryan, all the way up to "Amtrak Joe" Biden. Along the way, learn how politicians' trains were actually deployed, lessons for today's campaigners, and the surprising era Segal identifies as the heyday for these tours.
Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard also dive deep into Democrat Tom Keen's huge special election victory in Florida on Tuesday night, including why the result was a purely self-inflicted wound for Ron DeSantis and how it'll help Sunshine State Democrats get their mojo back. The Davids then dissect the many twists and turns in the court-ordered redistricting process that's now underway in Louisiana, where the state's new GOP governor seems intent on punishing a political enemy and rewarding a friend—only the former is a Republican and the latter a Democrat!
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