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Stress Test, from Mother Jones

by Mother Jones

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Latest episodes

  • Meet the Trump-Backed Candidates Drowning in Scandal

    October 21, 2026 · 40 min

    A candidate for governor in Colorado said living together without getting married leads to demonic possession. A Senate candidate in Georgia featured in his campaign materials his son-in-law, who has promoted white nationalist and…

  • Panic Attack: Inside Musk's Midterm Disinformation Blitz

    October 16, 2026 · 32 min

    Election Day is less than three weeks away, and panic is setting in for the GOP. “We see Republican groups pulling money away from House incumbents,” says host David Corn on the latest episode of Stress Test. “They’re cutting them off…

  • Whose Jesus? The Left and Right Fight Over Faith in the Midterms

    October 14, 2026 · 31 min

    Christian nationalism—the idea that strict adherence to Christian theology should govern American political life, separation of church and state be damned—has been on the rise in America for years. Some vanguard elements of this…

  • The Midterm Spending Bonanza Is Threatening Democracy Like Never Before

    October 9, 2026 · 30 min

    Big money has long dominated American politics, with wealthy donors, corporations, and special interests dumping tons of cash into presidential and congressional elections. This year is no exception. But what’s different is that the quid…

  • "The Single Most Toxic Issue in the Midterms": How America Turned on Data Centers

    October 7, 2026 · 27 min

    America is hopelessly divided along party lines. That's a stubborn fact, we're told, and the polling bears it out: Democrats dislike Republicans and Republicans dislike Democrats, in almost precisely the same proportions. But every…

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  • "Cheat Like Hell": Can Trump Actually Rig the 2026 Midterms?

    October 2, 2026 · 31 min

    He tried really, really hard in 2020. With his souring presidency on the line, he's intensifying his efforts again. You know what we’re talking about: Trump's election meddling. "After 2020, I think one of the lessons that some of us…

  • Introducing “Stress Test”: The Midterms Will Test Democracy. We'll Help You Through It.

    October 1, 2026 · 2 min

    It's only a few weeks away. It feels like an eternity. The midterm elections have officially entered their looming phase. Worriers of all stripes (doomscrollers, political junkies, fuel tank fillers), we get it. There's a war, an unpopular…

  • A Special Announcement

    December 3, 2021 · 2 min

    Things have been a bit quiet around these parts lately, huh? After a few months bringing you some of our best feature investigations read aloud, in partnership with Audm, we’re going through some behind-the-scenes newsroom changes that…

  • Today It’s Critical Race Theory. 200 Years Ago It Was Abolitionist Literature.

    October 29, 2021 · 14 min

    We bet you’ve heard one phrase more and more this year than ever before: Critical Race Theory. It’s an obsession on Fox News, and it’s the topic, along with anti-mask protests, raging at school board hearings across the country—a new…

  • Are These Black Leaders on the Cusp of a New National Movement?

    October 21, 2021 · 55 min

    With everything going on these days—we’ll spare you the list of existential crises we’re currently living through—now seems like the perfect time to hear from two leaders who have a revolutionary vision of what this country could be. Last…

  • The Nightmare of Getting an Abortion in the South

    October 9, 2021 · 23 min

    A week ago, thousands of people turned out for Women's March rallies across the country, galvanized by Texas' recent six-week abortion ban and the very real fear that Roe v. Wade could soon be overturned, as challenges to the Texas law and…

  • Ammon Bundy Is Running to Be Idaho’s Next Governor

    September 16, 2021 · 1 hr 0 min

    Mother Jones reporter Stephanie Mencimer has been following Ammon Bundy for years. He's the guy you'll remember who became a kind of folk hero on the far-right after he joined his father, rancher Cliven Bundy, in leading an armed standoff…

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About the show

The midterms aren't just a horse race. They're a stress test, a referendum on where the country is headed, assuming the guy in the White House lets voters weigh in at all. Stress Test, from Mother Jones, is a pop-up video podcast tracking the fight, the money, and the lies—and hunting hard for hope—all the way through Election Day. Washington Bureau Chief David Corn and Video Correspondent Garrison Hayes connect the day's headlines to our newsroom's deeply reported coverage. We'll dig into the real threat of election interference; a crop of extreme, scandal-soaked candidates; immigration enforcement and its fallout; the remaking of Washington, physically and ideologically; the backlash against data centers; the war in Iran; a desperate president whose numbers are cratering; and what opposition politics could look like once the votes are counted. Tune in every Wednesday and Friday.