Lever Time

Last month, U.S. Senate candidate Angie Nixon, a member of the Working Families Party and Democratic Socialists of America, spoke at the nation’s largest annual conference of Black political power and called out one of the event’s corporate sponsors. Lever columnist Morgan Harper attended the conference and noticed that Nixon was not alone — after years of quietly accepting corporate cash, some Black leaders are starting to push back against its influence. But will that shift in rhetoric help Democrats win at the polls, especially in a deep-red state like Florida, where millions are being spent to defeat Nixon?

Today on Lever Time, Morgan Harper sits down with Florida state Rep. Nixon (D) to discuss why she’s refusing corporate PAC money in her campaign against Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.), Gov. Ron DeSantis’ hand-picked appointee; why she believes challenging corporations and billionaires is essential to building more political power for Black voters; and why she’s confident that working-class voters in Florida are ready for democratic socialism.

You can read Morgan Harper’s essay here and more Lever reporting about Angie Nixon here.

BIG NEWS: We’re thrilled to announce that Lever Time received a 2026 Signal Award in the Activism, Public Service & Social Impact category — and thanks to supporters like you, Lever Time also won the Listeners' Choice award. As thanks, we’re offering a one-time discount for paid subscriptions. Click here to get 50% off ad-free episodes for life.

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With the midterms less than a month away, some pundits and polls suggest Democrats have the election in the bag. But is that really true? David Sirota travels to Minnesota to speak with someone who knows the danger of election complacency and overconfidence: Democratic Gov. Tim Walz.

Today on Lever Time, we’re airing David Sirota’s full conversation with Walz. They discuss the choices that led to a 2024 presidential defeat for the Democrats, from the party’s stance on the genocide in Gaza to Kamala Harris’s decision to campaign with Republican Liz Cheney. Ahead of the 2026 midterms, what can we learn from his experience? Does Walz believe the Democrats stand a chance? And what happens if the Democrats win and fail to deliver on their promises?

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Conversations From The Frontlines is a show about how social change actually happens - not just the issues making headlines, but the people organizing on the ground and doing the work to create lasting change. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Musk, a deep-dive investigative documentary about the world’s richest man, premieres this weekend, less than a month before the midterms. Maybe you haven’t heard about it — until recently, most major social media platforms declined to run paid promotions of the documentary’s trailer, citing rules on political content. What are Musk and Big Tech so afraid of?

Today on Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with the film’s creator, Academy Award-winning director Alex Gibney, to discuss the documentary’s shocking revelations. They explore Musk’s evolution from Democratic darling to Trump crony, his deadly approach to Tesla technology, his new U.S. government role planning the “future of war,” and his influence on the 2026 midterm elections.

We also have some big news: Lever Time has been named a finalist in the 2026 Signal Awards! But we need your help — please click on this link here and vote for Lever Time. It’s totally free and only takes a few minutes. The voting deadline is October 15. Thanks for all your support!

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Today we’re sharing a special episode from You Might Be Right, the chart-topping politics podcast from the Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs at the University of Tennessee. It was recently named a “must-listen” by both NPR and Spotify.

Each episode, former Tennessee Governors from both sides of the aisle Phil Bredesen and Bill Haslam tackle timely conversations about government and policy. At a time where mainstream news reverts to shouting matches, and most political commentary generates more heat than light, You Might Be Right is a great place for even-keeled conversations about tough topics.

Today, we’re sharing their recent episode where they decode the real forces driving voter behavior in 2026. From kitchen-table anxieties about affordability and health care to deepening fears about public safety, the Governors sit down with Republican pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson and Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg to unpack the data behind the headlines and reveal what candidates on both sides are getting right, and wrong, as they sprint toward Election Day.

For more episodes like this, make sure to follow You Might Be Right on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. And tell them we sent you.
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