Party Lines with Kurt & Erin

← Party Lines with Kurt & Erin13. Aug. · 29 Min.

27: Split Decision: Inside This Week's Primaries

27: Split Decision: Inside This Week's Primaries13. Aug.29 Min.

Erin Maguire and Kurt Bardella break down a split-decision primary week — Democrats dodging a bullet in Wisconsin, a razor-thin race in Michigan, and what it all means for the establishment-versus-socialist fight inside the party. Then they debut a new segment, "Half-Baked," digging into ideas that don't hold up: the WNBA's refusal to define who qualifies as a woman, and Mike Lindell's unsupported fraud claims after getting blown out in his Minnesota primary. They preview the next wave of primaries (Alaska, Florida, Wyoming and beyond), including the "Dan versus Dan" dirty trick in Alaska's Senate race. Plus: speculation on who replaces outgoing White House Press Secretary Caroline Levine, and a very silly debate about whether Abdul El-Sayed's one-on-one football challenge to Mike Rogers is even a real sport.

Topics Covered

Split primary results in Wisconsin and Michigan, and what they signal about the Democratic Party's direction

Whether pollsters missed the real story of the primaries

The "enthused socialist base" versus black voter turnout concerns, per Rahm Emanuel's warnings

James Carville, Hasan Piker, and the Democrats' "big tent" contradictions

AOC's attempt to walk back some of her "woke" positioning ahead of 2028

New segment debut: "Half-Baked," starting with the WNBA's refusal to define biological womanhood

Caitlin Clark's on-court treatment and the WNBA's business decisions

Mike Lindell's blowout primary loss in Minnesota and his fraud claims

Wisconsin's Milwaukee USB drive controversy versus Lindell's unsupported allegations

Why TV ad spending mattered more than ideology in deciding several primaries