Accessibility links
The NPR Politics Podcast Every weekday, NPR's best political reporters are there to explain the big news coming out of Washington and the campaign trail. They don't just tell you what happened. They tell you why it matters. Every afternoon.

Political wonks - get wonkier with The NPR Politics Podcast+. Your subscription supports the podcast and unlocks a sponsor-free feed. Learn more at plus.npr.org/politics
The NPR Politics Podcast

Podcast Directory

The NPR Politics Podcast

From NPR

Every weekday, NPR's best political reporters are there to explain the big news coming out of Washington and the campaign trail. They don't just tell you what happened. They tell you why it matters. Every afternoon.

Political wonks - get wonkier with The NPR Politics Podcast+. Your subscription supports the podcast and unlocks a sponsor-free feed. Learn more at plus.npr.org/politics

Most Recent Episodes

Mike Johnson Keeps His Job — For Now

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks at a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. J. Scott Applewhite/AP hide caption

toggle caption
J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Mike Johnson Keeps His Job — For Now

Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a motion Wednesday afternoon to remove Speaker of the House Mike Johnson from his job. It failed by a wide, bipartisan margin. What happens now?

Mike Johnson Keeps His Job — For Now

Listen · 10:58
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198005701/1250106981" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Some GOP House Members Want To Fire The Speaker. Again.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., pauses during a news conference amid threats that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, is threatening to oust Johnson from his leadership post, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. J. Scott Applewhite/AP hide caption

toggle caption
J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Some GOP House Members Want To Fire The Speaker. Again.

Some members of the House Republican conference are mad at Speaker of the House Mike Johnson for a variety of reasons. But do they have the votes to kick him out of his role — and send the House back to the paralysis it faced last year?

Some GOP House Members Want To Fire The Speaker. Again.

Listen · 13:24
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197963274/1250041621" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
A Vote's A Vote — Enthusiastic Or Not

"I Voted" stickers are set out at a polling place in Newtown, Pa., Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Matt Rourke/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Matt Rourke/AP

A Vote's A Vote — Enthusiastic Or Not

With 26 weeks to go until Election Day, voters' opinions on the major candidates are forming. We explore the different — and similar — issues motivating people across all ages to go to the polls, like abortion, the economy & Israel's war in Gaza against Hamas.

A Vote's A Vote — Enthusiastic Or Not

Listen · 13:03
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197963205/1249765394" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
How To Hire A Vice President

Staffers disinfect the lectern and adjust the vice presidential seal prior to a speech by then-Vice President Mike Pence, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at Lanconia Municipal Airport in Gilford, N.H. Robert F. Bukaty/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Robert F. Bukaty/AP

How To Hire A Vice President

As the presumptive Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump faces a lot of big decisions — perhaps none more so than who his running mate will be. We discuss who might be on Trump's shortlist, and what qualities he's looking for in a vice president.

How To Hire A Vice President

Listen · 15:28
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197963196/1249402497" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Roundup: Biden's Shifting Coalition, Trump's Criminal Trial

The crowd is shown at a Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump campaign event in Freeland, Mich., Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Paul Sancya/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Paul Sancya/AP

Roundup: Biden's Shifting Coalition, Trump's Criminal Trial

A new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll highlights values differences between Democrats and Republicans, as well as a shift in President Biden's coalition of voters. And Donald Trump was fined nine thousand dollars for violating a gag order, meant to protect witnesses and jurors from harassment, during his criminal trial.

Roundup: Biden's Shifting Coalition, Trump's Criminal Trial

Listen · 25:33
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197956349/1249041472" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Exposé: Hostile Workplaces And Undisclosed Free Trips In The Federal Judiciary

Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building, Friday, June 19, 2015, in Washington. Andrew Harnik/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Andrew Harnik/AP

Exposé: Hostile Workplaces And Undisclosed Free Trips In The Federal Judiciary

NPR found that dozens of federal judges failed to disclose privately-funded travel to exclusive, often partisan events in exotic locales. And employees in the federal judiciary do not enjoy the same legal protections against workplace discrimination and harassment that cover most U.S. workers, which can help foster a hostile workplace environment.

Exposé: Hostile Workplaces And Undisclosed Free Trips In The Federal Judiciary

Listen · 16:07
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197963081/1248757391" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
How House Republicans Are Responding To Campus Protests

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks to the media on the Low Library steps on Columbia University's campus in New York, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Stefan Jeremiah/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Stefan Jeremiah/AP

How House Republicans Are Responding To Campus Protests

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson visited Columbia University with fellow members of the House Republican conference and met with students who said they felt unsafe on campus in the midst of protests calling on the university to shed its investments related to Israel. Now, Johnson is moving forward with legislation aimed at combating campus antisemitism — though some Democrats are criticizing the effort as a political stunt that could curb legitimate criticism of the Israeli government.

How House Republicans Are Responding To Campus Protests

Listen · 12:57
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197963046/1248536420" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Principle Or Pragmatism? Abortion Fight Divides Arizona Republicans

The Arizona state flag is carried outside of the Executive Tower in Phoenix. Matt York/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Matt York/AP

Principle Or Pragmatism? Abortion Fight Divides Arizona Republicans

A handful of Arizona Republicans are expected to join with Democratic lawmakers in order to repeal the state's near-total abortion ban. The move is an apparent effort to blunt the power of a November abortion access ballot measure that strategists say could spark a Democratic wave election in the state.

Principle Or Pragmatism? Abortion Fight Divides Arizona Republicans

Listen · 13:34
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197963034/1248226528" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
What Makes TikTok A National Security Threat?

The TikTok logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen which displays the TikTok home screen, Saturday, March 18, 2023. Michael Dwyer/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Michael Dwyer/AP

What Makes TikTok A National Security Threat?

After a series of classified national security briefings, Congress passed a law that will ban TikTok if it is not sold by its Chinese parent company. It is not clear what specific risks they're reacting to, but experts point to a widespread, if ineffectual, state-backed disinformation effort and other data-privacy concerns.

What Makes TikTok A National Security Threat?

Listen · 14:47
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197962966/1247885816" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Politics Weekly Roundup: Hush Money, Pocket Money

Trump merchandise is seen at a vendor selling pro-Trump items in Moosic, Pa., on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020, in Old Forge, Pa. Jacqueline Larma/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Jacqueline Larma/AP

Politics Weekly Roundup: Hush Money, Pocket Money

The first week of testimony in Donald Trump's criminal trial in New York centered on David Packer, the tabloid mogul who says he helped quash stories in order to benefit the then-candidate's presidential bid. And in a Pennsylvania county where voters expressed concerns about inflation ahead of the 2022 midterms, people say they're still frustrated by high prices but that the economy is not necessarily the top factor in who they'll vote for come November.

Politics Weekly Roundup: Hush Money, Pocket Money

Listen · 21:13
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197956345/1247551935" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The NPR Politics Podcast

Podcast Directory
or search npr.org