🎙️Team Huddle: Election Attacks, Aging Leaders, and Local Wins
Featuring Rob Richie and Nivea Krishnan
Rob Richie and Expand Democracy Fellow Nivea Krishnan sit down for one of Expand Democracy’s periodic team check-ins — no outside guest this time, just two people steeped in this work talking through the moment. (Senior Fellow Eveline Dowling would normally be here too, but she welcomed a baby boy this weekend, well ahead of schedule — many congratulations and well wishes from all of us.)
The conversation opens with the news that dominated the past two weeks: Trump’s July 16th prime-time address on the state of American elections, followed days later by the firing of the Election Assistance Commission’s commissioners. Rob and Nivea unpack what the EAC actually does, why its independence matters heading into the 2026 midterms, and what happens when career election administrators become political targets.
From there, the two spotlight ongoing conversations in the democracy reform space. Rob discusses the prospect of cumulative voting as another way to change winner-take-all elections in addition to more mainstream propositions of proportional representation. Nivea dives into a generational reckoning that’s been building for years: half of American voters are under 55, while 80% of the U.S. Senate is 55 or older. Drawing on a Leadership Now Project analysis and North Dakota’s newly passed age-limit ballot measure, they ask what Congress could learn from the succession planning every well-run business takes for granted — and why there’s already striking cross-partisan support (Pew found 82% of Republicans and 76% of Democrats back age limits for federal officials).
The episode closes on a hopeful note, with each host spotlighting a democracy innovation they’re excited about, from featuring organizational candidate endorsements on primary ballots to a grassroots push to bring proportional ranked-choice voting to Tempe, Arizona.
Listen now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: