Turn off your television, it’s time for The Stakes. The Stakes breaks down the 2026 political landscape. Hosted by Teresa Wierzbianska and Scott Baba, this KPFA News show delivers analysis of national, state, and local races and policy battles. Thursdays at 10 a.m.
On today’s show, we go back to Maine, where just a week after Democratic senate candidate Graham Platner suddenly departed the race amid sexual assault allegations, voters are now calling for Republican senator Susan Collins to exit stage left after a second person was killed by ICE over the past week, this time in the small community of Biddeford, Maine. We’ll talk with longtime activist and former Maine DSA co-chair Todd Chretien about what Mainers on the ground are saying as they continue protesting outside Collins’ office and the ICE detention center in that state. Republican senator Lindsay Graham from South Carolina also suddenly departed the senate race… Graham was declared dead after a brief illness over the weekend. Will this sudden shakeup throw energy to his Democratic opponent Dr. Annie Andrews? Also, Trump is pulling out all the stops now to invalidate opponents and continue to complain about te results of the 2020 elections. This time, he’s charging Georgia senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock with fraud after the two won their respective senate seats that year. We will hear from The Nation’s John Nichols about Trump’s so-called Election Integrity plan.