WBUR: Democrats won big. I hope they're ready for what comes next

                                                                                                                                                                                    

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THIS SHOULD STAND ALONE FOR THE ISSUES IT RAISES! 

IT IS TRAGIC THAT THOSE WHO CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE MORAL 

DEPRAVITY IGNORE THE HATE THEY EMBRACE! 

IN MASSACHUSETTS, A WEALTHY TRUMPER BLABBED SUPERFICIAL 

RHETORIC ABOUT HIS OVERSIMPLIFIED SOLUTIONS....DID ANY SINGLE 

MASSACHUSETTS REPUBLICAN CONDEMN ICE GETAPO THUGS INJURING, 

ABUSING AND KILLING INNOCENENTS? PARENTS REPORTED THAT ICE GESTAPO 

THUGS KIDNAPPED THEIR CHILDREN AND ICE PRETENDS THEY WERE 

"UNACCOMPANIED" ? 

ICE GESTAPO THUGS ARE USING UNMARKED VEHICLES TO RUN DOWN 

PEOPLE....HOW IMMUNE CAN REPUBLICANS AND THEIR SUPPORTERS BE? 

THIS IS NOT ABOUT POLITICS! THIS IS ABOUT MORAL DEPRAVITY!

Democrats won big. I hope they're ready for what comes next

• Eileen McNamara

November 04, 2026

Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed, a Democrat, speaks during a midterm election night watch party on November 04, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan. (Salwan Georges/Getty Images)

Turns out there is a floor below which Americans will not sink.

We drew the line at smearing as a liar an Ohio physician whose stepfather was indicted for raping her as a child. We rejected the racist characterization as a jihadist of a Michigan-born Rhodes Scholar of Egyptian heritage. We recoiled at the perversion of a Texas educator’s empathy for gay and trans youth into a penchant for pedophilia.

Dr. Amy Acton will be moving into the governor’s mansion in Ohio. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is now the U.S. senator-elect from Michigan. And come January, former middle school teacher James Talarico will represent Texas in the upper chamber of the U.S. Congress.

Democrats are entitled to a moment to celebrate the magnitude of this rout. Kansas elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate for the first time since 1932. Maine put to rest the fiction that Sen. Susan Collins is a Republican “moderate.” South Carolina, a state President Donald Trump won two years ago by nearly 18 points, scoffed at sending the untested sibling of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham to the U.S. Senate.

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The victors have earned a moment to savor those wins. Note: one moment, not two.

Hatred and lies lost in this ugly election cycle, but make no mistake, the misogyny, bigotry and fearmongering that fueled them have retreated only as far as the muck that spawned them. Trump and Vice President JD Vance will be in the White House for another two years and they won’t waste any time licking their wounds.

Do we doubt that the financial self-dealing of the Trump family will only accelerate? That the pace of Trump’s retribution campaign against his political opponents will quicken? How soon before he pressures one or more U.S. Supreme Court Justices to retire during the lame-duck session so he can extend the reign of ultra-conservatives  on the nation’s highest court?

Democrats need to focus. This is no time for academic debates about the relative value of radical and incremental change, no time for distracting dreams of yet another impeachment trial. There is an urgency in these election results. About the cost of living. About economic inequality. About authoritarianism. About extrajudicial killings masquerading as foreign policy and immigration control.

Democrats need to focus. This is no time for academic debates about the relative value of radical and incremental change, no time for distracting dreams of yet another impeachment trial.

The voters are not merely rejecting Trumpism. They are calling out a Congress and a judiciary that have ceded their constitutionally mandated authority to rein in a reckless executive branch that is pursuing policies that have exacerbated the already historic gap between the haves and the have-nots and that have broken new ground for gratuitous, lawless cruelty.

There are squalid ICE detention centers to be shuttered, federal funding to be redirected from a feckless war in Iran to the fight for survival in Ukraine, and a domestic health care system that has been eviscerated by the incompetence and malign intent of the Trump administration.

There are tariffs to be revoked and relationships with allies to be restored. There are ethics rules to be enacted immediately to outlaw the corrupt practices that have enriched Trump and his cronies, and undermined decades of environmental regulations that protected our right to clean water and unpolluted air. There is unglamorous but crucial campaign finance reform to be passed that will spare us another $10 billion spending spree in future midterm elections and that will impede the ability of billionaires to shape national policy and impact national and international security. Yes, we are looking at you, Elon Musk!

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Americans cannot afford the internecine warfare that so often characterizes dealings in the Democratic party. Let the name Haley Stevens echo through the cloakroom on Capitol Hill as Democrats choose their leadership team in January. The eleventh-hour decision by the lame-duck congresswoman to embrace Trump-endorsed Republican Mike Rogers over El-Sayed in the Michigan U.S. Senate race squandered any future Stevens might have had in politics. That Stevens lost the primary to El-Sayed apparently did not deliver a direct enough rejection to her ego.

Entrenched Democrats in Congress take note: governance is not about you; it’s about us. We send you to Capitol Hill in our stead. Some of you will just have to recognize that this seismic election has a message for you, too. The voters want to shake things up. We want new leadership. Yes, we are looking at you, Sen. Chuck Schumer!

Despite billions of dollars spent, congressional district lines hastily redrawn, and judicial challenges to election integrity mounted, this week the American people spoke in the unambiguous voice of moral revulsion. Trump has gone too far; we have had enough. But midterm elections, no matter how dramatic the results, are no guarantee of the future. Only six years elapsed between the Democrats’ momentous post-Watergate victories in 1974 and the election of President Ronald Reagan, after all.

All we have is now. That is all we ever have. Democrats, be bold.

Subscribe to Cog's weekly newsletter. Essays on friendship, love, loss, parenting, politics and more, from Boston's NPR.

2026 Election

Related:

• Democrats win full control of Congress, ushering in a new era of divided government
• Rep. Clark, poised to become House Majority Leader, talks priorities as Democrats take Congress
• Mass. town-by-town results map: governor, U.S. Senate and statewide ballot questions

Eileen McNamaraCognoscenti contributor

Eileen McNamara is an emerita professor of journalism at Brandeis University. The author of a biography of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, she won a Pulitzer Prize as a columnist for The Boston Globe.

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WBUR: EILEEN MCNAMERA

                                                                                                                              

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JOHN DEATON GOES TO NURSING HOMES? 

John Deaton's biggest challenge isn't Ed Markey. It's President Trump

• Anthony Brooks

October 13, 2026

John Deaton, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, in front of his campaign bus in Stoneham. (Anthony Brooks/WBUR)

John Deaton made his pitch to a handful of residents inside a Malden retirement home: He's a fan of good ideas, period. It doesn't matter if those ideas are "progressive or conservative, Democrat or Republican," he said.

"If it's good for Massachusetts and America, I'll support it. If it isn't, I won't," Deaton, the Republican candidate for Senate, said to a smattering of applause.

John Deaton, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, talks with a resident at Forestdale Park in Malden. (Anthony Brooks/WBUR)

Deaton knows he faces an uphill fight in a state that hasn't sent a Republican to the U.S. Senate since Scott Brown won in 2010. With just a month to go until the election, polls suggest Deaton is running well behind Sen. Ed Markey, the Democratic incumbent he's hoping to unseat. But his lowkey, moderate political pitch impressed a number of the residents in Malden.

"It was very refreshing to hear someone not bash other politicians," said Mary Jane Peloso, an independent, who liked that Deaton expressed a willingness to break ranks with his own party.

"I didn't know anything about him but I'm really going to consider voting for him," Peloso said.

Deaton, a Marine veteran and attorney, grew up poor outside of Detroit. He's faced significant obstacles in his life, including battles with cancer and addiction. But running for the U.S. Senate as a Republican in Massachusetts — where President Trump might be less popular than King George at the Boston Tea Party — may be his biggest challenge yet.

"The challenge for me is to get people to look beyond the label, but it is a big hurdle," Deaton told WBUR.

It was a hurdle Deaton couldn't clear two years ago when he ran against Sen. Elizabeth Warren. But he said, now more than ever, Massachusetts needs someone who can stand up to both parties, a sentiment he so memorably expressed earlier this fall:

"F the Republican Party. F the Democrat Party. They all suck," he said during his debate with Congressman Seth Moulton before the primary.

Deaton considered running as an independent but concluded the route wasn't politically viable. So he's running as a non-MAGA, pro-abortion-rights Republican, who says he would bring "balance and independence" to the the Senate.

"I really, truly would work with a Democrat. I would truly work with Trump," he said.

On the day he visited the retirement home in Malden, Deaton also found support outside a Stop & Shop in Stoneham, where Republican candidate for state representative Stephen Ternullo was holding a sign for his own campaign. Ternullo said he's backing Deaton because "Markey has been in Washington too long."
THAT'S THE BEST HE CAN DO? NO FACTS! NO SUBSTANCE? 

"I grew up in Medford and Ed Markey's been in there since I was 5 years old," Ternullo said. "His way of thinking is gone and we need some fresh ideas. And John Deaton is a fresh idea."

Deaton parts company with Trump on a number of key issues, including the war with Iran and tariffs. On immigration, Deaton said ICE needs to be reformed, not abolished as Markey wants. And he called Markey's push for Medicare for All misguided because most Democrats in the Senate don't support it. Instead, Deaton favors breaking up the big insurance companies.

GROWING OPPOSITION TO tRUMP'S LAWLESS ICE GESTAPO is ignored as they TERRORIZE COMMUNITIES, INJURE AND KILL, DETAIN US CITIZENS, KIDNAP CHILDREN and much else! WHERE HAVE THEY BEEN? CLEARLY NOT INFORMING THEMSELVES! 

"We can achieve and fix healthcare, but not if you're insisting on a plan that you can't even get your party to agree with," Deaton said.

HORSE MANURE! 

The U.S. is the only INDUSTRIALIZED NATION that FAILS TO PROVIDE UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE...apparently JOHN DEATON hasn't noticed! 

It's NOT WHAT ANY PARTY wants or agrees on - IT'S WHAT AMERICANS WANT! 

JOHN DEATON has NEVER HELD PUBLIC OFFICE! 

JOHN DEATON blabbers with no SUBSTANCE or facts....last go 

round, JOHN DEATON LIED ENDLESSLY! 

Deaton and Markey will face off in their only scheduled debate Tuesday night, when Markey will no doubt try to link Deaton to Trump, as he did after he won the Democratic primary last month.

"Massachusetts does not want to have a MAGA Republican representing them in the Senate," Markey told NBC Boston.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) is seen at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on July 23. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Deaton pushed back and said he's not part of MAGA, has never voted for Trump, and were he to win, he would not do Trump's bidding.

"I got spit at by Trump Republicans," Deaton said, recalling his first Senate run two years ago. "I got called RINO, a piece of you-know-what and I never caved."

After all that, Deaton said he wouldn't go to Washington and "give in to a guy who's not going be president four out of the six years, who's in a much weaker position."

Deaton accused Markey of deliberately mischaracterizing him.

"It angers me," he said, urging Markey to debate "my ideas  instead of just labeling me something that I'm not."

But Markey's campaign manager, Cam Charbonnier, told WBUR that "a vote for Deaton is a vote to continue the Republican majority in the Senate and the Trump agenda."

So, Deaton presses on. He said he's eager to find out if he can attract enough Republicans and moderate independents to pull off what would be a seismic upset on Nov. 3. But he conceded that it's a longshot, and that the label "Republican" in Massachusetts — especially with Trump in the White House — could make that "just an impossible task."

It's all part of John Deaton's challenge as he runs for the Senate, while running away from Trump.

VOTERS ARE STUCK WITH JOHN DEATON FOR 6 YEARS IF ELECTED - NEVER HELD PUBLIC OFFICE, NO SIGNIFICANT PROPOSALS, LOTS OF BAGGAGE, PERENNIAL LIAR -LOOK AT HIS HISTORY! ACCUSED SENATOR WARREN OF HOLDING UP CAPE COD BRIDGES - WRONG! 

This segment aired on October 13, 2026.

2026 Election

Related:

• Republican John Deaton brings an up-from-his-bootstraps story to U.S. Senate race vs. Warren
• John Deaton wins early MassGOP endorsement in Senate race

Anthony BrooksSenior Political Reporter

Anthony Brooks is WBUR's senior political reporter.

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WBUR

As millions of kids lose SNAP food benefits, free school meals are also at risk REPUBLICANS SILENT!

                                                                       

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REPUBLICAN SILENT AS KIDS GO HUNGRY! 

BIG BEAUTIFUL DISASTER DESTROYED HEALTHCARE TO FUND TAX CUTS FOR 

WEALTHY AND EXPLODED DEBT AND DEFICIT! 

$40 TRILLION DEBT THAT YOUR GRANDCHILDREN WON'T BE ABLE TO PAY! 

TRUMP'S ECONOMIC DESTRUCTION!

As millions of kids lose SNAP food benefits, free school meals are also at risk

• Juliana Kim

September 03, 2026

Seventh-graders sit together in the cafeteria during their lunch break at a public school in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Feb. 10, 2023. (AP)

When Republican lawmakers secured cuts to the United States' largest food assistance program last year, Paige Shoemaker DeMio wasn't worried about children going hungry just at home — but at school.

"Anytime we're hearing about cuts to SNAP or Medicaid, we're worried about what's going to be the domino effect of this," she says.

Shoemaker DeMio is a senior policy analyst at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank. She usually focuses on K-12 education, but in recent months, she has been following the changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP or food stamps.

That's because SNAP connects children with other critical resources, such as free breakfast and lunch at school. So when a family loses access to food assistance, the family's child may stop automatically receiving free food at school. And when scores of families fall off SNAP, universal free meal programs at tens of thousands of schools fall into jeopardy.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that over a million children have lost food benefits since July 2025, when the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law. Among the changes, the legislation led to stricter work requirements to receive food assistance.

Going into this academic year, dozens of schools nationwide have ended their universal free meal programs — including schools in San Antonio, Houston and Miami-Dade County. School nutrition experts say it's unclear to what extent a decline in SNAP participation played a role. But Diane Pratt-Heavner, a spokesperson for the School Nutrition Association, which represents about 50,000 school nutrition professionals in the U.S., says that the full impact on free school meals will emerge in the coming years as SNAP changes take effect.

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"This moment in time could potentially be a tip-of-an-iceberg situation," she says "It could get much, much worse."

In a statement, the U.S. Agriculture Department, which administers SNAP and school meals on the federal level, said it invests $385 million for low-income communities and people in need of nutrition assistance.

"School meal programs have varying income limits, and while SNAP participation may ease the application process, a family not on SNAP is not automatically disallowed participation," the department stated.

School districts will have to reassess whether they can afford free meals 

The Agriculture Department's Community Eligibility Provision helps pay for universal free meals at a school or district if at least a quarter of students participate in assistance programs like SNAP. (If it's 62.5% or more, the federal government covers the full tab.) More than 49,000 public schools participated as of the 2024-2025 school year, according to the Center for American Progress.

Federal reimbursement fluctuates based on the percentage of families receiving assistance. A decline in food stamp participation can lead to a decrease in federal funding, forcing schools to pay more for universal free food when their budgets are already stretched thin, according to Pratt-Heavner.

This could push schools to shift funds away from classroom needs or decide to stop offering universal free meals altogether, she adds. If districts decide to do away with their free food programs, they may still incur costs in the form of debt from unpaid meals.

That's what happened in 2023. When the U.S. ended a federal pandemic waiver allowing schools nationwide to offer free meals, districts reported accruing meal debt as high as $1.7 million, according to a report by the School Nutrition Association.

"Unpaid meal debt becomes an issue not only for the school meal program, but for the school district budget, which has to pay teachers and for textbooks," Pratt-Heavner says. "It's just a no-win situation for anyone."

Erin Bronner is the director of child nutrition and wellness for a small school district in central Phoenix that participates in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). Arizona has seen the most dramatic decline in SNAP participation in the country, with more than 400,000 people — including about 180,000 children — losing food assistance over the past year.

Now, Bronner's district is due to reapply for the provision next year. She says she's worried whether her district can afford to keep offering universal free meals.

"Due to the dramatic decline in SNAP assistance, the percentage of eligible families [is] not high enough for us to be able to financially sustain operating this provision," she says. "So we would actually lose money if we were to continue to operate CEP."

The kids in the "danger zone"

Students qualify for free food at school if their family earns at or below 130% of the poverty line, which is $42,900 for a family of four in 2026. Reduced-price meals are offered to such families making  $61,050 or less.

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To access free or reduced-price meals, students can fill out a school meal application. But the form tends to be a source of confusion and administrative burden, according to Shoemaker DeMio.

"It's easier and faster for children to get fed when meals are universally given rather than individually applied for," she says.

Another issue with the application is that it factors in only income and doesn't take into account a family's expenses or unique hardships, according to Pratt-Heavner. There are no exceptions or waivers.

"So, a family that's struggling with a recent rent increase or has a family [member] undergoing cancer treatment may be spending more than they're taking in and might not be eligible for any help at all," she says.

Bronner, in Arizona, calls it the "danger zone": when a student's family makes just above the income threshold but is still cash-strapped.

"They do fall through the cracks," she says. "And because of where they fall income-wise, it doesn't leave us too many options to try and provide an alternative for them."

School policy experts say they're also concerned for children of noncitizens, even though free or reduced-price meals are available to all students regardless of immigration status. They're concerned because such children's parents may be afraid to share personal information in the school meal application — such as the last four digits of their Social Security number — amid a nationwide immigration crackdown.

Losing access to free meals could require families to spend on average nearly $1,000 per student each school year, according to the Center for American Progress. Shoemaker DeMio says that cost burden comes as many families are already grappling with high living costs and steep gas prices.

" That's a lot of money," she says. "Especially when we're talking about these families who are on the cusp of eligibility and who are also facing an affordability crisis."

Concerns about growing hunger 

Currently, nine states offer permanent universal free school meals: California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York and Vermont. In recent years, other states have introduced legislation to move toward this direction.

But those universal free meal programs also have been a topic of debate. Opponents say that they're costly and that the government shouldn't pay for students whose families can afford school meals. Meanwhile, advocates argue that school meals tend to be healthier and promote better education outcomes.

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" Schools provide books, they provide pencils, they even provide laptops these days to help students be ready to learn, and nutrition is no different," Shoemaker DeMio says. " Nutrition is a foundational ingredient to student success."

Sharon Glosson, the executive director of school nutrition at North East Independent School District in San Antonio, supports universal free school meals. Glosson says she has seen it remove stigma and shame for low-income students in the lunch line.

" It's open to everyone, and there's no differentiation between those that qualify for free and reduced price and those that don't," she says.

But this school year, her district announced that it would have to stop offering universal free meals at nearly half its campuses. Glosson believes the biggest factor was a decline in the number of families receiving food assistance — though the need to help ease hunger is still there.

"We know that within our families in our school district, their economic status between now and four years ago, they don't feel that it has improved to the point where they are now able to pay for school meals," she says.

Related:

• Over 4 million people are no longer receiving food aid amid sweeping changes to SNAP
• The White House pushes healthy eating. It cut a landmark nutrition education program
• How the new dietary guidelines could impact school meals

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THE RECENT PROGRAM INTERVIEWED KIDS! 

100 elephants arrive in Back Bay with a message of coexistence

• Artemisia Luk

August 07, 2026

Elephant sculptures in "The Great Elephant Migration" make their way along Commonwealth Avenue Mall. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

A herd of 100 life-sized elephants has just arrived on Commonwealth Avenue Mall in Back Bay. They’ll remain there through Sept. 13 between Dartmouth and Fairfield streets.

The sculptures are part of a free touring public art exhibition called The Great Elephant Migration. Since 2024, the herd has traveled across the United States, including stops in New York City; Newport, Rhode Island; Miami; and Houston.

“ I had to stop because I was seeing a troop of elephants. It's amazing,” said Fenway resident Dawn Seong, who was surprised to see the sculptures during her morning walk.

Sculptures of young and mature elephants made from the invasive plant Lantana camara, form a large art installation on Commonwealth Avenue Mall in Boston. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

This large tusker is one of 100 elephants on Commonwealth Avenue Mall in Boston, part of "The Great Elephant Migration" installation. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

The herd is installed so it appears to be heading east toward Boston Common. The elephants range from small calves to large tusked adults. Young children weaved in and out of the sculptures, touching the woody limbs.

“ It tells the story of India and India's remarkable ability to coexist, not just with elephants, but all sorts of other challenging animals like tigers and leopards, rhinos, even lions,” said Ruth Ganesh, co-founder of The Great Elephant Migration.

The elephants are made from a repurposed invasive plant called Lantana camara by Indigenous artisans from the  Nilgiri Hills in Southern India. Each sculpture takes three to four months to complete and is inspired by a real-life elephant that lives in the region. Currently, Ganesh said that 300 artisans are employed through the initiative. Together, they make up The Real Elephant Collective, and come from  Paniya, Soliga, Bettakurumba and Kattunayakan communities.

Ruth Ganesh, a co-founder of The Great Elephant Migration, an installation of 100 life-sized elephant sculptures that has appeared across the U.S. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Elephant sculptures in "The Great Elephant Migration" make their way along Commonwealth Avenue Mall. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Since its founding in 2015 by Ganesh and conservation researcher Tarsh Thekaekara, the project has sought to raise money and awareness for human-wildlife coexistence and wildlife conservation, while also repurposing a plant that has displaced wildlife in India’s forests.

“ I hope that they will simply have an emotional reaction to walking amongst 100 elephants,” said Ganesh, as she stood next to the elephants and their Boston visitors. “And I hope that will then translate into many small actions and large actions for all the different animals in the greater Massachusetts area that we get to live alongside.”

Elephants in the Boston herd sell for up to $22,500 depending on size. Each elephant is paired with a conservation organization, which receives the funds from its sale. In Boston, local beneficiaries include the New England Aquarium’s North Atlantic Right Whale conservation efforts and the Boston Public Art Triennial’s conservation projects. Since 2024, The Great Elephant Migration has raised $1.4 million across cities.

Children walk along Commonwealth Avenue Mall in Boston, near a sculpture of a young elephant in "The Great Elephant Migration" installation. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Baby elephants may be spotted across the city as local businesses and organizations “adopt” them. In New England, permanent installations of the elephants can be spotted in Newport, Rhode Island and Kensington, New Hampshire.

Boston is the first stop of 2026 for the project after their last installation in Beverly Hills in July 2025. The majority of the elephants were made new and traveled directly from India via ship. Future stops include Las Vegas, Washington, D.C., and Rome, Italy.

Meet Boston Director of Strategic Initiatives Ryan Woods helped coordinate the installation with the City of Boston and Boston Art Commission. He hopes the installation draws visitors to Boston during a “slower season.”

The eye of an elephant sculpture on display at an installation of 100 elephants on Commonwealth Avenue Mall in Boston. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

A life-sized young elephant sculpture in the "The Great Elephant Migration" installation on Commonwealth Avenue Mall in Boston. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

“ These public art installations, they draw the local community together and they enhance the visitor experience,” said Woods. “So we thought it was a win-win both for residents and for the visitors.”

Tiffany Crawford of Cambridge brought her two daughters to the installation after learning about the project through social media. Her 6-year-old, Carter Crawford, especially enjoys art.

“They’re really cool,” she said. Crawford said she plans to draw the elephants on the next page of her notebook.

Families walk among the anatomically accurate elephant sculptures in "The Great Elephant Migration" on Commonwealth Avenue Mall in Boston. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Visual Arts

Related:

• 11 art exhibits to check out this summer
• A new mural gallops into Boston
• ICA Watershed reopens for the season with industrial-inspired installations

Artemisia LukArts & Culture Reporting Fellow

Artemisia Luk is the 2026 arts and culture reporting fellow.

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WBUR: 100 ELEPHANTS