Election Recap: Did America Just Pivot?

Nov 6, 2025

Karine Jean-Pierre, the first Black woman to serve as White House press secretary and author, dives into her experiences during the Biden administration. She shares insights from her book, discussing the importance of nuance in politics and her critiques of the Democratic Party's strategies. The conversation explores recent election outcomes and the significance of grassroots candidates, including celebrating historic wins for Black women. Karine also reflects on media access and the evolving dynamics of political identity.

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INSIGHT

Local Wins Signal National Discontent

Voters are using local elections to voice disillusionment with national Democratic leadership.
Karine Jean‑Pierre says Democrats must widen the party’s tent and learn from grassroots organizers like Mamdani.

ADVICE

Expand Media Access Proactively

Do prioritize diverse media access when communicating policy; podcasts and non‑traditional outlets reach broader audiences.
Karine says press teams should stop protecting principals from tough reporters and invite accountability.

ANECDOTE

Being Undermined In The White House

Karine recounts being blocked from travel and sidelined despite her historic role as press secretary.
She deliberately avoided naming individuals in the book to stop them running 'rent free' in her head.

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On episode 104 of Native Land Pod, hosts Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, Andrew Gillum, and Bakari Sellers go through this week’s election results and take an account of how our Black candidates (and voters) performed.

The race for NYC’s mayor dominated the airwaves, where Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani won. BUT there were other important races. Black mayors were elected across the country, the governor race in Virginia and New Jersey went solidly Democratic, and State-level elections in the South saw typically conservative seats flip blue. Folks are wondering if Mamdani is the new “face of the Democratic party” which WE think is missing the point.

NLP is joined by President Biden’s former press secretary (the first Black woman to hold the job) Karine Jean-Pierre to discuss some of the election results and Democrat’s media strategy. In her new book, Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside Party Lines, Karine shares some pointed critiques of a party she no longer identifies with, and our hosts ask some pointed questions of Karine.

And our hosts respond to your questions! There’s an interesting one about infiltrating the Republican party and another from a chef asking who is keeping our legacy “recipes.”

If you’d like to submit a question, check out our tutorial video: http://www.instagram.com/reel/C5j_oBXLIg0/ and send to @nativelandpod.

We are 362 days away from the midterm elections. Welcome home y’all!

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Native Land Pod is brought to you by Reasoned Choice Media.

Thank you to the Native Land Pod team:

Angela Rye as host, executive producer, and cofounder of Reasoned Choice Media; Tiffany Cross as host and producer, Andrew Gillum as host and producer, Bakari Sellers as host and producer, and Lauren Hansen as executive producer; LoLo Mychael is our research producer, and Nikolas Harter is our editor and producer. Special thanks to Chris Morrow and Lenard McKelvey, co-founders of Reasoned Choice Media.

Theme music created by Daniel Laurent.

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