Marietta is standing in line at the polling location with her family and Tammy.
Patty Lynn: Ca you believe today’s the day?
Tammy: Can you believe we’re wasting time in line? It’s not like this is a swing state.
Milton: I don’t know, I won!
Tammy: Eleanor Baum, all due respect to her, is no Milton Landfield. Nice woman for sure, I was on her show. But this state is not electing her.
Kathleen: I’m surprised someone with your background is complaining about standing around to vote. Two-term First Lady, Senate Majority Leader, member of the House…
Tammy: I’m old and tired. Forgive me for feeling slightly disenchanted by the lengthy line at the polling booth in a red state my candidate is certain to lose.
Patty Lynn: Hey, I’m even older and even more tired, but I maintain a positive attitude! It’s important!
Tammy: This election has been so long, and so disappointing, and so exhausting that I struggle to maintain a positive attitude. I just want it to be over.
Kathleen: Do we have any idea how it’s gonna go?
Milton: It’s still close.
Kathleen: You say that every time!
Milton: It’s a presidential election. Is it ever not close?
Kathleen: This shouldn’t be close. Our current president is... I'm not getting started on this in public.
Moira: Honey, you know Eleanor Baum personally. Has she told you anything?
Milton: She’s been a little busy.
Marietta: Obviously, everything that led up to it happened was horrible, but that is one thing that makes me glad I’m not the nominee. It’s nice to get a bit of rest. It’s been an exhausting year.
Milton: Well, we are going to be on the election coverage tonight in DC.
Marietta: Yeah, we are. That’s much less intense than hopping from Michigan to Wisconsin to Iowa to Pennsylvania to North Carolina to Georgia to Arizona to Nevada in the span of one long weekend.
Milton: It’s worth it, though.
Kathleen: If she wins, it is. If not…
Marietta: I did a few rallies with her in Georgia and North Carolina the last few weeks and I’m exhausted. I can’t imagine the relief she’s feeling that at least the campaigning is over now.
Patty Lynn: Y’all, it’s time to vote.
Kathleen: I’m just so undecided, I don’t know who to vote for.
Patty Lynn: Don’t e ven fool around like that.
Milton: Wait, I want to get Sarah’s picture! This is her first presidential election!
Sarah: Dad…
Milton: Come on, you only vote for the first time once!
Sarah: I’ve voted before! This isn’t anything special.
Milton: You’ve never voted for president!
Moira: Just smile quick and he’ll leave you alone.
Sarah: Fine…
Kathleen: Wow, look at her pose.
Sarah: This might end up on the Instagram of my elected official dad. I need to look good.
Patty Lynn: She has a great model pose. A career to consider down the line!
Sarah: Grandma, you are so embarrassing!
Marietta: That’s the way grandmas are supposed to.
Later that night, on the news…
Announcer: This is The Spin Zone, with Dan Freberg and Maggie Ember.
Dan: Welcome to the Spin Zone, as America decides its future. I’m Dan Freberg.
Maggie: And I’m Maggie Ember.
Dan: It is a minute to 8 PM on the East Coast as Maggie and I join our network coverage of the 2025 presidential election. At this hour, Republican incumbent President Brian Delphy leads with twenty-three electoral votes to Democratic Senator Eleanor Baum’s three.
Maggie: It is worth noting that many of the states with early poll closings do lean strongly towards the Republicans, but there are several swing states involved, and those look as close as one would expect.
Marietta: Milton, how’s it looking?
Milton: It’s early.
Marietta: Why is Virginia so close?
Milton: The rural areas are in first. Don’t panic yet.
Marietta: I choose to trust you.
Dan: Polls have now closed in a further seventeen states, and the results are as follows: in Alabama, Brian Delphy wins its nine electoral votes.
Maggie: In Eleanor Baum’s home state of Connecticut, she is awarded their seven electoral votes.
Dan: Delaware, too early to call with a Baum lead.
Marietta: That’s… not good.
Milton :Yeah, it’s not great.
Maggie: Florida, too early to call. Again, too early to call — not too close to call. A distinction we are not used to seeing in the Sunshine State.
Milton: Okay, we didn’t need Florida. It was a long-shot.
Dan: Illinois is too early to call, but Baum leads.
Maggie: Such is the case in Maine, though we can award its first congressional district to Baum.
Dan: Maryland’s ten electoral votes are projected for Eleanor Baum.
Maggie: Massachusetts, one of the bluest states in America, is also projected to Baum.
Dan: Michigan is too close to call.
Maggie: Mississippi will give its six electoral votes to Brian Delphy.
Dan: As will Missouri with its ten electoral votes.
Maggie: New Hampshire is too early to call, but a Baum lead. As is the case in New Jersey.
Dan: Oklahoma gives its seven electoral votes to Brian Delphy again.
Maggie: Pennsylvania is too close to call, to no one’s surprise.
Dan: Rhode Island’s four electoral votes are projected to Baum.
Maggie: Tennessee and its eleven electoral votes are firmly in the hands of Defy.
Dan: And Washington, DC gives its three electoral votes to Baum.
Maggie: We’re also calling South Carolina for Delphy.
Dan: And that brings the total for the night to seventy-five electoral votes for Delphy, thirty-nine for Baum.
Maggie: We now bring in our contributors for the night: Democratic Senator from Louisiana, Milton Landield.
Milton: Thank you for having me.
Dan: Sister of Milton Landifeld, New Orlens mayor and one-time frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, Marietta Landfield.
Marietta: He’s actually my brother. I got here first.
Dan: Noted!
Maggie: Senate Majority Whip and Massachusetts Senator Ellie Wilson.
Ellie: Nervous as all hell, Maggie.
Dan: Senate Republican Minority Whip and Oklahoma Senator Geraldine McAllister.
Geraldine: Howdy!
Maggie: And Republican Congressman from Washington Doug Newbury.
Doug: Excited for democracy in action!
Dan: So, Senator Wilson, you are closely tied to Senator Baum. You are her caucus whip. What are you seeing in these numbers?
Ellie: Um, nothing to celebrate, for sure. I mean, we are seeing shifts to the right in some places we didn’t expect. States are close enough to prevent calls when they should not be.
Milton: I don’t think New Jersey or Maine were supposed to still be on the board right now. Ohio looks gone when it should’ve been closer. Panic does not help any, but we’re in trouble.
Geraldine: This is what you get when you nominate a coastal elitist talk show host who isn’t relatable to the voters! I’m sorry, but she was a terrible pick! I’m happy to reap the benefits of your mistake, but I don’t want to hear the complaining about an obvious result we all saw coming.
Marietta: The Republicans nominated a corrupt coal barren-turned-governor of a non-competitive state. He then sent a mob after Congress because he didn’t like that they were rejecting his base’s most-wanted policy plan that he tried to jam through Congress.
Geraldine: Yet he’s still on track to win! You all need to look inward!
Marietta: I’m not writing anything off until -
Dan: Apologies, we are interrupting this for a key race call in Florida. That state and it’s hefty thirty electoral votes will go to Brian Delphy.
Marietta: Okay, not so good.
One hour later…
Maggie: And we have an update in Illinois, the senate race remains too close to call, but Republican Alec Kefauver is now categorized as leading. Again, he is running against Democratic state legislator auditor Rebecca Apple, who has fallen under scrutiny for alleged tax dodging.
Geraldine: Thank you, Illinois!
Marietta: Ugh.
Ellie: That race is not over. It’s not a race where we’ve been happy about the developments, but we can't switch out candidates.
Geraldine: Are you throwing in the towel already?
Ellie: The election’s over, Gerry. We did what I could, unlike you all, we accept election results we don’t like.
Dan: Okay, no need to fight.
Doug: I think they’re upset that their candidate’s at 72 electoral votes compared to the President’s 162.
Ellie: I think you can go f-
Maggie: We’re gonna go to break!
Marietta: Milton, it’s over.
Milton: Keep hoping. Still a lot of vote left.
Marietta: I don’t see much reason to… there’s so much ground to make up.
Milton: It’s never over until it’s over.
Dan: We are back from break because our news desk is now calling North Carolina and Texas for Delphy. This is a huge boon for the president’s re-election prospects, and brings his electoral vote total to 218.
Maggie: To counteract that, Senator Baum has added Maine, New Hampshire, and Virginia to her haul, bringing her to 90 electoral votes.
Geraldine: Ha!
Ellie: Oh, shut it.
Marietta: Do we have to keep pretending this isn’t over?
Doug: No. It’s over.
Ellie: All it takes is a rust belt comeback and for the west to hold. That’s doable!
Geraldine: They’re in the denial stage.
Milton: I thought we had enough precept for one another to not taunt one another and gloat on national TV. Have some decorum, you are children.
Ellie: But hey, at least you guys have a majority in the Senate. Oh wait!
Milton: Oh, Ellie…
Two hours later…
Dan: It’s after eleven now, and things are not looking good for the Democrats.
Marietta: No, no they’re not!
Geraldine: Marietta, it’s okay. You’ll live.
Marietta: I don’t need your condescension, Geraldine.
Maggie: Tensions are clearly running high here, as America awaits confirmation on who its leader will be on January 20.
Dan: The gap has notably narrowed. Brian Delphy is sitting at 248 electoral votes, while Eleanor Baum is at 211, boosted by strong showings on the west coast. The concern for Democrats, of course, are fretting their current showings in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, where they trail by nuder 1% in each state with over 95% of the vote reporting in all of them.
Ellie: I think it’s time to admit it’s over. The vote’s just not there to come back. She ran a tough race.
Doug: She was up eight points over the summer!
Ellie: And her vote share has barely changed since those polls. Republicans came home for Delphy. That’s all this is.
Doug: If you insist.
Maggie: We actually have a call in Pennsylvania…
Ellie: Oh, it’s over.
Maggie: President Delphy needs just three electoral votes for victory. A win in Michigan, Wisconsin or Alaska would do it, as would flipping any of the three states Baum currently leads in.
The next day…
Amy: I just can’t believe it.
Marietta: None of us can.
Ellie: Did I really threaten to fight Geraldine McAllister on live TV last night?
Tammy: It was a wild night for all of us, really.
Amy: Some more than others.
Ellie: I can’t be held responsible for the things I said while I was in denial.
Tammy: I just don’t understand what happened.
Kate: I know Ellie didn’t like hearing it, but the voters saw Eleanor as a coastal elitist. It’s hard to disagree. She was a late night host for fifteen years. She has closer ties to most celebrities than she does to any political figures. She’s a political newcomer, too. She just got elected in 2022, and it was the first time she ever ran for anything. People didn’t see her as experienced enough.
Amy: Also, to be honest, her accent is a bit too Canadian.
Kate: She did grow up in northern Maine, after all.
Amy: And you sure couldn’t tell from the results.
Tammy: At least she won Ducovney’s home state.
Kate: I wish I could’ve seen her face.
Tammy: She probably melted like the Wicked Witch.
Marietta: Do you guys think I could’ve won?
Kate: What’s the right answer here?
Marietta: I want honesty!
Ellie: Given what I heard from voters in swing states when I campaigned for her… yeah, you could’ve won. None of their top concerns regarding Eleanor applied to you. You have experience. You have a sharp political mind that can easily explain policies. You’re not some Hollywood limousine liberal. You’re from Louisiana! People see themselves in you in a way they didn’t see themselves in Eleanor.
Marietta: I don’t know if dropping out was a good thing, then. Was I selfish?
Tammy: The country’s going to be fine. If you had kept running and then had to take office as president for five years, I’m not sure you would’ve been. You needed to figure things out for yourself. There’s no time for that while running for, preparing to become, or serving as president.
Marietta: but I could’ve stopped us from having to endure five more years of that… creature.
Kate: I think this is a discussion for another day. We’re all just too bummed out right now to think straight.
Marietta: I just feel guilty now.
Amy: No! You had no reason to believe dropping out would cause our party to lose this. Every candidate had a huge lead over him in the polls when you bowed out. You can't see the future.
Tammy: Plus, we can’t even be sure you would’ve certainly won! You could’ve still lost! Plenty of seemingly-great candidates have lost because of some issue popping up that no one foresaw.
Ellie: Rebecca Apple…
Kate: You gotta let the Illinois senate race go.
Ellie: I’m in mourning for now. I told Milton to recruit her!
Kate: Nobody’s perfect.
Marietta: I guess it does make me feel better to know that we can’t be sure of how the election would’ve gone had I stayed in. We don’t know what attacks he would’ve used on me.
Tammy: Now, let’s go refill our mimosas and continue drowning our sorrows. Today, we mourn. Tomorrow, we get back up and continue the fight.
What did you think of this episode of Marietta? Let us know in the comments and make sure to read the new episode next week!
