Politics and views in the United States.

Fallen Sergeant's family confronts VP Harris. Utah pushes to toss maps; Johnson supports Ohio redistricting. Arizona braces for election deniers, and Virginia workers fear 'Project 2025.'

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2024 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

Vice President Harris, I ask you, why won't you return a call and explain to us how you call my daughter-in-law's death a success?

Christy Shamblin, mother-in-law of a sergeant buried at Arlington, is criticizing Kamala Harris over the vice president's charge that former President Donald Trump used the cemetery as a backdrop for a political stunt.

The Trump campaign may have broken a law against staging partisan events there.

But in a video reposted by Trump's VP, Pick, Shamblin said Harris should launch another investigation into the withdrawal from Afghanistan three years ago.

The White House has said the withdrawal fulfilled a commitment made by Trump and was a success in that the nation is better off for having ended the war.

House Speaker Mike Johnson visited Cleveland to raise funds against an anti-gerrymandering amendment on the Ohio ballot, which would give redistricting power to a citizen board rather than lawmakers.

When politicians are in charge of drawing maps, both parties will rig them for their favor.

They take away our choice, they take away our power.

Jen Miller with the League of Women Voters says it's enormously popular, having gotten support from half a million voters.

Meanwhile, the Utah Supreme Court threw out district maps that favored Republicans returning the issue to a lower court.

The unanimous opinion ruled the legislature ignored an independent redistricting commission created by voters in 2018.

For now, the maps are unchanged and it's not clear if new districts can be drawn for this fall's election.

Elections experts are warning of election denialism in the battleground of Arizona.

Alex Gulotta, with all voting is local action, says some candidates are already saying that if they don't win, it's because of fraud.

The election is the people say who won.

And people can't say ahead of time that the only way there's a fair election is if I win.

And we've just had a lot of that in recent years.

Democrats who feel disillusioned about politics should go to the polls in two months for their long term health, according to the American Medical Association.

University of North Dakota social work professor Craig Burns unpacks the research.

Whether people have access to an affordable grocery store that sells healthy produce, or whether they have access to safe transportation.

Project 2025, the right wing roadmap for a second Trump administration, envisions firing tens of thousands of federal employees.

Democrats drawing attention in Virginia, home to over 140,000 federal workers.

Republicans argue unelected bureaucrats have too much power.

But Donald Sherman with Watchdog Group Crew says agencies depend on the technical knowledge of nonpartisan professionals.

You can understand why you wanna have government food inspectors or government highway technicians who have not just years but decades of expertise.

And have loyalty to their craft as opposed to loyalty to a particular politician.

I'm Farah Siddiqui for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

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