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Why La. Republicans are targeting centrist Democrats; podcast explores Negro Leagues in Puerto Rico

Willard Brown, Louisiana-born baseball player and fourth Black player ever to play in the Major Leagues, receives a kiss at the Governor's Mansion in Puerto Rico, 1951
Courtesy of Jorge Colon Delgado
Willard Brown, Louisiana-born baseball player and fourth Black player ever to play in the Major Leagues, receives a kiss at the Governor's Mansion in Puerto Rico, 1951

It’s Thursday, and that means it’s time to talk politics with The Times Picayune/New Orleans Advocate’s Stephanie Grace. Today, we discuss Gov. Jeff Landry’s recent remarks on New Orleans and the latest on the Murrill indictment.

Zohran Mamdani’s election as New York mayor in November has had ripple effects throughout the country. In New York and cities like Denver, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, other Democratic Socialist candidates have advanced in party primaries.

Now, Louisiana Republicans are targeting more centrist Democrats, hoping they’ll prefer GOP candidates to ones with socialist leanings. And they’re likening the popularity of democratic socialists to the Bolshevik Revolution.

Mark Ballad has reported on this for The Times-Picayune/The Advocate. He joins us with more.

Roughly two years ago, Louisiana Considered managing producer Alana Schreiber created and produced the podcast, "Road to Rickwood." The four-part series by NPR and the MLB told the story of the intersection between Negro Leagues Baseball and the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, Alabama, and how those stories played out at America’s oldest ballpark, Rickwood Field. Schreiber recently produced a new podcast for the series “American Colony,” once again about the Negro Leagues — but this time, the story takes place in Puerto Rico. Schreiber joined us for more on this story and all the Louisiana connections.

Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Bob Pavlovich. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber. We get production and technical support from Garrett Pittman, Adam Vos and our assistant producer, Aubry Procell.

You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at noon and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play and wherever you get your podcasts.

Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.

Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!

A longtime fill-in host for New Orleans Public Radio, Bob Pavlovich joined the station full-time in 2023. He hosts "Morning Edition" and "Louisiana Considered" on Thursdays.
Alana Schreiber is the managing producer for the live daily news program, Louisiana Considered. She comes to WWNO from KUNC in Northern Colorado, where she worked as a radio producer for the daily news magazine, Colorado Edition. She has previously interned for Minnesota Public Radio in St. Paul.