“This Day” Live: The Next Realignment, presented by the Charles F. Kettering Foundation
“This Day” Live: The Next Realignment is a live conversation from Radiotopia’s history podcast “This Day,” presented in partnership with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation. The program examines whether the United States is experiencing a major democratic and political realignment, including possible changes to the two-party system, the distribution of political power, and the people who are excluded from it.
Host Jody Avirgan will be joined by historians Nicole Hemmer and Kellie Carter Jackson, Kettering Foundation historian and “The Context” host Alex Lovit, and special guest Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II. Drawing on American history—from the formation of the first political parties through the civil rights era and transformative court decisions—the discussion will consider how conflicts over race, education, and the meaning of democracy are reshaping politics ahead of 2026 and 2028. The event is part of the month-long “Democracy, Under Construction” collaboration between “This Day” and “The Context.”
When: October 19, 2026
Venue: The Howard Theatre, 620 T Street NW, Washington, DC 20001
Tickets: Price not available
Format: Live podcast conversation and history discussion
Host: Jody Avirgan, host, producer, and editor of “This Day” and founder of Roulette Productions. His previous work includes ESPN’s “30 for 30 Podcasts,” FiveThirtyEight Podcasts, “The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs,” “The Line,” Adam McKay’s “Death at the Wing,” and “What Now with Trevor Noah.”
Lineup: Nicole Hemmer, associate professor of history at Vanderbilt University and director of the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Center for the American Presidency. Her work focuses on media, conservatism, and the presidency. She wrote “Partisans: The Conservative Revolutionaries Who Remade American Politics in the 1990s” and “Messengers of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics,” and is a CNN columnist and co-founder of the Washington Post’s “Made by History.”
Lineup: Kellie Carter Jackson, the Michael and Denise Kellen ’68 Associate Professor and chair of Africana Studies at Wellesley College. A specialist in slavery, abolitionism, the Civil War, and political violence, she is the author of “We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance” and “Force and Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence.” She is also historian-in-residence at Boston’s Museum of African American History.
Lineup: Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II, president and senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach, bishop with the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, and a senior fellow of the Charles F. Kettering Foundation. He is a professor of public theology and public policy and founding director of Yale Divinity School’s Center for Public Theology and Public Policy. Barber co-chairs the Poor People’s Campaign, serves on the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) executive board, and is the author of five books, including “White Poverty: How Exposing Myths about Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy.” He previously led Greenleaf Christian Church for 30 years, served as president of the North Carolina NAACP from 2006 to 2017, and founded Repairers of the Breach in 2015. His honors include a 2018 MacArthur Fellowship, and he holds 12 honorary degrees.
Lineup: Alex Lovit, a senior program officer and historian at the Kettering Foundation and host and executive producer of “The Context.” His work explores the history and future of democracy, with particular attention to inclusive democracy, citizen participation, government accountability, and authoritarian threats. He holds degrees from Amherst College and the University of Michigan, where he earned a doctorate in history focused on 19th-century political history.
Partnership: The event is part of “Democracy, Under Construction,” a month-long partnership between “This Day” and the Charles F. Kettering Foundation. Related conversations continue in the “This Day” and “The Context” podcast feeds.
Showtimes: No showtime is provided.
Run time: Not specified.
Ages: Not specified.
Accessibility: Accessibility information is not provided.