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Pinching pennies, casting ballots: a midterms dispatch from the Midwest

Pinching pennies, casting ballots: a midterms dispatch from the Midwest

Up First from NPR
Oct 25, 2026 25 min
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About this episode

The Midwest used to be known as an affordable place to live. Lately, though, many people there are having a hard time making ends meet. In this episode of <em>The Sunday Story</em>, Holly Edgell and Daniel Wheaton from NPR’s Midwest Newsroom bring us the voices of Midwesterners. We hear about how people in the region are struggling financially, and how the affordability crisis is impacting their votes in the midterms. <br/><br/><a href="https://www.kcur.org/costly"target="_blank" >You can hear more of the “Costly” series here</a><br/><br/>Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at <a href="http://plus.npr.org/"target="_blank" >plus.npr.org</a>.<br/><br/>See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.<br/><br/><a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

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