A showdown over redistricting; why recent grads are having trouble landing jobs

Summary

Podcast Summary: "A Showdown Over Redistricting; Why Recent Grads Are Having Trouble Landing Jobs"

Here’s the Scoop is NBC News' engaging evening podcast that delves into the day's most pressing issues with clarity and insight. In the August 4, 2025 episode titled “A Showdown Over Redistricting; Why Recent Grads Are Having Trouble Landing Jobs,” hosts Yasmin Vossoughian, Morgan Chesky, and Brian Cheung explore two significant topics impacting the political landscape and the younger workforce. This summary captures the key discussions, insights, and conclusions from the episode, enriched with notable quotes and structured into clear sections for easy comprehension.

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1. Redistricting Showdown in Texas Goes National

The episode opens with Yasmin Vossoughian introducing a critical political battle unfolding in Texas. Over the weekend, state Democrats orchestrated a dramatic move by fleeing Texas in an attempt to block the Republican-controlled legislature’s new congressional map, which could potentially secure up to five additional Republican seats in Congress.

Key Discussion Points:

• Democrats’ Strategy: Democrats left the state for states like Illinois and New York to prevent a quorum, thereby stalling the passage of the new redistricting maps. Ryan Nobles, the Capitol Hill correspondent, explains this tactic as a means to draw national attention and encourage other blue states to adopt similar strategies against gerrymandering.

  "What you see playing out here is the Democrats in Texas using the only tool they have at their disposal and that is to leave town to prevent a quorum from happening so that they cannot come together and formally vote on these maps." [01:57]

• Governor Abbott’s Stance: Texas Governor Greg Abbott has taken a hardline approach, threatening expulsion of absent Democratic members. Nobles notes the severity of the situation, mentioning potential felony charges and daily fines for non-compliance.

  "Governor Abbott is doing this in submission to Donald Trump so that Donald Trump could steal these communities' power and voice." [03:05]

• Historical Context of Gerrymandering: The discussion highlights that gerrymandering is a bipartisan issue, historically utilized by both parties to solidify their political power. Nobles emphasizes that while this instance in Texas is extraordinary due to its timing outside the usual census-driven redistricting cycle, it is not unprecedented.

  "Gerrymandering is a long-held practice by both Republicans and Democrats often complicit with each other." [05:00]

• Implications for Governance: Nobles underscores the detrimental effects of extreme gerrymandering on governance, leading to highly polarized representatives with little incentive to collaborate across party lines.

  "There is no incentive when you start to build these districts in a way where they're all right and all left for these members to then come to Washington and find consensus with each other." [07:10]

Conclusion: The redistricting battle in Texas serves as a microcosm of broader national issues related to political representation and the integrity of the electoral process. The tactics employed by Democrats, though temporary, aim to ignite a larger movement towards fairer redistricting practices across the United States.

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2. The Struggles of Recent College Graduates in a Tough Job Market

Transitioning from political upheaval, the podcast shifts focus to the economic challenges faced by recent college graduates. Yasmin introduces the topic by reflecting on the increased difficulty graduates encounter in securing employment compared to past decades.

Key Discussion Points:

• Current Job Market Dynamics: Recent graduates are navigating the hardest job market in over a decade. Factors contributing to this include slowed hiring rates, economic uncertainty, and the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on entry-level positions.

  "The hiring market has significantly slowed while unemployment's still relatively low. There has been a big slowdown in hiring." [12:03]

• Expert Insights: Shannon Petty Peace, NBC News senior policy reporter, provides depth by citing economists who note that the challenges aren't solely due to graduates' qualifications but are deeply rooted in broader economic trends. The surge in hiring post-pandemic has plateaued, leading employers to exercise caution amidst uncertainties like tariffs and evolving AI technologies.

  "Employers are just pumping the brakes on adding any new workers because they don't feel like they know what the picture's gonna look like even a few months or a year from now." [13:07]

• Impact of AI and Economic Policies: While there's speculation about AI replacing entry-level jobs, Petty Peace notes that current data doesn't conclusively support this trend. However, fear of future automation continues to influence employers' hiring decisions.

  "There's a big debate going on among economists right now about what role AI is playing and if AI is starting to replace some of these entry-level jobs." [13:19]

• Personal Stories: The episode features a poignant story of a recent computer science graduate in Atlanta who, despite strong academic performance and multiple internships, struggles to secure a job beyond low-wage positions. His experience highlights the disillusionment and financial strain many graduates face today.

  "He has been looking for months and months, sent out hundreds of resumes and can't even get an hourly retail job at this point." [14:17]

Conclusion: The convergence of slowed hiring, economic uncertainties, and fears surrounding AI technology has created a precarious job market for recent graduates. This situation not only affects individual career trajectories but also has broader implications for the economy and future workforce development.

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3. Headlines

In addition to the two main topics, the episode provides a roundup of critical global and scientific headlines:

• European Union and US Tariffs: The EU has paused its retaliatory tariffs on US goods for six months, allowing both sides more time to implement a recently agreed-upon framework. Meanwhile, the US proceeds with its own 15% tariffs later in the week.

• Middle East Ceasefire Efforts: Leaked audio suggests President Trump is advocating for an all-or-nothing ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Concurrently, the release of a hostage video by Hamas and reports of Israeli attacks on the Palestine Red Crescent Society intensify regional tensions.

• Geological Phenomenon Near New York: Scientists have identified a massive, superheated rock formation slowly moving toward New York from beneath the Appalachians. Moving at approximately 12 miles every million years, the molten mass poses no immediate threat but serves as a fascinating reminder of Earth's dynamic geology.

  "Think less disaster movie, more slow cooker." [17:25]

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Final Thoughts

This episode of Here’s the Scoop adeptly navigates the complexities of political maneuvering in Texas and the sobering realities of today's job market for young professionals. By providing informed analysis, personal narratives, and a concise summary of global events, the podcast equips listeners with a comprehensive understanding of issues that shape our world today.

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For more insights and daily updates, tune into "Here’s the Scoop" and stay informed with NBC News.

Transcript

[Josh Mankiewicz]

DATELINE is hitting the road for a first of its kind event and you're invited. Join the entire DATELINE team in Nashville, Tennessee, for DATELINE Live. Hear from Lester, Blaine, Andrea, Josh, Keith and Dennis. Plus, live demonstrations, a VIP reception and more. The true crime original like you've never seen before. Live in the heart of Music City. For more details on DATELINE live, head to datelinenbc.com Tickets available. Tuesday, August 5.

[Yasmin Vasugian]

Hey, everybody, and welcome to here's the scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasmin Vasugian. It is great to be back and there is a lot to talk about. All right. I have a question for you. Did you just graduate from college? Well, good luck finding a job. The hardest it has been in a decade plus tariff moves. And so does a molten blob that's making its way towards New York and has been for millions of years. Up first, though, we're heading to the Lone Star State. A showdown over redistricting in Texas is going national. Over the weekend, dozens of state Democrats fled to try and block Republicans new congressional map which could add as many as five Republican seats in Congress. But Texas isn't the only state that could see new voting maps ahead of the midterms. So as the battle in Texas is spilling over, we thought it'd be a good time to bring in our Capitol Hill correspondent, Ryan Nobles to break it all down. Hi, Ryan.

[Ryan Nobles]

Hey, Yasmin. How are you?

[Yasmin Vasugian]

I'm good. I'm glad to be back. Let's walk through what happened in Texas over the weekend. You had all these Democratic members of the Texas House essentially leaving the state and going to places like Illinois. And amidst all of that, we heard some pretty strong words from the House Democratic caucus chair.

[Ryan Nobles]

Yeah. I think what you see playing out here is the Democrats in Texas using basically the only tool they have at their disposal and that is to leave town to prevent a quorum from happening so that they cannot come together and formally vote on these maps, which when the vote actually happens, there will be enough votes to put these maps into a law. So what you saw these House Democrats in Texas do is that they had to leave the state. Where they went was significant, Yasmin. They went to places like Illinois and New York. These are blue states where there's a possibility that they could turn around and do their own form of redistricting in these other states. That would be the benefit of Democrats. And we heard from Gene Wu. He is the House caucus chair of the Texas Democrats. And he basically said that Greg Abbott and Texas Republicans are doing Donald Trump's bidding, and I think we have a little bit of that sound. Governor Abbott is doing this in submission to Donald Trump so that Donald Trump could steal these communities power and voice.

[Yasmin Vasugian]

So if we take a step back here for a moment, Ryan, how significant is this in stopping this vote from going forward?

[Ryan Nobles]

Well, it's a temporary stop. There's no doubt about that. They can't leave the state forever. What we've seen is that the Republicans in Texas are not going to leave any stone unturned in their effort to get this redistricting map made official. And so you saw the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, threaten expulsion for some of these members. He basically says he's gonna throw them out of office if they don't come back. They face the prospect of arrests. They could be charged with felony counts for not doing their responsibility as a member of the Texas House, and they could face fines of up to $500 a day for not showing up to a session of the legislature there. So the question is, how long are Democrats in Texas willing to play this process out? And I think at the very least, what they're trying to do here is draw enough attention to this issue where the legislatures in California and Illinois and New York and some of these other states say, okay, we are now going to get involved in this fight and we're going to do what Texas is doing in our blue states with the goal of trying to balance things out.

[Yasmin Vasugian]

Well, I was going to say, are the grievances of the Democrats here warranted? I mean, do they have a point essentially, and they feel as if, and I'm paraphrasing here, that the Republicans in the state of Texas are trying to steal seats from them.

[Ryan Nobles]

I think they probably do in this very limited scope. But gerrymandering is not an original sin of the Republican Party. Gerrymandering is a long held practice by both Republicans and Democrats often complicit with each other, where members of a legislature say, hey, let's draw these districts together so that it helps the Democrats hold onto their seats and then it helps the Republicans hold on to their seats, as opposed to making what would be purely competitive districts where it is the voters that ultimately decide. So we see in this very narrow instance, Texas Republicans making a play. And I think what makes this a little bit out of the ordinary is that this is happening outside of the normal 10 year census window, which is when this normally takes place. But the idea that Democrats have never done this type of behavior before would not be true in Fact, Illinois, one of the states that they've fled to, is perhaps one of the most egregious offenders of Democratic redistricting. Now, to the Democrats defense, some of these blue states have moved to an independent commission model with the goal of trying to get out from underneath this hole that has been created as a result of gerrymandering. But it's not as if this is something that one party has moral high ground to stand on over the other.

[Yasmin Vasugian]

The thing is, you got a lot of folks probably listening to this saying, well, why does it even matter in a state like Texas that's decidedly red? But this could actually have further implications beyond the state of Texas, especially as we look ahead to the midterms and who controls, ultimately, Congress.

[Ryan Nobles]

Yeah. And I think it's important to keep in mind, Yasmin, that part of the problem, I think, with the American political system right now is that we spend too much time focusing on what's a red state and what's a blue state. And the truth is that people who would be closer to the right of the political sphere live in blue states. People that are closer to the left side of the political sphere live in red states. And each individual person has the right to be represented by someone who is like minded to them. So the idea that especially a state like Texas, which is huge, right. It's millions of Democratic voters there, and those Democratic voters deserve to be represented in Congress. So when you start to cherry pick these districts in a way where you shove as many Democratic voters into one district and then allow Republicans to be in all the other ones, yes, there will be Democrats that are represented by maybe one member of Congress. But when you really look at the way it's proportioned across the entire state, they actually may deserve seven or eight Democratic members. So this is something that I think voters have been the victims of here, and it's been politicians who have been very focused just on amassing as much power as possible. And then the other thing that it leads to, Yasmin, is not a very good governing body that we cover up here in Congress every day. Right. Because there is no incentive when you start to build these districts in a way where they're all right and all left for these members to then come to Washington and find consensus with each other. Right. They're not rewarded when they go back to their districts for working with the other side of the aisle, because their districts do not encompass people from both sides of the aisle. Their districts predominantly encompass people that serve on one side of the party. That's why you're seeing more hardcore Republicans and more hardcore Democrats that are coming to Washington every year. And it's the other reason that that every time we come around these two year cycles, which we're on the verge of In 2026, of 435 congressional seats, there might only be 45 that are competitive. And that is because of the way that these districts have been so gerrymandered. So I think it's a road that started a long time ago. We've continued to go down and no one wants to course correct because they're benefiting from it politically.

[Yasmin Vasugian]

Our Capitol Hill correspondent, Ryan Nobles, back from vacation and refreshed. Thank you.

[Ryan Nobles]

Thanks, Jasmine.

[Yasmin Vasugian]

All right. Coming up next, the kids are not all right. Recent grads say they're grinding but still jobless. We'll be right back.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

I'm Josh Mankiewicz and I hope you'll join us for season four of dateline Missing in America. In each episode of dateline's award winning series, we will focus on one missing persons case and hear from the families, the friends and the investigators, all desperate to find them. You will want to listen closely. Maybe you could help investigators solve a mystery. DATELINE Missing in America. All episodes available now. Wherever you get your podcasts, do you.

[Ryan Nobles]

Want to know what it's like to hang out with Ms. 13 El Salvador, how the Russian mafia fought battles all over Brooklyn in the 1990s? What about that time I got lost in the Burmese jungle hunting the world's biggest meth lab? I'm Sean Williams. And I'm Danny Gold. And we're the hosts of the Underworld podcast. We're journalists that have traveled all over reporting on dangerous people and places. And every week we'll be bringing you a new story about organized crime from all over the world, available wherever you get your podcasts.

[Yasmin Vasugian]

And we're back with here's the scoop from NBC News. Remember back when you were fresh out of school, on the hunt for your first ever job, sending out resume after resume, application after application, and maybe if you're lucky, getting a bite while today's graduates are experiencing that to the nth degree, wading into the worst job market since 2015. And they tell NBC News it's taken a toll. When I was in school, everyone was.

[Shannon Petty Peace]

Like, you'll get a job right after graduation. You'll get a job right? Like they were selling like omg.

[Ryan Nobles]

And I applied to probably like hundreds of jobs since February and I've only had one interview with like face to Face.

[Shannon Petty Peace]

My perception is it's kind of like a black hole out there.

[Ryan Nobles]

I almost feel like it wasn't worth school.

[Yasmin Vasugian]

For more on this, I want to bring in NBC News senior policy reporter Shannon Petty Peace, who's been talking to a lot of young people about this very thing. Hi, Shannon.

[Shannon Petty Peace]

Hi, Yasmin.

[Yasmin Vasugian]

You know, I think about this, and I think back to my own kind of job search back in my 20s. And, you know, I would put my resume on monster jobs and literally not get any replies back from anybody. How is what you're seeing out there with recent college grads different than what we experienced in our initial job searches?

[Shannon Petty Peace]

Well, I asked economists about this. I said, you know, isn't it always hard to get a job out of school? You send out 100 resumes and you get one response, and they said yes. You know, typically new entrants into the job market always have a harder time than people who have a little experience under their belt. But the numbers indicate that it's become increasingly hard for those coming out of school. Over the past six months, the unemployment rate for college grads has been slightly ticking up. And this is recent college grads. Anyone coming out of school with a bachelor's degree. And that gap between the more experienced workers and the less experienced workers has been widening. And one economist I talked to said that this could be the most difficult job market if you set aside Covid that we've seen in at least a decade for recent college grads.

[Yasmin Vasugian]

Why, though? Is it because there or less jobs? Is it because of the emergence of AI? Is it because these recent college grads are looking for something more in particular versus more general? What is it?

[Shannon Petty Peace]

Well, the economists I talked to said it's not so much about their qualifications, what they majored in. It has a lot more to do about the job market as a whole. We saw economic data come out last week indicating that the hiring market has significantly slowed while unemployment's still relatively low. There has been a big slowdown in hiring. And a couple main factors that economists point to is one, there was a lot of hiring the past couple years, especially coming out of the pandemic. There was a surge in demand. So employers were all of a sudden snatching up workers, rapidly expanding their workforces. So they're a little bit at capacity. They did a lot of hiring, and now they kind of can pump the brakes. But the second big one is just a general economic uncertainty that's going on right now, whether it's about tariffs, whether it's about tax policy, whether it's whether it's about what AI might mean to your company going forward. Employers are just pumping the brakes on adding any new workers because they don't feel like they know what the picture's gonna look like even a few months or a year from now.

[Yasmin Vasugian]

You know, it's interesting and it shows why I'm not an economist. But what I would think is that there would be more companies willing to hire recent college graduates because they're cheaper. Yeah.

[Shannon Petty Peace]

And I mean we've certainly seen that in past economic downturns and when we've seen the labor market shift or slow down. There is a big debate going on among economists right now about what role AI is playing and if AI is starting to replace some of these entry level jobs. It seems like the opinion is that there's at least not enough data to indicate that that's what's actually happening, even though there might be anecdotal evidence. But if it's not happening now, there's the feeling that it could be happening in six months to a year from now. So again, it has employers sort of holding back on maybe adding entry level jobs if they think maybe there's going to be a development that comes down the road that's not going to make those jobs necessary. Because employers don't like laying off workers. Not only do they not like doing it from a personal emotional level, but it's also expensive. So that's why they're going to be very cautious when it comes to adding jobs.

[Yasmin Vasugian]

I, I'm wondering if you've, as you've been speaking to all these young people, if there's one story for you that really kind of stands out, that really kind of exemplifies what they're going through.

[Shannon Petty Peace]

Yeah, I mean there, there were so many of them. But one that really stuck out to me was a recent grad in Atlanta. He got a computer science degree. He went into computer science, of course, cause he enjoys it. But because he had been told since he was a teenager it was a surefire way to get a high paying job out of college. And that was his expectation. And he felt like he did, got good grades, did three internships, entered the job market. And he said he has been looking for months and months, sent out hundreds of resumes and can't even get an hourly retail job at this point or an entry level call center job. And this is in the Atlanta area where he's mostly been looking. So it just struck out to me as someone who thought they were doing everything right. And he's now in a position where he's spending down his savings, living back home with his parents. And the really only job offer he got was a 4am shift at Starbucks, which he ended up declining because he said it would just mess up too much with his schedule and his ability to keep applying for jobs and interviewing if he was having to wake up at, you know, 2:30 in the morning.

[Yasmin Vasugian]

Yeah, I've had that shift before in the news biz.

[Shannon Petty Peace]

Well, it's a grind. He was not wrong about messing up his schedule.

[Yasmin Vasugian]

It is brutal. Shannon Petty piece. Thank you.

[Shannon Petty Peace]

Thank you.

[Yasmin Vasugian]

All right, let's keep it moving. Now to some headlines. First up, the European Union says it's pausing its retaliatory tariffs on US Goods. The tariffs were supposed to go into effect this Thursday, but instead they'll be snoozed for another six months. That'll give the two sides more time to implement the framework agreement they came up with last week. The US is still going ahead with its 15% tariffs, though they kick in later this week. And President Trump is now pushing an all or nothing cease fire deal to end the war between Israel and Hamas, according to audio leaked to an Israeli news website. Middle east envoy Steve Witkoff can be heard telling the families of Israeli hostages that piecemeal deals just don't work. NBC News was not able to independently verify the audio, but two people in the room corroborated the comments. The news comes after Hamas released a video over the weekend of one of those hostages, Evyatar David. His brother told NBC News in Tel Aviv that he looked so frail and emaciated that their father did not recognize him. And global health organizations condemning an Israeli attack on the Palestine Red Crescent Society. It's an emergency medical provider in Gaza. The organization is saying their building was struck in Khan Younis on Sunday, killing a staff member and injuring several others. Israeli Defense Forces saying the incident is under investigation. Scientists have discovered a roughly 200 mile blob of superheated rock slowly oozing its way towards New York. And no, this isn't a sequel to the blob. It creeps and leaps and glides and.

[Ryan Nobles]

Slides across the floor.

[Yasmin Vasugian]

It's just geology doing its weird thing. According to new research led by the University of Southampton, the molten mass buried deep beneath the Appalachians has been drifting for millions of years at a glacial pace, roughly 12 miles every million years. Think less disaster movie, more slow cooker. Researchers say there's no danger. It's moving slower than your commute this morning, but it's still a wild reminder that Earth has a molten core. And if you're rushing through Manhattan now and spot some extra steamy sidewalk vents, do not panic. You're just getting a glimpse of the future. I'm melting. Melting.

[Shannon Petty Peace]

Oh, my world. My world.

[Yasmin Vasugian]

All right, that's gonna do it for us today. Here's a scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasmin Vesugin. We'll see you back here tomorrow with whatever the day may bring.

[Don Wildman]

What started the Civil War? What ended the conflict in Vietnam? Who was Paul Revere? And did the Vikings ever reach America? I'm Don Wildman. And on American History Hit my expert guests and I are journeying across the nation and through the years to uncover the stories that have made America. We'll visit the battlefields and debate floors where the nation was formed, meet the characters who have altered it with their touch and count the votes that have changed the the direction of our laws and leadership. Find American History Hit twice a week, every week, wherever you get your podcasts. American History Hit a podcast from History Hit.