Women voters—and candidates—are mobilized as never before for next week’s midterms: Joan Walsh and Cecile Richards report from across the country—at a Nation event introduced by editor and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel. Walsh is the magazine’s national-affairs correspondent and Richards recently stepped down as head of Planned Parenthood after leading the organization since 2006.

Also: While Democrats are focusing now on voter mobilization and turnout, Republicans are at work on voter suppression. How significant will the Republican effort be in this election—and where is it likely to have the biggest impact? Ari Berman reports—he wrote about vote suppression for the New York Times opinion pages.

Plus Gary Younge, The Nation columnist, talks about politics in the Midwest, the heartland, the Rust Belt—he’s covering the midterms from Racine, Wisconsin, an old Democratic factory town on Lake Michigan. After so many defeats in the state, Democrats there told him they “can’t afford the luxury of hope.”