In this ourVoices special, openDemocracy’s Editor in Chief Mary Fitzgerald travels 1,400 miles across the midwestern United States with North America editor, Aaron White.

Their journey starts on the eve of the US election in the city of Louisville, Kentucky – where Mary’s family has lived for generations – and ends on the east coast in Philadelphia, right as jubilant crowds are proclaiming Biden the winner.

Despite the carnival, they found a country facing a dark winter; with nearly half a million COVID deaths projected by year-end, and an economic crisis not seen since the Great Depression. People from all walks of life say they desperately need unity and leadership.

But with Republicans still likely to wield Senate control, much of Biden’s agenda will be blocked. And, as we heard in episode 1, the coalition that propelled him to power is fragile.

With the country and Washington DC more fractured than ever, is there any hope that Biden can deliver what’s needed? And what are the consequences if he doesn’t?

Listen in on their journey and discover what’s happening outside the current political system: on the streets of big cities, in small towns in the rural midwest – and among a new generation of activists daring to imagine a radically different future.