In this episode of The TRM Podcast, we speak with Bowdoin College students Natalie Emerson and Larson Van Horn, creators of the ⁠Pine State Politics in Session⁠ podcast. What began as an academic project has become a powerful civic experiment in demystifying democracy. Emerson and Van Horn take us inside the process — petitions, ranked-choice voting, clean election funding — the often-invisible machinery that makes democracy work. Their mission is simple but profound: to replace cynicism with understanding by showing how the system actually functions, and how ordinary citizens can engage it with intelligence and purpose. From their experience gathering signatures on a Senate campaign to interviewing figures across the political spectrum, they remind us that democracy is not a spectator sport.

A grounded, hopeful conversation with two voices of the next generation who are learning — and teaching — what democratic participation really means.