The American Council on Germany and the Goethe-Institut USA cordially invite you to a Live Podcast Recording and Discussion as part of the series Foreign Correspondent Unplugged, on “Campaign Season on Both Sides of the Atlantic” with Liz Goodwin, National Political Reporter, The Washington Post and Nadine Lindner, Journalist, Deutschlandradio, and moderated by Dr. Steven E. Sokol, President and CEO, The American Council on Germany.
Join the American Council on Germany and the Goethe-Institut USA for an installment of our Foreign Correspondent Unplugged series, which delves into current political debates on both sides of the Atlantic.
The year 2026 is shaping up to be an important electoral moment on both sides of the Atlantic. In the United States, voters will head to the polls for the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress and shape the final years of the current administration in Washington, DC. In Germany, several key state elections will test the strength of the governing coalition and the continued rise of parties such as the Alternative for Germany (AfD), offering an early indication of the political dynamics that could influence the next federal contest. Together, these campaigns will provide a revealing snapshot of how domestic political pressures in both countries may shape the future of the transatlantic relationship.
Drawing on our guests’ extensive on-the-ground reporting – from Germany’s evolving party landscape to the shifting dynamics of U.S. national politics – this discussion will explore how political narratives, voter behavior, and media coverage are influencing democratic debate and the broader transatlantic relationship.
This event is part of a week-long speaking tour by Nadine Lindner to five U.S. cities titled State(s) of Democracy: A German Journalist’s Journey to the U.S. in 2026.
Liz Goodwin is a national political reporter for The Washington Post, writing about the forces and people remaking American politics. She previously covered the Senate. Ms. Goodwin joined The Post from the Boston Globe, where she covered national politics since 2018, most recently serving as Washington bureau chief. Before joining the Globe in 2018, Ms. Goodwin wrote about national politics and national affairs for Yahoo News, covering Congress, the 2012 and 2016 presidential campaigns, immigration, and criminal justice, among other topics. Earlier in her career, she worked at the Daily Beast. As a reporter, Ms. Goodwin is known for capturing the human side of politics — writing revealing profiles of candidates and examining the complex decision-making of voters in absorbing narratives. She has written from the U.S.-Mexico border about the Trump administration’s family separation policy and from Britain on former president Donald Trump’s influence on nationalists in that country and has reported from the campaign trail over three presidential elections.
Nadine Lindner has been a Correspondent in the Berlin studio of “Deutschlandradio” since early 2016. Among other things, Ms. Lindner is responsible for the news coverage of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the German parliament. Ms. Lindner studied Political Science at Leipzig University in Saxony and discovered her enthusiasm for radio at the training station “mephisto 97.6.” After graduating from university, she worked as a freelance journalist for “MDR sputnik” and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as well as Deutschlandradio. She completed her journalistic training at Deutschlandradio in Berlin. In 2013, Ms. Lindner moved back to Saxony as a regional correspondent for Deutschlandradio, where she covered the early evolution of the AfD and the anti-asylum movement Pegida. In 2024, she received the prize from the Bundespressekonferenz, the association of capital studio journalists, for her reporting about the AfD and Eastern Germany.
Dr. Steven E. Sokol (moderator) has been the President and CEO of the American Council on Germany since 2015. Previously, he served as President and CEO of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh and prior to that he was the Vice President and Director of Programs at the American Council on Germany. Earlier in his career, Dr. Sokol worked at the Aspen Institute Berlin and in the Berlin office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. He holds a Doctorate from Northeastern University as well as an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins University’s Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. He has also studied at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität in Heidelberg and as a Fulbright Scholar at the Freie Universität in Berlin.
There is no cost to attend this event.