Like most people who use YouTube Music, I was grandfathered in after Google Music shut down and have YouTube premium bundled with it.
So with that, it absolutely plays when not in focus and has no ads.
That said, it absolutely is just recommending the same old things that usually show up on my playlists.
Vote early. Almost every single area in the US has early voting at least 2 weeks before elections. People complain about long lines and lack of ballots on election day. You know what you get if you stumble into a polling place before that? A couple of bored poll workers in an otherwise empty building. You get your ballot, fill it out, and leave within 5 minutes. I seriously don’t understand why this isn’t used more.