Lis Smith
John Heilemann July 22, 2025
A conversation with the legendary Dem operative Lis Smith about how Trump is bungling the Epstein messaging, plus the Democrats’ opportunity with dude voters.
Leigh Ann Caldwell July 13, 2025
As the ’26 cycle ramps up, both Republican and Democratic Senate recruiting efforts have been slowed by uncertainty over Trump’s endorsement strategy, who is running, and whether the job is still worth the headache.
Zohran Mamdani
Abby Livingston June 30, 2025
Democratic strategists and operatives are processing Zohran Mamdani’s shocking victory in New York in real time: the implications for incumbents, lessons for candidate recruitment, the challenge of managing the far left, and why the Israel issue isn’t going away. Herewith, some of their early takeaways.
tim kaine
Leigh Ann Caldwell June 25, 2025
As Dems struggle to unify on whether Trump should have attacked Iran, they’re lining up to criticize how he did it—without congressional approval or input. Senator Tim Kaine discusses his latest resolution to claw back congressional war powers, and why he feels it’s more important than ever.


Rahm Emanuel
Abby Livingston June 2, 2025
As Trump’s grip weakens, Democrats are recruiting candidates straight from the Rahm Emanuel 2006 playbook: military vets, small-business owners, health care workers, etcetera. Career politicians and Biden insiders need not apply.
Jake Tapper Alex Thompson
John Heilemann May 27, 2025
In the eye of the weeklong storm around the Biden-bruising, bestselling ‘Original Sin’ are authors Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, who are as unwavering in their criticism of the former president, and his coven of enablers, as they are in their reporting. Here’s what they had to say.
Gerry Connolly
Abby Livingston May 26, 2025
As the Tapper-Thompson exposé on Biden’s gerontocracy hits Washington, House Democrats are coming to terms with their own culpability in supporting an aging caucus.