It was a holiday week, and even shorter for us because we launched on Wednesday, but we still covered a lot of ground, including:

— Hearing from James Talarico’s team about why they think the Republicans spent so much time talking about their candidate at the “convention” in Dallas this week.

— Talking to Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, who is running in one of the closest House races in the country, about her campaign focused on rooting out corruption.

— Conducting an exclusive Q&A with Rob Sand, the Democratic candidate for governor in Iowa.

— Listening to GOP Senate leaders’ concerns about their ability to hold the Senate in November, and publishing our first analysis of the Senate map.

— Discussing why Democrats aren’t aggressively talking about repealing Trump’s tariffs.

— Covering the New Hampshire primary.

We’ll give you a rundown of our weekly coverage every Friday, and you can find all of our articles on our website.

We’ve brought on an experienced group of reporters and plugged-in collection of columnists to guide you through where the Democratic Party is today and where it’s going tomorrow. Meet our team:

Elias Isquith (Newsletter Writer)
Elias is a New York-based writer and editor with more than 15 years of experience covering American politics, policy, and democracy. He previously served as senior editor for politics, policy, and ideas at Vox and has also worked as a researcher and producer for The Ezra Klein Show at The New York Times and as a politics writer and editor at Salon.

Kim Lyons (Reporter)
Kim is an Ohio-based journalist who spent more than two decades reporting in Pennsylvania, where she covered the 2024 presidential election. Her priors include The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Morning Brew and the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. She’s also served as a western Pennsylvania correspondent for the New York Times.

Russell Payne (Reporter)
Russell is a reporter covering the Democratic Party and all its factions heading into the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election. His work has previously appeared at Salon.com, The New York Sun, and The Finger Lakes Times.

Alex Rifaat (Reporter)
Alex previously served as White House Reporter for Tax Notes. Rifaat also covered state politics for South Dakota News Watch and the legal industry for Euromoney in New York.

Surina Venkat (Reporter)
Surina has covered all levels of government for both local and national outlets. She has previously worked at The Hill and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Nathalie Baptiste (Reporter)

Nathalie is a freelance journalist based in the Washington, D.C. area. Her work has also appeared in HuffPost, Mother Jones, The Nation, and The American Prospect.

Samarth Gupta (Columnist)
Samarth is a policy fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. He most recently served as a Policy Advisor at the Treasury Department during the Biden Administration. Before joining the Treasury, he worked under the Chief Economist at the Office of Management & Budget and served on the economic policy team for the Biden-Harris campaign and transition team.

Aleigha Cavalier (Columnist)
Aleigha is a nationally recognized political strategist who began her career in Western Pennsylvania politics at 19. She served in the White House Office of Political Strategy and Outreach during the Biden-Harris administration, held senior roles on presidential and congressional campaigns, including those of Joe Biden, Beto O’Rourke, Deval Patrick, and Tom Steyer, and helped produce the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

Kyle Anderson (Columnist)
Kyle is a veteran public affairs strategist who has spent nearly a decade serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was as the executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus, the Democratic staff director for the Committee on House Administration, and the Democratic communications director for the House Rules Committee, among other roles.

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