Since 2016, polling has become somewhat of a controversial topic in the world of politics. Some Democrats have their concerns because of the pure shock of Donald Trump's victory in 2016, while some Republicans distrust polls because they have recently shown President Trump down considerable margins in key states. Despite this, public opinion institutes and pollsters have continued to churn out what they believe to be reputable data points about many campaigns all over the country. One of...

Across the country, there has been a wave of progressive victories in Democratic primaries over the past few years. In 2018, we saw Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, and a number of New York State Senate seats flip from the hands of incumbent Democrats to young, bold progressive voices fighting for a new status quo. This trend has continued in 2020 with Cori Bush, Marie Newman, and many others, including a man from the Bronx, NY.  On June 23, Jamaal Bowman unseated a powerful...

As just a junior in college, he has already chaired a political organizing group and launched his own PAC. He also wants to help elect progressives across the country, specifically through mobilizing youth voters through a Jewish lens. Ethan Wolf is passionate about Democratic politics and his Jewish identity and uses both of those to drive and influence his work. A former chair of the organizing body Jews 4 Joe, Ethan now leads the Jewish Unity PAC, which aims to turn out young voters in key...

While not often understood by most Americans, prosecutors at the local, state, and federal level have immense power in our judicial system. Effectively, they can choose to pursue the maximum sentence against an alleged criminal (within the legal guidelines), or, they can choose to be lenient and opt for the minimum. The decisions made at the prosecutorial level can change someone's life forever. In practice, it's quite literally the difference between an addict being sent to rehab, or being...

From entering the White House as a speechwriter at age 24 to writing most of President Obama's White House Correspondents Dinner jokes for four years, David Litt got into politics at a young age and quickly rose to the top of his profession. He joined the Millennial Politics Podcast this week to discuss his career in the White House, the current troubles facing our nation, and his new book, Democracy in One Book Or Less: How It Works, Why It Doesn't, and Why Fixing It Is Easier Than You...

Swing Left was founded in January 2017 as a reaction to Donald Trump's ascension to the presidency. Since then, the progressive political group has grown exponentially. With chapters across the nation and representatives on college campuses, along with a massive organizing infrastructure, they're poised to make an enormous difference in elections taking place this November. Steve Pierson and Mariah Craven joined the Millennial Politics Podcast to discuss the work they do on Swing Left's...

Born in Colombia during the drug war, Lina Hidalgo is no stranger to adversity and change. After moving to Peru and then Mexico to escape the traffickers and gangs, her family finally emigrated to the United States. Looking back, she marvels at the disparity between the lack of government action in Colombia, Peru, or Mexico compared with the flourishing public school system in Texas she was able to attend; with strong STEM classes, robust arts programming, and ample resources. She realized...

From combating child hunger to reducing human trafficking, or fighting Ebola in West Africa and striving to eradicate AIDS by 2030, UNICEF USA is hard at work making a difference where it matters. UNICEF was founded in 1946, post WWII, to help children affected by the war, and UNICEF USA supports UNICEF's work through fundraising, advocacy, and education in the United States. Graded by Charity Navigator in 2019, UNICEF USA received exceptional scores in transparency, accountability, and...

Mondaire Jones would be the first black and openly gay member of Congress in United States history. He's also a bonafide progressive, supporting policies like Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and tuition-free public college. Mondaire Jones, educated at Stanford University, graduated from Harvard Law School, served in the Obama Department of Justice, and now candidate for the open House seat in New York's 17th congressional district, is more than just a resume. Endorsed by AOC and...

After a long conversation about systemic racism, police brutality, the effects of COVID-19 in her district, and a failure of leadership in this time of crisis, NY State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi retracted her prior endorsement of incumbent Rep. Eliot Engel. While she had previously publicly declared that, "2020 was not the time to primary incumbent Democrats", the events of the last few months have changed her perspective. The senator spoke passionately about the lack of leadership from many...

Cristóbal Alex is a Civil Rights attorney, the former founding President of Latino Victory, a veteran of Hillary for America, and now Senior Advisor to Vice President Joe Biden in his bid to win the Presidency. Alex joined the Vice President in March 2019, even before Biden had officially declared his intent to run for the White House. "In this moment of crisis, Joe Biden will work to unify the country and address the very real injustices and the need for systemic change." On this episode...

Lauren Baer, a former senior policy advisor at the State Department and candidate for Congress in 2018, joined the Millennial Politics podcast to talk about how foreign relations impact the response to a pandemic like this one and how the State Department under President Obama would have reacted differently. During this episode, Sam and Nathan ask Baer how the lackluster response by the United States government to coronavirus will affect our nation's standing on the world stage and what that...

Fred Guttenberg is the father of Jaime Guttenberg, who was tragically killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida two years ago. It was Valentine's Day, 2018, and as he tells us on the podcast, just another normal day for him. Making sure his kids got to school on time was his top priority, and sadly, as we all now know, that day completely turned his life upside down. The Parkland Shooting was the deadliest high school shooting in American history, and...

Presidential races are grueling exercises. Day in and day out, you're always on the go. Raising money, speaking to voters, getting your message out into the media – doing whatever you can as the candidate or staff to maximize every hour of every day. It's exhausting, but somehow at the same time, exhilarating (or at least that's what Addisu Demissie, Senator Cory Booker's Campaign Manager, tells us). Demissie joined us on the podcast this week, and with him comes nearly 20 years of...

The data from the American Public Media Research Lab shows that African-Americans have made up roughly 27% of COVID-19 deaths, but only 13% of the United States population is black. What is causing this horrific discrepancy? Rashad Robinson, civil rights activist and President of Color of Change,  joined the podcast this week to discuss the impact of coronavirus on black Americans and what his organization is doing to help those in need. In this episode, Sam and Nathan ask Robinson about...

Mandatory masks wherever physical distancing is impossible, along with weekly tests for those lacking antibodies is one doctor's vision of a new normal. Dr. Angela Rasmussen, Virologist at Columbia University's School of Public Health and a vForbes Contributor, came on the Millennial Politics podcast this week. As an Associate Research Scientist at the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University, Dr. Rasmussen studies viral pathogens like Ebola, Bird Flu, MERS, SARS, and now...

Andom Ghebreghiogis (pronounced GEH-Bre-Gorgeous) is the son of Eritrean immigrants, a special education teacher, and an activist turned Congressional Candidate in NY's 16th district. Andom sat down with Nathan to discuss his background, vision for the future, path to victory, and the ways he differs from the longtime incumbent and Chairman of House Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel. Full disclosure - Congressman Eliot Engel also came on the Millennial Politics Podcast, and that...

Rob Anderson is a Democrat in the Deep South. Rob ran as a (D) for Congress in Louisiana, and he currently has an exploratory committee open in anticipation of running again in 2020. On this podcast we discuss his background as a working-class driller, small-business owner, and now, independent-minded politician. For those who have traveled around the South (or lived there), having a (D) next to your name can be toxic. Not to Rob, though. He explains how he meets his constituents where...

In United States presidential elections, a faithless elector is a member of the United States Electoral College who does not vote for the presidential or vice presidential candidate for whom they had pledged to vote. Chris Suprun was perhaps the most notable faithless elector in the 2016 election cycle, penning an Op-Ed in the New York Times explaining why he wouldn't vote for Donald Trump, the rightful winner of Texas' electoral college votes. After declaring he would not cast his vote...

Roger Misso is a veteran, father, Harvard graduate, and candidate for the Democratic Nomination in NY-24th Congressional District. NY-24 is one of two districts remaining where Hillary Clinton won in 2016, but the Congressional Seat is in Republican hands. If Roger Misso has anything to say about it, that will all change in 2020. This episode is also sponsored by Election Ride Home podcast, learn more here: https://link.chtbl.com/listen-to-erh

Democratic Candidate for U.S. Senate Josh Mahony joined Nathan on the podcast to discuss the urgency around winning another senate seat in a "red state" like Arkansas. If Mahony were to win the Democratic Nomination, he would be taking on U.S. Senator (R) Tom Cotton in the 2020 general election. Mahony lauched his campaign with a digital ad against Cotton titled, "Terrible Tom Cotton" and the attack splices together video and audio clips from his Senate colleagues, the news media, and...

On this episode of the podcast, Nathan sits down with State Senator Gustavo Rivera (NY-33), who is the Chairman of the Committee on Health. If there's going to be any type of healthcare reform in New York State, Senator Rivera is going to be one of the elected officials leading the charge. In this wide-ranging (and fast-moving) interview, Senator Rivera covers his favorite topics: universal healthcare, the myths behind the criticisms of single-payer healthcare, and his background as a...

Congressman Eliot Engel sat down with Nathan on the podcast to discuss his role as Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, his investigations into the Trump Administration, the escalating crisis between the United States and Iran, and the domestic priorities which will be a focus for his own personal race for re-election in 2020. Take a listen as this interview with a high-powered member of Congress is one you won't want to miss.

Nick Guthman, co-founder and Executive Director of Blue Future, joins Nathan to talk about youth organizing and political participation as a whole. He speaks about the work that his organization has done in the past and what their plans are for the future, including targeting the state elections in VA in 2019 and the 2020 Democratic Presidential Primaries. Nick also discusses general organizing, including how Blue Future runs canvasses, phone banks, and brings together youth organizers in...