Kudzu Vine

John Sides is Professor of Political Science and William R. Kenan, Jr. Chair at Vanderbilt University. He studies political behavior in American and comparative politics. He is an author of The Bitter End: The 2020 Presidential Campaign and the Challenge to American Democracy, Identity Crisis: The 2016 Presidential Campaign and The Battle for the Meaning of America, and The Gamble: Choice and Chance in the 2012 Election  He helped found Good Authority and its predecessor, The Monkey Cage, both of which are sites about political science and politics. He has also written for such outlets as FiveThirtyEight, the Boston Review, Bloomberg View, CNN, the Los Angeles Times, and the New York Times. He serves as Research Advisor to the Democracy Fund Voter Study Group. He received his B.A. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He previously taught at the University of Texas-Austin and George Washington University.

Jon Michaels is Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law. His scholarly and teaching interests include constitutional law, administrative law, national security law, the separation of powers, presidential power, regulation, bureaucracy, and privatization. Michaels is a graduate of Williams College, Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar, and Yale Law School, where he served as an articles editor for the Yale Law Journal. Michaels clerked first for Judge Guido Calabresi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and then for Justice David Souter of the U.S. Supreme Court. Immediately prior to his appointment at UCLA, Michaels worked as an associate in Arnold & Porter's National Security Law and Public Policy Group in Washington, DC. A two-time winner of the American Constitution Society's Cudahy Award for scholarly excellence in administrative law and an elected member of the American Law Institute, Michaels has written essays for the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Foreign Affairs, Time Magazine, and the Guardian. He is a frequent legal affairs commentator for national and local media outlets. His 2017 book, Constitutional Coup: Privatization's Threat to the American Republic, was published by Harvard University Press. Michaels's second book, titled Vigilante Nation: How State-Sponsored Terror Threatens Our Democracy will be published by Simon & Schuster/Atria in October 2024.

Steve Singiser will join to discuss what happened in the 2024 election and where the Democrats go from here with a special emphasis on Steve's home state of California.

Jeff Sinnger will join us to discuss the election results from the 2024 Campaign

Tom Jensen will join us on our last season before Electtion Day 2024 and share with us what the latest polling is telling us about Tuesday's election.

Political strategist Mike Mikus will join us to discuss Pennsylvania politics

Milan Singh of BluePrint & Welcome PAC will join us to discuss the results of the Yale Youth Poll and the 2024 election

Lakshya Jain and Armin Thomas will join us to discuss Michigan politics and more!

Drew Savicki will join us to discuss North Carolina politics and more.

Mark Rieke will join us to discuss his election forecasting model.

Dr. Anthony Chergosky will join us to discuss Wisconsin politics and more. Dr. Chergosky teaches courses on American government and research methods. He a political analyst and has been quoted in local, statewide, national, and international news media outlets. His research focuses on American political institutions (especially Congress), elections, political communication, and the scholarship of teaching and learning.  

David Nir will join us to discuss the rebranding of Daily Kos Elections to The Down Ballot: https://www.the-downballot.com/

Alice Driver is a writer from the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas. Driver was born in rural Arkansas in a house built by her potter father and her weaver mother. She attended Berea College in rural Kentucky, founded in 1855 to educate freed slaves and students with limited economic resources. Berea College charges no tuition, and thanks to its mission, she was able to take the years of financial risk needed to become a writer. Writing is how she seeks justice and equality in a world that is far from that. She is currently designing a workshop on gender-based violence for journalists in El Salvador via the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. She has a Ph.D.(2011) and MA (2008) in Hispanic Studies from the University of Kentucky, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) in Mexico City. She studied Spanish and Portuguese at Middlebury College Language Schools.

Bill Schneider is a former political analyst for CNN, Los Angeles Times, National Journal, The Hill and The Messenger; professor emeritus at George Mason University; taught at Brandeis University, Boston College and UCLA.

Melissa Deckman is the CEO of PRRI and a political scientist who studies the impact of gender, religion, and age on public opinion and political behavior. Deckman is the author of Tea Party Women (NYU Press: 2016), which examined the role of women in conservative politics. Her first book, School Board Battles: The Christian Right in Local Politics (Georgetown University Press: 2004) won the American Political Science Association's Hu Morken Award for best book on religion and politics. Columbia University Press will publish her latest book, The Politics of Gen Z: How the Youngest Voters Will Shape Our Democracy this September. Prior to joining PRRI, Deckman served as the Louis L. Goldstein Professor of Public Affairs and Chair of the Political Science Department at Washington College, where she taught courses on American politics and research methods. Dedicated to promoting leadership opportunities for young women, she was the co-founder of Training Ms. President, a Maryland-based, non-partisan program that encouraged young women to consider running for political office. She is proud to have conducted research for IGNITE, a leading non-profit organization that builds political ambition in young women across the country. Deckman received her Ph.D. in Political Science from American University. A first-generation college student, she received her bachelor's degree in political science from St. Mary's College of Maryland, where she graduated class valedictorian.

Rachel Bitecofer will join us to discuss Project 2025 and the 2024 election

Barnini Chakraborty of the Washington Examiner will jojn us to discuss the 2024 Election

Logan Phillips from Race to the White House will jojn us to discuss the 2024 Election. Also, newly elected DNC member and 5th Congressional Chair Maria Banjo will be filling in for Tim Shiflett.

Sarah McCammon is an American journalist and a National Correspondent for National Public Radio, covering the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States. Her reporting focuses on political, social and cultural divides in America, including abortion and reproductive rights, the intersections of politics and religion, as well as breaking news. She previously reported for NPR Member stations in Georgia, Iowa and Nebraska.

Evan will join us to discuss the recently called UK elections and more!

Milan will join us to discuss BluePrint's recent research regarding what What young voters actually care about?

Dr. Grossman will join us to discuss his upcoming book: Polarized by Degrees: How the Diploma Divide and the Culture War Transformed American Politics Matt Grossmann is Director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University and Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center. A regular contributor to FiveThirtyEight, he has published analysis in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Politico and hosts the Science of Politics podcast. He is the author of Red State Blues (2019), Asymmetric Politics (with David A. Hopkins, 2016), Artists of the Possible (2014), and The Not-So-Special Interests (2012).

Alex Diaz will be join us to discuss Nevada politics. Alex will also give us an update on the presidential race in Mexico.

Lichtman created the Keys to the White House model with Soviet seismologist Vladimir Keilis-Borok in 1981. The model uses 13 true/false criteria to predict whether the presidential candidate of the incumbent party will win or lose the next election. Using this model, Lichtman has accurately predicted the winner of every U.S. presidential election since 1984, with the exception of 2000, although he did forecast successfully that Al Gore would win the popular vote that year. He ran for the U.S. Senate seat from Maryland in 2006, finishing in sixth place in the Democratic primary. In 2017, Lichtman published The Case for Impeachment, laying out multiple arguments for the impeachment of Donald Trump.

Dr. Anthony Chergosky will joinn us to discuss Wisconsin politics

Lakshya does modeling and data pieces for Split Ticket and handles their presidential ratings. He is a machine learning engineer who analyzes political data in his free time. He went to UC Berkeley (class of 2019 – BA, 2020 – MS), majoring in computer science, and now work in the tech industry. His writing has also appeared in Sabato's Crystal Ball and The Bulwark.

The Executive Director of the Maricopa County Democratic Party Jon Ryder will join us to discuss Arizona Politics

Dante Chinni is a data and political journalist and director of the American Communities Project, which is based at the MSU J-School. He is a winner of the Knight-Batten Award for Innovation in Journalism and co-author of the book Our Patchwork Nation. Chinni is a contributor to and writer for the Wall Street Journal and to NBC News's Meet the Press, for which he produces the weekly Data Download segment. Starting in November of 2022, the American Communities Project is embarking on a three-year study of American Fragmentation, funded by a $2.4 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. That study will combine survey research, data analysis and on-the-ground reporting in an effort to better understand what is dividing the country and what might help stitch it back together. A graduate of Michigan State, when Dante is not in East Lansing he can usually be found living in Washington with his wife Christina Ianzito and their dog Skeeter.

Milan will join to discuss data and research regarding the 2024 elections.

Bitecofer graduated from the University of Oregon where she earned a bachelor's degree in political science and earned her Ph.D. in political science and international affairs from the University of Georgia. In 2015 she became a lecturer at Christopher Newport University and assistant director of the Wason Center for Public Policy where she conducted polling. In 2019 she applied to convert her position to tenure track, which would lighten her teaching responsibilities, but was denied by the university. As a result, she resigned her position and went to work for the Niskanen Center, a centrist think tank in Washington, D.C. Bitecofer's analysis has appeared on multiple media platforms including MSNBC and The New York Times. She wrote the 2017 book The Unprecedented 2016 Presidential Election on the election of Donald Trump and runs a podcast titled The Election Whisperer hosted by Substack. Today she runs Strike Pac, a liberal super PAC.

Dr. Justin Vaughn will join us to discuss the Presidential Greatness Project: http://www.brandonrottinghaus.com/uploads/1/0/8/7/108798321/presidential_greatness_white_paper_2024.pdf

Steve Singiser has been a contributing editor at Daily Kos since 2009. Though most of his work can be found at Daily Kos Elections, he also can be read from time to time at Daily Kos Labor. Steve has been a teacher and coach in the Los Angeles area since 1997, and he makes his home there with his wife Kristina and their children Cody and Makenzie. After losing nearly 100 pounds, he developed a love for distance running, and will break into the sub-21 minute bracket in the 5K, or collapse heading in that direction.

Bitecofer graduated from the University of Oregon where she earned a bachelor's degree in political science and earned her Ph.D. in political science and international affairs from the University of Georgia. In 2015 she became a lecturer at Christopher Newport University and assistant director of the Wason Center for Public Policy where she conducted polling. In 2019 she applied to convert her position to tenure track, which would lighten her teaching responsibilities, but was denied by the university. As a result, she resigned her position and went to work for the Niskanen Center, a centrist think tank in Washington, D.C. Bitecofer's analysis has appeared on multiple media platforms including MSNBC and The New York Times. She wrote the 2017 book The Unprecedented 2016 Presidential Election on the election of Donald Trump and runs a podcast titled The Election Whisperer hosted by Substack. Today she runs Strike Pac, a liberal super PAC.

Bill Schneider will join us to discuss his new Substack and the upcoming 2024 elections. Bill Schneider is a former political analyst for CNN, Los Angeles Times, National Journal, The Hill and The Messenger; professor emeritus at George Mason University; taught at Brandeis University, Boston College and UCLA.

Kevin Olasanoye, Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Georgia will join us to discuss his vision for Georgia politics. Kevin will also take questions regarding the New Jersey Senate race.

Benjamin Herold is a technology reporter at Education Week, where he has profiled teen hackers, led an award-winning investigation into the nation's online charter schools and detailed Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's multi-billion dollar foray into publication education. Prior to joining Education Week in 2013, Herold covered the Philadelphia school district for WHYY public radio and the Philadelphia Public School Notebook, winning first-place awards from the Education Writers Association as the nation's top education beat reporter (2012) and for his feature reporting on Philadelphia's mass school closings (2013). Before becoming a journalist, Herold worked as a policy researcher, an independent documentary filmmaker and a training specialist for rape-crisis and domestic-violence-prevention organizations. Benjamin has a master's degree in urban education from Temple University in Philadelphia, where he currently lives with his family. With a Spencer Fellowship, Herold plans to take an in-depth look at the changing face of opportunity in America's suburban public schools, chronicling how school districts and families alike are responding to sweeping demographic and economic shifts and exploring what such choices mean for the long-term future of traditional public education.

Tim, Catherine & David will also recap the New Hampshire primary and look ahead in the primary calendar. We will also discuss the the new Congressional map in Louisana and more!

Tim, Catherine and David will preview the New Hampshire Democratic & GOP Primaries

Tim, Catherine and David will preview the 2024 GOP Iowa Caucus

Alex Diaz joins us to discuss Nevada and Mexican politics

Doug Kaplan of Kaplan Strat. Will join us 

Dr. Michael Bitzer will join us to discuss North Carolina politics

Dr. Isabel Skinner will join us to discuss issues surrounding immigration and the US/Mexico border.

Dr. Wade will join us to discuss crime data and findings in American cities and elsewere.

David Nir will join us to preview the 2023 general elections and more

Labor Economist Ron Hetrick will join us to discuss how immigration restrictions are impacting the labor market in Florida and elsewhere. He recently wrote an article on the topic that recieved national attention: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article280203014.html

Craig Pittman will join us to discuss Vox's The United States of Florida project, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis calling Florida the "Utah of the Southeast" and more.

Joe Lindsley will join us to discussion the war in the Ukraine. Also, Tim, Catherine and David will discuss the ongoing vacancy in the Speaker's office and more.

JJ Ames will join us to discuss politics from across America.

Steve Singiser will join us to discuss education issues and California politics

Lowell Feld will join us to discuss the upcoming elections and politics in Virginia.