Unmoderated News

Quinton Lucas Wants Democrats at the Chiefs Game

Unmoderated News — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 11:03:15 GMT

For stretches of his childhood, Quinton Lucas was homeless. He crashed at motels, with relatives, and even at the nursing home where his great-aunt lived. Now he’s the mayor of Kansas City, Missouri.

He was elected in 2019, the youngest mayor of Kansas City in more than a century. Four years later, he was reelected with more than 80% of the vote.

Sarah McCammon, who grew up in Kansas City, spoke with Mayor Lucas there in person about growing up poor on the city’s east side, why he goes on conservative talk radio every week, what free buses taught him, and why Democrats should celebrate the American story.

Jessica Tarlov Wins Arguments Without Losing Friends

Unmoderated News — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 11:04:06 GMT

Jessica Tarlov is, for lack of a better term, a prominent moderate. She’s one of the most recognizable Democrats on Fox News, arguing daily with people who don’t agree with her, and she co-hosts the podcast “Raging Moderates” with Scott Galloway.

In her new book, I Disagree: Winning Arguments Without Losing Friends, she draws on those daily fights to share what she’s learned about arguing well—with colleagues, with critics, and with her own family.

Sarah McCammon spoke with Tarlov about the family dinner table that taught her to argue while still staying connected, her belief in fighting for health care as a human right, and what she thinks it will take for moderate Democrats to out-organize the party’s left flank.

Yadira Ramos-Herbert Says Real is Better Than Polished

Unmoderated News — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 11:02:43 GMT

Yadira Ramos-Herbert grew up in Queens, the granddaughter of immigrants. She started her career as an attorney in New York City, then spent a decade in leadership at Columbia University Law School.

She was working with students there when the campus was rocked by protests over the war in Gaza, after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. Soon afterward, she became the first woman and the first person of color ever to lead the city of New Rochelle, New York.

Today, Ramos-Herbert presides over one of the most closely watched affordable housing efforts in America while leading a deeply diverse city through a divided political moment.

Sarah McCammon spoke with Mayor Ramos-Herbert about her family’s immigration story, the backlash she sometimes faces for speaking Spanish on the job, and how she held her city together after October 7.

Frank Sharry Says Democrats Could Still Win on Immigration

Unmoderated News — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 11:03:41 GMT

Third Way Senior Fellow Frank Sharry has been at the center of nearly every major push for immigration reform for decades — and watched almost all of them fall apart.

Now he wants Democrats to reckon with where they went wrong on immigration, and how the party can reclaim the middle in the midterms and beyond.

Sarah McCammon spoke with Sharry about how Democrats lost credibility on the border, the “both-and” answer he thinks can win back swing voters, and how four decades working with refugees shaped his view of the issue.

Jake Auchincloss Wants to Save Democrats from Permanent Minority

Unmoderated News — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 11:02:31 GMT

Most kids hang posters of their favorite bands on their walls. Jake Auchincloss decorated his room with pictures of the Founding Fathers.

His grandfather, the son of Jewish refugees, snuck into a Marine recruiting station as a teenager during World War II, over his mother’s objections. Representative Auchincloss joined the Marines to carry on that legacy. He commanded infantry in Afghanistan, then came home and ran for office. Now he is pushing the Democratic Party toward the center—and back to winning.

Sarah McCammon spoke with Representative Auchincloss about how Afghanistan shaped his view of American power, why he calls social media a failed society, and the governing vision he thinks can redefine the center around the middle class.

Elissa Slotkin is on Trump’s List… and She’s Fighting Back

Unmoderated News — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 11:03:06 GMT

Elissa Slotkin arrived in New York City as a student one day before 9/11—and before the smoke cleared, she knew what she wanted to do with her life. She went on to serve in the CIA, did three tours in Iraq, and worked in the White House under two presidents: one Republican and one Democrat.

Michigan voters elected Senator Slotkin to the US Senate in 2024—the same night Donald Trump carried the state. She won in part by winning in places Kamala Harris couldn’t. And her tenure in the Senate has been defined by a willingness to take on powerful interests and stick up for what she believes in. After Senator Slotkin and other intelligence and military veterans made a public statement reminding American troops that they can refuse illegal orders, President Trump accused her of sedition. Lately she’s also been taking on what she sees as the failures of her own party.

Sarah McCammon spoke with Senator Slotkin in Washington, DC, about how her mother’s illness and the AIDS crisis shaped her politics, what she means when she says Democrats need more alpha energy, and why she wants a crowded 2028 primary.

Brooke Jenkins Won’t Apologize for Prosecuting Crime

Unmoderated News — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 11:01:55 GMT

Brooke Jenkins was a homicide prosecutor in San Francisco when she walked out the door and helped lead a campaign to fire her own boss. That boss was one of the most famous progressive prosecutors in America. He had promised fewer prosecutions and a new model of justice.

But as drug markets spread and theft videos went viral, voters in one of America’s most liberal cities decided the experiment had gone too far. After they recalled him in 2022, Jenkins was appointed to replace him.

Since then, San Francisco has become a test of a question Democrats face everywhere: Can the party get serious about crime and disorder without giving up on reform?

Sarah McCammon spoke with District Attorney Jenkins about how she found her calling prosecuting violent crime, how she balances holding dangerous offenders accountable and partnering with at-risk communities, and what San Francisco can teach national Democrats.

Tom Suozzi: The Trump Country Democrat Pushing His Party to the Middle

Unmoderated News — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 11:03:25 GMT

Tom Suozzi grew up in a family where public service was the family business. His father immigrated from Italy, and flew bombing missions over Europe during World War II, before becoming a mayor. Suozzi went on to follow his father into politics.

Today, he’s the only Democrat in New York who holds a congressional district that Trump won. He’s on a campaign to push his party to declare itself capitalist not socialist and proud rather than ashamed of America.

Sarah McCammon spoke with Representative Suozzi about immigration, the future of the democratic party, and how Jonah Hill inspired an odyssey of the soul before his return to Congress.

Ken Salazar on Immigration, the Border, and the Future of the Democratic Party

Unmoderated News — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 11:03:14 GMT

Ken Salazar comes from a part of Colorado with a complicated history that has shaped the way he understands immigration and identity. Salazar has represented his home state in the U.S. Senate, served as President Obama’s Interior Secretary, and more recently, he was President Biden’s ambassador to Mexico—at a time when Biden’s border policy was under scrutiny.

Now, Salazar is sharing his ideas about what went wrong and where Democrats should go from here. His new book ‘Borderlands’ is out now wherever books are sold.

Sarah McCammon spoke with Secretary Salazar about the politics of border security, the future of U.S.-Mexico relations, and Salazar’s proposal for a new North American alliance.

Justin Bibb on Winning City Hall at 34

Unmoderated News — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 11:00:37 GMT

Justin Bibb grew up in a house where public safety was personal. His father was a police officer and firefighter, his grandmother led the neighborhood watch, and those experiences shaped how he thinks about government, safety, and civic responsibility.

Even after leaving Cleveland, Bibb never stopped thinking about how to make his hometown stronger. He eventually returned to run for mayor, becoming one of the youngest leaders of a major American city. Today, he’s focused on policing, the housing affordability crisis, and the long work of revitalizing a Rust Belt city that has spent decades reinventing itself.

Sarah McCammon talks with Bibb about what it takes to govern through difficult tradeoffs, why he believes cities are leading the country on problem-solving, and what national Democrats can learn from local leaders delivering results.

Mark Cuban Has a Plan to Fix Health Care

Unmoderated News — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 11:03:52 GMT

Most people know Mark Cuban as a Shark Tank investor or longtime owner of the Dallas Mavericks. But a few years ago, he started Cost Plus Drugs to cut out the middleman in a pharmaceutical industry he says is fundamentally broken.

Cuban wants healthcare for everyone—even if he doesn’t think Medicare for All is the answer. He argues that transparency is the missing ingredient, and lays out what he thinks it would actually take to build a universal healthcare system that works.

Sarah McCammon speaks with Cuban about healthcare reform, AI, wealth inequality, the future of the Democratic Party, and why he believes politicians need to spend less time talking and more time solving people’s everyday problems.

Jackie Payne on the Moderate Women Who Decide Elections

Unmoderated News — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 11:03:06 GMT

After Donald Trump won in 2016, Jackie Payne did something unusual. She got in a car and spent two years just listening to women. What she found was a huge number of moderate women — in the suburbs and small towns — that both parties keep underestimating, and keep getting wrong. Closing that gap with America’s largest single voting bloc would meaningfully expand the coalition for progress and put extremists on the ropes.

Payne is the founder and executive director of Galvanize Action, a group focused on moderate women. That makes her uniquely plugged into what these women want, and full of ideas on how to persuade them.

Joe Walsh and Yemisi Egbewole Diagnose the Brand

Unmoderated News — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 11:03:44 GMT

Democrats have a branding problem. Joe Walsh and Yemisi Egbewole think they know why.

They took very different roads into the Democratic Party. Walsh was a Tea Party congressman who campaigned for Donald Trump in 2016. Egbewole ran communications in Joe Biden’s White House — and now she’s a political commentator on Fox News.

They both have ideas about why the Democratic Party feels so out of touch to many red-state voters, and thoughts on how to win them back. Sarah McCammon spoke with them live on stage in Charleston, South Carolina earlier this year.

Bobby Pulido: The Quinceañera Candidate

Unmoderated News — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 11:01:42 GMT

Bobby Pulido spent thirty years building a career as a Tejano music star. Now he’s running for Congress in South Texas, in one of the poorest parts of the state, trying to unseat a Republican incumbent.

Pulido’s opponent mocked his music career, saying the election wasn’t about who you want performing at your niece’s quinceañera. So he turned that dig into four thousand invitations to quinceañeras and other celebrations across Texas.

Pulido thinks the key to flipping the district is to keep showing up in unconventional places. Sarah McCammon spoke with him in Washington, D.C.

Nikki Budzinski Works the Floor, Not the Feed

Unmoderated News — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 11:03:30 GMT

Nikki Budzinski is the kind of Democrat a lot of people say the party needs more of — a reluctant politician who came up in the labor movement, and now represents a sprawling district in downstate Illinois. But she’d be the first to tell you her party has lost touch with the voters she grew up around.

She was born in Peoria, moved around as a kid, and landed back in the heartland. She likes to say she’s one of the few members of Congress who’s spent time on the kill floor of a meatpacking plant. And she just won her primary by more than 50 points against a challenger who said she wasn’t progressive enough.

Now Budzinski represents a district that stretches from a college town to steel mills and soybean fields — and she’s trying to answer a question her party can’t afford to get wrong: how do Democrats win back working people who’ve stopped believing the party is fighting for them?

Rahm Emanuel on Faith, Israel, and What’s Next

Unmoderated News — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 11:02:46 GMT

Rahm Emanuel believes in Israel. He also thinks its government is making historic mistakes. In Part 2 of our conversation, he aims his critique in every direction.

Sarah McCammon spoke with Ambassador Emanuel in Chicago about the Jewish upbringing that still shapes him, why he confronted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to his face in 2009, and why he says the party’s divide on Israel is generational rather than partisan.

Part 1 dropped last week.

Rahm Emanuel: America Has Lost Its Nerve

Unmoderated News — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 11:03:13 GMT

Rahm Emanuel has a reputation for two things: a tough demeanor and a policy nerd’s command of detail. In Part 1 of our interview, he lives up to both.

Ambassador Emanuel argues that America has spent 25 years sleepwalking — through the Iraq war, the Great Recession, and the pandemic — and that the people responsible were never held accountable. His solution starts somewhere you might not expect: a Mississippi classroom.

Sarah McCammon spoke with him in Chicago about his diagnosis of the country, the education plan he’d run from elementary school to free community college, how we confront AI anxiety, and why he says it’s the crisis neither party takes seriously enough.

Senator Catherine Cortez Masto on What Battleground Voters Want

Unmoderated News — Thu, 28 May 2026 11:02:50 GMT

Senator Catherine Cortez Masto has run and won twice in Nevada — even in an environment where Republicans had a six-point advantage. She’s already the person many presidential hopefuls want to talk to as Democratic hopefuls plot their path to victory in the Silver State, first in a Democratic primary as Nevadans lobby to be first in the nation, and then as a battleground in the general election.

The granddaughter of a Mexican immigrant who served in the Army, Sen. Cortez Masto grew up the daughter of a Las Vegas parking attendant — who went on to become lowkey Vegas famous. She became a prosecutor, then Nevada’s attorney general, and she’s married to a former Secret Service agent. And she’s the first Latina ever elected to the U.S. Senate.

Sarah McCammon spoke with Sen. Cortez Masto in Washington about why she refuses to join the calls to abolish ICE even as she condemns agents’ behavior under Trump and is leading the push for accountability, what it actually takes to win swing voters, and the fights she says she’ll never give up.

Populists are winning. Here’s how we beat them.

Unmoderated News — Tue, 26 May 2026 16:36:11 GMT

Populists are winning. By some reckoning, they govern a quarter of the world’s democracies. Across America, Europe and beyond, mainstream politics is losing ground to movements that offer simple answers to complex grievances.

Yet, this may not be peak populism. It may be populism’s tipping point, because the three deep forces driving the populist surge may all get stronger in the years to come:

The great disillusion with democracy’s broken economic promise may deepen. In the decade to 2025, free democracies grew (at just 2.5% a year), more slowly than dictatorships. Since the Great Financial Crisis, wages in major OECD economies have advanced a mere 0.6% a year - down from 1.7% before the financial crisis. At that pace, it takes wages over a century to double. And as Third Way has argued, the costs of the five tickets to middle-class life—home ownership, childcare, college, healthcare, retirement—have outrun pay for a generation. If AI hurts 65% of jobs (as the IMF predicts), the pressure may just get worse.
The great division in our societies may deepen: the collapse of social capital so well documented by Robert Putnam and others, has been turbo-charged by social media. Platforms built to monetize attention have been engineered to reward outrage above all else. Yet without proper regulation, this digital division may simply accelerate
The new age of human movement may accelerate. As the World Bank points out, 1.2 billion young people will join the labor market in the next 10-15 years. On current trajectories, these economies are expected to generate only about 400 million jobs over that same period—leaving a gap of staggering proportions. In search of hope, hundreds of millions may leave their homes in search of work abroad.

So this may not be peak populism. It could be populism’s tipping point. Progressives must study what they are up against — and fight back with equal force.

One way to understand what progressives are fighting is to study the populist argument itself. Semantic analysis of speeches by Trump, Farage, Le Pen, Meloni and Orbán is revealing. Beneath the different accents, it appears they all play the same three chords.

1. National renewal: incantations of greatness, collective rebirth, a glorious future to be seized, juxtaposed to an age-old story about ethno-civilizational decline that we can trace back through Pat Buchanan to the French Nouvelle Droite of the 1960’s, to the German historian Oswald Spenger’s Decline of the West published in the 1920’s.

2. Nostalgic conservatism: the weaponization of time, the idealized past, the promise of restoration, ‘take back’ and ‘get back’ as political commands.

3. ‘The Emergency’: the crisis requiring a strong man, a decisive leader willing to cut through democratic niceties to save the nation from its enemies.

Three chords: pride, nostalgia, and the summons to a strong man. Different tunes, same refrain.

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Three Ideas for the Progressive Fightback

So how do progressives fight back? Three ideas are critical.

1. Our own story of national renewal: De-rigging the marketplace and restoring the power to make progress

Progressives must stop conceding the language of renewal to ethno-nationalist nostalgia and start fighting for it on honest ground. National renewal means restoring both “the freedom to be you” with the power to make progress, and that requires de-rigging a marketplace now dominated by vested interests.

This requires not a sui generis assault on capitalism as some would counsel, but precision strikes against the Selfish Minority—those who deny workers a fair wage, gouge consumers on prices, squeeze small suppliers and offshore profits while demanding public subsidy. After all, “fair wage” and “fair price” have been the cornerstones of ethical economics since Aristotle.

Franklin Roosevelt named his enemies plainly; business and financial monopoly, reckless banking, and war profiteering, and built a majority around taking them on. The line of solidarity runs between those who play by the rules and those who rig them, not between communities defined by identity.

2. Optimism: Rebuilding the opportunity economy from its dynamic roots

The populist’s second chord is nostalgia, which is both an appeal to the deep-coded wisdom of the past plus a genuine sadness at how a local community has changed from our childhoods.

The progressive answer is not to match it with false hope—neither the economics of restoring lost factory towns of past (what I call nostronomics), nor the inflationary over-reach of Bidenomics. It is fine to celebrate our history and restore our heritage as a beacon of pride in the past. But we cannot live in our yesterdays.

Our economics must be something harder and more durable: a plausible optimism about what a well-governed free economy can deliver.

That means rebuilding the opportunity economy from its dynamic roots—small businesses, entrepreneurs, freelancers, the self-made and the risk-takers who are the engine of renewal in any genuinely free market. It means making the concrete, felt case that the gains of the next decade—from technology, from the green transition, from a reformed trading order—can be broadly shared. Optimism earned by delivery, not declared by press release.

3. Strength: Built on a strong society, not a strongman

The populist cult of the strong man—decisive, rule-breaking, cutting through the bureaucratic fog—is seductive precisely because institutions feel broken and politics feels captured.

Yet strongman leaders all too often trade on the politics of division and rule in ways that weaken a nation against its adversaries. That is precisely why the Russian intelligence service so actively fund efforts that divide. The progressive answer is not to mimic that offer but to make the democratic case for a different kind of strength: strength built on a strong society, bound by civic reciprocity and capable of collective action. A politics where we’re all in this together—not as a hollow slogan, but an organizing principle that draws the lines of solidarity around those who work, pay taxes and play by the rules, and takes on those who don’t. Strong governance that is accountable, not capricious.

The model to emulate is Franklin Roosevelt. When FDR took office in 1933, democratic capitalism had failed catastrophically, authoritarian movements were marching across Europe and a quarter of Americans were unemployed. He did not move to the centre, split the difference or wait for the storm to pass. He named the enemies of ordinary people, built a new majority coalition, and proved—through visible, felt delivery—that democratic government could actually work.

FDR understood that the battle against despair could not be won with speeches alone. It had to be fought with pay packets, on farms and high streets, in homes. His words still light the path: the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. The only thing that can defeat us is the belief that we cannot win.

The populists have told their story with clarity and force. It is time for progressives to tell ours—with equal courage, and far greater honesty about what it will take to deliver.

Liam Byrne, MP, was a finance minister in Gordon Brown’s Cabinet and is Chairman of the House of Commons Business & Trade Committee. His book, Why Populists Are Winning — And How to Beat Them, was published by Head of Zeus, on 26 March 2026.

Mayor Eileen Higgins Flipped Miami by Listening

Unmoderated News — Thu, 21 May 2026 11:03:23 GMT

In 2025, Eileen Higgins was elected the first female mayor of Miami and the first Democrat to lead the city in nearly thirty years. She beat a Trump-endorsed candidate by close to twenty points—in neighborhoods where many residents were skeptical of Democrats.

Higgins left a corporate career to run the Peace Corps in Belize, served as a diplomat, then won a county commission seat representing Little Havana. Now she's mayor of one of America's most immigrant-shaped cities.

Sarah McCammon sat down with Mayor Higgins in Miami to talk about building affordable housing, what it actually takes to win Latino voters, and why she's not afraid of the word "capitalist."