Ronald Brownstein, a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of presidential campaigns, is Atlantic Media's editorial director for strategic partnerships, in charge of long-term editorial strategy. He also writes a weekly column and regularly contributes other pieces for the National Journal, contributes to Quartz, and The Atlantic, and coordinates political coverage and activities across publications produced by Atlantic Media.
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David Goldman / AP What Democrats' Defeat in Georgia Means—and Doesn't
The party’s recent special-election losses aren’t necessarily a bad omen for 2018. But they show how Democrats need better answers to the GOP’s most effective arguments.
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Cliff Owen / AP The GOP's Risky Calculation for 2018
Congressional Republicans and President Trump are governing in a manner that appeals only to their base, not the wider electorate. That could have consequences through 2020.
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Andrew Harnik / AP Trump’s Economic Gamble
The president is betting on his three favored industries—manufacturing, mining, and construction—to drive growth. But those sectors have been shrinking for decades.
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Jacky Naegelen / Reuters Is Trump's Climate-Change Agenda Politically Sustainable?
It’s difficult to overstate how directly the president’s plans clash with the marketplace and policy at all other levels of government.
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Aaron Josefczyk / Reuters Are Demographics Really Destiny for the GOP?
A new analysis of the 2016 electorate offers warning signs to Republicans, whose base continues to shrink. (There are red lights flashing Democrats' way, too.)
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Lucy Nicholson / Reuters Democrats Need These California Seats to Win Back the House
Seven of the state’s Republican representatives look particularly vulnerable in 2018. And they share a few things in common.
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Robert F. Bukaty / AP Trump's Cuts to SNAP and Social Security Would Hit the Rust Belt Hard
The president’s full budget includes reductions in income-support programs that core Republican voters rely on—more so than other groups do.
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Carlos Barria / Reuters Trump Is Testing the GOP's Limits
After a week of controversies, and with midterms not too far away, it’s no longer impossible to envision congressional Republicans turning against the president.
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AP Will Republicans Check Trump's Presidential Power?
Richard Nixon’s dismissal of the Watergate special prosecutor was met with bipartisan outrage. It’s less clear whether the public, and its political leaders, will respond in kind to the firing of FBI director James Comey.
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Evan Vucci / AP What the GOP's Health-Care Gamble Means for 2018
Most of the House Republicans whose districts have recently voted for Democratic presidential candidates supported the Obamacare-replacement bill. That might have been a risky move.
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Lucas Jackson / Reuters Can the Democrats Convince Millennials to Vote in 2018?
The party has a boom-and-bust coalition: Some of its most reliable voters during presidential elections—young people and minorities—don’t turn out as enthusiastically for midterms.
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J. Scott Applewhite / AP Older Voters Are Complicating the GOP's Plans for Health Care
Republican members of Congress who oppose the Obamacare replacement have something in common: Their constituents—who tend to be older—fear losing benefits.
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Bryan Woolston / Reuters Can the Democratic Party Reconcile Two Divergent Economic Visions?
In the party’s bid to regain power, centrists and Bernie Sanders’s allies offer seemingly incompatible strategies—that target wildly different voters.
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Andrew Burton / Getty Why Some Cities and States Are Footing the Bill for Community College
Americans are often expected to have some level of higher education before they enter the workforce. These political leaders are asking: Shouldn’t government help them along?
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Joe Raedle / Getty Images The Districts Where Democrats Might Find the Next Georgia 6
There are dozens of congressional seats nationwide that share similarities with this conservative area near Atlanta—where a special election scheduled for Tuesday has been unusually competitive.
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Evan Vucci / AP Donald Trump's Tilt Toward Convention
There aren’t many institutions in Washington and beyond championing the president’s nationalistic policies. But there are plenty trying to pull his agenda in a more traditional Republican direction.
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Economic and Social Development by Design
Recently I spoke with Chelina Odbert, co-founder and executive director of Kounkuey Design Initiative, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that applies…
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Books Behind Bars
As part of our conversations with winners of The Atlantic’s Renewal Awards, I spoke with Kelli Taylor and Tara…
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Carlos Barria / Reuters How GOP Voters Are Getting in the Way of a Medicaid Rollback
Lawmakers are finding that their desire to shrink the program doesn’t jibe with the interests of their base.
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Jim Lo Scalzo/ AP Will Trump Triangulate?
Former President Bill Clinton strategically positioned himself between dueling Republicans and Democrats in Congress—and got deals out of it. Could Donald Trump do the same?
