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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Andrew Harnik / AP What the GOP Doesn't Understand About Its Own Voters
When it comes to health care and entitlements, the party’s policies don't always align with its coalition’s beliefs.
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David Goldman / AP Where Republicans Are Losing Ground
Ahead of the midterms, Democrats may have the chance to attract a broader-than-usual coalition of voters—especially among American women uneasy about President Trump.
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Brendan Smialowski / Getty Images How Medicaid Cuts Could Exacerbate the Opioid Epidemic
Some of the areas hit hardest by the public-health crisis are the most dependent on federal coverage. They also happen to be in Trump country.
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Jeff Roberson / AP Will the 'Trump 10' Pay a Price in 2018?
Ten Democratic senators from states Donald Trump carried are up for reelection next year—and they’re betting that resistance to the president’s agenda will win over voters.
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J. Scott Applewhite / AP Why the GOP's Plan for Health Care Hit a Wall
The House and Senate proposals benefit those at the top explicitly at the expense of the lower middle class—and voters are beginning to notice.
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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.
