The Campaign Moment

“Post Reports” co-host Martine Powers and senior political reporter Aaron Blake talk with national political reporter Marianne LeVine about the peculiar moments that she’s observed on the campaign trail this week with former president Donald Trump. From a music listening session on stage, to some eyebrow-raising interviews with both candidates, “The Campaign Moment” crew digs into the Trump and Ha...

A majority of Black voters support Democratic candidates, but the percentage has shrunk in recent years, with the steepest decline among Black men. So, the Harris campaign has launched a round of targeted interviews, deployed prominent Black surrogates and released policy papers aimed specifically at winning back these voters. Senior political reporter Aaron Blake talks with White House reporter C...

Democrats want to retake control of the House of Representatives. Vice President Kamala Harris goes on a media blitz. And elected officials wade through destruction and misinformation after another hurricane made landfall this week. “Post Reports” co-host Martine Powers and senior political reporter Aaron Blake talk with Congressional reporter Marianna Sotomayor about whether Democrats will succe...

Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign is outraising former president Donald Trump’s by wide margins. And if you go to one of her rallies, you can tell.  Senior political reporter Aaron Blake talks with national political reporter Maeve Reston about how the Harris campaign is spending cash on the campaign trail and on the airwaves in key battleground states. They also look at the risks the T...

The devastation of Hurricane Helene, the escalating tensions in the Middle East and other recent events are casting a shadow over the campaign trail.  Read more: Senior political reporter Aaron Blake talks with The Post’s chief correspondent Dan Balz about the political impact of past natural disasters on campaigns and how a slow recovery process could sway the presidential election. They als...

Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio faced off at what was expected to be the only vice presidential debate on Tuesday night. But it was much less dramatic than the presidential debates.  Read more: “Post Reports” co-host Elahe Izadi talks with senior political reporter Aaron Blake about Walz’s stumbling performance, Vance’s efforts to soften his image on...

“Post Reports” co-host Elahe Izadi and senior political reporter Aaron Blake talk with Senate reporter Liz Goodwin about how Senate Democrats are feeling ahead of the November election. They also dig into the politics of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s indictment and preview what to expect in next week’s first – and likely only – vice presidential debate.  Today’s show was produced by Laura...

Senior political reporter Aaron Blake talks with reporter Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, who covers voting issues in Arizona, about how voters in the state are feeling six weeks before the election and what election officials are doing there to try to combat voter fraud claims. They also dig into what a failed Trump campaign effort to change Nebraska’s electoral vote system says about the state of the ra...

“Post Reports” co-host Elahe Izadi and senior political reporter Aaron Blake chat with national political reporter Michael Scherer about all of this week’s political news. They also dig into how last week’s first – and perhaps only – debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump is shaping voters’ perceptions of the candidates. Today’s show was produced by Laura Ben...

This week saw the second potential assassination attempt against former president Donald Trump in just a few months. Senior political reporter Aaron Blake talks with Amy Gardner, a national reporter covering voting on the Post's Democracy Team, about this incident and the ways it’s being talked about in the political sphere. They also discuss how threats of partisan violence have become more commo...

Senior political reporter Aaron Blake talks with Isaac Arnsdorf, a political reporter covering Trump and the MAGA movement, about what Trump advisers have been saying in the days after the debate. They also dig into whether misinformation Trump is spewing about Haitian migrants eating domestic pets in Springfield, Ohio – claims which are not true – is a useful talking point for his campaign. Today...

Post Reports co-host Martine Powers talks with senior political reporter Aaron Blake about what each candidate needed to do in this debate to win over voters in an incredibly tight race. They also talk about whether a new endorsement from Taylor Swift could give Harris an edge.  Note: An initial version of this episode had an incorrect reference to Springfield, Illinois rather than Springfield, O...

“Post Reports” co-host Martine Powers and senior political reporter Aaron Blake talk with White House reporter and Kamala Harris expert Cleve Wootson about what Harris and Donald Trump need to do at next week’s debate. They also dig into Harris’s record fundraising numbers and how Harris hopes to help down ballot Democrats in key House and Senate races.  Today’s show was produced and mixed by...

Senior political reporter Aaron Blake talks with Marianne LeVine, a national political reporter for The Post, about the state of the electoral map for Harris and Trump. They also dig into the potential strategy behind the Trump campaign’s spending push in Pennsylvania and Georgia , and whether Democrats have a chance of winning their white whale – North Carolina. Today’s show was produced and mixe...

“Post Reports” co-host Elahe Izadi and senior political reporter Aaron Blake talk with White House reporter Yasmeen Abutaleb about Harris and Walz’s interview on CNN, new polling that shows continued Democratic enthusiasm, and an altercation between the Trump campaign and an employee at Arlington National Cemetery.  Today’s show was produced by Laura Benshoff. It was edited by Lucy Perkins an...

Senior political reporter Aaron Blake talks with politics producer Laura Benshoff about how much Trump stands to gain from RFK Jr.’s endorsement and what kind of impact other third-party and independent candidates like Cornel West, Chase Oliver and Jill Stein might have on the presidential race.  Today’s show was produced by Laura Benshoff. It was edited by Lucy Perkins and Jenna Johnson and...

Elahe Izadi, co-host of “Post Reports,” and senior political reporter Aaron Blake sit down with White House reporter Cleve Wootson at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to talk about the highlights from Harris’s speech. Harris focused on her middle-class upbringing and how she would protect abortion access and reproductive rights, and she cast herself as a candidate who would bring norm...

There’s a new rallying cry for the Democratic Party: “Freedom.” On Wednesday, the third night of the Democratic National Convention , speakers from Oprah Winfrey to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro made the case for why Democrats should be considered the party of patriotism.   And then there was Tim Walz. The Minnesota governor formally accepted the nomination for vice president and in his...

Senior political reporter and co-host of “The Campaign Moment” Aaron Blake talks with Marianna Sotomayor, a congressional reporter for The Post who has covered Pelosi for years. They walk through the strings Pelosi reportedly pulled to get Biden to withdraw, earning her the nickname “The Godmother” – after the mafia movie “The Godfather” – from some Democratic delegates at the convention. They als...

Biden received a warm welcome at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday evening when he walked on stage to address his party. Thousands of Democratic delegates packed in the arena chanted “Thank you, Joe!” and pumped signs saying “We love Joe” as he gave his speech.  “Post Reports” co-host Elahe Izadi and senior political reporter Aaron Blake talk with White House reporter Ma...

Senior political reporter Aaron Blake and congressional reporter Liz Goodwin talk with “Post Reports” co-host Martine Powers about the economic policies that Harris’s campaign unveiled Friday, and whether Democrats could win a trifecta in November and make those proposals reality.  They also look ahead to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week, where President Joe Biden will...

Senior political reporter Aaron Blake, who writes The Campaign Moment newsletter, sits down with Lenny Bronner, a data scientist who works on election models at The Post. They talk about new polling numbers in battleground states and how Harris has put Trump on defense in states like Nevada and Arizona. Today’s show was produced by Trinity Webster-Bass and Laura Benshoff. It was mixed by Rennie Sv...

Post Reports co-host Martine Powers sits down with senior political reporter Aaron Blake and Marianna Sotomayor, a congressional reporter covering the House of Representatives, to talk about House Democrats’ enthusiasm for Vice President Kamala Harris’s VP pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz – a former member of Congress himself. They also discuss takeaways from the primary loss of Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo....

“Post Reports” co-host Martine Powers sits down with senior political reporter Aaron Blake, who writes The Post's Campaign Moment newsletter. They talk about why Vice President Harris chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, his strengths and weaknesses, and how he compares with the GOP’s vice president pick, JD Vance. Today’s show was produced by Laura Benshoff. It was edited by Lucy Pe...

In an interview with panelists at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago, former president Donald Trump questioned Vice President Harris’s racial identity, saying she only recently started calling herself Black. Also, the leader of Project 2025, the controversial right-wing policy group, is stepping down. And the Harris campaign has hit some major fundraising goals and...