The Creative Caucus

Before she was Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow, she designed cars, built toys at Mattel, and helped send real stunt drivers through a six-story Hot Wheels loop in downtown Los Angeles. She went on to direct branded content for Gawker Media and work on a 2014 Bud Light Super Bowl spot directed by Jackass creator Jeff Tremaine. Then came the 2016 election, a viral video from her own polling...

Garret Brubaker sits down with Stefan Smith, Head of Digital Engagement at the ACLU, who joins the show speaking in his personal capacity. His career runs from Drunk History to Hillary Clinton's Michigan campaign, through the Democratic Party of New Mexico, and on to Pete Buttigieg's presidential run. Stefan traces his political awakening to fourth grade in Greenville, South Carolina. He scored hi...

Garret Brubaker sits down with Kasey Rollins, photographer, videographer and graphic designer and the founder of Rollins Media, for a conversation about what it actually takes to photograph a candidate on the road. Kasey Rollins is a photographer, videographer and graphic designer and the founder of Rollins Media. She served as campaign photographer for the 2024 Biden-Harris and Harris-Walz presid...

Garret Brubaker sits down with Alli Peters, Chief Digital Officer at Majority Democrats, for a conversation that does something Creative Caucus has never done before: the guest opens her actual working project file and walks through a rebrand live, from the first Pinterest board to the final logo. Alli is a multidisciplinary creative whose work spans photography, video, design, writing, and creati...

Garret Brubaker sits down with Tobias Frere-Jones, founder and typeface designer at Frere-Jones Type, for a deep look at the craft behind some of the most recognizable political branding in modern American politics. Best known for creating Gotham, the typeface that became synonymous with Barack Obama's presidential campaigns, Tobias traces how a piece of plainspoken lettering off the Port Authorit...

Garret Brubaker sits down with Eric Bravo, a director and editor who got his start in political video working on Beto O'Rourke's 2019 presidential campaign and has since worked with Joe Biden, the White House, AOC, Kamala Harris, and Zohran Mamdani. Eric brings a music-video sensibility and his Mexican-American cultural perspective to political storytelling, and in this conversation he traces the...

Garret Brubaker sits down with Quinlin Kelly, Director of Video Production at Change Media Group, alongside creative lead Alyson Quigley, for a candid, funny tour through the messy reality of political production. From a childhood cameo in a Senator Durbin ad to a Snapchat that landed a spot on Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, Quinlin traces a path that runs straight through the last decade of Dem...

Garret Brubaker sits down with Sara Pearl Kenigsberg, Director and Producer at Hardpin, for a career-spanning conversation about what it actually takes to make political video that breaks through. A director, producer, and multimedia creative whose work runs from short films to TV and digital ads to podcasts and social campaigns, Sara has collaborated with top media and advocacy organizations, cor...

Garret Brubaker sits down with composer Todd Hahn, the man behind the music of political ads on both sides of every presidential election since 1996. A self-described struggling artist who failed government in high school, Todd stumbled into campaign work through a Washington post-production facility, where a chance partnership with media consultant Mark Putnam convinced him that original scoring...

Garret Brubaker sits down with Scott Starrett, founder and director of Tandem, the communication design and brand strategy firm behind the original campaign identity for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Scott traces his path from drawing kid and C-SPAN watcher in Kansas, to creative director at an Austin political comms firm, to bootstrapping a New York studio focused on climate justice, advocacy, and pu...

Garret Brubaker sits down with Charlie Goldensohn, political strategist, commentator, and co-founder of Badlands Agency, for a candid conversation about how a former Dianne Feinstein staffer became one of the loudest voices in the left's organic media revival. Charlie walks Garret through the trajectory: Senate office at 21, chief of staff energy at ATTN: in LA, Jill Biden's digital director in Wi...

Garret Brubaker sits down with Laura Porat, the motion designer and art director who helped shape the visual voice of three presidential campaigns. From Elizabeth Warren's toaster explainer to the high-energy hype reels that defined Kamala Harris's 100-day sprint, Laura breaks down what it actually takes to deliver broadcast-quality animation under campaign-grade deadlines. She gets candid about t...

On this episode of Creative Caucus, Garret Brubaker reunites five members of the Pete Buttigieg 2020 presidential campaign video team for a candid look at life inside a presidential primary. Gina Reis, Hussien Salama, Maggie Sullivan, Becca Davila, and Carina Teoh trade war stories about building a rocket ship mid-launch, running reality-TV-style coverage, surviving debate night war rooms, and car...

In this episode of the Creative Caucus podcast, Garret Brubaker sits down with Kate Conway, former creative director of the Harris-Walz presidential campaign, for a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to run creative on one of the most unconventional campaigns in modern history. From building a 75-person team in months to executing a full rebrand in under two weeks, Kate reveals the rapid deci...

This week, on the Creative Caucus podcast, Garret sits down with political creative director and filmmaker Devin Gosnell for a high-energy conversation on what really makes political messaging work. Devin brings the heat, breaking down why creativity alone won’t cut it in political advertising; you need a sharp strategy to back it up. From campaign goals to audience insight, he shares how the best...

In a crowded media landscape, effective political ads must do more than deliver information. They have to engage, surprise, and connect on a human level. In the season premiere of The Creative Caucus podcast, host Garret Brubaker dives into the high-stakes, fast-moving world of political advertising with Adwell Group co-founder Cayce McCabe. Cayce shares his philosophy on crafting messages that br...

The Creative Caucus serves as a platform to explore the intricacies of political ad creation, showcasing the brilliance of innovative minds that often go unnoticed amidst the plethora of mundane advertisements. I, Garret Brubaker, invite you to join me as we delve into the compelling narratives and artistic processes that define the making of impactful political ads. This podcast eschews typical p...