Political Theater

Amanda Becker's new book, “You Must Stand Up” is a story about the political fallout of the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision that overturned the federal right to an abortion. Becker, national correspondent for The 19th, figured this would be the biggest political event of her career; it might turn out to be the most significant political event in generations. She discusses her book and more on this...

Here at Roll Call, we like to step back every so often and just groove. And what better way to do that than by being part of the Sept. 17 Congressional Record musical program on Capitol Hill. We’ll be the media sponsors, along with The Kennedy Center, Library of Congress and the Recording Academy, when members of Congress from both sides of the aisle will showcase their musical talents at the Capi...

Hello from Chicago and the Democratic National Convention. Roll Call and the Political Theater team are on the ground here for all the fuss. We are at the point when folks here are in a groove, slightly fatigued and firmly ensconced in this pop-up political purgatory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kamala-palooza is almost here. The Democratic National Convention starts soon in Chicago, with the party looking to capitalize on the bounce it has gotten since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz quickly wrapped up the nomination. There might be a lack of drama about the outcome of this quadrennial confab, but...

Ohio is having a moment in the political spotlight, with the Republican vice presidential nominee, Sen. JD Vance, hailing from the Buckeye State, while his home-state colleague, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, is in a tight re-election contest that will be key to determining the Senate majority. We talk with Jessica Wehrman, CQ Roll Call’s health policy editor, Ohio native and previous Ohio politic...

If there is one thing elections in the United States brings out, it's chaos. Assassination attempts, resignations, primary challenges, third-party campaigns, economic meltdowns, pandemics and sudden deaths. Join Jason Dick and Nathan Gonzales for a ride down bad-memory lane! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Republican National Convention in Milwaukee has put some steam in the strides of the GOP, who have taken their 2024 confidence meter up to 11. Republicans feel good about their nominee, Donald Trump, their opponent, Joe Biden, and their chances in November. Roll Callers John Bennett and Briana Reilly join the podcast to talk about what it's like on the ground in Brew City. Learn more about you...

Want a look at George W. Bush’s comments at the 2007 White House Correspondents Dinner? Or what coffee shop President Joe Biden visited last weekend in Harrisburg? Or the White House briefing room seating chart from 2015? There are ways to find all of this on your own. Or there is Factba.se, the longtime go-to for all White House transcripts, calendars, releases, etc., whose database goes back dec...

Roads are such a great metaphor for writers. There are roads to nowhere, to recovery. They can be less travelled. It can be enough for some books to just have the main characters be on the road. Now Roll Call Elections Analyst Nathan Gonzales is hitting the road too, kicking off an occasional series on House races that will determine the majority that run along an actual, not just metaphorical, ro...

It has been nearly two years since the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion, overturning Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Since then, several states have instituted their own abortion policies, including total bans on the procedure. We have also had several elections show to what extent reproductive rights affects political outcomes. Amanda Becker...

Looking for guidance on how to get ahead in politics? Be a grunge rocker in college or a NASCAR driver. Don't be ambassador to Iceland, an actor or a video game music composer. A Trump endorsement helps. Less clear: how voting for or against dumping Kevin McCarthy affects things. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The DC/DOX Documentary Film Festival kicks off its second full festival this month, showcasing a diverse slate of non-fiction stories for a hungry audience in the nation’s capital. From politics, of course, to fashion, health, movie stars, the space program, there is a little bit of everything to choose from. There is also a very interesting constellation of films that concern aspects of the fallo...

Forget Hollywood blockbusters: This summer will be all about the politics. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, we'll be witness to a criminal trial for a U.S. senator (oh, and a former president too), make-or-break Senate primaries, the political conventions, Supreme Court opinions on abortion and presidential immunity and much, much more. Inside Elections Deputy Editor Jacob Rubashkin drops by to hel...

The races that will shape November's election continue to take shape now that we have primary results in Maryland, West Virginia and Nebraska, with consequences at the House, Senate and even presidential level. Roll Call elections analyst Nathan Gonzales discusses those races and his latest Inside Elections ratings changes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At Roll Call, we periodically update our list of most vulnerable senators and members of the House as we get closer to the election. It's a shifting list, and reflects a snapshot in political dynamics. So how does one land on the list? Roll Call campaign staff writers Daniela Altimari and Mary Ellen McIntire join the Political Theater podcast to discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg...

There is no way to spin being beaten and bloodied and scared. The history of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 is still being written, which is an important and massive undertaking. Not everyone wants to talk about the bear spray and broken windows. But the new documentary “The Sixth” by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine gives a fresh voice to some of the people on the ground and in the l...

This has been a momentous week for politics. Jury selection started in the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump. The Senate dispensed with impeachment articles against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. And the House considers a foreign aid package that has made Speaker Mike Johnson a target of his unhappy colleagues. But beyond those headlines: FEC filings show us who rais...

People feel so passionately about food that perhaps it is not a surprise it has yielded that rarest of things: A sequel to a documentary. The makers of 2008’s “Food, Inc.,” are, as the new movie’s tagline goes, back for seconds with “Food, Inc. 2,” a multi-layered look at the food industry, its farmers, workers, scientists, journalists and more. Co-directors Robert Kenner and Melissa Robledo are h...

What does it mean when both Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and former President Donald Trump agree on the same candidate? Because that happened in Ohio’s Republican Senate primary. That was not the only win for the establishment, such as it is, during Tuesday’s elections. Roll Call campaign staff writer Daniela Altimari spent some quality time in Ohio recently, and she and Campaigns Edi...

Covering the White House is one of the most high-profile beats in politics. Covering the Trump, then the Biden White House, and starting during a pandemic and an election year makes it even more high profile. Roll Call Chief Correspondent Niels Lesniewski has been at the helm for a little over four years and shares his experiences as he prepares for a new assignment in the newsroom: The highlights...

Lost in this year’s highly competitive presidential nominating contest (sarcasm detector!) is the coming-at-you primaries for House and Senate that kicked off with a bang on Super Tuesday. We got some clarity about fall matchups in some high-profile races on that most special of Tuesdays, and some of that clarity came from folks who were not even facing the voters. With us to discuss is Jacob Ruba...

Tuesdays can get a bad rap. Sometimes the best that can be said about them are that they're the day that's the furthest from next Monday. But not Super Tuesday! More than a quarter of the House of Representatives faces a primary race on March 5, and there are two high-profile Senate races as well. And while not all of Super Tuesday's races are competitive, there are major implications for November...

S. Leo Chiang’s documentary films explore lives across continents and culture, from the first Vietnamese-American congressman to the first LGBT political party in the Philippines to a legendary Hawaiian ukulele player. His latest film, the documentary short “Island in Between,” has been nominated for an Academy Award. Its subject, Taiwan’s Kinmen Island and Chiang’s own relationship to his native...

What’s not to like about political stories that encompass not only New York City, Queens specifically, but reach into Long Island’s northern shore in Nassau County. The special election in New York’s 3rd Congressional District to replace expelled GOP Rep. George Santos is over, with Democrat Tom Suozzi defeating Republican Mazi Melesa Pilip for the honor of representing the birthplace of Walt Whit...

The current congress started off last year with an historic show of dysfunction, taking 15 rounds of voting to elect a speaker. Things did not get better. And then this week we saw the House and the Senate devolve into what some observers dubbed “failure theater.” One senator, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, asked simply, “What the Hell just happened?” Helping us answer that question is Molly Reynold...