Pro Politics with Zac McCrary

Send a text Roger Lau has one of the most unique origin stories in all of politics. Growing up in Queens as the child of Chinese immigrants, he dropped out of high school...before eventually getting back on track, getting his GED, and taking a fateful Political Science course at UMass Amherst. Roger talks mistakes and lessons from his early days, how he re-focused his life, and the incredible job...

Send a text You no doubt know that Alex Burns and Jonathan Martin, both of the New York Times, recently released their new book THIS WILL NOT PASS …chronicling the last few years of our politics…including Trump’s time in office, the 2020 election and aftermath, the January 6 insurrection, and the first phase of the Biden Administration. In this conversation, they go deep on many of the stories in...

Send a text Hazel Wong is the Director of Global Conservation Campaigns at The Nature Conservancy, one of the world’s largest and most successful environmental organizations. In this conversation, Hazel talks growing up on the island nation of The Seychelles, how political upheaval forced her family to migrate to the U.S., the future member of Congress who became a political mentor, and experience...

Send a text Jesse Ferguson is a top Democratic strategist and comms expert - who cut his teeth in Virginia, ran the $60M+ DCCC Independent Expenditure in 2014, served as a top press aide to the Clinton ’16 campaign, and is now a strategist advising numerous organizations and independent expenditures. In this conversation, Jesse talks key moments and lessons from his career, as well as providing hi...

Send a text Celinda Lake , President of Lake Research, has been a leading Democratic researcher and strategist for 30+ years. In this conversation she talks her Montana roots, her path to polling, working for groundbreaking women like Geraldine Ferraro, Carol Mosley Braun, and Nancy Pelosi, working on Biden 2020, and lessons & insights from four decades working to elect Democrats and advance p...

Send a text Chris Shays cuts an iconic, if disappearing, profile across the American political scene. One of the last by-God moderate House Republicans from the Northeast, he represented Connecticut in the US House for more than 20 years...a congressional career spanning the Reagan Revolution through the 2008 Democrative wave ushering in President Obama. In this discussion, he talks the Republican...

Send a text Liuba Grechen Shirley is the founder/CEO of VoteMama – a non-profit dedicated to supporting moms running for office. In this conversation, she talks running for office in 2018 as a first-time candidate, making history as the first woman to receive FEC approval to use campaign money for child care, and making an impact with VoteMama.  IN THIS EPISODE… Liuba speaks to the politics that s...

Send a text Dave Wasserman , a Senior Editor at the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, is universally regarded as one of the foremost election analysts on the planet - especially when it comes to US House races. In this conversation, Dave talks his early obession with all things politics, how he turned that into a job at the Cook Report, his approach to political analysis, the story behind his...

Send a text Very few Americans have had the impact on public policy as has Joseph Califano . Though his parents only graduated high school, he went to Harvard Law  and by age 30 was working at high levels of the John F. Kennedy Administration - and shortly after was the top domestic White House aide to Lyndon Johnson. In this conversation, he talks his meteoric rise through the Kennedy / Johnson y...

Send a text Mary Landrieu served 3 terms in the US Senate from Louisiana, after a term as State Treasurer and time in the State Legislature. In this conversation, she talks growing up in New Orleans as the daughter of Mayor Moon Landrieu, the equation that drew her to political service, several rough-and-tumble statewide campaigns, memories from 18 years in the Senate, and what she’s focused on si...

Send a text Rory Cooper , partner at Purple Strategies, has worked at all levels of Republican politics…cutting his teeth in campaigns, working in the George W. Bush White House, for the Department of Homeland Security right after 9-11, running communications for the conservative Heritage Foundation, and as Comms Director for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Rory tells great stories from these s...

Send a text John Anzalone has been a Democratic pollster winning tough races for 30+ years, most recently as Chief Pollster for Biden 2020 helping navigate a crowded primary and grueling general election en route to ousting Donald Trump. John talks his working class roots growing up in Michigan, cutting his teeth in the Biden '88 ('87) presidential, his path to polling, and ultimately st...

Send a text Joe Crowley was a district party leader at 23, in the New York State Assembly at 26, and in the US House at 37...a political prodigy by any measure. He talks the early lessons learned in Queens politics, his time around Governor Mario Cuomo, his rise through the Assembly and Congress, his 2018 primary against AOC, and memorable moments and valuable insights from 20 years in the House. ...

Send a text Adnaan Muslim has been a leading player in Democratic direct mail for more than 20 years, initially helping start Mission Control mail and now as a partner at Deliver Strategies . In this conversation, Adnaan talks his path to working in politics, how he gravitated to direct mail, importance races in his career like electing Elizabeth Warren, Jared Polis, and Raphael Warnock, and the p...

Send a text Kelly Hall is the Executive Director of the Fairness Project , which works to pass ballot measures on economic fairness issues such as the minimum wage, Medicaid expansion, and paid leave. Before taking the helm at the Fairness Project, she worked in campaigns and as a Hill staffer prior to entering the Obama Administration to focus on implementing the Affordable Care Act. In this conv...

Send a text Jeremy Ben-Ami was born into a family among whom politics was very personal – and became active in politics himself at a young age, interning for the 1976 Carter campaign at 14. From there, he worked for numerous politicians from Ed Koch and David Dinkins and Mark Green to Bill Clinton and Howard Dean. Jeremy talks his life in campaign politics, working in the White House, what led to...

Send a text Loretta Sanchez served 20 years in the US House, one of the first Democrats to breakthrough in historically GOP Orange County, CA. She also made history, with her sister Linda Sanchez, as the only two women related by family to serve in Congress. In this conversation, she talks growing up as the daughter of Mexican immigrants in LA, her 1996 upset over GOP fixture Bob Dornan and the el...

Send a text Scott Simpson , is a founder and managing partner of the direct mail firm Resonance Campaigns , one of the most successful Black-owned firms in politics.  In this epsiode, Scott talks growing up middle class in Massachussetts, early formative political experiences, his time working a pollster before making the jump to direct mail, and ultimately starting his own firm that helped elect...

Send a text Patrick Ruffini has been on the cutting edge of politics for 20+ years, as one of the first wave of operatives working in the tech and digital political space. After working at the RNC in 2004, he started an early political tech firm and then formed Echelon Insights to merge political data and tech. In this conversation, Patrick talks his career trajectory, the advancement of digital p...

Send a text Ace Smith , Partner at Bearstar Strategies , has lived a fascinating political life intersecting with a long list of the most iconic figures of the last several decades...Harvey Milk, Pat and Jerry Brown, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Rahm Emanuel, Richard M. Daley, Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, & many more. In this conversation, we talk his memories of growing up in a Bay Area politica...

Send a text Annie Levene is a partner at the leading Democratic digital firm Rising Tide Interactive, where she’s run digital strategy for the presidential campaign of Senator Amy Klobuchar as well as elected officials including Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Jacky Rosen, Kyrsten Sinema, Heidi Heitkamp, Governor Kate Brown, and Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy. In this conversation, Annie talks her path t...

Send a text Emily Parcell is blazing her own path through the political industry...part of the famed 2004 Dick Gephardt Iowa operation, Iowa Political Director for the 2008 Obama Caucus effort, running Indiana for the 2008 Obama general election, starting Wildfire Contact's direct mail arm, helping Democrats win tough races, heading up the Warren 2020 effort as a senior aide...and much more....

Send a text Mark Putnam, Democratic media strategist and founder of Putnam Partners, has helped elect 11 Governors, 10 Senators, and dozens of members of Congress. In this conversation, Mark talks growing up in Alaska, his unconventional path to working in political media, early races on which he cut his teeth, helping elect Presidents Obama and Biden, how to think about “viral” ads, some of his f...

Send a text Michael Barone , senior political analyst at the Washington examiner, is one of the most important political writers and thinkers of his time. He helped found the Almanac of American Politics in the early 70s and was the lead author for decades. He worked in politics himself, before transitioning to a role as a journalist, author, and pundit - always being an incisive and influential a...

Send a text Taifa Butler is the President of Demos , the “think tank of the movement” - dedicated to building a democracy and economy rooted in racial equity. Taifa talks the politics of her native Philadelphia in her formative years, what inspired her to pursue a life in politics and advocacy, her path to becoming President of Demos in early 2021, the work she’s most passionate about now, and her...