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Host of Still Counting @ youtube.com/@StillCountingPodcast
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Articles by Galen Druke
Inside The Fight For The House
Heads up: The GD POLITICS merch store is back for election season! We’ve got super comfy “Good Data, Bad Data, Not Data” T-shirts, baseball caps, and totes. Paid subscribers can find a discount code in the paid-subscriber chat! The full episode is available to paid subscribers. Once you become a paid subscriber, you can connect your account to your preferred podcast player here. Democrats need to gain just three seats to take control of the House.
Alex Bores Puts The Odds Of AI Doom At 20%
If you thought there was a 20 percent chance that artificial intelligence could wipe out humanity, what would you do about it? That’s my guest’s estimate of the risk if we continue on our current trajectory with AI. And he’s trying to write the laws that could change it. Alex Bores is a Democratic New York State assemblyman and the sponsor of the RAISE Act, which requires major AI developers to publish safety plans and report certain critical incidents.
The Fight For The Right After Trump
Heads up: The GD POLITICS merch store is back for election season! We’ve got super comfy “Good Data, Bad Data, Not Data” T-shirts, baseball caps, and totes. Paid subscribers can find a discount code in the paid-subscriber chat! The full episode is available to paid subscribers. Once you become a paid subscriber, you can connect your account to your preferred podcast player here.
The Next Swing State, Debated Over Drinks
The full episode is available to paid subscribers. Once you become a paid subscriber, you can connect your account to your preferred podcast player here. What’s the next swing state: Texas, Kansas or Minnesota? And how much should we trust the polls pointing toward a big blue wave this November? Mary Radcliffe and Nathaniel Rakich joined me for our first GD POLITICS paid-subscriber happy hour to debate the changing electoral map and answer your questions about the midterms.
What Do America’s Socialists Want?
Heads up: We’re hosting our first-ever virtual happy hour for paid subscribers on Tuesday, October 6, at 8 p.m. ET at gdpolitics.com. Special guests Mary Radcliffe and Nathaniel Rakich will join me to answer your questions live while we sip an adult beverage or two. To join the fun, become a paid subscriber here. I look forward to seeing you there! The audio-only version of this episode is here and wherever you listen to podcasts. Today, we’re talking about socialism.
Why Alaska Is 2026’s Most Unusual Battleground
Heads up: We’re hosting our first-ever virtual happy hour for paid subscribers on Tuesday, October 6, at 8 p.m. ET at gdpolitics.com. Special guests Mary Radcliffe and Nathaniel Rakich will join me to answer your questions live while we sip an adult beverage or two. To join the fun, become a paid subscriber here. Make sure to mark your calendar. I look forward to seeing you there! The full episode is available to paid subscribers.
If The Polls Are Wrong, This Is Why
Heads up: We’re hosting our first-ever virtual happy hour for paid subscribers on Tuesday, October 6, at 8 p.m. ET at gdpolitics.com. Special guests Mary Radcliffe and Nathaniel Rakich will join me to answer your questions live while we sip an adult beverage or two. To join the fun, become a paid subscriber here. Make sure to mark your calendar. I look forward to seeing you there! The audio-only version of this episode is here and wherever you listen to podcasts.
Peltola Unfiltered, Polls Galore, And The Likeliest Senate Flips
The full episode is available to paid subscribers. Once you become a paid subscriber, you can connect your account to your preferred podcast player here. We have so much to get to on today’s episode! We are long overdue to answer your burning electoral questions. You wanted to know about the state of the Senate race in South Carolina, whether President Trump’s approval rating has reached its floor, whether candidates are debating less, and much more.
Is This Time Different In Texas?
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -58:19 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Today we’re zooming in on the midterm races in Texas. We started our 2026 tour of the states in Georgia. If you haven’t listened to that episode yet, go check it out! If Georgia has become a secondary concern for the parties this cycle, it’s because redder states have upstaged it and Texas is the star of the whole show.
The AI Apocalypse Comes To Washington
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -52:32 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. A dam of pent-up concern over AI safety burst this past week. It started with a warning from AI researcher Jacob Coxon, who resigned from Anthropic and wrote on X: “Do not underestimate the power of this technology.
This Is What A Blue Wave Looks Like
The audio-only version of this episode is here and wherever you listen to podcasts. We’re a week away from the official start of election season — Labor Day — but the polls are not waiting. New Senate surveys in Texas, Michigan and Iowa are sharpening the picture of the battle for Congress. And polls from South Carolina, Nebraska and Kansas have made Democrats optimistic about competitive races on decidedly red turf.
Millennials Are Taking Over American Politics
The audio-only version of this episode is here and wherever you listen to podcasts. Today’s podcast is about the youth. And when I say youth, I am being generous. What I really mean is millennials, a group that today stretches from the sprightly age of 30 to the ripe old age of 45. (We also talk about Gen Z, but that’s a group that still hasn’t come into its own politically and economically. The youngest Gen Zers are still five years away from the voting booth.) But millennials are here.
Could Texas Tip The Senate?
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -21:59 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. The full episode is available to paid subscribers. Once you become a paid subscriber, you can connect your account to your preferred podcast player here. On today’s podcast, we tour the seven states most likely to decide control of the Senate with Silver Bulletin Senior Elections Analyst Eli McKown-Dawson. At the top of the list is… Texas.
The Latino Vote Is Up For Grabs
The audio-only version of this episode is here and wherever you listen to podcasts. During the decade that Donald Trump has dominated American politics, no major part of the electorate has changed as dramatically as Latino voters. According to Pew’s validated voter data, Democrats’ advantage among Latinos fell from 38 percentage points in 2016 to just 3 points in 2024.
Nate Silver’s Forecast Is Bullish On Democrats
The audio-only version of this episode is here and wherever you listen to podcasts. The full episode is available to paid subscribers. Once you become a paid subscriber, you can connect your account to your preferred podcast player here. Friend of the pod Nate Silver launched his midterm forecast this week, which means it is officially “Who is going to win?!” season. Buckle up! It’s also the time of year when I get to pester Nate with questions about his model, such as: What’s going on in Texas?
Will Wisconsin Elect A Democratic Socialist?
In case one progressive-versus-moderate swing-state showdown wasn’t enough, Wisconsin is running it back this week with its Democratic gubernatorial primary. Democratic Socialist state legislator Francesca Hong has led the pack for much of the race, but the leading non-socialist alternative has shifted as candidates have dropped out and one even got back in.
VIDEO: El-Sayed Won. The Polls Did Not.
The full episode is available to paid subscribers. Once you become a paid subscriber, you can connect your account to your preferred podcast player here. Abdul El-Sayed has officially won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, but by nothing like the margin the polls suggested. El-Sayed led Haley Stevens by about 13 points in the polling averages. Instead, he won by about one percentage point after Stevens outperformed expectations, particularly in rural Michigan.
Scandal, Insurgents, And Big Money
A heads-up: We’ll be covering this week’s primaries live starting at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday at gdpolitics.com. The audio-only version of this episode is here and wherever you listen to podcasts. Ohio Republican Rep. Max Miller is under pressure to step aside after new details about allegations of abuse emerged from his divorce and custody case. Miller denies the allegations and says he will stay in the race. His former father-in-law, Republican Sen.
Democrats Are Favored. But By How Much?
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -24:23 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. The full episode is available to paid subscribers. Once you become a paid subscriber, you can connect your account to your preferred podcast player here.
VIDEO: Why Europe’s Politics Keep Breaking
Some of the episodes that have gotten the strongest response since launching GD POLITICS have been about politics outside the United States — the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, and Ireland. I’m not entirely sure why. Maybe it’s because international politics is an underserved beat in American media. Maybe people are exhausted by a decade of Trump-dominated news, but still enjoy following politics, making a trip abroad a welcome change of pace.
VIDEO: What Platner’s Exit Means For Control Of The Senate
The full episode is available to paid subscribers. Once you become a paid subscriber, you can connect your account to your preferred podcast player here. We’ve gotten some dramatic updates since the last time we discussed the state of the 2026 midterms. Chief among them is, of course, that Graham Platner announced he’ll drop out of the Maine Senate race after he was accused of rape. He denies the allegations. The Maine Democratic Party now has until July 27 to replace him on the ballot.
VIDEO: Late Ballots, Iran Polling, And A Maine Toss-Up
Shortly before we started taping today’s episode, the Supreme Court handed down decisions in a couple of cases we’ve been watching. In Watson v. RNC, the court ruled that ballots postmarked by Election Day can still be counted after Election Day in states where that is legal. Nathaniel Rakich of Votebeat explains why the ruling preserves the status quo in more than a dozen states and why Donald Trump is unlikely to stop attacking late-arriving mail ballots anytime soon.
Is This The Democratic Tea Party?
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -23:06 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. The full episode is available to paid subscribers. Once you become a paid subscriber, you can connect your account to your preferred podcast player here. As we suggested might happen on Monday’s episode, this week’s primaries in New York City launched a narrative war over the Democratic Party: Is Mamdani now a Democratic kingmaker? Is the socialist left the future of the party?
What The Early 2026 Midterm Forecasts Say
We are four and a half months out from Election Day 2026, which means forecast season is officially beginning. On today’s episode of the GD POLITICS podcast, I spoke with two election forecasters whose models are beginning to shape how we understand the midterms: Lakshya Jain, head of political data at The Argument and CEO of Split Ticket, and Zachary Donnini, head of data science at VoteHub.
Why Right-Wing Populism Hasn’t Taken Off In Ireland
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -1:10:45 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. While I was in Dublin recently, I sat down with Hugh Linehan of The Irish Times’ Inside Politics podcast to talk about Irish and American politics. We start with a question that gets asked frequently about Ireland: Why hasn’t right-wing populism taken off there? Across much of Europe and the English-speaking world, the populist right has become a major political force.
Is Iowa The New Maine For Democrats?
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -15:51 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. The full episode is available to paid subscribers. Once you become a paid subscriber, you can connect your account to your preferred podcast player here. Democrats entered the 2026 cycle with a difficult Senate map and a familiar hope: maybe Maine would be the race that helped them claw their way toward a majority. But after this week, that picture is getting more complicated.
Trump, The Lame Duck With Teeth
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -16:40 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. The full episode is available to paid subscribers. Once you become a paid subscriber, you can connect your account to your preferred podcast player here. We’ve got a jam-packed election update episode for you today. In Tuesday night’s primaries, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie lost to Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein.
Trump Hits A New Low
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -53:02 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. As I was sorting through polls last Friday, preparing for Monday’s podcast recording, I started thinking, “Hmm, Trump’s approval is looking bad. Like, a new level of bad. It’s probably time to talk about it.” Across the polling averages, Trump seemed to be nearing, or already at, the worst numbers of his second term.
The Senate Map Has A Maine Character
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -49:57 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Heads up: We’ve got a live show at the Comedy Cellar in New York City with Nate Silver and Clare Malone coming up on May 13. We’ll talk about the midterms and the Trump administration, play some games, and take questions from the audience. Grab a ticket, grab a beer, and come join us! The Senate map is coming into focus. Maine Gov.
Trump Promised Lower Costs... Americans Are Not Feeling It - with Galen Druke
Big news! We’ve just been nominated for a Webby Award for Best News & Politics Podcast! Now it’s time to bring it home — and we need your help. Voting closes on Thursday, 4/16 — so cast your vote HERE: https://wbby.co/57448N
Iran is Trump's biggest political mistake
Thanks to those of you who joined Galen Druke and me for our Substack Live earlier this afternoon. It felt like a good day to step back and take stock of things. We mostly talked Trump and Iran. But m…
Can A Popular Prime Minister Fix What Ails Japan?
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -57:22 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. On today’s podcast, we’re taking a break from American politics and diving into the seemingly consensus-driven — but in reality quite messy — politics of Japan. I spoke with Kenneth Mori McElwain, a professor of comparative politics at the University of Tokyo, on the final day of my two-week trip to Japan.
Everything That Happened In The Last Two Weeks
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -52:01 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. I am back from Japan and I hope you enjoyed the evergreen conversations we published while I was away. Today it’s back to the news cycle, although in a somewhat different format. I’d planned on getting up to speed on the news I missed and talking to Nathaniel Rakich and Mary Radcliffe about it.
What Is The Endgame In Iran?
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -42:15 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. We are entering our thirteenth day of the war in Iran, and we’ve been getting conflicting signals about how long it might last and what the end goal actually is. At the start, it seemed the goal was regime change. President Trump called on Iran’s forces to lay down their arms and for civilians to revolt, saying the operation could last four to five weeks.
Trump’s Iran Gamble Gets More Expensive
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -51:16 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. We are officially in the second week of the war with Iran and the fallout is intensifying. President Trump now says the goal is Iran’s unconditional surrender. Meanwhile, Iran’s clerics have appointed Ali Khamenei’s hardline son as the new Supreme Leader, suggesting surrender is unlikely for now.
A 2028 Republican Primary Draft (Live!)
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -22:35 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. The full episode is available to paid subscribers. Once you become a paid subscriber, you can connect your account to your preferred podcast player here. The war in Iran has set off a civil war within the Republican Party over whether the military adventurism of Trump’s second term is America first or America last.
Bombs In Tehran, Ballots In Texas
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -51:59 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Looking for nerdy yet irreverent coverage of the Texas primaries Tuesday night?! We’ll be live streaming with friends of the pod beginning at 7:30pm ET on March 3rd. Join us at the link here. We were originally planning on dedicating today’s whole episode to the kickoff of the 2026 primary calendar with Tuesday’s elections in Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas.
Have We Achieved The Goldilocks Economy?
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -46:41 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Heads up: We have a live show scheduled for Wednesday, March 4 at the Comedy Cellar in New York City! After a rowdy live 2028 Democratic primary draft last month, Nate Silver, Clare Malone, and I will tackle the Republican side of the ledger. Grab tickets here! Today’s episode turned out to be serendipitous.
VIDEO: Is It Time To Freak Out About AI?
The audio-only version of this episode is available in the GD POLITICS feed wherever you listen to podcasts. Also, heads up: We have a live show scheduled for Wednesday, March 4 at the Comedy Cellar in New York City! After a rowdy live 2028 Democratic presidential primary draft last month, Nate Silver, Clare Malone, and I will tackle the Republican side of the ledger. You can get tickets here.
Epstein Fallout, The Shutdown Fight, And Gallup's Goodbye
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -20:34 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. The full episode is available to paid subscribers. Once you become a paid subscriber, you can connect your account to your preferred podcast player here.
A Live 2028 GOP Primary Draft!
After a fun, rowdy live 2028 Democratic presidential primary draft last month, we’re returning to the Comedy Cellar in New York City on March 4 to tackle the Republican side of the ledger. Grab a ticket, grab a beer, and join Nate Silver, Clare Malone, and Galen Druke for our first-ever 2028 GOP presidential primary draft.
The Texas Senate Primaries Get Messy
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -37:51 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Heads up: We have a live show scheduled for Wednesday, March 4 at the Comedy Cellar in New York City! Nate Silver, Clare Malone, and I will share our reactions from the Texas primaries and much more. You can get tickets here. Primary season is starting with a bang in just three weeks.
The Early Math Of The 2026 Midterms
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -1:01:15 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. This is our start-of-the-year, table-setting episode for the 2026 midterms. A flood of January news pushed it back, but the clock is now ticking. The primaries begin in just four weeks. Republicans begin with control of the House by the slimmest of margins. To flip the chamber, Democrats would need to gain five seats.
VIDEO: A 2028 Democratic Primary Draft (Live!)
The audio-only version of this episode is available in the GD POLITICS feed wherever you listen to podcasts. Democrats are gearing up to turn the page on the Trump presidency and some 2028 hopefuls will likely announce their intentions by year’s end. At least a half-dozen candidates are, for all intents and purposes, already running. Will California Gov. Gavin Newsom be able to ride the wave of his current support for the next two years or is he cresting now?
VIDEO: A 2028 Democratic Primary Draft (Live!)
The audio-only version of this episode is available in the GD POLITICS feed wherever you listen to podcasts. Democrats are gearing up to turn the page on the Trump presidency and some 2028 hopefuls will likely announce their intentions by year’s end. At least a half-dozen candidates are, for all intents and purposes, already running. Will California Gov. Gavin Newsom be able to ride the wave of his current support for the next two years or is he cresting now?
VIDEO: Is Alex Pretti's Killing A Turning Point?
The audio-only version of this episode is available in the GD POLITICS feed wherever you listen to podcasts. Call this something of an emergency podcast. I’d planned on airing an episode setting the table for the 2026 midterms today. We’re going to save that for another day, because on Saturday a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37 year-old Veterans Affairs hospital ICU nurse.
Judging Trump 2.0 By His Own Standards
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -1:03:33 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Trump has now been back in office for a year. To help make sense of the past twelve months, on Tuesday I hosted a live Substack conversation with friend of the pod and author of the Wake Up To Politics newsletter, Gabe Fleischer. We began by assessing Trump’s accomplishments and failings by the standards he set at the beginning of his second term.
We Answer Your Questions On ICE, Iran, And The Senate
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -21:15 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. The full episode is available to paid subscribers. Once you become a paid subscriber, you can connect your account to your preferred podcast player by following the directions here. I like to say that this podcast is driven by three principles: curiosity, rigor and a sense of humor. You, dear listeners, share those qualities, certainly when it comes to curiosity.
How The UK Became Ungovernable
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -1:08:09 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. If you are tired of hearing about how messy American politics are, today I’m offering you a reprieve. You’re going to hear about how messy British politics are. Last week I was in London, exploring the city and speaking with journalists, friends and strangers alike about life in Britain. I visited a couple newsrooms and toured parliament during Prime Minister’s Questions.
Celebrity Politicians, Dummymandering, And The Texas Primary
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -58:19 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. If everything is going to plan, I am on vacation this week. Fear not! I have recorded podcasts ahead of time so you’ll still have two episodes this week. However, don’t be surprised if something crazy has happened in the world and you don’t hear it mentioned in conversation.
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