Politics in Question

Lee Drutman, James Wallner

Booking Overview

An interview-focused political analysis podcast examines the health of American political institutions, political parties, and democratic reform, typically featuring university scholars and authors of books or policy reports. Credible pitches include political scientists, law professors, democracy researchers, and authors with substantive new work on parties, elections, governing institutions, or power-building; booking difficulty is medium because guests are accomplished experts but generally accessible academic and policy professionals.

Metrics

Episodes: 183

Frequency: Irregular

Rating: 4.8/5.0

Estimated listeners: 1,000 - 10,000

Gender skew: Neutral

Listener location: USA

Contact Information

Publicly listed emails

jameswallner@gmail.com

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Host

Lee Drutman - Political scientist and senior fellow at New America whose work focuses on political parties, electoral systems, and democratic institutions.

James Wallner - Political scholar and commentator focused on Congress, political parties, and American democratic institutions.

Booking Intelligence

Booking Requirements

medium

Typical Credentials:

University professors, political scientists, law scholars, democracy researchers, and policy experts with recognized research, books, or substantive reports on political parties, democratic institutions, elections, or political power.

Required Achievements:

Authored or co-authored books from established academic presses, Published substantive policy reports, Held professorships or research fellowships at recognized universities and policy institutions

Recent Guest Discussions

Georgia Kernell - How Political Parties Choose Candidates, Party Membership, Internal Party Control, And Minority Faction Capture.

Jamila Michener - Building And Distributing Political Power, Access To Justice, Organizing, And Pro-democracy Government.

Alex Hertel-Fernandez - Building Political Power, Pro-democracy Government, Deliverism, Organizing, And Policy Levers That Make Organizing Easier.

Seth Masket - The Transformation Of The Republican Party, Trump Voters, County-party Chairs, And Party Leadership.

Tabitha Abu El-Haj - Associational Party Building, Party Structure Under The Two-party System, And The Spread Of New Organizational Models.

Recent Topics

Politics, Political Institutions, Political Parties, Democracy, Electoral Systems

Episodes

Here's the recent few episodes on

Politics in Question

Is Congress Too Old?

October 05, 2026

In this episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James talk about the issue of gerontocracy in American politics. Why do some people see an aging Congress as a problem? Would a maximum age limit require a constitutional amendment? Why aren't elections enough to solve the problem? These are some of the questions Lee and James explore in this week's episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for...

How Do We Build and Break Power?

August 26, 2026

In this episode of Politics in Question, Lee chats with Alex Hertel-Fernandez and Jamila Michener about what power building might look like for the next pro-democracy government. Hertel-Fernandez is the Herbert H. Lehman Professor of Government at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and is leading the Empowering Democracy Initiative. Michener is a Professor of Government and Public Policy at Cornell University and co-author, with Mallory E. SoRelle, of the new boo...

Who Controls the Party?

August 26, 2026

In this episode of Politics in Question, Lee and James chat with Georgia Kernell about how parties choose their candidates. Kernell is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and author of Inside Parties: How Party Rules Shape Membership and Responsiveness (Cambridge University Press, 2025). How does party membership outside of the U.S. function? Do members have actual control or only symbolic control within a party? Could a decentralized party structure give a m...

Publicly listed emails

jameswallner@gmail.com

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