Political Gabfest Creators & Guests

David A. Plotz is a journalist. Currently, he He appears on the weekly Slate Political Gabfest podcast with John Dickerson and Emily Bazelon.Previously, Plotz was C.E.O. of the online magazine Atlas Obscura. He began his career in journalism at the Washington City Paper. He then joined Slate when it launched in 1996.Plotz's work has appeared in Slate, The New York Times Magazine, Harper's, Reader's Digest, Rolling Stone, New Republic, The Washington Post, Business Insider, and GQ. His first book, "The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank," was published in 2005, and his second book, "Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned when I Read Every Single Word of the Bible," was published in 2009.Plotz received his A.B. from Harvard University, where he also wrote for The Harvard Crimson.He has been a writer with Slate since its inception in 1996. Before that Plotz was a paralegal for the Department of Justice, then switched to journalism and wrote for the Washington City Paper.He hosts the Slate Podcast "Political Gabfest."

Emily Bazelon is a journalist.

John Dickerson is a co-hosts of CBS This Morning.

Jayson de Leon is an audio producer. Currently, he is a producer for “99% Invisible.”Previously, de Leon was a producer for Slate, where he produced seasons 5 and 6 of “Slow Burn,” launched and led production of Slate’s daily news program “What Next,” and was the founding producer of “Trumpcast.” Before joining Slate, he produced season 1 of “Family Ghosts.” Before that, he was an intern at NPR’s “Planet Money.”de Leon  received his B.S. in Business Economics from the University of Central Florida.

Kevin Bendis is an audio engineer, musician, composer, and podcast producer. Currently, he produces podcasts for Slate Media. He also writes, records, and performs with the group Diary.

Ethan Oberman is a freelance audio producer.Previously, Oberman was a Senior Producer for the WNYC show "The Takeaway," where he produced much of the show’s movie and television coverage. He began his producing career as an intern with The Takeaway in 2016. Before that, he was an intern at WBAI in Brooklyn and a volunteer at WFMU.

Cheyna Roth is a journalist and audio producer. Currently, she is a podcast producer for Slate and frequent host of its gender and feminism podcast "The Waves." She is also an adjunct professor of journalism and law at Aquinas College.Roth began her career as a prosecuting attorney. She left the practice of law to in 2016, earned her masters degree, and became a documentary filmmaker, podcaster, and freelance writer. She began her journalism career as Capitol reporter for the Michigan Public Radio Networka, and she hosted the podcast "MichMash."Roth's work has appeared in Broadly, Bustle, and on NPR. Her first book, "Cold Cases: A True Crime Collection," was published in 2020.Roth received her J.D. from Michigan State University College of Law and her M.A. in Journalism from Michigan State University.

Jared Downing is a multimedia journalist and podcast producer. Currently, he is a podcast producer for Slate Magazine.Downing spent covered climate change for Climate & Capital Media and Health Affairs Journal, including two original podcast series, The Climate & Capital Podcast for Climate & Capital Media and The Earth Disease for Health Affairs Journal. His work has appeared in Slate, VICE, Nieman Reports, Saveur, Asian Geographic, Roads & Kingdoms, OpenDemocracy, and others.

David E. Sanger is the Chief Washington Correspondent for The New York Times.

Chase Strangio is an American lawyer and transgender rights activist. He is a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Kirsten Anne Powers is an author, columnist, political analyst, and host of the show How To Do You.

Azmat Khan is an award-winning investigative reporter, and contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine.

Esther Perel is a psychotherapist, advisor on sex & relationships, speaker, and author.

Timothy Shiou-Ming Wu is a legal scholar and professor at Columbia Law School who specializes in antitrust, copyright, and telecommunications law. He is also a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times.Wu is best known for having coined the term "network neutrality." He has advocated for an antitrust break-up of Facebook. He also served as a senior adviser to the Federal Trade Commission, and on the National Economic Council during the Obama Administration.Wu has written three books and co-edited a fourth. His most recent book, "The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age," was published in 2018.Wu received his B.Sc from MgGill University and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Elif Batuman is an author and journalist.

Mary Harris is a host, reporter, and producer. Currently, she is the host of "What Next?" at Slate.Before joining Slate, Harris was host for the NPR show "Only Human." She has been a producer for NPR and ABC News.Harris received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Christine Coulson is an author.Coulson started her writing career at The Metropolitan Museum of Art as a summer intern, and became a full-time writer there in 1994, where she stayed for 25 years.Coulson's fiction has appeared in The New York Times and Lit Hub. Her first book, the novel "Metropolitan Stories," was published in 2019. Her second novel, "One Woman Show," was published in 2023.

Alexandra Petri is a humorist, newspaper columnist, writer, and author of the book Nothing is Wrong and Here Is Why.

David Shor is a political data analyst, and social democrat.