podcast
CNN Political Briefing
Join CNN Political Director David Chalian as he guides you through our ever-changing political landscape. Every week, David and a guest take you inside the latest developments with insight and analysis from the key players in politics.

As election season 2025 enters its final stretch, candidates in New York City, New Jersey, and Virginia sprint to the finish line. CNN Correspondents Jeff Zeleny and Eva McKend have been all over the trail, and they’re here to spill out their notebooks and tell David Chalian what they’ve learned during the campaign.
Producer: Dan Bloom
Technical Director: Dan Dzula
Executive Producer: Steve Lickteig
Oct 31, 2025
Running to be mayor of New York City is a tall order for any Republican given Democratic voters outnumber Republican voters by six to one. Curtis Sliwa is once again the GOP's standard bearer in America's largest city after losing to Eric Adams four years ago, but this time he is competing against a rising progressive star in the Democratic Party in Zohran Mamdani and the former governor Andrew Cuomo who left office in disgrace four years ago. And he's doing so while facing enormous pressure t...Show moreo drop out of the race. As the campaign reaches its home stretch, Sliwa tells David Chalian what he’s learned from a lifetime in New York and his two runs for mayor.
Producers: Dan Bloom & Sofía Sanchez
Technical Director: Dan Dzula
Executive Producer: Steve Lickteig
Oct 24, 2025
With the government shutdown in its third week, we call in Congressman Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California who hails from the progressive wing of his party. Rep. Khanna tells David Chalian what’s negotiable for Democrats, what’s off the table, and how he thinks this standoff will eventually come to an end.
Producer: Dan Bloom
Technical Director: Dan Dzula
Executive Producer: Steve Lickteig
Oct 17, 2025
The prosecution of former FBI director James Comey is an extraordinary chapter in the history of American justice. Former federal and state prosecutor Elie Honig has a new book, When You Come at the King: Inside DOJ's Pursuit of the President, From Nixon to Trump, and he tells David Chalian how to place Comey’s case in a historical context.
Producer: Dan Bloom
Technical director: Dan Dzula
Executive producer: Steve Lickteig
Oct 10, 2025
With a government shutdown now reality, the blame game between Republicans and Democrats is at a fever pitch. Congressman Mike Lawler is from a battleground district and one of three Republicans in the House who represent a district won by Kamala Harris last year. He tells David Chalian why he thinks Democrats have just committed a critical error in their shutdown calculus.
Producer: Dan Bloom
Technical Director: Dan Dzula
Executive Producer: Steve Lickteig
Oct 3, 2025
With Washington bracing for a government shutdown, Democrats and Republicans are already trying to pin the blame on each other. As Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Representative Suzan DelBene (D-WA) is laser-focused on re-capturing the House in 2026. She tells David Chalian how Democrats can put themselves on a path to winning the majority.
Producer: Dan Bloom
Technical Director: Dan Dzula
Executive Producer: Steve Lickteig
Sep 26, 2025
The 2025 campaign season is heating up, and the race for New Jersey governor could be the sleeper contest of the year. Democratic candidate Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill will face Republican Jack Ciattarelli, a former assemblyman, in their first debate on Sunday. While Sherrill currently leads in polling, Ciattarelli hopes to stage another come-from-behind surprise with President Trump's backing. New Jersey Globe editor-in-chief David Wildstein gives David Chalian an insider's perspective on the race.
Producer: Paola Ortiz
Senior Producer: Dan Bloom
Technical Director: Dan Dzula
Executive Producer: Steve Lickteig
Sep 19, 2025
The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has shocked American politics. Michigan Senate Majority Whip Mallory McMorrow is now running for U.S. Senate, and she joins us to explore her path forward in a competitive swing state and address the urgent question of how America can break the its pattern of political violence.
Producer: Sofía Sánchez
Senior Producer: Dan Bloom
Technical Director: Dan Dzula
Executive Producer: Steve Lickteig
Sep 12, 2025
After federal forces rolled through Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., Ilinois officials are taking President Trump’s threats to Chicago very seriously, none more so than Governor J.B. Pritzker. Eric Bradner is National Political Reporter for CNN and he’s here to discuss the political calculations behind Governor Pritzker's recent moves countering the president.
Producer: Kyra Dahring
Senior Producers: Faiz Jamil, Dan Bloom
Technical Director: Dan Dzula
Executive Producer: Steve Lickteig
Sep 5, 2025
President Trump has spent much of August exerting his power and sparking challenges to its limits. He has upended the traditional independence of the Federal Reserve, launched investigations and searches on his political opponents, and threatened to expand his command of policing America's cities beyond the nation's capital. How should Democrats respond to this shifting political landscape in America? CNN Chief Political Analyst David Axelrod takes us inside the party's internal debates to produce an answer to that critical question.
Producer: Kyra Dahring
Senior Producers: Faiz Jamil, Dan Bloom
Technical Director: Dan Dzula
Executive Producer: Steve Lickteig
Aug 29, 2025



