We’re growing our membership community and investing in new ways to bring you closer to our newsroom and to each other. And we’re expanding our team with powerhouse talent that reflects the voices of people outside elite spaces — because that’s what our audience deserves.
Which brings me to the news at hand.
When we started thinking about the kind of journalist we wanted to bring to Vox, I kept coming back to finding someone who was not afraid to provide unflinching clarity on what’s happening in our country, and who knows how and where to reach audiences in many different ways, across many different platforms.
Astead is that rare talent.
Astead will play a key role in our efforts to help audiences understand the factors shaping the 2026 midterms and the lead-up to the 2028 presidential election. He will be a multiplatform journalist, contributing to Vox’s text, audio, and video journalism. His first projects this fall will include guest-hosting some episodes of the Today, Explained podcast and creating videos for Vox’s social channels that help audiences clearly understand what’s going on in American politics, what the stakes are, and why it all matters. And next year, he will launch a new weekly podcast about politics that will span across video and audio.
Astead comes to Vox from the New York Times, where he distinguished himself as a sharp, accessible voice on American politics, hosting The Run-Up podcast and reporting stories in text, audio, and video formats. His reporting is known for translating complex political dynamics into clear, nuanced stories that resonate with both political insiders and those outside the bubble. In August, the National Association of Black Journalists named him their 2025 Journalist of the Year.
Astead knows how to cut through, connect, and bring clarity at a time when it matters most. I couldn’t be more excited about this next phase of Vox.
