Dear reader,

The political world is bracing for the November midterms, but plenty of D.C. insiders are already preparing for the even more consequential 2028 presidential race. Every week, Peter Hamby, Puck’s award-winning chief national correspondent and co-author of The Best & The Brightest, brings readers the inside conversations between strategists, operatives, pollsters, lobbyists, and power players as the campaigns quietly kick off—and now, Peter’s new podcast, The Making of a President, takes them even deeper into that machinery.

Focused on the long, hard road to 2028, the show explores the media, money, technology, and generational forces transforming how politics is practiced—and how power is won.

Can MAHA Keep Iowa Red?

PETER HAMBY & JEFF KAUFMANN

Iowa G.O.P. chairman Jeff Kaufmann joins Peter for a candid conversation about what it takes to win Iowa, where Trump still has a chokehold on Republican voters even as his approval ratings plummet. Kaufmann makes the case that any candidate who criticizes the president will find it nearly impossible to win the nomination, let alone the state. He also explains how MAHA voters are becoming a growing force in Iowa politics, and how Republican presidential hopefuls can win them over.

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How to Win New Mexico in ’28

PETER HAMBY & MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM

With New Mexico joining the early Democratic presidential primary calendar, Peter sits down with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for a dissertation on everything candidates need to know about an often misunderstood state: how to talk about the border and gun rights, why Hispanic identity in New Mexico is different than in Nevada, the truth about tribal sovereignty and land acknowledgements, the trouble with “Woke 1.0,” and so much more.

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Can We Actually Trust the Midterm Polls?

PETER HAMBY & LAKSHYA JAIN

Lakshya Jain, elections analyst and co-founder of Split Ticket, joins Peter to dig into polling reliability, election models, and how voters are responding to economic conditions ahead of the midterms and 2028 primaries. While Lakshya says that Democrats have never been in a better position electorally, he explains why campaign insiders remain skeptical because of past polling misses.

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