The Political Life

As we near the 2026 Midterm elections, Maggie Mick hosts Katie Harbath of Anchor Change. Katie is a longtime political strategist and technology-policy expert who spent 10 years at Facebook, ultimately serving as Public Policy Director for Global Elections. She helped build Facebook's elections operation essentially from the ground up and was deeply involved in how the company approached elections, political actors, civic engagement and election integrity around the world. She left in March 2021. Today, she's a frequent speaker and writer on the intersection of technology and politics. Her memoir Disrupting Politics will be released on October 6.

This week, Maggie Mick hosts Joe Vidulich. After a decade at Capital One, Joe recently walked across the street in McLean, Virginia to build a new government affairs operation at Appian. They discuss how Joe reached the decision to make a big mid-career move and how AI is impacting not only his company but also the government and public affairs profession.

On today's special July 4th episode, Maggie Mick hosts Michael O'Brien - executive coach, cyclist and host of a new podcast, A Perfectly Imperfect Union. They discuss his new project, the podcast's origin story, and its aim. In each podcast, Michael sits down with a real American from every state in our union, plus Washington, D.C. to discuss what America means to them, where the current tension lives, and what they wish for as America celebrates our 250th birthday.

In the 2026 season opener of The Political Life, Maggie Mick hosts Brody Mullins. Mullins is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter. He spent nearly two decades covering the intersection of business and politics for The Wall Street Journal. He is underway in reshaping how Washington is covered and understood through his new media ventures including The Deciders and 535.

In this week's episode, Maggie Mick hosts Layla Zaidane, CEO & President of the Future Caucus (formerly Millennial Action Project). The discussion focuses on Layla's professional trajectory and the lessons picked up along the way which have enabled her to be a driving force in the organization's growth and relevance in a hyper-partisan and polarized America. The two also explore the greatest challenges facing young elected officials and how the Future Caucus continues to innovate, drive bi-partisan conversations and find policy solutions to address the most vexing issues facing the states today.

For the first The Political Life taping of 2026, Maggie Mick sits down with West Virginia Speaker of the House of Delegates, Roger Hanshaw. The Speaker shares his professional and political path and how they intertwine to serve his constituents and state, current conditions impacting federalism, and his participation in the new Assembly for State Legislative Leaders. Finally, he previews the West Virginia legislative session which kicks off this month.

In today's episode, Maggie Mick sits down with Deana Lykins, Lead for State Government Affairs at Haleon. A Kentucky native and now New Jersey resident, Deana has worn essentially every hat in state policy making and advocacy. From campaigns to state capitol aide before crossing over to the private sector where she's held roles as a contract lobbyist, running a state association, and now her role in the corporate sector. Learn how she thinks about the work and where she's found success in communicating and demonstrating the value of state government affairs internally.

For The Political Life's final episode of 2025, and to prepare our listening audience for state legislative sessions in 2026, we stood up a MultiState Group Chat to discuss all the emerging issues that may be coming to a state capitol building near you. This fall, MultiState released a 2025 Issues Review and 2026 Forecast Report. An extensive and large undertaking, the report pulls from the expertise of MultiState's Issue Management team who review hundreds of thousands of bills each year. To illuminate the report's findings, Maggie Mick hosted colleagues Morgan Scarboro, Bill Kramer, and Brock Ingmire - all subject matter experts in fiscal and tax, health care, technology and artificial intelligence, as well as elections - for a discussion on what awaits state government affairs professionals in the new year.

Next year is huge for gubernatorial races, but don't take your eye off the 30 state attorneys general races set for 2026. Increasingly, AGs play an outsized role in state policymaking, multistate investigations, and federal activity. Beyond that, more of them are ascending to higher office including governor, Congress, and federal cabinet positions. In the eight 2024 gubernatorial races, three AGs (plus one former) ran and won the governorship in Washington, North Carolina, West Virginia, and New Hampshire.

To get a read on the landscape ahead, Maggie Mick hosted two recent conversations with executives Sean Rankin and Adam Piper respectively for the Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA) and Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA).

This week and next week's episodes on 2026 attorneys general races are rebroadcasts of recent MultiState client webinars.

Next year is huge for gubernatorial races, but don't take your eye off the 30 state attorneys general races set for 2026. Increasingly, AGs play an outsized role in state policymaking, multistate investigations, and federal activity. Beyond that, more of them are ascending to higher office including governor, Congress, and federal cabinet positions. In the eight 2024 gubernatorial races, three AGs (plus one former) ran and won the governorship in Washington, North Carolina, West Virginia, and New Hampshire. To get a read on the landscape ahead, MultiState's Maggie Mick will host two upcoming conversations with executives Sean Rankin and Adam Piper respectively for the Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA) and Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA).