Charlie Cook

Charlie Cook

Political Analyst and Election Forecastor

Charlie Cook is considered one of the nation’s leading authorities on American politics and U.S. elections. He is the editor and publisher of the Cook Political Report which serves as one of the leading sites and informational platforms for election predictions and results in the United States. He is also a political analyst for NBC News and National Journal.

Since the 1984 US presidential election, Cook has provided election night commentary for various television networks. The Wall Street Journal has referred to Cook as “the Picasso of election analysis” and the Washington Post has called him "perhaps the best non-partisan tracker of Congressional races.”

In 2010, Charlie was the co-recipient of the American Political Science Association’s prestigious Carey McWilliams award to honor “a major journalistic contribution to our understanding of politics."

Charlie Cook has participated in The 2020 Post Election Round Up with Al Franken, Rick Wilson, and Jonathan Capehart on November 10, 2020. He also participated in The White Working-Class Political Revolution with David Kuhn, Jim Webb, and moderator Clyde Haberman on January 7, 2021. Kuhn, Webb, Cook, and Haberman discussed how the white working-class was driven away from the Democratic party and towards Republicans and how that schism continues to drive class conflict and political polarization today. The discussion also broached the Democrats inability to make inroads with this demographic and if white working-class voters support Republicans in spite of their own policy preferences.

Rachel Bitecofer, PhD.

Rachel Bitecofer

Rachel Bitecofer is an ace election forecaster and the founder of The Cycle a digital platform for news and politics. Forecaster, election analyst, pollster, and all-around data girl, Dr. Bitecofer is one of the most accurate, and exciting, experts in today's political arena. Her research has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, NPR, and other major media outlets.

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Bitecofer was nationally recognized for predicting the results of the 2018 United States midterm elections more closely than most other forecasters. She first predicted that Democrats would pick up 42 seats in the House of Representatives in September 2018, revising her forecast to 45 seats in November,  just days before the election even as others were revising their estimates downwards. Democrats ultimately gained 41 seats in the House election, making her prediction one of the most accurate of that cycle. However, there were some errors in her Senate election forecast, where she incorrectly predicted that Democrat Bill Nelson would win reelection in Florida.

Dubbed the Election Whisperer, Bitecofer’s expertise in analysis and prediction has everyone coming to her for the inside scoop on what to expect before the election. Check out her interview on Real Time with Bill Maher where they discuss how she is able to make such accurate predictions and doing so in a hyper-polarized climate.

Bitecofer is also an author of The Unprecedented 2016 Presidential Election. This book explains the 2016 presidential election through a strategic focus. In the primaries both parties faced challenges from insurgent outsiders riding waves of populist fervor in the electorate, but only the Democrats were able to steer the nomination into the hands of their establishment favorite.

Dr. Bitecofer is famous for her main thesis that modern elections are not decided by the swing vote, but rather negative partisanship, which prioritizes defeating the other side over any specific policy objective. Under her theory, shifts in voter turnout decide everything, and the "swing" mainly comes from whether voters decide to vote at all rather than deciding who to vote for.

Rachel Bitecofer participated in Recap: Final Presidential Debate Panel on October 23, 2020. Bitecofer, Schoen and McFadden help unpacked what happened during the final Presidential debate.