Election 2024: DNC and The Presidential Debate

Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum invites you to join retired political commentator and Folio board trustee Mort Kondracke and our panel of experts for a post DNC and presidential debate conversation. 

Mort will be joined by John Lapinski, chief of the Decision Desk and all polling for the NBC News network, US Rep. Brian Baird, member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington's 3rd district, Democratic campaign consultant Sandeep Kaushik and conservative Seattle radio talk show host Jason Rantz.

John Lapinski, Ph.D., is the Robert A. Fox Professor of Political Science, Faculty Director of the Robert A. Fox Leadership Program and the Director of the Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies. He also serves as the Faculty Director for the Executive Masters of Public Administration program within the Fels Institute of Government and as the Director of the Elections Unit at NBC News. In his role for NBC News, Lapinski is responsible for projecting races for the network and produces election-related stories through exit polls for NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo, and all of NBC’s digital properties.

US Representative Brian Baird served Washington’s 3rd congressional district from 1999 to 2011. He was born on March 7, 1956, in Chama, New Mexico. Baird earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah, Master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Wyoming, and worked as a clinical psychologist and professor at Pacific Lutheran University before entering politics.

A partner at Sound View Strategies (SVS), Sandeep Kaushik is a political and public affairs consultant in Seattle. In addition to his extensive public relations, political communications and strategic advisory work for elected officials and civic leaders, governments and non-profits, he has worked on multiple political campaigns in the Northwest, including numerous issue and ballot measure campaigns.

Jason Rantz is Seattle's fresh, contemporary conservative voice. Young and urban, passionate and bold, Rantz is outnumbered by the Progressive chorus, yet refuses to ignore the conservative principles at the core of America's greatness. Prolific on-air and online, Rantz knows he's outnumbered in Seattle, but he's never shy to be outspoken about it.