E.J. Dionne Jr.

Washington, D.C.

Columnist covering national politics

Education: Oxford University, D.Phil.; Harvard University, BA

E.J. Dionne Jr. writes about politics in a weekly column for The Washington Post. He is also a government professor at Georgetown University, a visiting professor at Harvard University, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and a frequent commentator on politics for National Public Radio and MSNBC. His book “Code Red: How Progressives and Moderates Can Unite to Save Our Country” was published by St. Martin’s Press in February. Before joining The Post in 1990 as a political reporter, Dionne spent 14 years at the New York Times, where he covered politics and reporte
Latest from E.J. Dionne Jr.

My hometown broke its 100-year Democratic streak. What can that teach us?

Gratitude for Fall River, Massachusetts, drives me to learn from what drove its rightward shift, not abandon it.

November 29, 2024
(Washington Post staff illustration; Denis Tangney Jr./iStock)

The lessons in progressives’ hidden 2024 victories

Republicans are pivoting away from abortion and same-sex marriage — a promising sign for liberals.

November 24, 2024
Activists gather at the Supreme Court on April 15, 2023. (Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post)

Trump will take office as a lame duck. That could matter — a lot.

It’s time to free our politics from the unhealthy hold Trump has on the imaginations of both parties.

November 17, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida on Thursday. (Alex Brandon/AP)

Did you miss the Trump surge? So did I. What can we learn?

The reasons Vice President Kamala Harris lost were all in plain sight.

November 7, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump takes the stage to address supporters at a rally in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

If Trump loses Pennsylvania, he’ll have no one to blame but himself

A realignment in American politics is underway. And its outlines are easiest to see in Pennsylvania.

November 3, 2024
Vice President and Democratic nominee for president Kamala Harris in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 16. (Michelle Gustafson for The Washington Post)

Sherrod Brown is testing a new pro-worker playbook in Ohio

Embracing a populism of inclusion might be the Democrats’ best way forward.

October 27, 2024
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) at a campaign rally on Oct. 5 in Cincinnati. (Jeff Dean/AP)

Kamala Harris’s closing argument: Donald Trump’s own words

If the race turns Harris’s way, it will be because she used Trump’s wild rhetoric against him.

October 20, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris campaigns at a get-out-the-vote event on Oct. 19 in Detroit. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

By electing Trump, America would break its closest allies’ hearts

Anxiety levels in Europe over the U.S. election are very high.

October 13, 2024
A front-page story on the 2020 U.S. election in the French newspaper Le Monde. The headline translates to “The United States is tearing itself apart.” (Francois Mori/AP)

Vance’s debate performance was a breathtaking exercise in sane-washing

In his debate with Tim Walz, JD Vance showed that he understands how unpopular his ticket’s positions are.

October 2, 2024
Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance speaks during a debate at CBS Studios in New York on Oct. 1. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

This election, a struggle for the soul of American Christianity is key

Why battleground North Carolina will be ‘ground zero for a faith war.’

September 29, 2024
Jaime Harrison, chair of the Democratic National Committee, second from right, in Columbia, S.C.,  on Jan. 15. (Sean Rayford for The Washington Post)