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By Adam Wren
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Presented by
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With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco and Irie Sentner
Good Sunday morning. This is Adam at the wheel, back home now but still discombobulated after contemplating the potential reality of having to set up a permanent Playbook Denver bureau. Get in touch.
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DRIVING THE DAY |
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In recent months, James Murdoch and his wife Kathryn explored acquiring Crooked Media, which includes the podcast Pod Save America. | Charles Sykes/Invision/AP
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DENVER — James Murdoch escaped his father Rupert’s empire on the right. Now he’s building his own just left of center — one that could shape the battle for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination.
In recent months, Rupert’s estranged son and his Oregon-born wife Kathryn explored acquiring Crooked Media, which includes the podcast “Pod Save America,” according to two people familiar with the discussions. They also have a close business relationship with the centrist Bulwark on top of having bought New York magazine and Vox.
United by a shared ambition to shape public debate, the couple has assembled and taken an increasingly direct role in a portfolio of influential media investments through their Lupa Systems investment firm and Quadrivium Foundation.
It’s not just a media empire: The couple has also put millions behind moderate Democrats like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Iowa Sen.-elect Josh Turek, my POLITICO Magazine colleague Sarah Ellison and I report.
Now significant donors to Democratic candidates and causes, they have given more than $30 million in federally reported political contributions since 2020, on top of more than $111 million their foundation has disbursed to climate, voting and other nonprofit groups from 2020 through 2024, according to IRS records. We also spoke with 21 current and former associates, many of whom were granted anonymity to speak candidly about the couple and their approach to politics. (James and Kathryn declined repeated requests to be interviewed for this article or provide responses to its claims.)
Last year, over lunch at a Manhattan restaurant, the 52-year-old Murdoch and Kathryn debriefed with Buttigieg, whom they supported in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, about the political and media terrain.
Among other prospective 2028 presidential candidates, the couple is most drawn to Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, Shapiro, Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin and, more recently, Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, according to two people familiar with their preferences.
“We have a nice relationship,” Shapiro said of the Murdochs in an interview. “I think they like the way I govern, and I was grateful that they invested early on in my race. I think they appreciate pragmatic politics.”
Inside Denver’s Mission Ballroom, the Murdochs’ growing influence in the party was on full display at Majority Democrats’ What’s Next summit. They have put nearly $2 million into the hybrid political action committee and super PAC that launched last year to back candidates advocating a move away from progressive policies and identity politics. The event showcased many of the candidates they have helped elevate, including Buttigieg, Turek and Shapiro, to whom they directly donated $500,000 late last year.
Each took the stage over the course of the three-day conference, which sought to retrospectively frame the party’s 2026 successes as a triumph for big-tent pragmatism. “There’s a durable majority to be built on common sense,” said the group’s chair, Massachusetts Rep. Jake Auchincloss.
Many of the candidates gathered owed some part of their successes to the couple, through either Majority Democrats, a like-minded committee known as the Bench or direct campaign contributions.
All of this has earned James and Kathryn the title of “the good Murdochs” among a certain kind of Democratic consultant.
The couple thinks of their approach as “radical centrism.” And the Murdochs’ theory of change has three components. Change the rules, through primary and ranked-choice reform, so the middle becomes a place from which candidates of both parties can win. Change the candidates, through groups that recruit and train moderate Democrats to operate in a media environment that bears little resemblance to the one their predecessors ran in. And change the conversation, where the influence starts to look less like philanthropy and more like traditional Murdoch money.
Rupert would recognize the strategy, if not the politics.
Read the full story in POLITICO Magazine here.
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SUNDAY BEST …
— Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) on the Nvidia affair, on “Fox News Sunday”: “I want to hear from Jensen Huang, but I want to hear from [Commerce Secretary Howard] Lutnick even more. Secretary Scott Bessent, the secretary of the Treasury, and Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio are the true heroes of the Trump administration, because they’ve been saying all along that there’s something wrong here. We shouldn’t allow our high-end computer chips to go to our biggest adversary. … And that’s [what] exactly has been allowed to occur simply because Secretary Lutnick did not close these loopholes.”
Read the latest from NYT’s Ana Swanson and colleagues on how Lutnick helped loosen rules to limit chip sales, even as Cantor Fitzgerald’s business could be affected.
— Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on the nationwide ground stop, on CBS’ “Face the Nation”: “We have some delays in the airspace right now, but as we look to the end of the day and into tomorrow, we should be running at full capacity. What happens with a ground stop, like on Friday, we have airplanes and crews that are out of position, so it takes a little bit of time for the airlines to get back and choreographed and at full capacity and operations, but we’re well on our way.”
— Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on whether he’d eliminate the filibuster as Senate majority leader, on “Fox News Sunday”: “I’m not going to push right out of the gate to do that, nor would I push something without consulting with my colleagues. That’s a really important decision. My view has always been that the filibuster, which allows less than a majority to block the will of the American people, needs to be reformed. How you do it, and when you do it — that is a topic for the Democratic caucus. So I’m not about to impose my view on that.”
9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR
1. EYES ON THE SKIES: Normal U.S. air travel should finally return by later today, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said. The agency has homed in on a site in Arkansas, and maybe one in Texas, that caused the communications crisis leading to a national ground stop Friday, WSJ’s Andrew Tangel and Drew FitzGerald scooped.
From 30,000 feet: The debacle underscored the problems, brewing for years, with the nation’s air traffic control system, NYT’s Karoun Demirjian reports — which has experienced both aging infrastructure and a rushed modernization effort by the government.
2. THE OVERSIGHT FIGHT: White House counsel Will Scharf told Bloomberg’s Jeff Mason the administration won’t necessarily commit to complying with all subpoenas from congressional Democrats. “It depends on the nature of the investigation,” he said, warning that they won’t “be bullied.” And Scharf said some people in the private sector who’ve communicated with President Donald Trump could be shielded by executive privilege.
The big-picture takeaway from administration officials’ comments over the past week: They’re warning Dems they’ll be aggressive in fighting against oversight, even threatening prosecution, POLITICO’s Myah Ward and Kyle Cheney report.
3. 2027 DREAMING: Incoming House Budget Chair Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) wants to strike a deal with Trump to suspend the debt ceiling, he told NYT’s Catie Edmondson. Boyle said he also wants to try first to work with Republicans to pass bipartisan affordability legislation — but if that fails, he’s open to using budget reconciliation for party-line votes. As Democrats eye significant new spending to undo GOP cuts, the party is divided over whether and how much it needs to pay for the spending with tax increases, WSJ’s Richard Rubin reports.
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4. BRETT SYLVIA LATEST: “Pentagon prepares its own prosecution of general accused of leaking,” by WaPo’s Alex Horton and Dan Lamothe: “The Trump administration, in a remarkable escalation of its campaign to crack down on leaks, has directed the U.S. military to explore bringing a criminal case against a top general whom the Pentagon’s political leadership accused of giving sensitive information to journalists … [It] means that Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia now faces legal jeopardy on two fronts.”
5. THE COALITION CRACKS: New POLITICO Poll results show a real schism opening up between the MAGA base and non-MAGA Trump voters after the midterms, Erin Doherty reports. The former camp is committed to sticking with Trump. The latter increasingly wants to move on — and one-fifth voted for Democrats. The divide shows Republicans’ difficult path forward in keeping a fractious coalition together. But by a 2-to-1 margin, Trump’s 2024 voters say they’d prefer a 2028 presidential candidate who served in his administration over an outsider.
6. ANOTHER … AND ANOTHER: Add Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) to the list of Democrats not ruling out a 2028 presidential bid, WaPo’s Kara Voght reports from Denver. “I don’t think about it quite that way,” he responded. “I don’t want to be, like, ambitious for ambition’s sake.”
And how about Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.)? “Insofar as one has a microphone and is willing to share with your colleagues and the country those new ideas, I suspect that there will be an audience to hear it,” he told NYT’s Reid Epstein and colleagues.
7. WEAPONIZATION WATCH: “Key Witness in Comey Case Attests to Justice Dept.’s Aggressive Tactics,” by NYT’s Alan Feuer: “This summer, [a court] filing said, prosecutors hauled two workers at a New York apartment building in front of a grand jury in Florida after they refused to let an F.B.I. agent inside to serve a subpoena on one of its residents — a longtime confidant of [James] Comey’s from whom the government wanted testimony. The prosecutors also threatened to charge the confidant, Daniel C. Richman, with obstruction of justice.”
8. WAR REPORT: Despite Trump’s claims that Iran’s military has been flattened, a U.S. intelligence estimate assesses that Tehran still has 1,500 to 2,500 missiles, WSJ’s Alex Ward and Anat Peled report. Landing on an exact number is difficult, but the overall picture could play into whether Trump decides to start attacking again. At the same time, Iran today attacked Bahrain with drones again.
Meanwhile in Europe: The Pentagon is now looking at a reduction of some 5,000 troops in Europe (mainly Germany) — much smaller than a cut of 25,000 that European officials had initially feared, Bloomberg’s Andrea Palasciano and colleagues report. It’ll ultimately be up to Trump, but the administration is feeling happier with NATO after member states boosted defense contributions.
9. GREAT SUNDAY READ: “The Not-So-Crazy Legal Strategy to Free Nicolás Maduro,” by Erica Orden in POLITICO Magazine: “[Nicolás] Maduro’s fate — and that of the Trump administration’s highest-profile criminal prosecution — now turns on whether a judge is willing to accept the present-tense construction of Maduro’s statement: that he remained, at the time, the president of Venezuela. It’s a critical question, as it is going to be the crux of the legal argument made by Maduro and his high-powered attorneys. Whether it will work is unknown. The case has no real parallel in U.S. history, and however it concludes, it is likely to establish new standards in American law and foreign policy.”
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A message from bp:
 
See bp’s impact in the 2026 US Impact Report.
Learn more
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TALK OF THE TOWN |
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FORE! — Federal judge Ana Reyes yesterday barred the Trump administration from closing the East Potomac golf course, which was due to happen today, though golf operations don’t need to continue, per POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein. The temporary restraining order determined that the government was concocting “pretextual” emergency reasons to close the park just to satisfy President Donald Trump, rather than because a full closure is immediately necessary.
OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at Belgian Ambassador Frédéric Bernard’s residence Thursday night for the annual King’s Day reception: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, USTR Jamieson Greer, CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, Regine Mahaux, Nicole Bryl, Nicole Butler, Greek Ambassador Antonis Alexandridis, Omani Ambassador Talal Alrahbi, Moroccan Ambassador Youssef Amrani, Kosovan Ambassador Ilir Dugolli, Egyptian Ambassador Mohamed Hamdy El-Molla, German Ambassador Jens Hanefeld, Czech Ambassador Jakub Kulhanek, French Ambassador Aurélien Lechevallier, Finnish Ambassador Leena-Kaisa Mikkola, Slovenian Ambassador Iztok Mirošič, Rwandan Ambassador Mathilde Mukantabana, Italian Ambassador Marco Peronaci, Liechtensteiner Ambassador Georg Sparber, William Cappelletti, Spencer Chretien, Jon Decker, Michael Gordon, Abigail Hauslohner, Paul McLeary, Aaron Mehta, Anton Troianovski, Vivian Yee and Konstantin Toropin.
— SPOTTED at a Cornerstone Government Affairs reception at the What’s Next Conference in Denver on Friday evening, held at Cimera atop the Source Hotel: Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-Ore.), Delaware Lt. Gov. Kyle Evans Gay, Kate Bedingfield, Adrienne Elrod, Sam Cornale, Andrew Bates, Levar Stoney, Sheila Nix, Kirsten Allen, Dennis Cheng, Jalisa Washington-Price, Will Washington, Ammar Moussa, Keenan Austin Reed, Matt Paul, Todd Webster, Hyma Moore, Sean Coit, Andy Flick, Sydney Paul, Ashley Scott, Michael O’Regan, Brendan Koch, Roddy Flynn, C.J. Petersen, Kellyn Sloan and Brad Elkins.
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — G. Michael Brown is now a partner at Binnall Law Group, leading its energy practice and advising on space, technology, national security and international affairs. He most recently was deputy chief of staff at the Energy Department.
TRANSITION — Megha Bhattacharya is joining OpenAI’s policy comms team as public sector lead. She most recently got her MBA at Chicago Booth and is a Biden White House alum.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: AP’s Zeke Miller … Robert Draper … former Reps. Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.) and Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.) … Fox News’ John Roberts … Jen Palmieri … Amanda Renteria … Gail Gitcho … WaPo’s Greg Miller … John Easton … Augie McGinnity-Wake … Jennifer Jones … Adam Snider … Elliott Phaup of Veeam Software … Helen Brosnan … Matthew Fried … Max Steele of Everytown for Gun Safety … Ben Goodman … Asha Rangappa … Trip Yang … Ethan Sorcher of Rep. Wesley Bell’s (D-Mo.) office … Jim Boyle … POLITICO’s Kate Scott and Steven Zheng-Wang
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Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editors Giuseppe Macri, Garrett Ross and Kyler Alvord.
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A message from bp:
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From the Gulf of America to the Texas and Louisiana shale basins, bp is helping advance a new chapter of energy growth. In 2025, bp produced 812,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the US, with plans to increase production to around 1 million barrels per day by 2030.
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