Matt Bai

A highly-respected journalist, political thought leader and acclaimed author, Matt Bai is renowned for his intelligent insight and lucid analysis of contemporary American politics. Starting in 2002, he covered three presidential campaigns for the New York Times, where he was the chief political writer for the Sunday magazine and a columnist for the newspaper. He then spent five years as the national political columnist for Yahoo News, which he left in 2019.

Bai often explores issues of generational change in American politics and society. However, he doesn't simply record political history - Bai offers astute intellect and acumen on where it's headed and an unbiased worldview that appeals to independent thinkers. His seminal cover stories in the magazine include the 2008 cover essay "Is Obama the End of Black Politics?" and a 2004 profile of John Kerry titled "Kerry's Undeclared War." More recently, he wrote a definitive cover story on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and a 10,000-word cover piece titled "Who Killed the Debt Deal?" His work has twice been honored in The Best American Political Writing. Informative, engaging, candid and witty, Bai provides audiences with unparalleled perspective and expertise on today's most complex political issues.

He began his career as a speechwriter for the U.S. Committee for UNICEF, writing for Audrey Hepburn, among others, and his international coverage includes reporting from Liberia and Iraq. Before joining the Times Magazine, Bai was city desk reporter for the Boston Globe and a national correspondent for Newsweek magazine.

In 2001, Bai was a fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where he led a seminar on the next generation of political journalism. Bai's book, "The Argument: Inside the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics," is an account of the “new progressive movement” in America and the people who built it. "The Argument" was the only political book to be named a New York Times Notable Book for 2007. Bai’s most recent book, "All the Truth is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid," looks back at the ruinous scandal involving the presidential candidate Gary Hart in 1987 and how it shaped political and media culture. It was selected as one of the year’s best books by NPR and Amazon and was one of 10 books long-listed for the PEN Faulkner Award in nonfiction.

Bai’s work was featured in both the 2005 and 2006 editions of The Best American Political Writing (Thunder’s Mouth Press). He also wrote a personal essay about his Japanese American in-laws for the anthology "I Married My Mother-in-Law: And Other Tales of In-Laws We Can’t Live With—and Can’t Live Without" (Riverhead Books, 2006).

Bai also co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation, "The Front Runner," directed by Jason Reitman and starring Hugh Jackman, which hit theaters in November 2018.