How to Win Elections in the Attention Economy

About this episode

Rob Flaherty discusses the challenges Democrats face in adapting to the attention economy in electoral politics.

How do you build a winning campaign for the era of AI? In the aftermath of the 2024 race, Democrats have been struggling to adapt to the new logic of the attention economy. On this episode of “Galaxy Brain,” Rob Flaherty, deputy campaign manager for Kamala Harris’s campaign, joins Charlie Warzel to talk about what went wrong and how Democrats need to embrace a new theory of attention. They discuss AI’s collision course with electoral politics ahead of the midterms and how to identify candidates who can use the internet to their advantage. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Charlie Warzel

Guest: Rob Flaherty

Topics covered

• elections
• attention economy
• AI in politics
• Democratic campaigns
• midterms
• internet strategy

Keywords

• elections
• attention economy
• AI
• Democrats
• campaign strategy
• midterms
• internet

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Kamala Harris’s campaign, The Atlantic, Apple Podcasts, Atlantic, megaphone.fm

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