Jon Lovett

Once a speechwriter for Hillary Clinton in her 2008 presidential campaign and Barack Obama during his presidency, Jon Lovett has turned the page. The wordsmith is now working as a comedian; he’s also a cofounder of the liberal political media company Crooked Media and hosts the podcasts Pod Save America and Lovett or Leave It. It’s a career about “hosting and posting,” he says.

“Equality is a life-or-death necessity, but demanding ‘equal rights’ also feels sort of straight? Like putting on a little suit and tie to go to work at the politics factory,” Lovett muses when asked about LGBTQ+ equality. “Equality is freedom on others’ terms. What are our terms?”

This year, Lovett competed in season 47 of Survivor on CBS, continued running his multimedia empire, and set big goals for Vote Save America, a resource for helping folks maximize their political impact (Lovett wants to recruit 100,000 volunteers to help win elections). What’s next? “Imagine thinking past this election,” he teases. “Must be nice!” @jonlovett