Six Years Later, This Only Works Because of You

Six years. 170,000 of you. Here's what's next.

Man, time flies.

Six years ago this week, I launched this newsletter. It started as something to do while stuck at home during a pandemic and a presidential election. As always, I had thoughts on the race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, and I wanted to offer a kind of political analysis I thought was sorely missing from the discourse. I wanted to help you understand what was happening in the election — but also what we could actually do to win it, defeat Donald Trump, and stop the MAGA movement in its tracks (two out of three isn’t bad).

I was also testing a long-held theory about politics: the best messengers in the Democratic Party are not the politicians, the pundits, or the podcasters. It’s all of you. I wanted to use my experience in politics and my obsession with polling data to give you the best information and the best messaging to talk to your friends and family. YOU will always be better at persuading the people in your life than some politician, some reporter, or a stranger sent to their door.

Despite all of that, the plan was to stop after the election.

Six years later, I’m still here — still pumping out several newsletters a week to an incredible community of nearly 170,000 activists, political junkies, and people who care about our democracy. I’ve even launched Message Box Pro, a companion product built specifically for people running for office or working in politics and communications.

I could not be more grateful for this community, or feel more privileged that you’re willing to read what I write.

And I’m not going anywhere. Message Box is here to stay, and I have big plans for the years ahead.

First up: in-depth coverage of this midterm election. We’re living in an era of peak punditry, where every primary result and every twist is treated as apocalyptic while everyone races to fire off the hottest take possible. My promise to you is to do the opposite — take a step back, put things in context, and ground every observation in the data.

Second, I want to help you cut through the endless text messages begging for help and promising victory. I’ll tell you which races are actually winnable, which ones need more resources, and where you can have the most impact.

Finally — and this pains me to say — the 2028 Democratic presidential primary will kick off hours after the last votes are counted in November. It will be a wide-open contest with massive implications for the party and the country. I’m going to cover that primary closely, talk to the candidates, and interview the people making decisions behind the scenes, so you have as much information as possible when it’s your turn to decide.

I’m genuinely excited about what’s ahead. But I’ll be honest with you: growing Message Box has gotten harder. The marketplace is more crowded, and platforms like Twitter have made it harder to get eyeballs on anything that isn’t a flaming hot take. The easiest way to grow an audience in this environment is to go to the extreme or tell partisans exactly what they want to hear. I’ve been far from perfect, but I try hard to resist those perverse incentives — and I can only keep doing that because readers like you have my back instead of an algorithm or an advertiser.

That’s what paid subscriptions make possible. They are what allow this newsletter to exist. To everyone who already pays: thank you. You are the reason I get to do this work the right way.

If you’ve been reading for free and value what you get here, now is the moment to jump in. Upgrade to a paid subscription today and get 20% off your first year. It’s the single best way to support this work — and to make sure it keeps going through the midterms and all the way to 2028.

Thank you for an incredible six years, and for coming on this journey with me.

Dan