Ari Berman
Ari Berman is a senior reporter for Mother Jones and a fellow at Type Media Center. He has written extensively about American politics, voting rights, and the intersection of money and politics. Berman was the first national reporter to cover voter suppression during the 2012 election, earning widespread acclaim for his coverage and pushing the issue into the national spotlight. His stories have also appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Rolling Stone, and The Nation, and he is a frequent guest and commentator on MSNBC, C-Span, and NPR. In 2017, Berman won an Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in independent media.
He is the author of Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America (Farrar, Straus Giroux 2015) about the history of voting rights since 1965 and Herding Donkeys: The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party and Reshape American Politics (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2010). He graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University with a degree in journalism and political science.
Recent Work
Eric Holder Sure Sounds Like He’s Running for President
In a speech in Iowa, the former attorney general called voting rights the “defining civil rights issue of our time.” By Ari Berman in Mother Jones.
Virginia’s Democratic Scandals Could Cost the Party Control of State Politics for the Next Decade
Democratic victories in 2019 may have allowed the party to draw new legislative maps. Now, that’s imperiled.
By Ari Berman in Mother Jones.
The Law That Just Passed In New York Is A Huge Win For Voting Rights
The state had some of the worst voting laws in the country. It’s about to have some of the best.
By Ari Berman in Mother Jones.
How Trump Is Rigging the Census
Efforts to sideline minority populations in 2020 will undermine democracy for decades to come.
Trump’s 20/20 Census Pick
The man on track to head the census, which will determine redistricting and voting rights enforcement, has defended racial gerrymandering and voter suppression laws.
Protecting the Right to Vote
Here’s what’s being done to combat voter-suppression efforts in 2016.
How the 2000 Election Led to a New Wave of Voter Suppression
A botched voter purge in Florida prevented thousands from voting — and empowered a new generation of voting-rights critics.
How the Money Primary Is Undermining Voting Rights
When the wealthiest Americans dominate every facet of political life, what happens to the voting rights of everyone else?
Should the Supreme Court Have Accepted a Challenge to Wisconsin’s Voter ID Law?
Ruthelle Frank, an 87-year-old resident of Brokaw, Wisconsin, has voted in every presidential election since 1948. But after the passage of Wisconsin’s voter-ID law in 2011, she became one of 300,000 registered voters in the state without the required ID.
How Democrats Could Beat Back Voter Suppression at the Ballot Box
A new crop of Democratic candidates for secretary of state could bolster voting rights.
Inside the Unlikely Movement That Could Restore Voting Rights to 1.4 Million Floridians
Amendment 4 needs 60 percent of the vote to pass in November.
Federal Judge Rips Trump Administration Over Census Citizenship Question
The judge hinted he’d let a lawsuit against the administration proceed and permitted administration officials to be deposed.
The Supreme Court Gave the Green Light to Voter Purges. Trump’s Justice Department Isn’t Wasting Any Time.
One day after the court upheld voter purging in Ohio, the administration sued Kentucky to make it purge its rolls.
Give Us The Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights
Countless books have been written about the civil rights movement, but far less attention has been paid to what happened after the dramatic passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 and the turbulent forces it unleashed. In this groundbreaking narrative history, Ari Berman charts both the transformation of American democracy under the VRA and the counterrevolution that has sought to limit it from the moment the act was signed into law.
Herding Donkeys: The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party and Reshape American Politics
After the 2004 election, the Republican Party held the White House, both houses of Congress, twenty-eight governorships, and a majority of state legislatures. One-party rule, it seemed, was here to stay. Herding Donkeys tells the improbable tale of the grassroots resurgence that transformed the Democratic Party from a lonely minority to a sizable majority.
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