Join us for a special conversation with three of the nation’s most compelling voices on democracy—a leading conservative commentator, a pioneering advocate for voting rights, and one of the most respected leaders in American journalism—as they come together for a candid conversation about American democracy.
The stakes for American democracy are high. What can we expect over the next weeks and months? Can our institutions hold? What sort of pro-democracy coalition is required to meet this moment? What are the compromises such a coalition might need to make? What are the sacrifices?
There could not be a more important time for this conversation. Kristol, Kumar, and Woodruff all come to this moment along different paths yet share a conviction that democracy is imperiled, must be preserved, and ultimately will require people power, working together in ways large and small.
Kristol and Kumar are Senior Fellows, and Woodruff is the Kay Fanning Fellow in Journalism and Democracy, at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, a nonpartisan operating foundation with a mission to advance inclusive democracies worldwide.
William Kristol is editor-at-large of The Bulwark, where he’s lead author of the must-read daily newsletter, Morning Shots. Kristol is also founding director of Defending Democracy Together, an educational and advocacy organization dedicated to defending America’s liberal democratic norms, principles, and institutions, and a Charles F. Kettering Foundation senior fellow.
Kristol has long been recognized as a leading participant in and analyst of American politics and has helped shape the national debate on issues ranging from American foreign policy to the meaning of American conservatism. He founded The Weekly Standard in 1995 and edited the influential conservative magazine for over two decades. Before that, he served in senior positions in the Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations.
Prior to coming to Washington, DC, in 1985, Kristol taught politics at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University. He received his undergraduate degree and doctorate from Harvard University.
María Teresa Kumar is the founding President and Co-Founder of Voto Latino and Voto Latino Foundation, the nation’s premier Latino youth advocacy and voter registration organizations, which together have registered nearly 1.8 million voters.
An Emmy-nominated MSNOW analyst and Senior Fellow at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, Kumar serves on the boards of Steve Madden, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. She previously served on President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing and currently serves on the National Task Force on Election Crises. She is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Her honors include Forbes’ 50 Over 50: Impact, TIME’s 13 Latinos Reshaping the Country, Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and recognition as one of Carnegie Corporation’s Great Immigrants.
Raised in Sonoma, California, Kumar is a first-generation college graduate of UC Davis and holds a master’s degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School.
Moderating the discussion will be Judy Woodruff, senior correspondent and former anchor and managing editor of the PBS NewsHour. A distinguished journalist for more than five decades, Woodruff is nationally recognized for her integrity, reporting, and media leadership. She is the recipient of numerous awards, among them a Peabody Journalistic Integrity Award and an Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award. Woodruff is the Charles F. Kettering’s Katherine W. Fanning Fellow in Journalism and Democracy.
In early 2023, Woodruff stepped away from her anchor duties to devote her time to a new reporting project, “Judy Woodruff Presents: America at a Crossroads,” trying to understand our country and its people better and probing why Americans seem so divided. She has also continued to report on challenges facing people with disabilities.