When he was 9 years old, St. Louis County native Gabe Fleisher started a politics newsletter. From his middle school library, he wrote about the day’s top political stories for a small audience of friends and family.
Now, Fleisher roams the halls of Congress and attends White House press events. Every weekday morning, he sends out his “Wake Up to Politics” newsletter to nearly 50,000 subscribers.
Fleisher says his Substack newsletter is designed to avoid the political drama that often dominates headlines. Instead, he covers national politics from a calmer, nonpartisan angle, focusing on legislation that affects people's lives but that isn't getting much attention, he explained.
“[I am] trying to give people a place where they can stay informed and follow what's going on in national politics, but not in a way that makes them feel so exhausted or angry or depressed all the time,” said Fleisher, who recently graduated from Georgetown University.
There is an overwhelming bias toward established mainstream outlets in Washington, so it can be difficult for the independent political reporters to stand out. Overcoming that pressure takes substantive political coverage, “not just of the fireworks and flashy stuff,” he said.
“If you had told me then that I'd still be doing the newsletter now, you know, 11 years later, I don't know if I quite would have believed you,” he added. “I don't know that I would have believed I'm here in D.C., covering in person the institutions of government that I followed so closely from St. Louis when I was so young.”
For more on how Gabe Fleisher established himself as an independent political journalist and what he’s paying attention to in this presidential race, listen to the full St. Louis on the Air conversation on Apple Podcast, Spotify and YouTube, or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Ulaa Kuziez, Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Jada Jones is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
