Slate has never officially endorsed a candidate for president. But we have, since 2000, revealed whom Slate staff members are voting for. This year is no different, and the outcome won’t be a surprise if you are even a passing Slate reader: Slate is overwhelmingly (but not entirely!) voting for Kamala Harris.
It’s a different world than when we did this last in 2020 (and 2016, 2012, not to mention 2000). Four years ago we were still deep in the pandemic, locked down, working from home, and home-schooling. People had started to move around the country, whether to be closer to family for child care, or to more affordable areas, or even to more desirable ones. This ended up being good for lots of people and for Slate; our staff is more geographically dispersed than ever before, which means we have perspectives from across the country in our coverage. The lives lived that inform our votes—and what they are voting for, down the ballot—are quite a bit more varied than before. Slate editorial folks currently reside in Texas, California, Illinois, New York (City and upstate), Virginia, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Florida, D.C., Colorado, Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Utah, and, soon, New Hampshire. We may not have a Trump voter in our mix, but we do have the perspectives of folks who live in reddish areas. More important: We can hire the best folks for Slate, no matter where they put down roots. This is good.
We could have decided to officially endorse Harris this year. But there wouldn’t be much of a point. First, given that we write with perspective, voice, and opinion, our feelings about the candidates are already crystal clear (especially when it comes to Trump, who has been present in presidential politics for a decade). Two, consensus in the wake of the mess at the Washington Post seems to be that endorsements don’t meaningfully matter in terms of election outcomes. I believe we all knew that, but what an endorsement has allowed mainstream publications to do is make a case not just for candidates but for values; an endorsement for Harris signaled a belief in fact and in democracy, not to mention highlighting the important connection between journalism and those two fundamentals. It is not partisan to admit that.
At any rate, because we had a sense of where we’d land on the top race, we asked two new questions of staff who voluntarily shared this year: who they think will win the election and why, and whether there’s a ballot initiative or down-ballot race where they live that is motivating them. With this project we strive to be transparent. We’re showing you who we are, and who makes Slate, well, Slate. —Hillary Frey, editor in chief
Shirin Ali, associate writer
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: The possibility of a second Donald Trump presidency terrifies me! I’m worried women will lose access to birth control and technology like IVF could be severely restricted. I’m also scared of how Trump will inevitably corrupt the processes of the federal government, which may never be reversed. At the same time, I’m excited to see a woman of color at the top of the ticket and I want to support that.
Who do you think will win this election? Donald Trump
Why: Kamala Harris’ campaign has felt underwhelming and I don’t think she’s been successful at creating a compelling or specific pitch to voters. There’s also the issue of the Gaza war, which she has not really touched in a meaningful way that I think will come back to bite her, particularly in swing states. Ultimately, my guess is that Harris hasn’t made a strong enough case for why people should vote for her and they’ll stick to Trump or go third-party.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: In New York, I’m voting on Ballot Proposal 1 which would enshrine a ban on discriminating against ethnicity, origin, age, disability, sex, and pregnancy in the state’s constitution. It also would ban discrimination against New Yorkers who seek access to reproductive health care. Given the threat of another Donald Trump presidency and the fact that there are no federal protections for abortion, I feel enshrining women’s right to health care at the state level is the only avenue left. Plus, protecting minorities in the divisive state of this country is also incredibly important.
Holly Allen, designer
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: Health care rights, women’s rights, human rights, and to restore decency and sanity.
Who do you think will win this election: Total coin flip.
Why: With just days to go, neither candidate is emerging as the clear winner.
Rosemary Belson, associate podcast producer
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: Honestly, there are almost too many reasons to list. But reproductive rights and civil rights are two of the strongest motivators besides, you know, ensuring the ability to vote in future elections.
Who do you think will win this election: Kamala Harris
Why: Here in Wisconsin there are a lot more Harris/Walz signs now than there were Biden/Harris signs in 2020. Don’t get me wrong—there are still a lot of Trump/Vance signs. But there don’t appear to be as many, even in Waukesha County.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: I’m particularly paying attention to the Senate race in Wisconsin: Tammy Baldwin vs. Eric Hovde.
Jeffrey Bloomer, editorial director
Who you are voting for this year: Already voted for Harris
Why: Uncomplicated vote for me—she is competent, experienced, and broadly supports the type of government I want to see.
Who do you think will win this election? I’ve had a sinking feeling for Trump for a few weeks. Currently experiencing perverse optimism this country is finally tired of him.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: I’m very, very tired of Democrats (even and especially in New York!) running essentially right-wing ads on the border and immigration. Everyone I know in politics calls these necessary to assuage “independents” and tells me to ignore them. I think they will leave lasting damage.
Christina Cauterucci, senior writer
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: Donald Trump has encouraged and empowered the worst impulses and people among us. I also believe that the struggle to protect democracy from encroaching authoritarianism is the most important fight of our time.
Who do you think will win this election? Kamala Harris
Why: I think she stands a very slight chance of winning, mostly because I doubt that the infrequent (“unlikely”) voters Trump relies on will be as highly motivated to turn out for him a third time around.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: Initiative 83 in D.C., which will bring ranked-choice voting to the District. It’s a solidly democratic way to make sure people’s preferences are accurately reflected in races with more than two candidates.
And, D.C. has 345 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, each serving as an elected advocate for about 2,000 of their neighbors. They don’t make policy, but their recommendations carry weight with city agencies making decisions about zoning, public space, transportation, etc. It just so happens that Slate’s own Mark Joseph Stern lives in my neighborhood, and his husband is running to be our commissioner! It was a great pleasure to cast my vote for Tyler, who has already managed to secure street-safety improvements in the accident-prone intersection in front of his own home. I can’t wait to be a constant, annoying presence in his inbox if (when!) he wins.
Paola de Varona, senior editor
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: I’m choosing to put my vote where I think I can do the most good: I want someone in office who will try to do something about the abortion bans killing women, the climate emergency that is already ravaging our towns, and the affordable housing crisis. And you know, I don’t want a man accused of sexual assault and who is a well-known racist (and surrounds himself with them) as the president of my country.
Who do you think will win this election? Kamala Harris
Why: I’m optimistic that a majority of people who lived through 2016–2020 will remember what a Trump presidency was like. The horrors I’ve seen reported out of Palestine, and co-signed by a Biden administration, will stay with me for life. But if there’s one thing Trump taught us during that time was: There is always room for him to go lower than you could have ever imagined.
Robin Dickerhoof, copy editor
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: Fascism is on the ballot.
Who do you think will win this election? Kamala Harris
Why: I cannot for one second mentally entertain the option that Donald Trump will win.
Cameron Drews, podcast producer
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: My vote is definitely not a full-throated endorsement of Harris and the Dems, who continue to support brutal attacks on civilians in Gaza and Lebanon. Harris’ comments on the matter have been cowardly and embarrassing. But there’s a lot at stake here. Trump’s mass deportations would be horrifying, for one thing. We cannot risk another term of chaos. We also cannot risk more Trump-appointed judges.
Who do you think will win this election? Donald Trump
Why: I worry that the Dems are no match for Trump’s lies and racist scapegoating. He once again has convinced a huge swath of voters that immigrants are the biggest barrier to prosperity, even though they obviously aren’t. The Dems meanwhile have tried to keep up by shifting right, but they’ll never beat Trump at that game. They’ll just keep alienating reasonable people who would be happy to show up for them if they had stronger progressive principles, better messaging, and convincing plans of action.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: In New York, we get to vote on an equal rights amendment that will hopefully enshrine some important protections into state law. So I’ll vote YES on that. We also have a bunch of proposals that I will vote NO on. They are basically power grabs by Mayor Adams, and the language on the ballot is intentionally misleading to voters.
Madeline Ducharme, podcast producer
Who you are voting for this year: I opted not to vote in the presidential election and only vote on the local issues and candidates on my D.C. ballot.
Why: I would be answering all this differently if I lived in a swing state and my vote actually had an impact on where some electoral votes would land. But I don’t live in a swing state and in 2020, 92.1 percent of votes here went for Biden.
The reason I am not voting for Kamala Harris is Gaza. In the three months since she became the nominee, she has shown again and again that there is no daylight between her approach to this horrific carnage and Biden’s, even when prompted again and again by activists, reporters, and American family members of the deceased in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. Because I already know that D.C.’s three electoral votes are going to Harris anyway, it felt like an extremely affirmative act to cast my vote for her. As a queer American, a journalist, and someone hoping for a progressive future, I absolutely do not want Trump to win. At the same time, my Arab grandfather was born in Jerusalem before 1948. He was dispossessed and stateless for many years. Though he passed away in 2020, I’ve been thinking of him nonstop throughout the last year. I just can’t bring myself to cosign so much slaughter and destruction.
Who do you think will win this election? Kamala Harris
Why: Trump hit his ceiling of support years ago, abortion is a top issue for so many Americans, and her ascending to the top of the ticket energized so many Democrats.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: I voted for Initiative 83 here in D.C.! It would bring ranked-choice voting to the District and allow for independents to vote in the Democratic primaries in D.C. (aka the real part of our electoral process considering how blue we are). I really believe that it would make our system more small-d democratic!
Hillary Frey, editor in chief
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: There was absolutely no way ever in the history of my life on the planet I would cast a vote for Trump: not in 2016, 2020, or now. On top of his worship of dictators, his disgusting treatment of women, his racism, his egoism, his nonsense (“The weave!”), he promulgated an insurrection because he was too insecure to accept defeat. Also, I hate liars. I cannot stand to look at him or hear his voice. So, obviously, I am voting for Harris.
I have never been particularly idealistic even if I have always been organically liberal. I am a second child, born to erstwhile-Republican parents (they are registered Independents now), who learned to negotiate early and create peace. I say this because I am neither rallying for Harris nor dissing her: I am just voting for her. If she wins, I hope she delivers on affordable housing and taxes the fuck out of billionaires. Then, I’ll cheer.
Who do you think will win this election? Kamala Harris
Why: Because I got a good night of sleep last night and ate a wholesome dinner and am not currently staring into a black hole of despair.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: Prop 1 in New York, because it will strengthen protections for access to abortions in New York state, which we need in case of federal bans or laws that would limit it. You might think: Oh why does New York need that? It’s so blue! But I say: take no chances. Let’s amend the New York Constitution!
Henry Grabar, staff writer
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: Donald Trump’s plan to arrest and deport 10 million people is at the top of the list for me.
Who do you think will win this election? My model says it’s a toss-up.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: Expanding the standard minimum wage to covered tipped workers. The tipping system is bad and I think this is a step toward a fairer system for service workers. (Though, to be sure, not all of them agree.)
Rob Gunther, senior podcast producer
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: I’m deeply uncomfortable with the VP’s refusal to even consider withholding support and funding for what many experts and firsthand witnesses say is an ongoing genocide in Gaza. But I believe the alternative in another Trump presidency—including the possible further erosion of abortion rights, as well as a promised series of detention camps along the border as part of a plan to expel millions of fellow human beings from our country—is a future too dangerous to gamble on a protest vote.
Who do you think will win this election? I have no idea.
Why: I would have bet any amount of money that Trump was going to lose in 2016.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: In New York City, Eric Adams, our criminally indicted cartoon-villain clown show of a mayor, has several ballot initiatives proposed that would expand his power as part of an attempt to revise the city’s charter. I voted no on Props 2–6 and would urge fellow New Yorkers to do the same.
Mary Harris, host, What Next
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: I mean, obviously
Who do you think will win this election? Kamala Harris, by a hair
Why: Ground game. I think the Dems are way better on this than the GOP this year.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: Not really. I voted on NY’s abortion measure, and voted against all of the bizarre Eric Adams measures.
Aymann Ismail, staff writer
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: Figuring out how to vote felt cruel. Part of me just wanted to cancel out the diehard Trumper in my mostly immigrant neighborhood. But this time, with everything happening in Gaza, I feel sick about it. It’s impossible to ask someone Arab to support people who’ve criminalized pro-Palestinian voices on campus and keep giving Israel cover while our bombs kill babies with names and faces just like mine. Seeing those anguished parents, those orphaned kids—how do you not feel like voting for Democrats anyway is like humiliatingly saying there is nothing they can do to lose our vote? It’s disgusting that they put us in this position, and refused to even consider what it means to ask us to vote blue.
So when my mail-in ballot came, I filled in the bubble for Kamala but couldn’t even bring myself to send it in right away. It sat on my kitchen counter for nearly a month while I kept going back and forth, wondering if I could live with myself for voting for her. In the end, yeah, I mailed it—but it still feels wrong. I’m not proud of it at all.
Who do you think will win this election? Kamala Harris
Why: Trump seemed like a shoo-in, but he’s doing everything he can to sabotage himself. He keeps exaggerating his crowd sizes, has tripled down on tariffs even though his own supporters don’t buy that it’ll fix things, and that comedian making fun of Puerto Rico? I think that’s going to hurt him big time in places like Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, the enthusiasm for Kamala is huge. Even though I’m angry about how things have gone during the war in Gaza, you can’t ignore the groundswell around her. Plus, it feels like women’s rights are on the ballot, and I think that’s going to be a huge factor for a lot of voters.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: Women’s rights feel like a huge factor in this election, especially with the outrage over abortion rights. That recent story of the mother denied care who died—it’s shaken people, and it’s clear a lot of people are angry. Republicans haven’t done themselves any favors either, coming across as downright weird and out of touch whenever they talk about women. The year 2025 has a lot of people worried, and the party hasn’t done enough to distance itself from those extreme views. And that comment about “whether they like it or not”? Just weird.
Derek L. John, executive producer of narrative podcasts
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: Trump is unfit.
Who do you think will win this election? Kamala Harris
Why: I still believe in the basic decency of the American people.
Derreck Johnson, designer
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: Because I have common sense.
Who do you think will win this election? Kamala Harris
Why: Momentum. The quantity of motion in a moving body. And the more motion that moving body has, the more difficult it is to stop it. It’s science.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: In California, Proposition 6 is a constitutional amendment to end indentured servitude in state prisons which many consider the last remnants of slavery.
Fred Kaplan, columnist
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: Mainly because Trump is a danger to the country and the world, but Harris also shows promise, more than the Biden people allowed her to.
Who do you think will win this election? I don’t know. Like most people, I’m not good at making predictions. If I were forced to bet the house, I’d say Harris, but that may be my hopes talking.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: Any and all Democratic candidates for U.S. Congress, no matter who they are, in order to keep the Senate and win back the House.
Isabelle Kohn, senior editor
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: A real lesser-of-two-evils situation for me! I don’t think she’s perfect and I wouldn’t have picked her over other progressives, but bodily autonomy is incredibly important to me, and even though the Dems toe the line of the status quo in a way that doesn’t excite or impress, they seem to be way less hellbent on controlling individual people’s biologies and health choices. I’m also deeply committed to the part of the Constitution that demands separation of church and state, and Kamala isn’t running on a platform that forces Christianity or other religious beliefs on people. Do I think she’s really going to change anything? Unsure, but I would like to remain free to believe what I want to believe and do with my body what I’d like to do.
Who do you think will win this election? Probably Trump
Why: Because why would anything good happen ever! The country is going to shit. People love that shitty man in a uniquely delusional way.
Dan Kois, staff writer
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: I think she is a pretty solid candidate with some useful policy plans, but this year I would vote for a large honey-roasted ham for president if it landed a spot on the Democratic ticket.
Who do you think will win this election? Kamala Harris
Why: I think a very slim majority of people—say, 50.2 percent—in four American states are really good at heart.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: In the county board race here in Arlington County, Virginia, the chief issue is the county’s missing middle zoning policy, which was intended to allow the construction of multifamily units on property formerly zoned only for single-family homes. The policy was a well-thought-out, ambitious plan for beginning to address the housing crisis in our D.C. suburb. A bunch of rich Arlingtonians sued and, this fall, won, so now the entire policy needs to be rewritten. I think this policy is exactly the kind of experimentation that a community like ours should be engaging in to change the housing dynamics in this wealthy county, and I want a county board that remains committed to the revolutionary idea that six-bedroom, $2.5 million McMansions are not the only kinds of houses that should be built here. So I’m voting for J.D. Spain, the one candidate who supports the policy.
Scaachi Koul, senior writer
Who you are voting for this year: I’m not.
Why: I can’t! Felon or immigrant? You decide.
Who do you think will win this election? Xanax sales.
Why: Oh, I think you know why.
Katie Krzaczek, senior editor
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: Harris is not my ideal candidate, but she’s the only thing standing between maintaining a (generally) functioning democracy and a second Trump term. The biggest issue for me is reproductive freedom. I live in Pennsylvania, where abortion is still legal, but I don’t want to live in a country where my rights to health care feel so precarious, or where people in any state are restricted in the choices they’re able to make for their own health and safety. I’m casting my vote for Harris with far less hand-wringing than I would have for Biden, though given the state of our two-party system, I would have voted for him, too, even after voting uncommitted in the primary in protest of the war in Gaza and in solidarity with Palestinians. There’s just too much on the line to allow Trump to take office again.
Josh Levin, editorial director, Slow Burn
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: Looking forward to saying goodbye to Donald Trump forever, whenever that may be.
Who do you think will win this election? I have no idea!
Dahlia Lithwick, senior legal correspondent
As a Canadian citizen, I can’t vote in the U.S. But I wrote about women voting this election.
Ben Mathis-Lilley, senior writer
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: I usually vote for the candidate in any given race who is less pro-Hitler.
Who do you think will win this election: Kamala Harris
Why: You can read my column about it, but basically it’s just this: For the last six years Democrats have won most of the elections in which a mainstream, normal Democrat runs against a Trump Republican.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: I am voting for the slate of school board candidates in our town who say they think the school district’s administrators need to communicate better with parents, because it’s true that the school district’s administrators could stand to write clearer emails. I wouldn’t say this is “particularly important” relative to the survival of democracy in the United States, but it’s the only down-ballot issue I have to weigh in on in northern New Jersey at the moment.
Susan Matthews, executive editor
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: I would be voted for whoever was running against Trump, but I also want to cite the relief I felt when I watched Harris accept the nomination at the Democratic National Convention. Yes, she promised to maintain the “most lethal” military in the world and I do not value that—but we have gone through this very abbreviated campaign pretending (wishcasting?) that maybe we’re past the double standards Americans have for women leaders, and particularly women of color. The other day, I was mindlessly scrolling Instagram when I came across something to the effect of: “Imagine how they’d be talking about Kamala if she’d had children with three different men and had cheated on one of them with a porn star.” These kinds of comparisons are out of vogue; it has been hard to summon back the outrage we felt about Trump in 2016 this third time around. But I am ready for America to elect a woman.
Who do you think will win this election? Kamala Harris
Why: As the person who put this list together I had the advantage of submitting my own last, and everything is tilting in her direction. Knock on wood !
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: I’m particularly excited to vote on Proposition 1 in New York state, which intends to enshrine the right to abortion and additional protections for all kinds of people in the state constitution.
Natalie Matthews-Ramo, designer
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: It is weird to me when people say you should vote for whoever will make YOUR life better, my vote isn’t for myself. I’m a cis, straight, middle-class, U.S. citizen, white lady, I’ll be fine. My vote is for the vulnerable who I fear will be at risk under a Trump presidency. I’m worried the Supreme Court could swing even further right with any new appointees and turn back LGBTQ+, immigrant, and female reproductive rights.
Who do you think will win this election? I can’t think about this without spiraling out into full panic. So, I don’t know!
Why: I still have PTSD from Trump’s first win. The country is so divided on how to solve our problems. Some seem to want to burn it all down. Some seem to want to just pray them away. I’m not sure either party has great solutions and that is why we are so divided.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: Women’s rights and the Supreme Court justices. My biggest concern is that another justice will step down, and Trump will nominate another conservative justice to take their place who will abuse that power the way the court is now with rulings against abortion and presidential immunity.
Seth Maxon, senior editor
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: The threat of Donald Trump is an existential one, to American democracy and at minimum, to tens of millions of lives and livelihoods in the U.S. and overseas (including in Israel and Palestine); he must be stopped from regaining the terrifying power of the presidency. The only other person who can win this election is Harris, and though she is not my ideal president or Democratic candidate, I believe she will hold the line on maintaining the bare-minimum basics of democracy at home (a low but vital bar), and is persuadable through political and activist pressure to change her positions for the better—be it on immigration or on American policy toward Israel-Palestine—to something more humane than what she has campaigned on. The choice is no choice really: It’s autocracy or Harris.
Who do you think will win this election: Donald Trump
Why: All evidence says that anything can happen. But I know people who have voted Democratic for years who are not voting for Harris for beliefs they hold to her right, and others not voting for her for beliefs they hold to her left. I think her strategy to focus the final two months of her campaign on reaching out to erstwhile moderate Republicans will backfire and depress turnout, among young voters in particular. I think she will lose Michigan, and her path to victory from there seems very difficult. The polls are so close as to be a coin flip, so her winning will not shock me. And I feel it necessary to caveat that this is only a vibe, and I don’t know what will happen; nothing would surprise me save a landslide in either direction.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: Prop 1 in New York state would amend the state constitution to enshrine abortion/reproductive rights and would outlaw, in the same amendment, discrimination based on ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, and pregnancy. It’s really important to strengthening and maintaining equal rights for all in the state, as they’re likely to be continually attacked and degraded at the national level.
Abby McIntyre, managing editor
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: It’s a pretty obvious choice between a well-qualified Harris, who actually seems to care about the American people she would represent, and a self-serving bigot who plans to take the country backward in as many ways as possible.
Who do you think will win this election? Donald Trump
Why: The media and misinformation atmosphere has grown so fractured and broken that we are not even speaking the same language as many of the voters in this country, and I just don’t see any way to bridge that gap, unfortunately.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: I’ll be curious to see whether Elissa Slotkin can hold off Republican Mike Rogers in the Michigan Senate race here. This is for the seat of retiring Sen. Debbie Stabenow, so it’s slightly more up-in-the-air than usual and not a slam dunk for Dems. Rogers is significantly less popular than Trump, so if he manages to win, that’s a bad sign for the Electoral College in addition to making it nearly impossible for the Democrats to hold the Senate. But Slotkin has faced a lot of (mostly false) xenophobic and fear-based attacks over ties to Chinese companies, and she also failed to earn a key endorsement from farmers.
Laura Miller, columnist
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: For a lot of positive reasons, like reproductive freedom, and to stop Trump’s antidemocratic movement.
Who do you think will win this election? Harris
Why: I think the Democrats’ ground game is better and that women are highly motivated to regain their reproductive freedom.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: In Maine, I’m voting to keep Jared Golden in office and for a measure to limit the power of super PACs. Also, to bring back the pine tree Flag!
Alicia Montgomery, vice president of audio
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: I’m Black and so is my child. The idea of a violent racist taking hold of our country and my hometown of Washington, D.C.—especially with the SCOTUS immunity decision—terrifies me, and it fills me with shame to think that me and my generation have squandered the opportunities our ancestors died to give us, and that my child will suffer because of it.
Who do you think will win this election: No idea.
Why: Polls have been wonky for several cycles. Their accuracy depends so much on predicting which groups will vote and at what levels, and the electorate is too volatile for any of them to be reliable.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: If the top of the ballot goes wrong, none of the rest matters.
Jim Newell, senior politics writer
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: Imagine if they’d just given The Tonight Show to Trump in 2014 …
Who do you think will win this election? I’m not telling!
Why: As I have regularly told myself since the 2016 election, whenever the temptation arises (as it often does): It’s not my job to make predictions.
Rebecca Onion, senior editor
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: I have my misgivings, mostly Gaza-related. But when it comes to the potential for any kind of federal climate action, there is no comparison between these two choices.
Who do you think will win this election? Please don’t make me say!
Why: I am deeply superstitious.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: Ohio’s Issue 1! Not only would this measure depoliticize redistricting, which will help my state’s politics reflect the preferences of its voters more accurately, but also, it’s been the subject of a lot of ratfuckery from GOP elements who want to see it fail, and are trying to confuse people by messing with the language they’ll read on the ballot. Vote Yes on 1!
Nitish Pahwa, associate writer
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: It’s a travesty that the criminal, hateful, coup-inciting, blatantly authoritarian Donald Trump could potentially return to office, this time surrounded only by administration loyalists. I share many voters’ concerns over how a Harris administration would deal with Gaza, but let’s also be clear: Trump would be far worse for Palestinians, for Palestinian Americans, and for their allies in every possible way. It’s not even close. New York will give its electoral votes to Harris anyway, yes, but the national popular vote tally is still important.
Who do you think will win this election? N/A
Why: In my opinion, it’s not only a fool’s errand to guess, but also foolish to try to game out how the ultimate transition of power will shape up, either way—Trump and his cronies are already planning another coup attempt if he loses, after all.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: Like many other New Yorkers, I am voting No on Props 2–6, all of which are attempts by Eric Adams and his allies to cripple the power of the City Council. I am voting yes on Prop 1, however, and I think it’s important to explain why. This proposition is an “equal rights amendment” that would enshrine protections for reproductive rights and the LGBTQ+ community in New York’s state constitution. Unfortunately, Republicans here have attacked Prop 1 with cruel anti-trans messaging, not at all dissimilar to the dehumanizing language they’ve levied against transgender Americans in ads playing out in so many other states. And New York Democrats have been cowardly about defending and standing up for trans kids, who have been targeted and bullied, and stripped of their right to medical care, in so many parts of the country. I am voting for Prop 1 because I believe in gender equality, and that includes the civil rights of transgender Americans of all ages. It is sickening to see how much they’ve been persecuted by one political party, and how feckless the other political party has been about standing up for their rights. This has to end. (And just in case anyone needs a reminder: Democratic darlings Roy Cooper and Andy Beshear won their gubernatorial seats in much more conservative states in part by fully defending trans children. What are NY Democrats good for if they can’t follow their example?)
Shannon Palus, features editor
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: I hope to have a kid during the next presidency. In the words of Washington Post humor columnist Alexandra Petri, who took it upon herself to endorse Kamala when the paper wouldn’t: “I care which world my kid gets born into. I also live here myself.”
Who do you think will win this election? Kamala Harris
Why: I have made a conscious choice to just assume the outcome will be good. I’m not being delusional about it—no merrily heading to a bar to watch the results like in 2016!—but no good can really come of actively worrying about this, for me, right now.
Willa Paskin, host, Decoder Ring
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Who do you think will win this election? This is a jinx.
Anna Phillips, podcast producer
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: I’m disappointed Biden didn’t step aside earlier and allow time for an actual primary. I would’ve liked the chance to vote for a more progressive candidate. However, the possibility of a second Trump presidency is terrifying, and Harris is by far the obvious choice.
Who do you think will win this election? Kamala Harris
Why: I’m confident Harris will win the popular vote, but I’m less confident in how the Electoral College map will shake out. I’m hoping that enough Trump voters have gotten fatigued by him over the past eight years, but it’s hard to tell with the polling so close.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: I’ll be voting yes on Prop 1, a ballot measure in New York that would enshrine reproductive rights into the state’s constitution, as well as prohibit discrimination based on things like gender identity and national origin. While I don’t think that abortion access in New York is immediately at risk, the attacks on reproductive rights that we’ve seen around the country since the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the looming possibility of a Trump presidency have shown that it’s extremely important to protect these rights preemptively on the state level (although notably, the ballot measure does not actually have the word abortion in it—I wish it did!).
Ben Richmond, senior director of operations, podcasts
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: Bureaucratic incrementalism might not be my ideal government, but it sure beats “One man’s list of personal grievances, plus whatever weird Christian nationalism the most sycophantic creeps in America can sneak in.”
Who do you think will win this election? Harris
Why: Because Trump already lost once and hasn’t expanded his appeal. Maybe angry young men will rise en masse from their gaming chairs and put him over the top, but Harris’ bid for “people with any sense of civic responsibility” makes a lot of sense to me.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: Preserving the right to abortions has consistently won on a state level, even in deep-red Kansas, and I think Democrats have done a decent if not great job of explaining how strict abortion bans make life harder, both for the pregnant (those who don’t want to give birth, but also those who do, but this particular pregnancy isn’t viable) and also for doctors who have to risk jail to treat their patients. You might be against abortion but rights to IVF and, uh, not dying of septic shock seem pretty widely shared among people who are paying attention.
Sarah Rutledge, copy chief
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: This is probably our last best swerve away from fascism! I wish campaigns were boring and issues-based so that I could, once again, have a better reason than “Please, not Trump.” But I am excited to cast my vote for a younger candidate with a hopeful campaign who, I hope, will consider the concerns of younger/leftier voters, prioritize abortion rights, and improve our country’s diplomatic relations.
Who do you think will win this election? Kamala Harris
Why: I’m a bit superstitious about putting this down in writing lest I jinx something, but I do ultimately lean toward believing that a majority of voters recognize the danger of another Trump term. I just hope that majority falls in the right few states!
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: With the caveat that this is a much longer shot than the presidential election, it would be incredible to see Colin Allred defeat Ted Cruz in the Senate race. Republicans in Texas regularly suffer zero consequences for abysmal, dangerous governance (the 2021 winter storm! The grid! Cruz’s midstorm trip to Cancún!), and it’d be a wholesome thrill to see a spineless politician held to account for the harm he has caused the residents of this state.
Elena Schwartz, podcast producer
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: I’m voting for the candidate who respects a bigger portion of her constituency and who holds more of our best interests at heart. And I like how the progressive caucus put it—I’m choosing who I’d prefer to argue with.
Who do you think will win this election? Kamala Harris
Why: Gut feeling! Can’t think too hard about it or the anxiety will overtake me.
Heather Schwedel, staff writer
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: Harris is a better candidate and person in every conceivable way, but even if she weren’t, we’d still owe it to ourselves and humanity to do everything we can to keep Trump out of the White House. Beyond that, I don’t know how we can begin to address the deeply sad reality that half of the people in this country seem basically OK with Trump’s fundamental cruelty, but at least the first thing we need to do—elect literally anyone else—is clear. Less urgently, the Trump thing is also very stale narratively—if ever there were a case of not needing a sequel! Bring on a new cast of characters—bring on first gentleman Doug!
Who do you think will win this election: Kamala Harris
Why: It’s not like I want us to pretend that polls are trustworthy if they aren’t, but more than any other election I can remember, it seems like we’re just flying blind here. No one knows what’s going to happen, how close it is, anything! It’s infuriating! So, acknowledging that I could be totally off, I am going to give the edge to Harris. Trump hasn’t won anything since 2016, and he hasn’t done anything to substantially change that trajectory. Just because I think she should win doesn’t mean she will—where are we on the whole question of voters hating women these days?—but Trump’s particularly racist last week of campaigning seems to have given her some momentum too. I hope it’s enough.
Natalie Shutler, politics director
Who you are voting for this year: I voted for Kamala Harris.
Why: Look, I wish I could say this was even a choice. But we already saw what Trump was like as president. We will inevitably face many crises as a nation in the years ahead and I want someone in charge who is solutions-oriented and will seek the best outcomes for the most people. When flash flooding destroyed swaths of Western North Carolina and other parts of the Southeast earlier this year, Trump and his camp responded by spreading misinformation about the government’s response, endangering first responders and those affected who needed critical support. It was a painful echo of the beginnings of the pandemic—when he was actually in charge, and also spread mountains of misinformation, division and suspicion, endangering not just first responders but the entire country. That’s not leadership. The dude is unfit for office.
Who do you think will win this election? I won’t be predicting a thing!
Why: It’s a really close election and there are plenty of variables besides how a majority of voters cast their ballots.
Ivylise Simones, creative director
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala
Why: I think about my kid’s future, and truly would love to keep my daughter from ever experiencing a Trump administration.
Jeremy Stahl, jurisprudence editor
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: You name it.
Who do you think will win this election: Kamala Harris
Why: The election is way too close for comfort and it’s probably a toss-up, but I’m hopeful that we will avoid a fascist takeover of America by the skin of our teeth thanks to heightened engagement of pro-choice (and particularly) women voters following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, general disdain among the U.S. electorate for Trump’s role in the events of Jan. 6 as evidenced by the 2022 midterms, and a stronger and more experienced get-out-the-vote apparatus by the Harris campaign.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: I’m voting for tenant rights attorney Ysabel Jurado to represent my East Los Angeles community on the City Council, but mostly I’m voting against current councilmember Kevin de León, who was the lone holdout not to resign after being caught on tape with other councilmembers engaging in a racist and antisemitic conversation. De León, who came closer than expected to upsetting Sen. Dianne Feinstein as part of a long-shot challenge in 2018, plasters his name and face on everything in my community and his campaign seems to have more money than God, so I’m fearful that this and name recognition alone will put him over the top. I’m hopeful, though, that people will remember his role in the scandal when they vote and put Jurado into office.
Mark Joseph Stern, senior writer
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: Because Donald Trump is an aspiring fascist who embraces authoritarianism to suppress democracy and civil rights, while Kamala Harris supports individual liberty, equality, and free elections. I especially appreciate that Harris views women as equal citizens who deserve to make their own medical decisions, whereas Trump will happily sacrifice their lives to win support from anti-abortion extremists. Also, I want the next president to appoint judges like Ketanji Brown Jackson, not Samuel Alito.
Who do you think will win this election? Kamala Harris
Why: Because I’m so terrified of the alternative that I won’t allow my mind to contemplate it.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: Initiative 83! This measure would allow ranked-choice voting in D.C. and open our primaries to independents. I support it because ranked-choice voting is much more rational than the current system and elevates consensus candidates with broad support. Moreover, the winner of the Democratic primary is basically guaranteed to win the general election in D.C., so excluding independents from the primary deprives them of a meaningful voice in elections altogether. Overall, Initiative 83 will give the District a government that’s more representative and responsive to the people it serves.
Dana Stevens, columnist
Who you are voting for this year: Harris-Walz
Why: If you need to ask, then Slate, you may have lost the esteem I once held you in.
Who do you think will win this election? Harris-Walz
Why: One-third sheer refusal to engage with the alternate scenario until such time as reality forces me to; one-third educated guess based on Kamala’s steady if slight edge on average in the polls since she entered the race (allowing for the carve-out that no one, including pollsters, really trusts polls anymore); one-third actual observation of her campaign’s strong ground game and the huge swell of voter energy her unexpected candidacy brought with it.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: I’m from Texas and have been watching, praying, donating, and volunteering for many successive election cycles as that state gets bluer and bluer. This may not be the year a Democrat takes Ted Cruz’s Senate seat (although, go Colin Allred!), but that day is coming and it’s going to be glorious.
Tony Ho Tran, senior editor
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: My mom and I have a lot of things in common, but one of the things that sticks out to me the most is that we were both made fun of for our race a lot when we were in school. She grew up in postwar Vietnam as a mixed race child of an American soldier. I grew up in Iowa, where I was one of the first Asian kids many of my peers had ever seen. Both of us went through a lot when it came to adjusting and blending in to try and fit into notions of what “normal” was for where we lived. I can safely say that neither of us would have ever imagined the possibility that there could be a mixed race woman-—one of half Asian and half Black descent just like my mother—running for one of the most powerful offices in the country.
I’d be lying if that alone didn’t influence a lot of why I want to see Kamala Harris voted into the presidency. More than that, she also represents many of the values and policy positions I believe are important for the future of our republic including strong support for the middle class via expansion of the child tax credit, affordable housing initiatives, and a commitment to restoring reproductive rights and national protections for abortion access. At the end of the day, though, when I head to the ballot box, I’ll be doing so thinking of the two mixed race kids getting made fun of on the schoolyard in Iowa and Vietnam, hoping that one day they’d be able to find something better: a world that accepts and maybe even celebrates them.
Who do you think will win this election? God, I have no earthly idea.
Why: All polling seems to suggest that this is a complete jump ball of a race.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: I will be keeping an eye out for two House races in my home state: the 1st and 3rd Districts of Iowa. Democrats in the Hawkeye State have gotten their act together since losing first-in-nation status in the primary and have made those races incredibly competitive—and a chance to turn a ruby red state purple once again.
Forrest Wickman, culture editor
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: My reasons have not changed from how I summarized them in 2016 and 2020.
Who do you think will win this election? Donald Trump
Why: I, of course, have no idea who’s going to win the election. None of us do! My gut says Trump, but I think that has more to do with the fact that I don’t see any point to predicting a Kamala victory. Any chance of another Trump presidency is unacceptable, and now is not the time to soothe ourselves with reassuring predictions. It’s the moment to stop at nothing to prevent the unacceptable.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: I’ll be voting “Yes” on New York’s Proposition 1, because if we can’t have a federal constitutional right to abortion, each of us should at least do what we can to protect that right in our home state.
Luke Winkie, staff writer
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: I am going to vote for the most progressive of the two major candidates for the rest of my life, so on that level, this wasn’t much of a choice. I should also add that there is nothing I’d like more than to see some of the more annoying of Trump’s sycophants—Elon Musk, David Sacks, Bill Ackman, etc.—absolutely eat shit after being so confident about his candidacy during the summer. Fingers crossed!
Who do you think will win this election? Harris
Why: Seems like a coin flip to be honest, but I am feeling cautiously optimistic about the Selzer poll. Feels like a good omen, especially for how much MAGAdom seems to be freaking out about it.
What is one down-ballot item you are voting on that you think is particularly important: Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one who finds, perhaps, the most unappealing thing about Trump to be the absolutely psychotic deportation campaign he’s promising, which the Harris camp appears to have decided is a losing issue for her. (That’s why the only thing she speaks about, when immigration comes up, is the “bipartisan border bill.”) It would be nice if the Democrats could come up with a more humane approach to their immigration policies! It could even be pretty popular!
Jenny G. Zhang, senior editor
Who you are voting for this year: Kamala Harris
Why: I am voting for Kamala Harris because I must. I’ll spare you the dissertation’s worth of reasons as to why Donald Trump cannot be elected president again, except to say: He and his backers will make this country, and this world, markedly worse in every single way. Harris is not our gilded salvation; no politician is. I don’t lack the imagination to conceive of a different world, one in which our grand democratic process isn’t whittled down to a binary choice—but I know that the gulf between what should be reality and what is reality remains vast, and so it is without hesitation that I swallow the acrid pill of pragmatism and hope that enough fellow voters do the same.
Who do you think will win this election? Kamala Harris
Why: For all the polling data and elaborate formulas involved in this election forecast business, predictions are, at the end of the day, a reflection of wishful thinking. Responding to this question with my desired outcome is perhaps naive, a little like tempting fate with my refusal to let myself commit intellectually to the alternative. But to hedge my bet and answer with that alternative in a jagged attempt to paper over my vulnerability would be worse, I think, and the motivation at its root would remain the same. I’ll say it plainly, then, and dispense with the pretense: Based on nothing but my own want, I predict Kamala Harris will win this election.
