Juana Summers

Juana Summers is a political reporter for NPR covering demographics and culture. She has covered politics since 2010 for publications including Politico, CNN and The Associated Press. She got her start in public radio at KBIA in Columbia, Mo., and also previously covered Congress for NPR.

She appears regularly on television and radio outlets to discuss national politics. In 2016, Summers was a fellow at Georgetown University's Institute of Politics and Public Service. Summers is also a competitive pinball player and sits on the board of the International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA), the governing body for competitive pinball events around the world.

She is a graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism and a native of Kansas City, Mo.

All 7 Democratic Candidates Scheduled To Debate Threaten To Skip Over Labor Dispute

By • 8 hours ago

Updated at 5:35 p.m. ET

Amid a labor dispute at the site of next week's presidential primary debate, all seven Democratic candidates who made the stage are siding with unions and threatening not to participate in the event.

Candidates are scheduled to meet for the Democratic presidential debate on the Loyola Marymount University campus in Los Angeles on Dec. 19.

Facing Scrutiny, Pete Buttigieg Releases List Of McKinsey Clients

By • Dec 10, 2019

After weeks of scrutiny over his work at consulting firm McKinsey & Company, Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg released a list of nine clients that he worked for while employed there.

Obama May Not Be Up For Election, But His Legacy Is

By • Nov 25, 2019

When Barack Obama stood in Chicago's Grant Park facing throngs of people in 2008 and declared that "change has come to America," Arielle Monroe was a freshman in college.

Obama was her generation's rock star, who swept away the nation's last remaining racial barrier in politics and inspired a multiracial, multigenerational coalition to support him.

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg Is Running For President

By • Nov 24, 2019

Updated at 12:22 ET

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is making a late entry into the presidential race, a move that could upend the Democratic nominating contest this spring.

Bloomberg said in a statement Sunday that he is running to rebuild America and defeat President Trump, whom he says "represents an existential threat to our country and our values."

Michael Bloomberg Takes New Step Toward Possible 2020 Presidential Run

By • Nov 21, 2019

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's team filed paperwork for a presidential run on Thursday — but he's not in the race yet.

While Bloomberg's team filed a statement with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday creating a presidential campaign committee, aides to Bloomberg say the move should not be viewed as a final decision or announcement.

Buttigieg Is On The Rise, But Has Work To Do Winning Over Young Voters

By • Nov 12, 2019

Age has been a defining factor in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, with candidates spanning four generations.

South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, age 37, is one of the youngest presidential candidates in modern American history and, if elected, would be the youngest president ever.

Buttigieg entered the race this spring focused on the idea of generational change, often telling voters that he fears what the United States will look like in the year 2054, the year that Buttigieg will be the same age as President Trump is today.

Obama Says Democrats Don't Always Need To Be 'Politically Woke'

By & Juana Summers • Oct 31, 2019

A former aide to Barack Obama said that concerns the former president raised about ideological "purity" were aimed at explaining that governing requires having conversations that include people whose values you may not share.

Speaking Tuesday at an Obama Foundation summit in Chicago, Obama said that he worries that some in the Democratic Party's left flank are too worried about ideological "purity" among their fellow Democrats.