Matt Glassman

Washington, D.C., United States

Vice President, Regional Editorial at NBC News

Vice President at NBC News; Proud former News Director at NBC4 in Washington.

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Articles

Why It’s Pointless to Guess at Biden’s Legacy

Feb 4, 2025 | wakeuptopolitics.com | Gabe Fleisher |Matt Glassman

When Joe Biden sat behind the Resolute Desk last night, he joined a proud tradition of presidents delivering farewell addresses at the end of their time in the White House. There’s George Washington, whose farewell address — containing prescient warnings about the dangers of partisanship — is so resonant that it’s read aloud on the floor of the Senate every year.
Elecshun Dae 2024

Nov 4, 2024 | mattglassman.substack.com | Matt Glassman

This isn’t specific to the morning, but it has to be first, because it’s absolutely crucial. The only thing worse than the election night coverage on the cable news networks is the election day coverage on the cable news networks. And trailing right behind those two things is the douchebag in your office who watched the Today show on election morning and is now repeating the same drivel to you over the watercooler or over Zoom. Don’t be that guy.
Book Review: On The Edge, Nate Silver

Aug 2, 2024 | mattglassman.substack.com | Matt Glassman

In 2016, Nate Silver was panned in the press and on social media for his presidential election forecast. His model gave Clinton a 71% chance of winning, and she lost. He and other forecasters totally missed the Trump phenomena; the polls were off and Trump was more popular than expected. For many people, the bloom was off the rose. Silver—who had so brilliantly predicted all the details of the 2008 and 2012 elections—got it wrong. He wasn’t infallible after all.
You don't hate Congress. You hate losing.

May 16, 2024 | mattglassman.substack.com | Matt Glassman

News flash: Congress is not popular. In the April Gallup poll, Congress had an approval rating of 16%, which was actually up from it’s 11% number in February. Nor is Congress ever popular. Here’s the Gallup congressional job approval question from 1974 to the present:This is an average approval of 28.7% over the period of 1974-present.
What Is the State of the Union Address, and Why Does Congress Host It? (with Matt Glassman)

Jan 7, 2024 | aei.org | Kevin R. Kosar |Matt Glassman

The topic of this episode is, what is the State of the Union Address, and why does Congress host it? Once per year, the President of the United States comes to the U.S. Capitol to deliver a speech known as the State of the Union Address. Usually this happens in late January or early February, but it has occurred as late as March 1. Both members of the House of Representatives and Senators assemble for this speech, along with nearly all members of the president’s cabinet.
Some notes on the Speakership fight

Oct 23, 2023 | mattglassman.substack.com | Matt Glassman

I’m writing this on Monday afternoon. As of now, the Republican conference is scheduled for a candidate forum tonight at 6:30pm; and the current plan is to have the conference nomination election beginning at 9:00am tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. The House itself has adjourned until tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 11am, which is thus the earliest they could go to the floor to hold the fourth ballot for Speaker since the Office was vacated three weeks ago on October 3rd.
The game theory of the Republican speakership crisis

Oct 18, 2023 | natesilver.net | Scalise had |Matt Glassman

The House of Representatives has gone more than two weeks without having a Speaker after Kevin McCarthy was ousted on Oct. 3. Between what it tells us about the state of the Republican Party and the implications for next year’s elections, this is a subject that I know is of interest to Silver Bulletin readers. But the story is both fast-moving and detail-driven, the sort of story where you can risk looking foolish with a half-baked take.
Should the GOP conference change its rules?

Oct 11, 2023 | mattglassman.substack.com | Matt Glassman

The House GOP conference is holding an election today to nominate a candidate for the Speakership. Here are the current rules of procedure for the election, which come from the conference rules for the 118th Congress:There are three important features to these procedures:It’s a secret ballotThere are nominating speeches, but no discussionYou need a majority to win; if there are multiple candidates and no one has a majority, you have repeated runoffs with the lowest vote-getter dropped off.
Notes from a quiet week in the House

Oct 9, 2023 | mattglassman.substack.com | Matt Glassman

Almost nothing has happened on the floor of the House since the Office of the Speaker was vacated when the House agreed (216-210) to House Resolution 757 at 4:45pm last Tuesday. When the House is called to order tomorrow (Tuesday, October 11) at 11am, it will have been almost a full week without any substantive legislative activity on the floor. A lot can happen in the House in a week where nothing happens, evidently.
How much power does Speaker pro tempore McHenry have?

Oct 4, 2023 | mattglassman.substack.com | Matt Glassman

At 4:46pm yesterday, the Office of the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives was declared vacant, following the 216-210 adoption by the House of H.Res.757, a resolution offered by Republican Representative Matt Gaetz (FL-1) as a Question of Privilege from the House floor (and popularly known as a “motion to vacate.”) The moment the Speakership was declared vacant, Rule I, Clause 8(b)(3) was triggered, which reads: (A) In the case of a vacancy in the Office of Speaker, the next Member...