FiveThirtyEight is coming back from the dead — sort of.
Just ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, Crooked Media inked a deal to acquire and revive the “FiveThirtyEight Politics” podcast hosted by Nate Silver, Clare Malone and Galen Druke.
And under Crooked Media’s wing, the show is getting a new name: “Still Counting,” a weekly podcast hosted by the former “FiveThirtyEight Politics” hosts and data journalists. The show premieres Sept. 9 on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube and other major podcast platforms. “Still Counting” will break down the latest political news and polling, covering not only elections but also topics like betting markets and AI.
Silver founded the FiveThirtyEight blog in 2008, analyzing opinion polls politics and economics, and it became a licensed feature of the New York Times. ESPN acquired the brand in 2013 before it moved over to Disney sister company ABC News in 2018. Silver left ABC News in 2023 amid broader layoffs at Disney. In March 2025, ABC shut down the FiveThirtyEight website and podcasts (and laid off the remaining staff) amid another round of cost-cutting at Disney.
Now Silver, Malone and Druke are back in the saddle with Crooked Media, the progressive media company best known for “Pod Save America,” hosted by former Obama administration staffers Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Tommy Vietor and Dan Pfeiffer. Crooked said the “Still Counting” hosts will bring “a no bullshit, clear-eyed approach to the wonky ins and outs of politics without losing the humor and personality that make the conversation fun.”
Silver, in the trailer for “Still Counting” (watch below), says: “There’s a ton of data and information coming at us every day, and a surprising amount is misunderstood or under-explained. Numbers are hard, takes are easy. We’re taking a step back to ask: What does the data actually say, and how can we use it to better understand the future of American politics?”
The podcast will explore three key questions, according to Silver: what does the data actually say?; how do we reconcile that with the other things that we’re seeing in American politics and around the world?; and “how do we use that to understand or maybe even dare to predict the future of American politics?”
“Crooked has always been about finding smart, distinctive voices who can help listeners make sense of a complicated world,” said Lucinda Treat, CEO of Crooked Media. “Nate, Clare and Galen have spent years doing exactly that, bringing rigorous analysis and sharp perspective to the biggest questions in politics and public opinion. We’re thrilled to welcome them to Crooked and bring that work to a new audience of politics and data obsessives.”
Silver now writes Silver Bulletin on Substack, covering politics, sports, AI and risk. His most recent book, “On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything,” is a New York Times bestseller about professional risk-takers like poker players, venture capitalists and the leaders of AI labs.
Malone is a staff writer at the New Yorker covering media and politics. She previously wrote for FiveThirtyEight, where she reported on class, race and electoral politics, covering the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential campaigns.
Druke is the founder and host of GD POLITICS, a “nonpartisan” podcast and Substack that “explains politics with curiosity, rigor, data and humor.” His reporting and analysis have appeared on outlets including ABC News, the BBC, NPR and MS NOW.
Watch the trailer for “Still Counting”:
Leave a Reply