With a heavy heart, I have to tell you that after a long battle with cancer my husband Kevin Drum passed away on Friday, March 7, 2025.
No public memorial services are planned.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to the charity or political cause of your choice.
A Facebook page, 'In Memory of Kevin Drum', has been created as a place for friends and family to share memories of Kevin. I encourage you to post your thoughts and memories there.
Thank you to all the wonderful blog readers who supported, encouraged and challenged him through the years.
He will be greatly missed.
Marian
Twenty years ago our son, then a political science major, dragged me out of my avoidance of politics and told me I should read Kevin's blog. It has since been my first stop every day. Losing Kevin induces some fear that we cannot do without him, but I'm sure he has left hundreds, perhaps thousands, of more thoughtful and committed readers carrying on behind him. Our son is now a political campaign consultant committed to progressive causes, our daughter-in-law a state legislator, and our granddaughter helped Colorado Governor Hickenlooper sign the Equal Pay for Equal Work statute into law. Thank you Kevin.
What a fitting tribute - to both your son's judgment and Kevin Drum's!
I am so sorry.
I came across Kevin's work on Mother Jones and really loved reading his perspective--the cats, the travel, the charts and graphs, the somewhat curmudgeonly insistence on tracking inflation... oh, and his opinions about the news. I followed him here when he made the move. I watched him struggle with the cancer. And I watched his continued love of cats--and of you, Marian. I send my sympathy. And I share with all his readers the grief at losing one more reasoned blog voice, in the old blog style.
I too started reading Kevin on Mother Jones, so I'm really sorry to read this. I feared that when his last health update remained unchanged for a few days. It will leave a great hole in my reading life: a great loss.
All my sympathy to Marian, the cats and all of Kevin's other loved ones. He's a national treasure.
Such sad, sad news. I have been reading Kevin’s blog every day for as long as I can remember. Since social media’s hostile takeover of global information, it’s really difficult to identify smart, insightful and honest commentators who can be relied upon TO NOT TELL US WHAT WE WANT TO HEAR. Kevin Drum was the cornerstone of a small group of such writers I have depended on to help me understand reality as it is. And Kevin’s blog posts were just the tip of the iceberg, since the comments area was always overflowing with information, wisdom and - usually - humor that helped me gain a more complete understanding of whatever issue was on Kevin’s mind.
Please accept my sincere condolences. I am so sorry for your loss. It is our loss too,
I am so very saddened by Kevin's passing. He was clearly one of the most insightful, honest political observers out here, which made him the most helpful. In a media world where hyperbole is the coin-of-the realm, Kevin always strived to be as accurate as possible, even when the liberal orthodoxy was more inflammatory. This was his greatest gift to his readers.
Even in the last month, as his postings became irregular, his posts were more insightful than the aggregate of everything else I would read on a given day.
I will miss him greatly; I will always be thinking: What would Kevin say about this.
Marian - I am very sorry for your loss. I enjoyed Kevin's writing for nearly 20 years. As a teacher, I often found myself in awe of his ability to explain complicated issues with a rare mixture of clarity and detail. I respected him all the more for his willingness to share the details of illness with us readers. I hope you can draw some comfort knowing how much his readers learned from Kevin, appreciated him, and respected him. He will be missed.
I have read Kevin since Calpundit days, 21+ years. Not just occasionally, almost everything he wrote at The Washington Monthly, Mother Jones, and Jabberwocking. His death is a loss for me personally, I miss him already.
Now it is time to delete the bookmark. Before I do I want to thank other commenters. In particular Meloncholy Donkey, I learned a lot from you.
And thank you, Marian, for your part largely unseen, unheard until now. I'm sure you were much of the grace and light that kept Kevin going, in his writing and in his long courageous struggle.
God bless and Godspeed, Kevin.
A slightly modified Murrow broadcast ending:
The actions of [Trump, Musk and the GOP] have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn’t create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it – and rather successfully. Cassius was right. 'The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.'
Good night and good luck.
Say hello to Edward R. upstairs, Kevin. You fought the good fight.
I have tears in my eyes. I have been following Kevin since his Washington Monthly days. I will miss him, a lot. I am so sorry for your loss.
I too read Kevin since the early CalPundit days. His absence leaves a void that no one can fill. He was a blessing.
The latest CPI report on inflation came out today, and the first thing I thought of was what Kevin's take would be. Then I felt the sadness that comes with the loss of an irreplaceable friend, and wondering as we do why bad things happen to good people while the irredeemably rotten thrive. But I think Kevin would say the opposite is also true, and he would make a graph showing that over time it regresses to a mean, and that actually justice is winning ever so slightly, and that Martin Luther King was right. What I appreciated most about Kevin was his dedication to seeking and understanding the truth, no matter how good or bleak. But so often I appreciated that while others feasted on apparent calamities, Kevin dished up a big, juicy nothingburger.
Longtime lurker and very infrequent commenter here. I want to offer my condolences to Marian on Kevin's passing. He was always a great read- intelligent, playful, aggravating, and insightful. I'm sure he will be missed by his friends and family more than he will by his readers, even as our loss is huge.
May his memory remain a blessing for all of us.
And yeah, 2025 just fucking sucks.
Sincere condolences, Marian. Kevin was the only writer I've followed for this long, and by some distance-- since just before his stint at Washington Monthly. Kevin's insight and humility were rare commodities. He will be greatly missed.
Someone several hundred comments back mentioned the loss of community and I've been thinking about that all night (still crying at odd times, BTW, over a dude I've never even met).
The loss of Kevin and his Kevin-ness is hard enough, but many of us are losing a community as well. We fight, but in the end we're still family. I went looking for a new community this morning and ended up choosing Marcy Wheeler (EmptyWheel).
1. Not corporate or big media owned (ie independent)
2. Allows comments
I will miss you all so much and I will miss the intelligent dialog. And I will miss Kevin so very, very much.
❤️❤️
Thanks for the recommendation. I rarely comment here but have been a daily reader for 20+ years, and I've always enjoyed reading the community discussion. It has shaped my world view considerably.
Good idea, Art! I follow Marcy, anyway, but I usually stick mostly to her posts on Bluesky because her blog entries tend to go on so long that I have a hard time following them. But I'll give it the ol' college try....
Steve Benen took over the Political Animal spot at Washington Monthly and he was/is clearly influenced by Kevin. But he’s with Rachel Maddow now. Nancy LeTourneau still has her own blog but comments irregularly. Worth reading though:
https://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/
She has a comment section but few people take advantage of it.
A long time ago I asked if there was anyone blogging on the right wing side of things that was similarly even handed and fact driven like Kevin. Crickets. Turns out there aren’t any “Kevin’s” out there on our side either. He was unique.
I don't know if it was my comment you were referring to (probably not, as there are a lot more articulate contributors to the conversation here), but I agree about Marcy's blog - especially if you have an interest in the legal facets of our current problems. Kevin's blog was more catholic in its interests (e.g., no beautiful photographs at Emptywheel).
Another one to consider is Charles Pierce's blog (https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics) at, believe it or not, Esquire. He's a very witty observer of our political strife and has a pretty lively comment community. Perhaps not as widely sophisticated as Kevin's, but worth a read. Hope I see you there.
I've been clicking on Kevin's blog for about 15 years. I always found posts that made me think and provided new information and insights. The comments sections below his posts were often insightful and informative, even, or especially when, they contained disputes.
Kevin's photographs were interesting, often beautiful; the celestial ones he took at night were inspiring.
Kevin was a part of my daily life. I will miss him. Best wishes to his family and friends, and also to the cats from a fellow cat lover.
I am so missing reading Kevin's posts. Is there no one out there who has the background, intellectual heft, graph making capacity out there to turn to? I know Kevin was a true gem, is he really a unicorn out there for supporters like us? i keep hoping someone somewhere steps up. I'm feeling pretty lost right now.
I went through all of his handpicked selections in the Blogroll and the only one that jumped out was Marcy Wheeler. Atrios has short posts lacking in substance, Balloon Juice didn't have a comment section with any intellectual heft to it.
For economics and charts I tend to rely on Wolf Street (comments allowed) and Calculated Risk (no comments). Depth of community is really hard to find.
BlueSky has no community, it's just a bunch of hair-on-fire reactions to whatever headline is peaking at the moment.
As in real life, intelligent conversation seems to be hard to find.
i also tend to avoid the hair-on-fire click-baity stuff
pretty aware that trump is still a pathological lying sack of shit, i just don't need to be reminded of it every 20 minutes for the next four years
wolf street looks useful; thx for that
+1
For many years now the three legs of my stool have been Kevin Drum, Josh Marshall (at TPM), and Paul Krugman (who now posts daily on his substack and likes charts!).
The other two are outstanding and are the only other people I've read daily for over two decades, but Kevin is just irreplaceable.
Tears in my eyes too. Walking through this site that Kevin built, the photos, the bio, the links, the lively exchanges, the charts(!), thinking back over more than two decades of reading Kevin's writing, and not being able to get my head around his just not being here anymore. I guess we go on until we don't.
So very sorry. Condolences to all, most especially Marian and the cats.
Sending you much love. He had a great impact in so many lives. Thank you Kevin.
Marian, I'm so sorry for your loss.
Although I've never met Kevin nor interacted with him, I’ve been reading his work continually for something like 20 years – so this feels like losing an old friend. I'll miss him greatly.
My condolences.
I would often let some days go by, more often would visit Kevin's blog every day, but a whole week, nearly, passed, and I won't lie--I said a little prayer as I waited for the page to load.
And my heart is broken. For Marian, the cats, all of us, this world. There is NO finer blogger, chart maker, clear thinker, always grower, amazing photographer--all this at once, and much more. And his playfulness even in the most dire moments, bravery, resourcefulness, generosity.
Generosity + understated brilliance. What a human.
Yep, he'll be missed terribly.
Warm appreciation to you, Marian, and the cats, for sharing him all these years.
I keep going back to Kevin's last post. It is truly his "Last Post".
I am heartbroken. I have read Kevin's blog for 10 years. I have admired and respected his intellect. I have learned so much from him and became a much more informed and analytical person as a direct result of reading Kevin's postings. I looked forward to his take on current events as well as obscure and important topics. Kevin did not suffer fools, but he was direct and fair. I will now need to do more of my own thinking and research, but thanks to Kevin we are all better prepared to face the complexities of the future. He faced his illness with grace and a stoic matter of fact willingness to share his path that I am sure will help many other people who face a similar diagnosis. I wish his family peace during this very difficult time. The number of heartfelt tributes to Kevin show how he touched so many people. I will miss him and as he requested, yes....we will take care of Trump for him.
Marian, I'm so sorry for your loss. Like many, I've been reading and following Kevin's work for many years and his blog would be the first place I look for analysis on politics and news. I'll really miss him and his writing.
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I am so sorry. I'm going to miss Kevin quite a bit. What a loss.
I am going to donate to cancer treatment somewhere...
Rest in Peace, Democracy, and Common Sense, Kevin.
Matt Yglesias posted a lovely encomium for Kevin today: https://www.slowboring.com/p/mailbag-remembering-kevin-drum
In case it's behind Matt's paywall, here's the whole thing:
Kevin Drum, one of the original titans of blogging, passed away this week after a long and difficult battle with cancer.
The first time I met him, I was in Orange County for an event at the Nixon Library. I was still very young, living in dingy accommodations in a sketchy neighborhood in DC, but we’d internet-known each other for years because we were both blogging early adopters. I forget who emailed whom about the fact that I was coming to his neck of the woods, but he picked me up from the event in a Porsche 911 — I was apparently not the only longtime reader who was surprised he drove one — and then took me to dinner at Chili’s.
Now don’t get me wrong, I actually really like Chili’s and used to go to the Mount Auburn Street Chili’s all the time in college. But I’m also someone who likes nice restaurants and the Porsche raised my expectations.
Kevin was really a great guy. Unfailingly kind and helpful to younger writers and, in a pretty unique way, utterly devoid of ambition. Journalism was a second career for him after he made money in the first tech boom (hence the Porsche), but his tastes weren’t generally expensive. After his death, Ben Dreyfuss shared that while Drum was at Mother Jones, he refused any salary above $85,000, even though he was driving tons of revenue, always telling the magazine’s leadership to put the money into the fellowship program for young writers. Those young staffers ultimately forced him out in 2020 because of his “problematic” takes.
I was amazed by the story when Ben told it, but ultimately not that surprised. Kevin’s distinctive quality among successful bloggers was a total lack of evident ego. He was extremely committed to his writing, but uninterested in marketing or monetization or anything other than posting things that he thought were true. It gave his work unparalleled integrity in terms of level-headedness and commitment to following the facts and logic where he thought they lay. I remember when he got himself in hot water for chiding people in 2016 over what he characterized as a “fad” for throwing around the term “white supremacy” and thinking why does he want this fight? What’s the point? Of course I’m sure he didn’t want a fight. He was just speaking his mind, and he was basically right.
But back to the Chilis.
I’m actually a huge weirdo, an out-of-touch freak, born and raised in Greenwich Village into a family of artists and academics. I enjoy Chilis ironically. What made Kevin such a unique voice was his combination of fearlessness and deep normie-dom. He set the internet ablaze with his take that he doesn’t like to watch movies with subtitles, an opinion that is obviously shared by the vast majority of people but that is anathema to cinemaphiles and will get you universally dragged online while everyone who agrees just stands by idly. This combination of qualities is why I always thought he was the only anti-YIMBY ever worth arguing with. He liked his suburban neighborhood, didn’t particularly want it to change, didn’t want to see more traffic anywhere near his house. He sympathized with the fact that whatever any individual person’s neighborhood is like, it’s probably populated by people who like it the way it is, and he just didn’t buy that housing scarcity was that big of a deal worth upsetting everyone over.
This is obviously a mainstream sentiment about housing policy in the United States and the thing that makes land use reform difficult. Yet it’s a viewpoint almost nobody will stand up for or argue with! Instead, we have eighty million rounds of arguments with galaxy brain leftist theories and bizarre conspiracies about RealPage. I wish I could have convinced him that he was underestimating the scale of the economic losses involved here. But I also wish more people were willing to articulate genuine views in his typical calm, level-headed, non-trolly way. I don’t think there’s anyone else like him on the internet today and I don’t know that we’ll ever see his kind again.
probably matt y's best post ever
thx for the cut/paste SoS
Glad to be of service 🙂
When this post went up, I was too gutted to post a comment. I already miss Kevin so much. None of the other bloggers I read can take his place: they're good, but their posts tend to be pretty long and are also often quite depressing in these difficult times. Kevin's short, sweet posts were keeping me informed and sane.
I started reading Kevin maybe 15-20 years ago, not sure exactly, from links to him from Paul Krugman's old NYT blog. He's been on my regular reading list for so long that I never stopped to think about the day it would all end.
Thank you for everything, Kevin. I'll always remember you fondly. If I had to pick one post that most changed my thinking and told me a lot of things I hadn't already known, it would be this one: https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2019/06/heres-why-the-black-white-iq-gap-is-almost-certainly-environmental/
<3
Marian-- I am very sorry for your loss. In addition to all the "hard" posts, I am grateful to Kevin for introducing us to you and the various cats. We will all miss Kevin and his perspectives. He has continued to have an impact on many.