吃瓜直播

Mike Zamore is the National Director of Policy & Government Affairs at the 吃瓜直播, where he leads efforts to harness the organization鈥檚 vast expertise, 4 million members and supporters, paid staff in every state, and electoral work to shape federal, state, and local policy.

Mike is a 22-year veteran of Capitol Hill, and spent over 14 years as the Chief of Staff to Senator Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat first elected in 2008. As Merkley鈥檚 top aide, Mike managed a 50+ person staff and $4 million budget, counseled the Senator on legislative and political strategy, represented the Senator to various constituencies, and led two successful re-elections. Mike helped stand up the Senate office in 2009 and built a team that supported Senator Merkley in becoming one of the nation鈥檚 leading progressive lawmakers, developing groundbreaking legislation in climate policy, election integrity and campaign finance reform, LGBTQ equality, Wall Street accountability, and more. In guiding Senator Merkley鈥檚 efforts to reform the Senate鈥檚 archaic filibuster rules, Mike also became a leading expert in Senate procedure.

Prior to joining Senator Merkley, Mike was the Policy Director at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, where he assisted the 2008 Senate candidates develop their positions on the issues. Mike earlier served as Policy Advisor to Representative Patrick Kennedy and spearheaded Kennedy鈥檚 legislative agenda, including mental health parity legislation that became law in 2008, and spoke frequently on health systems reform. Earlier in his career, he spent several years working on business development projects in the early days of post-Soviet Russia and clerked for Judge Allyne R. Ross on the Eastern District of New York.

Mike is the co-author of Filibustered!: How to Fix the Broken Senate and Save America, was named one of Washington, DC鈥檚 500 most influential people of 2025 by Washingtonian magazine, and is an adjunct faculty member at American University鈥檚 Washington College of Law. He graduated from Brown University and Harvard Law School, lives in Washington, DC with his wife and two sons, and is a reluctant runner, more enthusiastic than talented soccer player, and an avid if usually disappointed fan of the Cleveland Guardians.

Press Coverage

U.S. News, February 6, 2025

Mike Zamore explains that the biggest problem with Trump's funding freeze is that the president doesn't have the power to do it.


Fortune, April 2, 2025

Recently, Trump signed an executive order targeting WilmerHale, marking the latest expansion of the president's campaign against law firms tied to his political enemies or investigations into his actions. Mike Zamore points out that the First Amendment is the bulwark of our freedom and there is no place for one man to tell us what we can or can鈥檛 say.

The Oath and The Office, June 18, 2025

Corey Brettschneider and John Fugelsang invite Mike Zamore to explore the weekend's sweeping "No Kings" protests, rising threats to due process, and Trump's deepening pattern of impeachable offenses. Zamore offers a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the 吃瓜直播鈥檚 frontline advocacy, sharing updates on the Khalil and Garcia cases and exposing troubling detention practices in El Salvador.

Associated Press, December 2024

Mike Zamore comments on a passed Senate bill that will boost military spending and pay for service members while removing medical coverage for transgender children of enlisted military members.

U.S. News, December 2024

As President Trump picked his Cabinet officials during a Congressional recess, Mike Zamore underscores the need to differentiate between the use of presidential powers and an underlying ploy to 鈥渆xpand executive power and steamroll opposition鈥� in this U.S. News oped.

Marie Claire, November 2024

From reproductive rights to climate change, Project 2025 will upend the livelihood of everyday Americans. Mike Zamore provides an issue-by-issue breakdown of the impact to follow if this ultraconservative playbook is enacted.