Kevin Drum, Pioneering Political Blogger and Columnist, Dies at 66

Marian Drum, posting yesterday on Kevin Drum’s site:

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.

He was writing right up until the end. No one, on either side of the political spectrum, better wrote about “DEI”. Just in the last week, he had posts on Ukraine/Russia, the LA Times’s stupid new AI-generated “bias meter”, the looming congressional budget crisis, Trump’s tariff crusade. He remained on top of everything that’s going on, not only while cancer was killing him, but while he was stoically keeping his readers fully abreast of his declining health. I mean, Christ, read this update from February 12 — I thought that was it. Dying from cancer is harrowing. He knew the end was near, and as with everything he wrote in his long career, he had the numbers to back it.

I didn’t know Drum personally at all, but there’s a certain kinship amongst bloggers from the very turn of the century. I’ve read Drum’s site continuously for over 20 years and I don’t know anyone whose style and approach can fill the void he leaves. He was obviously a very kind and generous person, but his approach to policy was ruthlessly (and thus to me, admirably) data and evidence driven. Strong opinions, loosely held. He brimmed with curiosity. Who, what, when, and where are all good questions but why is the most interesting one, and Drum always wanted to figure out why. I sure didn’t get his love for cats, but I’m also so glad he shared stuff like that. His approach to actual politics could come across as wonky, but his personality was always there. As natural-born a blogger as anyone who’s ever done it.

I miss his voice already.

★ Tuesday, 11 March 2025