Overheard with Evan Smith on KLRU-TV

Jason Kander is a former Army Captain, Missouri’s 39th Secretary of State and the president of Let America Vote, an organization that fights against voter suppression laws. In 2016, Kander ran for the U.S. Senate in Missouri. At over $75 million, his campaign was the most expensive Senate race in state history.

David Brown is a thirty-three-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department, from which he retired as chief in October 2016. Now a correspondent for ABC News, he is also an adviser for Texas organizations focused on positively influencing early childhood education efforts, mental health awareness and treatment, and assistance for formerly incarcerated persons. His first book titled Called to Rise hits shelves this June.

Julián Castro served as the 16th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Barack Obama from 2014 to 2017. Before moving to Washington, Castro served as Mayor of San Antonio from 2009 to 2014. He currently lives in San Antonio with his family.

Gary Kelly serves as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Southwest Airlines. In Kelly’s 30 years at Southwest he has worked as a controller, Chief Financial Officer, VP of Finance, Executive VP and CFO before being promoted to CEO in 2004. In 2017 Kelly was recognized as one of the top five underrated CEOs by Fortune magazine.

Matt Lewis is a senior columnist at The Daily Beast and a CNN political commentator. Lewis has written for GQ, The Washington Post, Politico and many more. Previously, Lewis worked as a senior contributor for The Daily Caller and a columnist for AOL’s Politics Daily. He has been named one of the “50 Best Conservative Columnists” by RightWingNews for the past four years.

Nancy Pelosi is the Democratic Leader of the House of Representatives in the 115th Congress. From 2007 to 2011, she served as the first woman Speaker of the House, and she has led House Democrats for more than a decade. Pelosi led the Congress in passing health care reform, key investments in college aid, clean energy and innovation, and initiatives to help small businesses and veterans.

Timothy Simons is an actor, comedian and writer who has gained notoriety for his work on HBO's television series Veep. His role in the series has gained him both an EWwy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. He’s also appeared on The Interview, Christine and most recently Gold.

Giancarlo Esposito is an Emmy-nominated actor best known for playing Gustavo “Gus” Fring on AMC’s Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Esposito starred in movies and TV shows such as The Usual Suspects, The Jungle Book, and Revolution. He won the 2012 Critic’s Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of “Gus” in Breaking Bad.

John Doe is an actor and musician who co-founded the Los Angeles punk band X. He has appeared in over 50 films and television productions including Great Balls of Fire!, Roadside Prophets, Roswell and more. His latest book, Under the Big Black Sun, explores the LA punk rock movement and its evolution.

Chuck Todd is the moderator of NBC’s Meet The Press. He is also an on-air political analyst for Nightly News with Lester Holt and TODAY, and serves as MSNBC’s go-to for all aspects of the network’s political coverage. In 2005 and 2009, Todd was named one of the Washingtonian’s Best Of Journalists. He has won numerous Emmy Awards for his reporting while at NBC.

Dean Baquet is the executive editor of the New York Times. He is the first African-American to hold the position. In 1988 Baquet won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of City Council corruption in Chicago. During his nearly 40-year career, Baquet has worked for The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times.

Jeff Nichols is a writer and director whose past works include internationally acclaimed Shotgun Stories, Take Shelter, Mud and Midnight Special. His latest film Loving was released in 2016. It tells the story of the landmark US civil rights case Loving v. Virginia.

Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist who studies climate change. In 2014 Time Magazine recognized her as one of the top 100 Most Influential People in the world. Dr. Hayhoe is currently a professor and directs the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University. She also hosts the PBS Digital Studios web series Global Weirding.

DeRay Mckesson is a civil rights activist and educator. He is a predominant member of the Black Lives Matter movement and was named one of Fortune Magazine’s top 50 World’s Greatest Leaders in 2015. Mckesson is a co-founder of Campaign Zero, a platform to end police violence.

In this episode of Overheard, reporter David Fahrenthold reflects on his work during the 2016 presidential campaign, specifically the reporting he did about the Donald J. Trump Foundation. Since his time at the Post, he’s covered Congress, the environment and D.C. police. Before graduating Harvard in 2000, Fahrenthold wrote for The Harvard Crimson.