Early career as political blogger Klein worked on
Howard Dean's 2004
presidential primary campaign in Vermont in 2003, and interned for the
Washington Monthly in Washington, D.C., in 2004. "The media is as effective and important an agent for change as the legislative bodies, and I think it's where I'm happiest and most effective", Klein said. In 2003, he and
Markos Moulitsas were two of the earliest bloggers to report from a political convention, that of the
California State Democratic Party. In 2006, Klein was one of several writers pseudonymously
flamed by
The New Republic writer
Lee Siegel (posting as a
sock puppet called
sprezzatura). On December 10, 2007, Klein moved his blog full-time to
The American Prospect.
Columnist at newspapers Klein's prolific blogging caught the attention of
Steven Pearlstein,
The Washington Post veteran business columnist. "I was blown away by how good he was—how much the kid wrote—on so many subjects", Pearlstein said. Pearlstein sent samples of Klein's work to managing editor
Raju Narisetti. A few weeks after he heard from Pearlstein,
Washington Post foreign correspondent John Pomfret asked Klein to have lunch with him and financial editor Sandy Sugawara. Narisetti hired Klein to be the Post's first pure blogger on politics and economics. On May 18, 2009, he began writing at the newspaper. In May 2011, when
Bloomberg View launched, Klein became a columnist there in addition to his work at
The Washington Post and MSNBC. Klein announced he would be leaving
The Washington Post in January 2014, with the intent to start a new media venture with several other veteran journalists. The new media venture was later identified as the politics site
Vox. Klein had previously "proposed the creation of an independent, explanatory journalism website—with more than three dozen staffers" and an annual budget of more than to remain at
The Washington Post. During negotiations, Post publisher
Katharine Weymouth and new owner
Jeff Bezos did not make a counteroffer.
Political commentator and podcaster Klein was editor-in-chief at
Vox, later editor-at-large, and formerly wrote for and edited Wonkblog at
The Washington Post. He frequently provides political commentary on
MSNBC's
The Rachel Maddow Show,
Hardball with Chris Matthews, and ''
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell. He is a former contributor to Countdown with Keith Olbermann. On March 14, 2013, The Week'' magazine reported that Klein was among those being considered to host MSNBC's yet-unnamed 8 p.m.
weekday prime-time show that would replace
The Ed Show. Ultimately, the time slot was filled with
All In with Chris Hayes. In October 2015, Klein, along with Sarah Kliff and
Matt Yglesias, launched
The Weeds, a
Vox podcast of detailed discussions on public policy. Klein also hosts the podcast
The Ezra Klein Show. Klein is an executive producer of
Vox Netflix series
Explained, which debuted in 2018. In October 2019, Klein, along with other reporters from
Vox Media, started the podcast
Impeachment, Explained. Klein joined
The New York Times in 2020 and became one of its opinion columnists in 2021. According to an analysis by British digital strategist
Rob Blackie, Klein was one of the most commonly followed political writers among
Biden administration staff on Twitter.
Supporter of abundance movement Klein is a supporter of the abundance movement, a
centrist Democrat ideology supporting pro-growth,
de-regulatory policies. It was reported that Klein is using his position as columnist and podcaster to influence the action of democrats, which raised internal concern at the
New York Times regarding potential conflict of interest. Klein co-authored the book
Abundance with
Derek Thompson, which was published on March 18, 2025. In an interview with
The Atlantic, Klein expressed his preference for prioritizing outcomes over processes and pursuing policies that increase construction. He cited his 2021 essay in support of
supply-side progressivism, titled "
The Economic Mistake the Left Is Finally Confronting", as reflective of his approach in scrutinizing existing policies that run contrary to the goals of countering scarcity.
Health care debate In December 2009, Klein wrote an article for
The Washington Post stating that U.S. Senator
Joe Lieberman was "willing to cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in order to settle an old electoral score" because Lieberman "was motivated to oppose health care legislation in part out of resentment at liberals for being defeated in the
2006 Connecticut Democratic primary." Klein based his estimate on an
Urban Institute report that estimated that 22,000 people died in 2006 because they lacked health insurance. This article was criticized by
Jonah Goldberg of the
National Review, who called it a "silly claim".
Charles Lane, also of
The Washington Post, described Klein's article as an "outrageous smear". But
E. J. Dionne, also of
The Washington Post, agreed with Klein's claim, saying that "Klein is right that there is not a shred of principle in Lieberman's opposition." Klein later said he regretted the phrasing and his position is that despite universal coverage, the
social determinants of health are still powerful predictors that, on average, ensure the lower socioeconomic classes die sooner than those with more income and education.
JournoList In February 2007, Klein created a
Google Groups forum called "
JournoList" for discussing politics and the news media. The forum's membership was controlled by Klein and limited to "several hundred left-leaning bloggers, political reporters, magazine writers, policy wonks and academics." Posts within JournoList were intended only to be made and read by its members. Klein defended the forum saying that it "[ensures] that folks feel safe giving off-the-cuff analysis and instant reactions." JournoList member and
Time magazine columnist
Joe Klein (no relation to Ezra Klein) added that the off-the-record nature of the forum was necessary because "candor is essential and can only be guaranteed by keeping these conversations private." However, the forum did not attract serious attention until March 17, 2009, when an article published on
Politico detailed the nature of the forum and the extent of its membership. In addition to Ezra Klein, membership of JournoList included
Jeffrey Toobin,
Eric Alterman,
Paul Krugman,
Joe Klein,
Matthew Yglesias, and
Jonathan Chait. On June 25, 2010, Ezra Klein announced in his
Washington Post blog that he would be terminating the JournoList group. This decision was instigated by fellow blogger
Dave Weigel's resignation from the
Post following the public exposure of several of his JournoList emails about conservative media figures. Klein had justified excluding conservative Republicans from participation as "not about fostering ideology but preventing a collapse into
flame war. The emphasis is on empiricism, not ideology."
Charlie Kirk debate In September 2025, after the
assassination of a right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk, Ezra Klein wrote an article titled, "Charlie Kirk Was Practicing Politics the Right Way" for the
New York Times, in which he argued that Kirk's way of setting up debates in campuses is the right way of practicing politics and that "
liberalism could use more of his moxie and fearlessness". The article was shared and praised by
Fox News on their social media, and garnered criticisms and controversies largely from the liberal and left side of the political spectrum. The commentary prompted widespread reactions.
Ta-Nehisi Coates criticized Klein for ignoring the
racist and violent comments of Kirk. Scholars questioned Klein's definition of the "right way of politics". Professor Jed Forman from
Simpson College wrote that Klein confused
free speech with speech that is good for society. Professor Carrie N. Baker from
Smith College wrote that Kirk's attempt to intimidate college professors from speaking out publicly about societal issues is "not practicing politics the right way.” Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, assistant professor of philosophy at
Georgetown University, argued Klein was "deflecting objections to the specific accuracy of this portrayal of Kirk with claims about the general appropriateness of
political violence." == Awards ==