Irie Sentner

PERSONAL NEWS: I’ve started a new role at @POLITICO as a reporter for @playbookdc! Have something you think we should know? Let’s get in touch. isentner@politico.com and DM for signal.

Grindr has spent $1.6 million into lobbying. @iriesentner with the deets: politi.co/4tJLfTT

"A spokesperson for Susan Collins confirmed that her team had met with Grindr" turns out Grindr is into lobbying:

NEW: Grindr has expanded its political muscle in both Washington and California into a more than $1.6 million influence operation — and it’s run by a registered Republican. politico.com/news/2026/04/2…

NEW in @playbookdc: I reached out to 25 national political figures who’ve been floated as potential 2028ers to ask for their WHCD plans. Almost all of them either told me they’re not going or did not respond. politico.com/newsletters/pl…

The latest battle in the 2026 redistricting wars will be decided Tuesday in Virginia, where a map favoring Democrats looks narrowly poised to edge out Republican incumbents — and tee up Democrats’ next big fight. More in Playbook ⬇️ politico.com/playbook

NEW: Bree Fram's long-shot campaign may hinge on Virginia's redistricting referendum, which could decide whether the trans veteran rocket scientist booted out of the military under Trump stands any chance of winning. politico.com/news/2026/04/1…

Exclusive in @playbookdc: @LeadingFutureAI has racked up over $140 million to date. The pro-AI network of PACs and c4s is sitting on $100 million in cash on hand. The AI lobby is setting up to be among the biggest political influencers this year …

Grindr is hosting the buzziest party of this year's WHCD weekend. I chatted with Joe Hack, Grindr's top lobbyist, about what to expect. “It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a little bit cheeky — it’s going to be us,” he said. More in @playbookdc 👇 politico.com/newsletters/pl…

NEW: Eight months after Ken Martin convened a DNC Middle East working group to help patch the party’s biggest ideological rift, its members have struggled to meet consistently or coalesce around shared objectives. politico.com/news/2026/04/1…

I’ve spent a few months digging into how the past year of immigration enforcement has changed the risk-calculus for undocumented domestic and sexual violence victims thinking about coming forward or seeking help from the legal system. Here’s a gift link: theatlantic.com/politics/2026/…

SCOOP: In the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington quietly removed from its website educational resources about American racism and canceled a workshop about the “fragility of democracy.” politico.com/news/2026/04/0…

NEW: Trump — a relentless critic of mail-in voting — said he voted by mail in Florida’s special elections because he felt he should be in D.C. “instead of being in the beautiful sunshine.” But he cast his mail-in vote from Palm Beach, records show. politico.com/news/2026/03/2…

Trump told Cabinet officials today that he voted by mail in Florida's special election because he felt he should be in DC, but Playbook's @iriesentner dug into it and found the president cast his mail-in vote from Palm Beach. Read the details in Playbook politico.com/playbook

. @NeNeLeakes clocked DC’s dating scene. “I don’t think I’d want to go out with a guy that’s in politics,” she told me. “I don’t have time for you to come home being that serious … stuffed in their suits.” More Housewives content in today’s Playbook 👇 politico.com/newsletters/pl…

NEW: Most Dems think their key to midterms success will be selling voters on affordability. But some rural Dem candidates say they're not convinced their party is striking the right tone. “It feels disingenuous,” one told me. In today's Playbook: politico.com/newsletters/pl…

NEW: Democrats are frothing at the mouth to center Trump’s tariff chaos in their affordability messaging as they charge into the midterms, branding the tariffs as illegal taxes that Trump must now repatriate to voters. w/ @_alibianco politico.com/news/2026/02/2…

Sunday read: Democrats were already planning to slam Republicans on the economy. But Trump doubling down on tariffs is opening a new avenue in Dems' affordability message. “I wouldn’t be surprised if tariffs made it in 50 percent of our paid advertising.” W/ @iriesentner for @POLITICO politico.com/news/2026/02/2…

Scoop: DOGE allegedly used ChatGPT to identify approx 1,400 National Endowment for the Humanities grants the AI tool deemed as related to DEI, which were then terminated in April of last year, according to a new court filing released today. Among the terminated grants were a film analyzing how baseball helped heal frictions between the U.S. and Japan caused by World War I; a documentary titled "The Untold Story of Jewish Women Slave Labor in the Holocaust;" a film focused on the Colfax massacre of 1873, where dozens of Black men were murdered by a mob of Confederate soldiers and KKK members; and a film about the first female pilots to fly for the U.S. military during World War II. politico.com/newsletters/we…

psa for all the west wing playbook readers asking who’s been watching heated rivalry, that would be @iriesentner