America is living through a defining political moment. Since January 2025, it has become increasingly clear how concentrated private power can threaten liberty, democratic self-government, and a free press. More Americans are recognizing the need to rebuild the rules and institutions that allowed so much power to accumulate in so few hands.
Join us on June 24 as policymakers, researchers, journalists, technology experts, and political strategists come together to explore a vision for democratic renewal. The event will focus on the ideas, narratives, policies, and organizing strategies needed to win power—and use it to build a political economy that supports freedom, opportunity, and shared prosperity.
Designed to shape the next phase of American political debate, the event will elevate the fight against concentrated private power as a central challenge of our time while helping align political, policy, and organizing communities around a common agenda. At a moment of rising authoritarian threats and growing demand for change, it aims to define what comes next.
AGENDA Doors Open & Registration 8:30 AM ET
Welcome
9:00 AM | Remarks | Open Markets Institute Executive Director Barry Lynn
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Morning Presentation: California Attorney General Rob Bonta
9:10 AM | Remarks & Moderated Q&A
Moderator: Julia Angwin, New York Times contributing opinion writer & author of On Courage: How to be a Dissident in an Age of Fear
California Attorney General Rob Bonta has emerged as one of the nation’s most aggressive antitrust enforcers, taking on Amazon, Google, and Nexstar while scrutinizing major media consolidation. His core argument—and the focus of this session—is straightforward: the information crisis isn’t a content problem. It’s a power problem.
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We’ve Done It Before: Reclaiming America’s Anti-Monopoly Tradition 9:30 AM | Panel
On the 250th anniversary of our republic, we remember that America was founded in opposition to concentrated power—from the British East India Company to the industrial trusts of the first Gilded Age. Today, we face a new era of oligarchy: platform monopolies, AI gatekeepers, and billionaires with unprecedented influence over our economy, politics, and information systems. This opening panel asks the defining question of our time: What vision can unite Americans to reclaim democratic power, challenge oligarchy, and renew the promise of self-government?
Speakers:
Sabeel Rahman, Cornell Law Professor
Zephyr Teachout, Fordham Law Professor
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Recorded Remarks from Daron Acemoglu, 2024 Nobel laureate in economics, Institute Professor of Economics at MIT, and co-author (with James A. Robinson) of Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty and (with Simon Johnson) of Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity
10:00 AM | Video
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Remarks from Representative Greg Casar (TX-35), Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC)
10:07 AM
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Power, Freedom and Affordability: Building a Bigger Story That Wins 10:15 AM | Panel | Moderator: Perry Bacon Jr., staff writer at The New Republic
Across the political spectrum, Americans believe the economy and political system are rigged by the wealthy and well-connected, leaving ordinary people with less power, higher costs, and a weaker voice. Yet despite growing demand for reform, many voters see Democrats as ineffective and too tied to the same interests they criticize. This panel asks: How can the pro-democracy movement tell a compelling story about power, freedom, democracy, and affordability—and earn the trust needed to deliver transformative change?
Speakers:
Representative Becca Balint (VT-AL)
Representative Chris Deluzio (PA-17)
Chris Rabb, Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District
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11:00 AM – 11:15 AM COFFEE BREAK
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The Populist Playbook: The Politics of Breaking the Oligarchy (Part 1) 11:15 AM | Panel | Moderator: David Weigel, politics reporter at Semafor
The 2024 election was a warning. Voters frustrated by rising costs, immigration, and a political system they felt wasn’t listening to them returned Donald Trump to power, exposing deep weaknesses in the Democratic Party’s approach. Our next two panels bring together campaign strategists and pollsters to examine why right-wing populism has succeeded, what a compelling liberal alternative looks like, and how to build a durable majority for structural reform.
The focus: What must change—in our politics, our movement, and our campaigns—to break through polarization, win new voters, and secure lasting change? The first panel explores public sentiment and the big-picture shifts needed; the second panel (1:30 PM) focuses on the messages, strategies, and tactics winning races today.
Speakers:
Liz Bennett, partner, Middle Seat Digital
Adam Carlson, founding partner, Zenith Research
Adam Green, co-founder, Progressive Change Campaign Committee
Matt Koos, chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio
Celinda Lake, president, Lake Research Partners
Evan Roth Smith, founding partner, Slingshot Strategies
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12:15-1:00 PM: LUNCH SERVED
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Keynote from Senator Chris Murphy 1:00 PM | Remarks
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The Populist Playbook: The Politics of Breaking the Oligarchy (Part II) 1:30 PM | Panel
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A Conversation with American Compass’s Chris Griswold 2:15 PM | Fireside Chat
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2:40 PM – 2:55 PM COFFEE BREAK
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Fireside Chat with Dan Osborn, Independent candidate for U.S. Senate in Nebraska
3:00 PM | Moderator: Alvaro Bedoya, former FTC Commissioner
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Who Does Our Foreign Policy Actually Serve? Reclaiming American Leadership from the Oligarchs 3:35 PM | Panel
Oligarchy doesn’t stop at the border. Over the last several decades, concentrated private power has reshaped the global economy and foreign policy in ways that have weakened democratic institutions, heightened geopolitical tensions, undermined national sovereignty, and increased the risks of economic, industrial, and military conflict. This panel asks a few fundamental questions: How did we get here? What would genuinely democratic foreign policy look like—one that puts people and shared prosperity ahead of concentrated private power? And how can we achieve it?
Speakers:
Alexandra Geese, member of the European Parliament [via video]
Katherine Tai, former U.S. Trade Representative
Matthew Duss, executive vice president, Center for International Policy
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Fireside Chat with Senator Chris Van Hollen 4:15 PM
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Control Over What You Think: Billionaire Power and the Fight for the Information Environment 4:45 PM | Panel
The information crisis is often framed as a debate over content and algorithms. At its core, it is a power problem. A handful of billionaires and dominant platforms increasingly control how information is produced, distributed, and consumed—with little public accountability and few meaningful alternatives. This panel explores how concentrated power reshaped our information environment and what it would take to build one that serves democracy rather than private interests.
Speakers:
Julia Angwin, New York Times contributing opinion writer & author of On Courage: How to be a Dissident in an Age of Fear
Joseph Geevarghese, executive director, Our Revolution
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Learning How to Talk About AI and Power Like the Pope 5:05 PM | Panel | Moderator: Eoin Higgins, journalist & author of Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left
AI is one of the biggest sources of anxiety for voters across the political spectrum, yet that concern has not yet translated into a clear political demand. As a handful of powerful corporations shape the future of AI with little democratic oversight, this panel explores how concerns about jobs, inequality, information, surveillance, and freedom can be connected into a compelling public agenda—and a winning political movement.
Speakers:
Kate Brennan, senior director, AI Now Institute
Sally Hubbard, senior fellow, Open Markets Institute
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Keynote from Senator Elizabeth Warren 5:30 PM
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Reception to follow.
Top of the Hill - Washington, DC
1 Constitution Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002