As our readers are undoubtedly aware, we’ve had a lot of exciting changes at RedState this year and have added some new faces and features. Since the year is half over, it’s a good time to go over those changes and welcome these new faces.

We were led through a major growth period by Streiff, who’s been with the site since it started and has served as our Managing Editor since May 2019. At the end of February, he stepped back from the day-to-day management of the site and took the title of Editor Emeritus, allowing him more time to write. Having served as his Deputy Managing Editor during his entire tenure as Managing Editor, I know how much he poured into the site and into developing our contributors and looking out for their best interests. We absolutely would not be where we are today without Streiff’s leadership and mentoring.

I am honored to lead the team now as Managing Editor, with Susie Moore and Brandon Morse as Deputy Managing Editors. Joe Cunningham remains as a Senior Editor and Kira Davis as Editor-at-Large.

New Contributors

As Streiff announced in February, Leslie McAdoo Gordon will be a regular contributor. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, Leslie’s first piece – the first in a series about the January 6 prosecutions – was published today. She and Shipwrecked Crew will are developing a RedState-exclusive podcast, which will launch sometime in July. If you’re not already familiar with Leslie, here’s a little more about her:

Leslie McAdoo Gordon is the principal of McAdoo Gordon & Associates, P.C., founded in 2003. Ms. McAdoo Gordon provides criminal defense for individuals facing misdemeanor and felony charges, including “white collar” criminal offenses in state and federal courts, as well as appeals. She also represents contractors and individuals facing administrative sanctions, including revocation of security clearances and debarment from federal contracts.

Leslie graduated cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1996, and she is licensed to practice law in Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia, and numerous federal trial and appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.

Before becoming a lawyer, Leslie was a Special Agent for the Department of Defense, Defense Investigative Service (now the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency), conducting background investigations for security clearances. Now, she also helps individuals and companies navigate the security clearance application process, in addition to defending revocation of clearance cases.

Legendary columnist Andrew Malcolm joined RedState in March, just as he was moving from Southern California to rural Tennessee. Andrew’s work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Investor’s Business Daily, and in newspapers throughout the country as a syndicated columnist for McClatchy. He also served as Deputy Communications Manager and Press Secretary to Laura Bush during George W. Bush’s Presidential Campaign. His self-written bio tells a little more:

Andrew is a veteran national and foreign correspondent (Tokyo, Korea, Vietnam, Canada) who’s been covering news and politics since 1968, which is amazing since he’s only 38. He’s the father of three boys, two dogs, and author of 10 nonfiction books, two made into movies. He’s a recent California escapee, now residing in the mountains of Tennessee. And he’s the longtime Tuesday co-host of The Ed Morrissey Show at HotAir.com.

Andrew’s weekly VIP column, Malcolm on the Right, runs on Sundays.

Adding to our California contingent of contributors is Jim Thompson, an award-winning cartoonist most recently with the Los Angeles Times. Jim’s work has also appeared in the LA Daily News and its parent company LANG News Group papers; Orange County Register; Salt Lake Tribune; Denver Post. Dodger Magazine; ESPN; Sports Illustrated Extra Mustard; Hero Sports and many more. He has also been a trial attorney for 30 years. (RedState now has five attorney contributors: Susie Moore, Nick Arama, Shipwrecked Crew, Leslie, and Jim.)

Jim created the cover image for a 500-page coffee table book described as a “behind-the-scenes telling of the modern Olympics” titled “Toon In!” which was released June 1.

TOON IN! for a worthy cause https://t.co/vBmAosoEX1@Olympics @Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/ykw93WUUxL

— JimThompson (@JimmySportToons) June 1, 2021

While the bulk of his ‘toons have been sports-related, at RedState Jim gets political. His ‘toons run under the banner “Code Red Comics,” and here’s one of my favorites:

While politics will always be our main focus at RedState, we know that one cannot focus on politics alone so our contributors will also be writing a bit about things they – and we believe our audience – are passionate about, like barbecue, booze, sports, music, and more. As part of that effort one of our new contributors, Jerry Wilson, joined the team. Jerry’s a staunch conservative attempting to hold down the fort in the Bay Area of California who primarily writes about sports and music – and how they intersect with politics and faith. (How Jerry survives as an LA Rams fan up in San Francisco/Oakland is a mystery, but more power to him!)

New Features

As mentioned, we’ve added a number of features/regular columns here at RedState. Many of those can be found in our VIP section, though occasionally one will be featured on the front page instead.

Every Wednesday at 8 PM Eastern Thomas LaDuke and Scott Hounsell host a live chat exclusively for VIP Gold members which is always a lively – and uncensored – look at the day’s news. They’re joined each week by guests such as Kurt Schlichter, Andrew Malcolm, Liz Wheeler, and more. You’ll usually catch at least one other regular RedState contributor on the live chat.

On Fridays, our resident alcohol expert (wait, is that a bad thing?) Brad Slager’s “Dipsology” column appears. He’s covered everything from Tiki culture to “Celebrity Potables” and from the true origins of the Moscow Mule to “The Mystique of the Martini.”

Also on Friday, Senior Editor and foodie Joe Cunningham’s “Food History Friday” column appears – so between Brad and Joe you’ll be starting your weekend off right.

Other regular VIP columns include Jennifer O’Connell’s “In My Orbit” and Becca Lower’s “Higher Culture.”

Investigative Reporting

This year we’ve had a renewed focus on investigative reporting, with several contributors becoming well-known voices of authority on various topics. Stu Cvrk has led the charge with reporting on election audits throughout the country and the “wokening” of our military; Jennifer O’Connell is the go-to for all things PROAct, “Recall Newsom” (including who’s funding Newsom’s defense), and “Recall Gascon”; and Scott Hounsell really pulled the covers back and exposed Dr. Anthony Fauci, Peter Daszak, and Ralph Baric for the frauds they are, in addition to doggedly pursuing the receipts regarding the origin of SARS-CoV-2. Scott also worked with me on a major series regarding Hunter Biden’s business interests in China last fall, a series whose reach was throttled by big tech.

As we all know, big tech has been colluding with Fauci, Daszak, the California Democratic Party, and the Democrat Party in general in attempting to not just stifle but completely shut down and bankrupt those with a dissenting voice. We’ve been fighting back against that censorship while at the same time building our own playground, as it were. We shouldn’t be forced to be financially dependent on these companies, especially when they will remove posts that simply report the truth and are well-documented, simply because no other option exists. That is why Townhall Media’s VIP program exists. What’s behind the paywall can’t be censored, and each VIP subscription lessens our dependence on big tech companies for revenue (revenue that puts food on our contributors’ tables). You, the subscriber, receive an ad-free experience and exclusive VIP columns, podcasts, videos, and live chats. Our VIP subscriber base has grown exponentially in 2021, and I know I speak for all of our contributors when I say, thank you. Your support means more to us than we could ever fully express. We are working to bring even more VIP content to you and, even more importantly, the full story that many in even the conservative media won’t bring you.

(Editor’s Note: If you’re not already a RedState VIP member, join with code “LOYALTY” for 25 percent off!)