About Us

America’s policy and political conversation too often begins and ends in Washington. But increasingly, the country’s most important policy innovations are happening somewhere else.

In state capitols and city halls across the country, governors, mayors, legislators, agency leaders, and local officials are experimenting with new approaches to housing, healthcare, workforce development, clean energy, education, infrastructure, public safety, artificial intelligence, and economic development.

Some ideas succeed. Others fail. Many quietly reshape national policy years before Congress catches up.

Blue Laboratories draws on Justice Louis Brandeis’s observation that “a single courageous State may…serve as a laboratory” for novel social and economic experiments. This publication explores those laboratories of democracy—particularly in Democratic-led states—to understand what works, what fails, and what others can learn.

Here, we’ll examine policies being proposed, debated, enacted, and implemented across America’s Democratic-led states—exploring not only what the ideas are, but why they emerged, how they are working in practice, and what lessons they offer policymakers elsewhere.

Rather than focusing primarily on campaigns or political personalities, Blue Laboratories is dedicated to governing—the difficult work of translating ideas into results.

Subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and publication archives.

Stay up-to-date

Never miss an update—every new post is sent directly to your email inbox. For a spam-free, ad-free reading experience, plus audio and community features, get the Substack app.

Join the crew

Be part of a community of people who share your interests. Participate in the comments section, or support this work with a subscription.

To learn more about the tech platform that powers this publication, visit Substack.com.