Levi Tillemann made national headlines when he secretly recorded a powerful Democrat encouraging him to drop out of his Congressional primary in Colorado. The audio set off a firestorm, with many seeing it as further proof that the national party was favoring establishment candidates.
Now, Tillemann may make that case from one of the biggest platforms around: This American Life, for which he was interviewed for a larger story about progressive politics.
And it's happening just as voters fill out their ballots in the Democrats' primary race in the 6th congressional district, covering much of the eastern Denver metro.
In a teaser for the show, host Ira Glass says the next episode will feature "a Congressional candidate, a Democrat, a progressive, who is not getting a lot of love from his own party, which is mostly tilting away from progressives for the midterms."
However, the episode is not primarily about Tillemann, according to a representative for This American Life; the tape is mentioned, but Tillemann will make only a limited appearance at most.
Tillemann talked to the show's producers about how the national party is "doubling down on what they’ve been doing," said spokesman Joe Erlich.
This American Life publishes new episodes on Fridays, and Glass described the new episode as publishing "next week" -- presumably this Friday. The show boasts an audience of about 4.7 million people between its podcast and radio broadcasts.
Tillemann's opponent is Jason Crow. The winner of the primary faces Republican Rep. Mike Coffman in the general election this fall.
For more on the Democrats' internal debates, check out our earlier coverage of the Tillemann tape and the flood of progressive candidates in statehouse races.
This post was updated with comment from This American Life. The headline was changed to remove the implication that the "tell all" comment referred to Tillemann.
