Fans of NBC’s long-running political drama “The West Wing” know actor Bradley Whitford as White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman. The series, which ran from 1999 to 2006, depicted Washington as a place where despite the politicking and immorality, the Constitution prevailed. Those who watch Hulu’s dystopian nightmare “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which is headed into its final season next year, know him as Commander Lawrence.
He’s the conflicted architect of a militarized theocracy that took root in America after a second civil war where the Constitution did not prevail. “I’m not oblivious to the irony that my career is basically tracking the death of democracy,” joked Whitford, 65, via a Zoom interview from his native Wisconsin, where he along with many of his former colleagues from “The West Wing” cast were campaigning for the Harris-Walz campaign. He also serves on the board of advisors of Let America Vote , an organization that aims to end voter suppression and on the advisory board of Citizens’ Climate Lobby , an international grassroots environmental group.
And it was Whitford who delivered the best opening line during a “White Dudes for Harris” fundraiser in June. “What a variety of whiteness we have here,” he said at the Zoom gathering, which raised about $4 million for the Democratic nominee’s campaign. “It’s like a rainbow of beige.
” Whitford spoke to the Times about his efforts on the campaign trail, the stakes of this ele.