Amy Walter Announced As New Publisher and Editor-in-Chief

NON-PARTISAN, INDEPENDENT COOK POLITICAL REPORT UNDER NEW LEADERSHIP: SEASONED ANALYST & COLUMNIST AMY WALTER TO BECOME PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

WASHINGTON, DC (July 30, 2021) - For almost 40 years, The Cook Political Report, founded by Charlie Cook, has provided authoritative analysis of campaigns, elections and political trends in the United States. On August 1, Amy Walter will take the helm as owner, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief. Moving forward, the newsletter will be called “The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter,” and will continue to feature analysis from its ace team -- Amy Walter, David Wasserman (Senior Editor, U.S. House of Representatives), Jessica Taylor (Editor, US Senate & Governors), alongside Cook’s popular weekly columns. Charlie Cook will also continue to offer his analysis through longtime partners National Journal and Leading Authorities.

Since 2013, Walter has served as national editor for the Cook Political Report. From 1998-2006, Walter served as U.S. House Editor. Walter is a featured analyst on the weekly segment “Politics Monday” on the PBS NEWSHOUR as well as for their special election and convention coverage; a frequent on air analyst on popular national political shows -- MEET THE PRESS (NBC), FACE THE NATION (CBS), INSIDE POLITICS & STATE OF THE UNION (CNN), SPECIAL REPORT (FOX); and is the former editor-in-chief of National Journal’s Hotline, political director of ABC News, and host of WNYC’s “Politics With Amy Walter.” 

“To serve as the editor and publisher of the Cook Political Report is the honor of a lifetime,” said Walter. “For almost 25 years, Charlie Cook has been a mentor, friend and colleague. No one makes politics more approachable or understandable than Charlie. His love for the process and the people is infectious and deeply felt. No one can take his place, and I am excited for the opportunity to build on all that he has created.”

“Anyone who has had the privilege to join one of the many media channels dedicated to politics,” says Walter, “owes a debt of gratitude to the man who was one of the first to take political analysis to a broad audience.”

Since its first issue in the spring of 1984, the independent, non-partisan Cook Political Report has covered U.S. electoral and political trends, reported on, analyzed and rated every U.S. Senate and House race in the country as well as each state in presidential elections, with gubernatorial coverage added later. Each race is regularly rated on a seven-point scale, Solid, Likely, Lean Democrat, Toss Up, or Lean, Likely or Solid Republican, with updates on each one continuing through the election cycle. In August 1997, the Cook Political Report developed the Partisan Voting Index (PVI), which allows a comparison of partisanship of each of the 50 states and each of the 435 Congressional districts. The Cook Political Report PVI has become the industry standard for quantifying partisanship.  

“While the newsletter was my idea, begun when I quit my Capitol Hill job, withdrew the $6,000 from my Senate employees retirement fund and a $10,000 bank loan co-signed by my late father-in-law,” Cook said, “the real credit for its success should go to the several dozen very talented and dedicated women and men who, over 37 years, built it to what it is today.”

This small but mighty team of Cook Political Report editors have interviewed thousands of candidates, built a deep bench of political sources, and have analyzed reams of polling, fundraising and redistricting data to offer campaign and election analysis that is considered one of the most trusted and reliable in Washington. The Cook Political Report team has included the insights of notable analysts Jennifer Duffy (1988-2019), Chris Cillizza (1998-2005), Elizabeth Wilner (1992-1997; 2013-2016), David Wasserman (2007-present), Jessica Taylor (2019-present) and Amy Walter.

In the years ahead, Charlie Cook will continue to provide his insights as a contributor to The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter. He will also continue recapping the latest trends and current political landscape in his weekly column and virtual series as an analyst with National Journal, and serve as a political analyst for both National Journal and NBC News. He will remain on the lecture circuit with Leading Authorities, with whom he has a 30-year relationship. 

“I could not be more delighted in this transition, or more confident,” says Cook, “that this team, under Amy’s leadership, will take the newsletter into its fourth decade with the same high standards of excellence, objectivity and rigor that has made it the industry leader, and upon which elected officials and campaign operatives in both major political parties, journalists and the entire political community have come to rely.”