Carl Dawson
Carl Dawson is a reporter for The Post and Courier who covers the City of Aiken and the Savannah River Site, focusing on how decisions in government and industry shape civic life and long-term policy. His work sits at the point where local government, nuclear oversight and election-year campaigning meet, following city councils, state advisory bodies and party organizations as they make choices that affect residents and major regional assets. Alongside this core beat, he occasionally turns to community business and food coverage, including features on Aiken barbecue purveyors preparing for July 4 gatherings.
Savannah River Site and nuclear oversight
Dawson’s most distinctive work tracks the Savannah River Site and the web of contracts, councils and agencies that determine its role in the nation’s nuclear future.
He covers meetings of the Governor’s Nuclear Advisory Council, reporting in detail on briefings where members are told that the site is crucial to the country’s nuclear strategy and long-term policy direction. His stories on management and operations contracts explain extensions that keep Savannah River Nuclear Solutions in place through specific dates under agreements with the National Nuclear Security Administration, showing how federal decisions cascade down to a single complex in his coverage area. Across these pieces he gives sustained attention to who holds authority, how long they hold it, and what that means for the community anchored around the site.
Aiken city government and local development
Dawson consistently follows Aiken’s city government, documenting elections, council membership changes and the way boards interpret local rules. He reports on the swearing in of four newly elected City Council members, treating the ceremony as part of a broader shift in who makes policy decisions for the city.
His coverage of the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals shows how a single exception can reshape a familiar public building, following the decision that allows the former Aiken County Council building to become a restaurant.
He writes on the opening of Phase One of Tribute Parkway, detailing the new traffic patterns and the memorial roundabout dedicated to Sandy Rogers as part of the city’s evolving infrastructure. In downtown, he chronicles demolition work for the Oliver Hotel project and warns of imminent lane closures, treating construction, traffic and redevelopment as front-line issues rather than background to other stories.
Taken together, these articles build a steady record of how Aiken’s built environment changes through votes, permits and public works decisions.
Education, infrastructure and public finance
Beyond city hall, Dawson follows how other public bodies wield financial tools to shape local institutions. He covers the school board’s vote to issue $285 million in general obligation bonds, putting the exact figure and the formal action at the center of the story. By tracking a bond package of that scale, he shows how education policy and infrastructure funding are decided in public meetings rather than abstract debates, reinforcing his focus on the mechanics of governance. This strand of his work complements his reporting on roads, memorials and major projects, tying financial decisions to the physical changes he documents elsewhere on his beat.
Campaign stops, party politics and statewide influence
Dawson’s politics coverage is grounded in how statewide campaigns and partisan organizations present themselves at the local level. His report on Attorney General Alan Wilson’s visit to the Aiken Republican Club captures the candidate’s platform in concrete terms, including promises to eliminate the state income tax, improve energy infrastructure and education, root out government inefficiency and fight drug trafficking. The piece keeps the focus on the policy content of a campaign stop, connecting statewide ambitions to a specific gathering and audience in his coverage area.
In addition to his reporting, he contributes staff photography to high-profile political and civic stories, including coverage of the candidates challenging longtime U.S. Representative Joe Wilson in South Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District and features on influential figures such as the president of the University of South Carolina in a Columbia Power List. He also steps into lighter civic territory, such as profiling local barbecue purveyors ready to feed July 4 gatherings, showing how partisan politics and everyday community life share space in his work.
Across these assignments, Dawson’s coverage distinguishes itself by staying close to events on the ground and recording what political actors say and do in the rooms where decisions and campaigns unfold.
Dawson’s background includes experience at several regional newspapers, and his current work at The Post and Courier reflects that long tenure in daily reporting. His stories rely on straightforward meeting coverage, clear summaries of board and council actions and careful attention to specific figures and dates, giving readers a precise sense of what changed and when.
Whether he is following nuclear advisory councils, zoning boards, school trustees or party clubs, his reporting is defined by its close tracking of institutional decisions and its focus on the intersection of politics, policy and local development.
4 more politics journalists.
A.D. Quig
A.D. Quig follows money and power through Chicago and Cook County government, showing how political decisions, taxes and public spending affect residents and businesses. At the Chicago Tribune, she covers city and county politics, municipal finance, tax policy, budgets and the structures shaping mayoral and council authority. She joined the Tribune in 2022 after covering politics for Crain’s Chicago Business and The Daily Line. Her work examines council power, ethics rules, police leadership, tax incentives, public agencies and pandemic aid. She has reported on data center tax breaks, property tax errors, federal relief spending and the fiscal effects of major development proposals. Quig combines insider government reporting with public accountability journalism. She uses public records, data and budget documents, follows committees and staff negotiations, and explains complex decisions in plain language with precise numbers and a direct link to everyday consequences.
Adam Daly
Adam Daly covers politics for amNewYork with a focus on the inner workings of city and state government and the low-profile forums where power is exercised and negotiated. He reports on commissions and panels that shape how New York is governed, treating charter reform and government efficiency as central political terrain. His coverage of moves to replace an Adams-era charter commission with a new government efficiency panel foregrounds mandate, authority, and what “efficiency” means in practice for agencies and services. He tracks who gains and loses influence when one commission supplants another and which constituencies are being answered to. Daly explains dense procedural questions in clear, reader-facing terms, using specific institutional details and occasional wordplay to connect jargon-heavy reforms to public spending, service delivery, and mayoral power.
Adam Pack
Adam Pack covers Capitol Hill through power struggles, investigations and ideological fights, focusing on how Congress intersects with Donald Trump’s agenda. He is a politics writer on Fox News Digital’s Capitol Hill team, covering Congress, federal elections, legislative battles, election rules, war powers, primaries and intraparty fights. He previously wrote for the Daily Caller News Foundation. His reporting examines deadlines, vote counts, bill language, campaign spending, court rulings, oversight reports, culture clashes and emerging issues such as AI-backed political groups. He has covered FISA reauthorization, defense spending, the SAVE America Act, housing policy, redistricting, candidate absences, primary spending and disputes over sex, gender, religion and race-based caucuses. He reports primarily through news features and investigative-style pieces built around documents, committee reports, court records, unearthed video and specific legislative details. He often co-writes complex Capitol Hill stories and publishes “FIRST ON FOX” exclusives.
Adam Sullivan
Adam Sullivan is a veteran politics reporter for WCAX who connects elections and party disputes to everyday life. He covers statewide races, party primaries, federal representation, political rhetoric, extremism, and accountability across the Upper Valley and neighboring states. His reporting includes Becca Balint’s victory over Molly Gray in the Democratic U.S. House primary to replace Congressman Peter Welch. He also reports when political controversies affect public safety, political culture, towns, and institutions, including a New Hampshire Libertarian Party post endorsing violence against elected Democrats. Sullivan follows cultural stories with civic consequences, such as Noah Kahan’s appeal to fans to stop stealing a Strafford road sign linked to his music. He writes straight news centered on concrete events, official reactions, political context, community impact, and what comes next.