Claire Heddles
Claire Heddles is the Miami Herald’s senior political correspondent, focused on how national power struggles and policy debates play out through Florida’s elections, government institutions and political parties. Her reporting consistently follows the pressure points where state and local actors intersect with national figures and agendas, with an emphasis on the practical consequences for voters, communities and public services. She brings a combination of campaign coverage, document-driven reporting and ground-level sourcing to stories that track who holds power in Florida and how they use it.
Florida elections and intraparty fights
Heddles spends much of her time on competitive Florida races and the conflicts inside the major parties, especially around Democratic primaries and progressive challenges. She has covered a contentious primary involving Debbie Wasserman Schultz, focusing on debates with Democratic opponents and what the race reveals about the party’s direction in the state. Her reporting on Broward County Black leaders pushing back on Wasserman Schultz highlights how community leadership and racial politics shape intraparty negotiations and public messaging. In a story about a Mamdani-inspired democratic socialist swaying Florida unions against a Democratic incumbent, she traces how ideological organizing and labor power can upend established alliances, treating unions and grassroots groups as central actors rather than background detail. She also follows congressional campaigns that experiment with unconventional fundraising methods, including a Florida race that routes campaign money through a cryptocurrency wallet, explaining how new financial tools affect strategy and transparency in electoral politics.
Trump, DeSantis and the machinery of power
A recurring thread in Heddles’ work is the way Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis and other national Republicans shape Florida’s political landscape through courts, polls and local deals. In a piece on Epstein-related files pulling down Trump’s approval in Florida polling, she connects scandal, public opinion and electoral risk, showing how national revelations reverberate through a crucial swing state.
Her coverage of Palm Beach County’s agreement to rename an airport after Trump examines how local governments negotiate branding deals tied to polarizing figures, treating the contract details and procedural steps as part of the political narrative. When the Supreme Court issues a redistricting ruling aligned with DeSantis’ agenda, she parses the legal decision alongside its impact on Florida maps and representation, explaining how national judicial power is used to reshape state politics. She also reports on Byron Donalds breaking with Trump over AI policy in Florida, using the split to explore emerging technology regulation and the fault lines within the Republican coalition.
Across these stories, she shows an interest in the mechanics of power - polling, contracts, court rulings and policy choices - rather than only the rhetoric around them.
Local government, oversight and ethics fights
Beyond high-profile personalities, Heddles covers oversight battles that link Florida’s local officials with congressional scrutiny and investigative processes. In reporting on Congress targeting the North Miami Beach mayor over an investigation connected to Frederica Wilson Cherfilus-McCormick, she follows how federal inquiries reach into municipal politics, focusing on the stakes for local governance and public trust.
Her Trump airport story likewise treats county-level decisions as significant on their own terms, not just as reflections of national culture wars. She has a background as a public radio reporter covering local government and education in East Tennessee and Jacksonville, Florida, experience that shows in her attention to public bodies, meetings and documents as sources of political power and accountability.
That history underpins a style that treats city halls, school boards and county commissions as key arenas in the broader story of Florida politics.
Cuba, foreign policy and community stories
Heddles regularly connects foreign policy and international incidents to the lives of people in Florida, with Cuba emerging as a notable focus.
In coverage of a U.S. citizen killed in a boat shooting in Cuba, she links State Department actions to the concerns of families and communities watching events from Florida, showing how overseas violence and diplomatic responses become local stories. A callout asking for readers’ accounts of family fights over Cuba reflects an interest in the way generational and ideological divides around the island shape political and personal life, treating diaspora perspectives as central to understanding the region’s politics.
These pieces sit alongside her broader foreign-policy-adjacent work, giving her portfolio a strand that critically examines how international decisions and conflicts filter into Florida households and electoral debates.
Policy coverage beyond campaigns
Heddles’ beat extends beyond horse-race politics into policy areas where federal and state decisions have immediate consequences for South Florida residents. In a story on fears that Obamacare subsidies could end in 2026, she reports on how changes to federal health-care support would affect local budgets, household finances and access to coverage, grounding national policy in concrete regional impact. Her AI policy coverage through the Byron Donalds–Trump split brings emerging technology into the political frame, showing how regulatory debates play out among Florida’s elected officials and their national allies.
Redistricting work connects legal and constitutional questions to the practical map of who gets to vote for whom, reinforcing a pattern in her reporting: policies are described in terms of their lived effects, not only their partisan framing.
Before joining the Miami Herald, Heddles covered national politics and Congress from Washington, D.C., work that gives her current Florida reporting a perspective on how federal institutions and party leadership influence state-level outcomes. She has also worked as a public radio reporter on local government and education in East Tennessee and Jacksonville, Florida, and has had work air nationally on NPR, with bylines at outlets such as The Advocate Magazine and Truthout.
Across these roles, she develops stories that draw lines between local actors, national power and policy impact, making her coverage distinct from more generic political reporting that stays at the surface of campaign messaging.
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.