Ed Pilkington
Ed Pilkington reports on how power, law and ideology shape the lives of vulnerable people in the US, using politics as a way into stories about democracy, justice and inequality. He is chief reporter for the Guardian in the US, with a remit that spans politics, criminal justice, race, immigration, poverty, inequality, gun violence and organized power. His work is distinguished by sustained investigations into the machinery behind policy fights and culture‑war battles, often anchored in original documents, legal cases and the voices of people directly affected.
He has held the chief reporter role for more than a decade, after senior editing roles running international and domestic news coverage at the Guardian. Across that tenure he has developed a consistent focus on threats to US democracy, union rights, corporate influence in politics and the structural barriers that make change difficult. His reporting style leans toward deep, explanatory pieces and exclusives rather than day‑to‑day horse‑race coverage, giving readers a clear view of how institutional decisions translate into lived experience.
Threats to US democracy and organized power
Pilkington’s signature line of work tracks how moneyed and ideological networks reshape democratic institutions, often out of public view. He has reported on Koch brothers‑backed efforts to weaken unions through a secret “tool kit” that encourages members to quit, exposing the tactics used to erode collective bargaining from the inside. He has covered leaked documents suggesting a state governor illegally raised corporate donations, showing how campaign finance and governance can blur.
His reporting on conservative policy organizations such as the American Legislative Exchange Council includes direct examination of internal business documents and correspondence, illustrating how model legislation and corporate partners influence lawmaking.
More recently, he has written about students in Pentagon‑run schools suing the US defense secretary over book bans on race and gender, framing culture‑war moves as an attack on democratic rights and education. In political coverage such as a piece on a House Republican doubling down on criticism of Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement, he uses intra‑party disputes to show broader tensions over law, authority and the rule of law.
Criminal justice and the death penalty
Criminal justice, and particularly the death penalty, is a core strand in Pilkington’s reporting. He has covered double executions in Arkansas, relaying witness accounts that prisoners may have suffered botched, painful deaths and exploring what that reveals about lethal injection protocols and state secrecy. He has reported on high‑profile military court cases, including pretrial hearings for the alleged WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning, using those proceedings to examine transparency, national security and the treatment of whistleblowers. Event and speaker bios describe his beat as focused on criminal justice and the death penalty alongside politics and race, reflecting a sustained interest rather than occasional coverage.
Across these stories he tends to connect legal procedure and penal policy to questions of human dignity, state accountability and the future of democratic norms.
Race, inequality and the South
Pilkington’s work frequently centers race and inequality, with particular attention to how they play out in the South and in communities targeted by punitive policies. Professional bios describe him as covering race, immigration, poverty, inequality and gun violence as part of the Guardian’s global priorities, indicating a broad but coherent focus on structural injustice. His article on students fighting book bans on race and gender in Pentagon schools sits at the intersection of education, civil rights and censorship, showing how federal institutions participate in cultural conflicts over identity and history. He is also the author of “Beyond the Mother Country”, a book on post‑war British immigration and racism around the Notting Hill race riots, which informs his long‑running interest in how racial conflict and policy are intertwined. That background supports his approach to US stories that link contemporary inequality to historical patterns and to the legal frameworks that entrench or challenge them.
Health, disinformation and vulnerable communities
Alongside politics and justice, Pilkington reports on public‑health controversies where political actors and commercial interests intersect with vulnerable groups.
In a recent Guardian piece, he investigated autistic children being injected with unapproved stem cell treatments backed by Robert F Kennedy Jr, documenting how families are drawn into risky, unregulated therapies under the banner of activism and alternative medicine. His coverage highlights the regulatory gaps and scientific disputes around such treatments, but also the emotional and financial pressures on parents seeking help, tying a health story back to power and accountability.
This line of work complements his reporting on book bans and ideological campaigns in schools, forming a broader picture of how disinformation, activism and weak oversight affect children and marginalized communities.
Across beats, Pilkington’s reporting is marked by long‑form, document‑driven stories that show systems at work rather than isolated events. He consistently returns to themes of democratic resilience, institutional abuse and the experiences of people caught at the sharp end of policy choices, making him a specialist in the politics of power rather than electoral tactics.
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.