Paige Stevens
Paige Stevens focuses on the machinery and meaning of Florida politics, breaking down how rules, campaigns and symbolic moments intersect with daily life. She covers elections, state policy and political culture for the Tampa Bay Times, with a steady emphasis on making complex processes understandable and relevant.
Florida elections and voting mechanics
Much of Stevens’ work concentrates on the nuts and bolts of how Floridians vote and who is on the ballot. She writes practical guides that walk readers through upcoming voting deadlines, registration requirements, identification rules and what to expect on their ballot before primary and general elections.
Her coverage of universal primary races explains what they are, why some contests are open to all voters and how those structures affect local outcomes. She builds out broader election guides for governor and Senate races, laying out fields of candidates, key issues and the stakes of statewide contests in clear, accessible language.
In congressional politics, she reports on national committees targeting specific Florida districts, post-redistricting dynamics and crowded primaries, giving close attention to how partisan strategy translates into local races.
Stevens also tracks endorsements and intraparty maneuvering. Her reporting on Pete Buttigieg backing Democratic challengers in Tampa Bay frames those endorsements within the larger 2028 presidential conversation and the state party’s efforts to reclaim Republican-held seats. Across this work she favors straightforward explanatory formats and Q&A-style structures, aiming to answer the practical questions voters have before they cast a ballot.
Policy explainers and the reach of state power
Beyond campaigns, Stevens covers the way state decisions shape everyday routines and business plans. She writes detailed explainers on legislative efforts to make daylight saving time permanent, showing how federal action and Florida’s delegation interact and what permanent clock changes would mean for residents and commerce. Her budget coverage includes comprehensive lists of items vetoed by the governor, translating dense state documents into digestible rundowns that highlight which projects and programs survived and which were cut.
She also reports on how political and regulatory decisions ripple through institutions. In a piece on Tampa General Hospital joining a healthy hospital food pledge promoted by Robert F.
Kennedy Jr., she situates the commitment within debates over health policy, nutrition and political branding. Her work on political betting and prediction markets uses recent insider trading allegations as a springboard to explain how those markets operate, what legal guardrails exist and where current law is being tested.
Across these stories, Stevens tends to start from a concrete news hook, then widen out to show how particular decisions fit into larger systems of law, regulation and governance.
Symbols, culture and civic rituals in Florida politics
Stevens frequently explores the symbolic side of politics, looking at how civic identity is expressed through flags, holidays and public celebrations. In a feature where fashion designers reimagined Florida’s state flag, she uses design choices and color palettes to draw out competing visions of the state’s character and political present. Her America250 reporting examines both what Florida actually contributed to a national time capsule and what readers thought should have been included, treating artifacts and suggestions as a window onto how residents see their history and future.
She carries that lens into coverage of patriotic milestones and public spectacles. A story on what Floridians say about patriotism at the nation’s 250th birthday anchors big themes in everyday objects and routines, while a piece tallying the cost of fireworks shows for the anniversary turns celebratory displays into a discussion of spending priorities and civic investment. Stevens’ reporting on 727 Day and similar local observances links unofficial holidays to questions of regional identity and political belonging.
Her work on St. Pete Pride funding and sponsorships sits at the intersection of culture and politics, tracing how corporate support, diversity initiatives and legislative climates affect the viability of LGBTQ+ events. In these stories, she pays attention to sources on the ground and to how broader political debates filter into parades, festivals and community gatherings.
Campaigns and political climate in Florida
Across her archive, Stevens returns to the evolving political climate in Florida and how it shapes campaigns and civic life. She covers emerging fields in the governor’s race, new congressional maps and the strategies candidates use to position themselves in a polarized environment.
Her stories often pair statewide developments - such as major budget decisions or high-profile legal fights - with localized impacts on Tampa Bay institutions, Pride organizers or specific districts.
Her election coverage is picked up by national digital outlets, extending her analysis of Florida races and voter guides to audiences beyond the state. Throughout, Stevens’ reporting is marked by close attention to procedural detail paired with an interest in the symbols and rituals that make politics feel concrete to ordinary readers.
4 more politics journalists.
Abbi Garton-Crosbie
Abbi Garton-Crosbie is a multimedia political reporter who treats independence as a live process shaped by Holyrood power struggles, party manoeuvres and grassroots pressure. She works at The National, a pro-independence newspaper, covering how political power is contested and exercised in contemporary Scotland, with a core focus on parties, parliament and the mechanics of constitutional change. She reports on parliamentary votes, government strategy around future independence referendums, and elections across Scotland in the wider context of devolution in Wales and Northern Ireland. Her work centres on party leadership, resignations and internal conflict, including long-form interviews with senior politicians and coverage of emerging and smaller parties. She examines far-right activity, protest politics and movement organisation, and runs policy-driven reporting on rent caps, AI data centres, health boards and public services, across written, video and podcast formats.
Abubakar Ahmadu Maishanu
Abubakar Ahmadu Maishanu is a politics reporter with Premium Times who treats politics as a system of rules, contests and consequences rather than personalities. He focuses on power struggles, security shocks and governance disputes shaping party competition in northern Nigeria, especially how violence, corruption investigations and economic strain intersect with political authority. He reports on Bauchi’s 2027 governorship race, APC primaries and PRP realignment, tracking defections, party constitutions and factional manoeuvring. His coverage of Jigawa and Yobe follows power-sharing fights, candidate substitutions and Tinubu reelection mobilisation efforts. He links banditry and local security crises in Kano and Zamfara to political structures, using precise locations and casualty figures. His investigative work on alleged shady dealings around the Dala Inland Dry Port and reporting on soaring cooking gas prices add a corruption and economic hardship lens.
Aisha Iqbal
Aisha Iqbal covers local and regional politics for the BBC, with a distinct focus on grassroots power and how local decisions shape trust, representation and public services. She reports on Bradford Council decisions, waste services, cultural funding, regeneration grants and the use of public money. She also covers grooming gangs, community safety, political trust, elections, Muslim voters, Gaza, ceasefire campaigns and the links between faith, foreign policy and representation. Her work includes culture and public figures when they intersect with civic identity, including a feature on David Hockney. She connects committee-room votes, neighbourhood disputes and national debates, showing who gains, who loses and how communities respond. She reports across broadcast and online platforms in a clear, explanatory style. Earlier, she covered politics, culture and consumer issues for regional newspapers.
Alessia Simona Maratta
Alessia Simona Maratta stands out for showing how political decisions, regulations and conflicts ripple through communities, pairing national and global stories with on-the-ground voices and clear policy explanations. She is a digital reporter, producer and editor with Global News’ network news desk, covering breaking news, crime, politics, public health, housing, labour, immigration, environment and climate, social issues and features. Her recent work spans politics, public health regulation, labour and technology, and human-interest features that ground complex issues in everyday experience. She reports on politics, policy and community impact, public health and social debates, and labour and regulation at the intersection of technology, globalization and worker rights. Alongside hard news, she produces features that use individual stories, straightforward narrative arcs and accessible explanations to connect history, science and policy to everyday life.