Sahalie Donaldson
Sahalie Donaldson covers politics for City & State New York, with a focus on how the rules and structures of government shape who holds power and how decisions get made. Her reporting looks past surface-level political conflict to the institutional levers that elected officials and commissions use to change the system. She writes in clear, direct prose that keeps complex process stories grounded in concrete stakes for New Yorkers.
Charter revision and structural change
Donaldson’s work on charter revision, including her piece on Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani’s proposed Charter Revision Commission, shows a consistent interest in structural reform rather than just personality-driven politics. She zeroes in on how changes to the city charter could redistribute authority, alter representation and reshape the balance between different branches and levels of government. Instead of treating charter debates as inside baseball, she frames them as pivotal fights over who gets a voice in policy and how durable those changes could be.
In covering proposals like Mamdani’s commission, she spells out what powers such a body would have, which constituencies stand to gain or lose, and how the reform push fits into ongoing debates over democracy, accountability and equity in the city’s political system. That gives her stories a through-line: she treats procedural fights over commissions, rules and governance documents as front-line political contests, not background noise.
Politics reporting grounded in institutional detail
Across her politics beat at City & State New York, Donaldson pays close attention to the machinery of government—charters, commissions, legislative procedures and other formal mechanisms that can lock in or block change. Rather than focusing solely on rhetoric or campaign trail moments, she follows how political actors try to embed their agendas in the structures that outlast any individual officeholder. That emphasis makes her coverage especially useful for understanding why certain reforms advance, stall or get diluted once they enter the formal process.
Her stories draw clear lines between the text of a proposal and its real-world consequences, explaining how specific provisions would work in practice and which communities or institutions they would touch. She writes with an assumption that readers care about the fine print of governance, and she meets that expectation by unpacking jargon and situating each procedural step within the broader political story.
Beat reporting across New York politics
Within City & State New York’s politics coverage, Donaldson occupies the space where individual elected officials, commissions and policy ideas meet the formal architecture of government. Her pieces track how proposals move from concept to commission to potential ballot measure or statute, showing the alliances, frictions and trade-offs that shape that path. She connects the work of lawmakers and commissions to long-running debates over representation, power-sharing and the responsiveness of government to its constituents.
Her beat work reflects City & State New York’s emphasis on state and local politics, but with an added stress on the design of institutions themselves—what charters, commissions and procedural rules enable, and what they constrain. That combination of political narrative and institutional analysis is what distinguishes her coverage from more generic day-to-day reporting on the same beat.
4 more politics journalists.
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.
Alex Swoyer
Alex Swoyer covers national politics through the lens of the law, treating court cases and filings as core political documents rather than a separate legal niche. She reports for the Washington Times on the Supreme Court, federal courts and the justice system’s intersection with campaigns, Congress and the presidency. Her coverage follows political disputes as they move into courtrooms, focusing on cases that affect elections, executive power, immigration, religious liberty and gun rights. She explains opinions, dissents and procedural moves in plain language, grounding stories in briefs, oral arguments, orders and government records, then pairing them with reaction from officials, strategists and advocacy groups. She also reports on election rules, January 6 prosecutions, politically sensitive investigations, Republican Party dynamics and campaign‑trail narratives, using straight news, explainers and roundups to show how law, institutions and political ambition meet.
Alexander Mallin
Alexander Mallin stands out for turning dense Justice Department and federal court actions into clear, step-by-step reporting for ABC News. He covers politics through law enforcement and the courts, with a core beat on special counsel investigations, federal prosecutions, and clashes between the executive branch, Congress, and federal prosecutors. His reporting tracks interview transcripts, subpoena fights, indictments, plea deals, trial outcomes, and other court filings, especially in cases tied to President Joe Biden, the January 6 attack on the Capitol, and other high-profile political conflicts. He also covers transparency fights over investigative records and explains the statutes, rules, and institutional mechanics behind grand juries, redactions, and special counsel appointments. His stories are document-heavy, restrained, and focused on what prosecutors, defense lawyers, and judges are doing on the record.
Allie Kelly
Allie Kelly is a politics reporter at Business Insider who treats US politics as a story about personalities, performance, and the internet. She covers the intersection of political figures, online culture, and how power is exercised in public. Her work follows elected officials and rising players across parties, focusing on how they brand themselves, test messages, and respond to scrutiny. She often writes about memes, viral moments, and tools like meme coins as real campaign tactics and communication strategies. Her reporting explains how digital culture shapes electoral politics, party tensions, and governance. She favors short, accessible pieces built around vivid examples, like a lawmaker launching a DOGE-style coin, to explain broader trends. She uses clear, plain language, grounding each story in who holds power, what they are doing, and why their online choices matter.