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.
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.