Radical Transparency: Journalist May Run for Congress (as a Democrat, Obviously)
Hanna Trudo, a journalist who covered the Democratic Party for The Hill, is "exploring" a run for Congress in New Hampshire. It seems redundant to mention that Trudo would be running as a Democrat, but there you have it. Trudo is reportedly eyeing the open seat in New Hampshire's First Congressional District. The incumbent, Rep. Chris Pappas (D.), is running for U.S. Senate in 2026.
In an interview with Politico, where Trudo previously worked, the prospective candidate described herself as a "journalist who's tired of writing the same story about how Democrats keep losing to Republicans and failing us." In a memo obtained by NBC News, the objective reporter complained that Americans are "no longer free" under President Donald Trump. "Democrats must be better,"she wrote. "Our First Amendment freedoms are being cruelly ripped away by Trump, Elon Musk and other obscenely rich, unelected tech lackeys who have contempt for us."
Trudo left The Hill in March, according to her LinkedIn page. Over the last few weeks, she has been posting like a left-wing activist on social media. "Working people are FED UP," she wrote on April 15 in a post praising Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), whom she has called "the current leader of the Democratic Party." Trudo has also praised DNC vice chair David Hogg's controversial effort to spend $20 million targeting Democratic incumbents in blue districts. "If Dems are serious about building a new fighter party, they need to assess who is/is not ready and willing to step up," she wrote.
It might seem strange that no one noticed the longtime journalist expressing her unabashed support for Democrats, but it's understandable given that journalism and liberal activism are essentially the same thing. Trudo's recent output for The Hill includes articles praising Sanders, an avowed socialist, and other Democrats, such as Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.). She published several reports about left-wing Democrats receiving "backlash" for expressing solidarity with Hamas terrorists following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Trudo regularly quotes Matt Duss, a former Sanders adviser on foreign policy and outspoken advocate for the Iran nuclear deal. In 2023, Duss denounced the "blatant political corruption" of billionaire Charles Koch while working for a Koch-funded think tank.
Before joining The Hill in 2021, Trudo covered Joe Biden's presidential campaign for the Daily Beast. Her résumé includes stints at National Journal, Wired magazine, ProPublica, the New Republic, and Foreign Policy magazine.
Trudo is merely the latest journalist to abandon the premise of objectivity by formally identifying as a Democrat. Mike Sacks, a former journalist who covered politics at numerous outlets between 2008-2022, announced last month he was running to challenge Rep. Mike Lawler (R., N.Y.). Former CNN host John Avlon ran for Congress as a "common-sense" Democrat in 2024, vowing to "defeat Donald Trump" and his "MAGA minions." He ended up losing to Rep. Nick LaLota (R., N.Y.) by double digits. Former CNBC anchor Michelle Caruso-Cabrera ran an unsuccessful campaign for Congress in 2020, followed by an unsuccessful campaign for New York City comptroller the following year. In 2018, former MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan finished a distant second in the Democratic primary for New York's 21st Congressional District.
Barack Obama's former press secretary, Jay Carney, worked at Time magazine for 20 years, including several years as Washington bureau chief. He regularly appeared on cable news as an objective commentator until December 2008, when he quit his job to serve as communications director to Vice President Joe Biden.
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