Rachel Smolkin is CNN Digital’s executive editor of politics, spearheading the effort to provide the best, most insightful and most engaging political news through text, video and social storytelling. She assembled a nearly 45-person team by drawing on talent from 20 of the nation’s top news organizations, including Politico, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Yahoo, Bloomberg and the Los Angeles Times.
Smolkin’s team works closely with the entire CNN Washington Bureau to harness reporting from the network’s anchors, reporters, producers and programs to ensure CNN Politics is a powerful, entertaining, multi-platform destination. After only six months at CNN, Smolkin took CNNPolitics.com to the No. 1 ranked position for online political news, where it remains today.
Smolkin joined CNN from Politico, where she served as managing editor of news. At Politico, she oversaw news and enterprise coverage that led the website, as well as the daily news report. Smolkin also served as deputy managing editor and White House editor, covering major breaking news stories such as the killing of Osama bin Laden, the 2011 debt ceiling negotiations, the Supreme Court decision upholding President Obama’s signature health care law, Obama’s reelection, the 2012 fiscal cliff fight, the government shutdown and Eric Cantor’s defeat. Smolkin was also previously at USA Today, where she supervised the White House and legal affairs teams. Before that, she served as managing editor of American Journalism Review.
She lives in Arlington, Va., with her husband and two children.
Follow Rachel on Twitter @RachelSmolkin.
