Ron Elving
Ron Elving is Senior Editor and Correspondent on the Washington Desk for NPR News, where he is frequently heard as a news analyst and writes regularly for NPR.org.
He is also a professorial lecturer and Executive in Residence in the School of Public Affairs at American University, where he has also taught in the School of Communication. In 2016, he was honored with the University Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching in an Adjunct Appointment. He has also taught at George Mason and Georgetown.
He was previously the political editor for USA Today and for Congressional Quarterly. He has been published by the Brookings Institution and the American Political Science Association. He has contributed chapters on Obama and the media and on the media role in Congress to the academic studies Obama in Office 2011, and Rivals for Power, 2013. Ron's earlier book, Conflict and Compromise: How Congress Makes the Law, was published by Simon & Schuster and is also a Touchstone paperback.
During his tenure as manager of NPR's Washington desk from 1999 to 2014, the desk's reporters were awarded every major recognition available in radio journalism, including the Dirksen Award for Congressional Reporting and the Edward R. Murrow Award from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. In 2008, the American Political Science Association awarded NPR the Carey McWilliams Award "in recognition of a major contribution to the understanding of political science."
Ron came to Washington in 1984 as a Congressional Fellow with the American Political Science Association and worked for two years as a staff member in the House and Senate. Previously, he had been state capital bureau chief for The Milwaukee Journal.
He received his bachelor's degree from Stanford University and master's degrees from the University of Chicago and the University of California 鈥� Berkeley.
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Where insurgents arose with a clear claim to being Tea Party favorites, they have lost. In many cases, they have flat-lined weeks before the primary. -
It's clear this year that this will not be another 2010 or 2012, when upstarts embarrassed the GOP's conventional favorites in primary after primary. -
Governors in both parties routinely run for re-election while keeping coy about the White House. But there's no question what's on the Wisconsin governor's mind, long term. -
John Boehner and his GOP leadership team embraced a set of principles for updating the nation's immigration laws. Then the winds shifted and the House Speaker expressed grave doubts about the feasibility of overhaul. -
It wasn't just the gargantuan size of the Democratic class of 1974 that made it historic. The members of the class were young, relatively new to public office and remarkably certain they could remake Washington in their own image. -
ANALYSIS: The president was brisk and confident during Tuesday night's State of the Union address. He also managed to avoid a remarkable array of issues that could have proved problematic. But he hasn't been nearly as adept at the less-dramatic business of dealing with Congress and the media. -
The real reason Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid changed the rules Thursday was the proliferation of the filibuster's use 鈥� and the near-total separation of the tactic from any real objections to the nominee being blocked. -
The premier lessons of Tuesday night's contests ended up being pieces of time-honored wisdom demonstrated anew: Issues matter. Money talks. And polls 鈥� including exit polls 鈥� can be misleading. -
The nomination of Janet Yellen as the most powerful central banker in the world symbolized President Obama's advantages in the current standoff with House Republicans and John Boehner, their titular leader. -
One big reason for the division in Washington is the growing divide between different kinds of voters back home.
