- Pritzker Fellows
- Former Fellows
- Karen Tumulty
Karen Tumulty
National Political Correspondent for The Washington Post
Biography
Karen Tumulty is a national political correspondent for The Washington Post, where she received the Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting in 2014.
She joined the Post in 2010 from TIME Magazine, where she had held the same title. During her more than 15 years at TIME, Tumulty wrote or co-wrote more than three dozen cover stories. She also held positions with TIME as congressional correspondent and White House correspondent. Before joining TIME in 1994, Tumulty spent 14 years at the Los Angeles Times, where she covered a wide variety of beats. During her time there, she reported on Congress, business, energy, and economics out of Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C.
Tumulty is a native of San Antonio, Texas, where she began her career at the now-defunct San Antonio Light. Tumulty holds a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Texas-Austin and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. She is married to Paul Richter, who until recently covered the State Department for the Los Angeles Times and who is now writing a book on foreign policy. They have two sons, Nicholas and Jack.
Seminars
“America’s Divided Politics: A Journalist’s Perspective”
Red. Blue. Left. Right. Coastal elitism. Heartland values. A vanishing center. Our politics has become more partisan - tribal, even - than at any time in living memory. We will start each session looking at the news of the week in this turbulent time, when each day seems to bring a strange new development, and new declarations that “this is not normal.” But then we will delve into the why of it. How did we get here, and what does it mean for the country’s ability to solve its problems? Is there any way back? An overview of the forces at work - among them, values, media, economics.
Capitol Hill is the best place to see what has gone wrong. Our elected representatives reflect America itself, and Congress is as divided along political lines as it has been at any point since the late 1800s. A decade ago, political scientists Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann labeled it the “broken branch.” Those days look rosy compared to the dysfunction now.
Special Guest: Norman Ornstein, Co-Author of “One Nation Under Trump: A Guide for the Perplexed, the Disillusioned, the Desperate and the Not-Yet-Deported”
Donald Trump got elected with a declaration of war on his own party. Now, the grassroots is going one way and the establishment another, leaving the GOP with an epic identity crisis. And worse, little by way of accomplishments. What does this say for the future of a party that controls all the levers of power in Washington, but cannot seem to get anything done? And what does it even mean to be a Republican these days?
Special Guest: Katie Packer Beeson, Republican Political Consultant, Deputy Campaign Manager for GOP Nominee Mitt Romney in 2012, Founder of the Anti-Trump Super PAC Our Principles PAC in 2016
A look at the hashtagization of our national discourse. We have reached the point where the two sides of our great political divide no longer agree even on what the facts are. Where does that leave the news media? The internet has fueled the growth of #fakenews (real and imagined), but it has also given reporters new tools.
Special Guest: David Fahrenthold, Washington Post Reporter & Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting
Money, from Watergate to McCain-Feingold to Citizens United. To what degree has unlimited and unregulated money contributed to the erosion of the political parties and the deepening political divisions in America?
Special Guest: Viveca Novak, McClatchy Investigative Editor & former Editorial and Communications Director of the Center for ResponsivePolitics
From Clarence Thomas to Bill O’Reilly. Bill Clinton to Donald Trump. Sexual harassment has become a partisan battle cry. On Sunday, Karen Tumulty, Mark Berman, and Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post wrote an article entitled “‘My pain is everyday’: After Weinstein’s fall, Trump accusers wonder: Why not him?” A twitterstorm has followed that reveals how even an issue like sexual harassment falls prey to partisan politics. We’ll trace these tweets and look at how they fit the narrative of partisan division and discuss where that leaves us.
The Democrats are completely shut out of power in Washington and have been decimated on the state and local level. Is there a way back from irrelevance?
Special Guest: Tad Devine, Democratic Political Consultant, former Chief Strategist for Bernie Sanders in 2016 and Top Adviser to the Presidential Campaigns of Michael Dukakis (1988), Al Gore (2000) and John Kerry (2004)
Is a third party the answer, and will it ever happen? History suggests they are little more than sideshows, but it may be time to consider another option to a broken two-party system.
Special Guest: Matthew Dowd, ABC News Political Analyst & former Chief Strategist for Bush-Cheney 2004
Has the country lost its ability to solve its problems? A look at where things stand on health care reform, tax reform and other major agenda items.
Special Guest: Jake Sullivan, former National Security Advisor to Vice President Biden & Clinton Campaign Senior Policy Advisor