Chris Frates
As National Journal’s national correspondent, Chris Frates covers national politics, congressional leadership and the intersection of money, politics and policy inhabited by Washington’s influence class.
At NJ, he founded Influence Alley and built the one-man lobbying blog into a microsite that covered Congress and K Street with a dedicated three-person team and contributions from across the newsroom.
Prior to joining NJ, he worked for Politico where he founded and authored Politico Influence, a daily intelligence and analysis email chronicling Washington’s lobbyists and message makers.
Previously, he covered health care reform for Politico, regularly breaking news and driving the conversation on a debate that culminated in the sweeping 2010 health care reform law. Frates also founded and wrote Politico Pulse, the organization's daily health reform email briefing that quickly became a must-read crib sheet in Washington.
Before coming to Washington, Frates covered the Colorado legislature and politics for The Denver Post and was part of a team whose work was recognized as a finalist for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news.
Frates has covered three statehouses and numerous local, state and national campaigns. His writing has also appeared in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Dallas Morning News, The Baltimore Sun and The Tampa Tribune.
And his political analysis has been featured on the CBS Evening News, NBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, WTOP and many other national and local television and radio programs.
Of all the important people he has interviewed, Frates still counts Mister Rogers among his favorites.
