March 17, 2026, 4:38 p.m.
A decade ago, Ashley Hinson was known as “the TV lady” to eastern Iowans. She was the morning and midday anchor of KCRG broadcasts in the Cedar Rapids media market—the largest in the state. After parlaying that successful journalism career into three terms in Congress, she’s now the favorite to win an open Senate seat in the Hawkeye State.
The Republican congresswoman is among a handful of former broadcasters running in key congressional races this year. These candidates told National Journal that their journalistic instincts and comfort in front of a camera are bonuses for their candidacies and their party’s communication strategy. Despite Americans’ declining trust in the mass media, voters continue to send former broadcasters like Hinson to Congress.
“I realized that I wanted to be able to deliver results ... and take action,” Hinson told National Journal in an interview. “It kind of got to the point where I was like, ‘I should stop talking about it and start doing something about it.’”
Iowa GOP co-chair Linda Upmeyer, a former state House speaker who helped advise Hinson on her first 2016 state House run, said she saw Hinson’s journalistic background translated into her legislative career, citing her research on bills and her presence at weekly press conferences.
“Even just during those conversations I was having with her, I could tell that she would relate well with people at the door, at the grocery store, in the coffee shops—wherever she was out meeting people, she would relate well,” Upmeyer said. “And obviously she was someone that the community already knew.”
Hinson’s Senate run comes after Sen. Joni Ernst announced her retirement last year. Republican strategists told National Journal that Ernst's controversial comment on Medicaid cuts at a May 2025 town hall could have become a general-election liability. Those same Republicans say they view Hinson as a rock-star recruit, electorally gifted enough to hold a potentially competitive seat.
Hinson says it’s important for candidates to be mindful of their communication in public settings, even as she views some recent town hall environments as combative.
“Everybody says things sometimes that they wish they hadn't said, but I just try to focus on making sure I'm answering people's questions and doing the right thing here in Washington, which—my goal has been to make Washington run more like Iowa,” Hinson said.
Other Republican Senate candidates with broadcasting experience are running in tougher terrain. Former NFL sportscaster Michele Tafoya is aiming to flip an open Democratic-held Minnesota Senate seat, and former News 12 reporter Alex Zdan is pursuing an uphill battle against Democratic Sen. Cory Booker in New Jersey.
“If you want someone who can perform in a high-pressure environment, who better than someone who has to make a deadline every day or call plays in a live, evolving, changing situation under immense pressure in a playoff game?” Zdan told National Journal. “That's what we do as broadcasters. We perform in high-pressure situations to the best of our ability, and I think that's an incredibly valuable skill set.”
I've never found it difficult to connect with folks. It is what I did as a journalist, to listen to people and to talk to people. ”
—Arizona House candidate Marlene Galán-Woods, former TV news anchor
Republicans say they are encouraged by Tafoya’s bid in particular, citing her social media audience and her familiarity with new media and traditional media landscapes. A January National Republican Senatorial Committee memo heralded Tafoya as “a high-profile, trusted messenger” with “the voice Minnesotans trust to hold the government accountable.”
Former broadcasters are already wandering the halls of Congress: Rep. Eric Sorensen of Illinois, a former meteorologist; Rep. Mark Alford of Missouri, a former television news anchor; and Rep. María Elvira Salazar of Florida, a former Spanish-language TV journalist.
“I was typecast as a meteorologist, but that means I was not typecast as a politician,” Sorensen told National Journal.
Sorensen, a Democrat, could provide a road map for the numerous Democratic candidates with broadcast experience this cycle as they aim to flip GOP-held seats.
“We need more leaders like myself and other journalists, former journalists, who are able to cut through all that, be credible to our voters, and really explain issues that are important in a factual way, in a credible way,” said Marlene Galán-Woods, a candidate for Arizona’s 1st Congressional District.
Galán-Woods, a former TV news anchor, is running again in the Scottsdale district after placing third in the Democratic primary in 2024. She’s looking to flip the swing seat and replace GOP Rep. David Schweikert as he runs for governor.
“I've never found it difficult to connect with folks. It is what I did as a journalist, to listen to people and to talk to people,” she said.
In Pennsylvania’s 10th District, former WGAL news anchor Janelle Stelson is pursuing a rematch against Republican Rep. Scott Perry after she lost to the congressman by 1 point in 2024. Former Vice President Kamala Harris lost the Harrisburg district by 5 points.
“For more than 30 years, central Pennsylvanians have relied on me to tell the truth, shine a light on our problems, get answers, and hold the powerful accountable,” Stelson told National Journal in a statement. “Few jobs give you the ability to go out and speak to so many people across a community and see up close what issues are impacting them.”
A reporter-versus-reporter matchup could also be in store in Miami. Eliott Rodriguez, a former broadcast journalist for the Miami-based WFOR, is challenging Salazar in her Latino-majority district. Both Rodriguez and Salazar are Cuban American. Rodriguez’s campaign launch video parodies a breaking-news segment, highlighting his celebrity status in the Miami area and his focus on affordability and immigration issues.
“I’m now watching the news, not just as a journalist, but as a citizen. And I've grown deeply concerned that Washington is simply not delivering,” Rodriguez said in his campaign launch. “The people we send there are focused on political theater and culture wars instead of solutions.”
Even though name ID and journalistic experience can help a candidate, success isn’t guaranteed—Arizona’s Kari Lake couldn’t translate her decades at the Phoenix-based KSAZ into electoral success in 2022 and 2024. Still, this year’s crop of ex-broadcasters aren’t hiding their journalistic roots, encouraging their former media colleagues to consider public service.
“I am so optimistic that we'll be able to have more broadcasters, more communication specialists, more meteorologists in the United States Congress," Sorensen said, "not only to help us make good decisions on Capitol Hill, but to help communicate what we do back to the people so they know who's on their side."
