Introducing the Expanded Inside Elections Team

by Nathan L. Gonzales June 2, 2017 · 2:29 PM EDT

I hate press releases, but I’m delighted to introduce a few new members of the Inside Elections team, so this brief will have to suffice. 

Later this month, Leah Askarinam will start as a full-time Reporter & Analyst for Inside Elections, covering all of the key House, Senate, and gubernatorial races. She was most recently an Assistant Editor with The Atlantic, where she worked closely with veteran columnist Ron Brownstein to analyze data that demonstrates the demographic trends that shape politics and policy.

Leah grew up in Bethesda, Maryland and moved to New Orleans to attend Tulane University, where she was editor-in-chief of the student-run newspaper. She stayed nearby for another few years as a middle school English teacher in Chalmette, through the Teach for America program.

I’m also excited to welcome Nathaniel Rakich as a Contributing Analyst. He’ll be working on long-term data projects that we’ll unveil later in the cycle.

Nathaniel’s writing and analysis has been published in The New Yorker, FiveThirtyEight, the Boston Globe, and Grantland, and he previously worked as a senior political analyst at a prominent data and research firm. In his spare time, the Harvard University graduate runs Baseballot, a blog about baseball and politics. In past lives, Nathaniel has worked as a front-office assistant for the Boston Red Sox and still lives in the Boston area.

We’re also adding Robert Yoon as a Contributing Reporter & Analyst. For more than 17 years, Rob was Director of Political Research at CNN, where he was one of the network’s principal authorities on elections, debates, the presidential nomination process, voting procedures, and money in politics. 

Over the course of five presidential campaign cycles, Rob has helped prepare eight different moderators for 30 presidential debates dating back to 2000. He has received two Emmy Awards, five total Emmy nominations, a Peabody Award, and a Headliner Award for his contributions to CNN’s election coverage. Most recently he was on the ground in Montana providing special election coverage for Inside Elections.

That’s in addition to our Production Artist Will Taylor, who is invaluable in making each issue coherent and completed on time, and of course Stuart Rothenberg, Senior Editor and Founder who continues to write his column and provide guidance.