Dana Bash

With almost two decades covering domestic politics for CNN, few can rival Dana Bash’s acumen of national politics. A shrewd observer of all things Washington, Dana leaves audiences informed and engaged on topics as far ranging as the national political mood, women in politics and her own connection to Judaism.

Dana also brings her extensive interview experience to the stage as a moderator, having facilitated presidential primary debates as well as CNN’s political town hall specials.

Dana Bash is CNN's chief political correspondent and co-anchor of “State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash,” the network's Sunday morning newsmaker show. Bash is based in Washington, D.C., where she covers both campaigns and Congress and regularly serves as a moderator for CNN's political town hall specials. She also moderated CNN's first debate of the 2020 election cycle in Detroit, as well as the last Democratic Presidential Debate of the cycle held in Washington, D.C. Bash also anchored special coverage of "Election Night in America" surrounding the 2020 election, which lasted several days until CNN was the first to project Joe Biden as the winner. Bash is the winner of the National Press Foundation's 2019 Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism.

With white nationalists radicalized online perpetrating deadly shootings and insidious conspiracy theories and tropes normalized by political leaders, Bash has taken an in- depth look for a CNN Special Report Rising Hate: Antisemitism in America. The documentary first aired in August 2022. In the timely and unique hour, Bash visited Jewish communities still reeling from recent violence, including Poway, California, where CNN cameras were the first allowed inside since the deadly attack in 2019, and the Temple in Colleyville, Texas, where an extremist antisemite took congregants hostage.

Bash also gets a first look at a command center dedicated to tracking threats against Jews by monitoring the deepest corners of the dark web. In interviews with everyone from victims of hate, to a former Skinhead, to scholars and experts, the report digs deep into the complex reasons for growing antisemitism in the U.S. and, most importantly, explores ways to help curb it.

In 2021, Bash launched her CNN series “Being... ,” which goes beyond her Sunday morning news- making interviews. The series features in- depth conversations with individuals affecting American policy, politics, and culture — giving viewers an understanding of the human being behind the public face. In 2017, Bash launched her digital CNN series, “Badass Women of Washington,” highlighting women from a wide range of backgrounds and generations to show how they have shattered glass ceilings on their way up the ranks.

Bash played a key role in CNN's 2016 presidential primary debates, serving as a questioner in six of the network's seven primetime primary debates on both sides of the aisle. Bash also serves as a co-anchor on set in the CNN Election Center for all election night specials. As part of her coverage of the 2016 presidential campaigns, Bash conducted sit- down interviews with majority of the candidates including Donald Trump; Senators Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Bernie Sanders; and Governors Jeb Bush and John Kasich.

Bash also continues to be instrumental to the network's Capitol Hill coverage. In 2015, she broke news on live television that House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy would not be running for Speaker of the House and also conducted Speaker John Boehner's final interview on his last day in office. Bash also served as the lead correspondent covering former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's 11- hour testimony before the House Select Committee on Benghazi. She played a key role in the network's midterm "Election Night in America" coverage providing reports from the war rooms of the RNC, the DNC and CNN's Election Center in Washington. Bash has secured several key interviews with lawmakers, including a television-exclusive with Sen. Rob Portman (R- Ohio) to talk about his gay marriage reversal, the groundbreaking interview with former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and her husband Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and the first interviews with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) after each member's Senate filibuster.

Bash graduated cum laude with her bachelor's degree in political communications from The George Washington University.