Rachel Smolkin

executive editor CNN Politics

Rachel Smolkin is the executive editor of CNN Politics, overseeing the network’s coverage of Washington, politics and elections across CNN’s global digital platforms. Smolkin led the creation of CNN’s politics brand in the digital space, hiring and building a team of more than 50 reporters, editors and social producers into the No. 1 politics site for three years and counting, per ComScore. She partners on industry-leading television-digital integration in CNN’s Washington bureau and also oversees the KFile investigative unit. Smolkin is a graduate of the Sulzberger Executive Leadership Program at Columbia University and holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University, where she graduated magna cum laude. Before coming to CNN, she was managing editor at Politico, where she oversaw the daily news report. She also has worked as an editor at USA Today and managing editor of American Journalism Review magazine. Smolkin lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband and two children.

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