Charles McRay Blow (born August 11, 1970) is an American journalist, commentator, and op-ed columnist for The New York Times.

Blow was born and raised in Gibsland, Louisiana.^[1][2] He graduated magna cum laude from Grambling State University, with a bachelor's degree in mass communication.^[3] As a student, he interned at the New York Times and was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, the ‘’Gramblinite.’’ He also founded a now-defunct student magazine called ‘’Razz.’’

He headed the graphics department at The New York Times and was art director at National Geographic.^[4]

In April 2008, he began writing a column in The New York Times. His column had originally appeared biweekly on Saturdays. In May 2009, it became a weekly feature and appeared twice, weekly, in December 2012. As of May 2014, it appears every Monday and Thursday.^[3]

Blow often appears on CNN and MSNBC.

On February 22, 2012, Blow referred to presidential candidate Mitt Romney's "magic underwear", an apparent reference to the Temple Garment, in response to a comment by Romney about two parent households.^[5][6] The comment was criticized as insensitive to Mormons. In response, Romney joked that "I guess we’re finding out for the first time that the media is somewhat biased."^[6] Blow later apologized.^[6][7]

In 2014, Blow published the book-length memoir entitled Fire Shut Up In My Bones.^[8]

In August 2016, while appearing on CNN with Donald Trump presidential campaign delegate Bruce Levell, Blow called Donald Trump a "bigot" and said that anyone who supported Trump is "a part of the bigotry itself."^[9][10]

In February 2017, Blow had a heated exchange with political commentator Kayleigh McEnany on CNN's show, CNN Tonight with Don Lemon.^[11][12][13]

Blow lives in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, New York, with his three children.^[14][3] His eldest son, Tahj, attended Yale University^[15] and his twins, Ian and Iman, attend Middlebury College and Columbia University. In 2014, Blow came out publicly as bisexual.^[16][17]