Ryan Christopher Lizza (born July 12, 1974) is the Chief Washington Correspondent for Politico and a Senior Political Analyst for CNN. ^[2]

Lizza attended the Berkshire School, ^[3] a private co-educational boarding school in the town of Sheffield, Massachusetts and received his bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley. ^[4]

Lizza started his career at the Center for Investigative Reporting in San Francisco, where he worked on the Emmy Award-winning Frontline documentary Hot Guns.^[5][6] In 1998, he joined The New Republic, where he became Senior Editor. From 1998 to 2007, Lizza covered Bill Clinton's impeachment, the Florida recount, the Bush White House, and the 2004 presidential election. In 2004, he also wrote about politics for The Atlantic, including one of the first national magazine profiles of Barack Obama.^[7] From 2004 to 2006 Lizza was a contributing editor for New York magazine,^[8] where he wrote about national politics. In 2006 and 2007 Lizza was also a correspondent for GQ. ^[9] From 2002 to 2007, Lizza also regularly contributed to The New York Times. ^[10]

In 2007, Lizza became the Washington correspondent for The New Yorker magazine, where he covered the White House and presidential politics and wrote the magazine's popular "Letter From Washington" column. ^[11] Lizza covered the 2008 U.S. presidential election for The New Yorker, and wrote an extended profile of Barack Obama's career in Illinois politics.^[12] In 2009, the article was nominated for a National Magazine Award.^[13] During the campaign, a cartoon in the New Yorker allegedly caused the Obama campaign to exclude Lizza from Obama's campaign plane, with a lack of space cited as the reason.^[14] In July 2017, his report on a conversation with White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci^[15] led to Scaramucci's dismissal from the post.^[16]

Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News referred to Lizza as "required reading" for those interested in the American political scene.^[17] In June, 2009, The Washingtonian magazine included Lizza on its list of Washington's "50 Top Journalists" and described him as a writer who "change[s] the way readers see the world."^[18]

Conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt said Lizza is "widely regarded as one of the premier political reporters of the United States working at this time."^[19]

On December 11, 2017, The New Yorker and Lizza severed ties after the magazine claimed that he engaged in "what [they] believe is improper sexual conduct." Lizza "vigorously denied" the claim and said he was "dismayed" by the magazine's decision, which he claimed "was a terrible mistake" and "was made hastily and without a full investigation of the facts." On January 25, 2018, CNN, which temporarily "pulled [Lizza] from future on-air appearances," said that "the network conducted an extensive investigation into the matter" and "has found no reason to continue to keep Mr. Lizza off the air.” On March 6, 2018, Vanity Fair reported that after Rolling Stone magazine "conducted its own due diligence" investigation into The New Yorker claim, it asked Lizza to contribute to the magazine. ^[20]

On June 7, 2018, Esquire magazine announced that Lizza was joining the magazine as Esquire's Chief Political Correspondent. ^[21]

On December 17, 2018, Publishers Marketplace reported that Lizza and Olivia Nuzzi, the Washington Correspondent for New York magazine, are writing a "coauthored account of the 2020 presidential campaign" for Avid Reader Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. ^{[22] [23]}

On August 30, 2019, in a note to staff, Carrie Budoff Brown, Politico’s editor, and Matthew Kaminski, Politico’s Editor-in-Chief, announced that Lizza was joining Politico as Chief Washington Correspondent: “Starting next week, Ryan will bring his decades of experience, deep source network and elegant pen and incisive mind to our best-in-class politics team. He’ll weigh in on the news, write feature pieces, headline events and help us all chart the next great chapter of POLITICO. Ryan will play a major role in our 2020 coverage, as well as make sense of the political and policy crosscurrents in Washington and beyond. As his title implies, he’ll bring to life the people and stories that drive this town.” ^[24]

Lizza is a resident of Washington, D.C. He has two children ^[25] and is the son of Barbara and Frank Lizza.^[1]

In 2008, Lizza was a finalist for the National Magazine Award for Reporting, which "honors the enterprise, exclusive reporting, and intelligent analysis that a magazine exhibits in covering an event, a situation, or a problem of contemporary interest and significance." ^[26]

In 2011, Lizza received an Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting on Congress Honorable Mention ^[27] and Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting Honorable Mention ^[28] for his reporting on Congress's failed attempt to pass climate legislation.^[29]

In 2012, Lizza won the Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence "for his coverage of the U.S. foreign policy battles during the 'Arab Spring.'" ^[30]

On April 27, 2013, the White House Correspondents' Association presented Lizza with the Aldo Beckman Memorial Award for journalistic excellence "for his remarkable efforts to provide an independent perspective on President Barack Obama’s presidency and re-election." ^[31]

In 2015, he was a finalist for the Newhouse School Mirror Award competition honoring excellence in media industry reporting (Best Single Article, Digital Media). ^[32]

Lizza's writing was included in the 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 editions of The Best American Political Writing.^[33]