POLITICO announces key 2026 hires across Politics, Playbook and Hollywood

Announcement from Senior Executive Editor Alex Burns, Deputy Executive Editor Julia Marsh, States Editorial Director Ryan Hutchins, and California Editorial Director Christopher Cadelago:

Tessa Berenson Rogers Named Magazine Editor

Tessa is a formidably versatile editor and newsroom leader, with a gift for steering complex stories and editorial projects. She is the right person to take POLITICO Magazine into its next phase, as a dynamic platform for enterprise journalism and big ideas, tightly bonded to the core of our editorial mission covering this age of disruption in politics and policy.

Prior to POLITICO, Tessa spent a decade as an editor and reporter at Time Magazine, including as a White House reporter during the first Trump administration. She edited a wide range of content, from long-form enterprise to breaking news, and authored several definitive profiles of conservative legal leaders including Justice Brett Kavanaugh and former Attorney General Bill Barr.

Jonathan Lai Named Editorial Director, Politics and Polling

In this new role, Jonathan will oversee the politics team working closely with Politics Editor Cameron Joseph, while continuing to direct our innovative POLITICO Poll. We will also be adding a third editor to this new structure in the coming weeks.

Jonathan is a strategic newsroom leader with bold, creative ideas for making our elections coverage distinctive in a crowded media environment. At the same time, he understands the need to deliver policy reporting that is indispensable to subscribers, as he’s done with The POLITICO Poll. He cares deeply about helping reporters and fellow editors stretch themselves to meet the demands of major news moments. He’s eager to build on the teams’ strong reputations — from redistricting reporting to policy-driven polling — and help them carve out additional storylines they can own through sought-after scoops and definitive enterprise.

Giuseppe Macri Named Playbook Editor

Giuseppe comes to us from Bloomberg Government, where he is an editor and team leader overseeing coverage of Congress, the White House and the federal courts. He brings the perfect mix of experience for this new role: deep expertise covering Washington, paired with a strong track record of authoring and editing newsletters for a highly engaged, influential audience.

He is also a longtime reader and admirer of Playbook as the most influential destination for political decision-makers. Giuseppe brings the competitive drive and future forward vision needed to ensure Playbook maintains its gold-standard status.

Giuseppe will work closely with author Jack Blanchard and the entire Playbook team to prioritize exclusive, personality-driven and actionable coverage that keeps readers captivated. His standout editing test demonstrated his ability to make the newsletter the snappiest, sharpest and most illuminating version of itself.

Chris Sommerfeldt Named co-author of New York Playbook

Chris Sommerfeldt joins POLITICO this week as a co-author of New York Playbook and a key member of our City Hall team. He has spent the past decade at the New York Daily News, covering Mayor Eric Adams and breaking a steady stream of stories on ethics scandals, internal investigations and the political fissures that defined Adams’ tenure. His reporting helped prompt resignations, reforms and scrutiny from the city’s Department of Investigation.

More recently, Chris has been out front on the early challenges facing Mayor Zohran Mamdani — from friction with NYPD leadership to the growing pains of bringing movement politics into government. Chris and Senior Reporter Joe Anuta will partner to anchor our coverage of City Hall and Mamdani’s first year at the helm of the nation’s biggest city.

Jason Beeferman Named co-author of New York Playbook

Jason Beeferman is also being named a Playbook co-author, reflecting the outsized role he has already played on the New York team. Jason had a breakout year — capped by his explosive Young Republicans story with Playbook co-author Emily Ngo. Jason will continue to anchor New York Playbook PM while joining the AM rotation. He’ll remain one of our primary reporters covering Hochul and the Legislature from the Capitol and take the lead on the governor’s reelection, working closely with Albany Bureau Chief and Playbook co-author Nick Reisman.

Daniel Miller Joins POLITICO in California to Cover the Influence of Hollywood, Media, Sports and Tech on Politics

We have big news in Hollywood: Daniel Miller is joining POLITICO as our first reporter dedicated to covering the intersection of Hollywood, technology, sports, media and politics in California.

Daniel is uniquely suited for this role. He is deeply rooted in Los Angeles, with a well of sources across Hollywood and the city’s civic power centers, where he has spent more than two decades chronicling how money, influence and culture shape Southern California.

His hire is part of POLITICO’s ambitious expansion in California. As we continue to grow our footprint across the state, Daniel will help define a new beat focused on Hollywood and Los Angeles power: the rainmakers, dealmakers and cultural figures who shape policy debates, elections and public life far beyond the state’s borders. Daniel will explore how Hollywood and Southern California operate as engines of political power, a magnet for 2028 presidential contenders, and a central node of the attention economy — particularly as the region prepares to host the World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games.

Daniel joins POLITICO after 13 years at the Los Angeles Times, where he served in various roles as a staff writer and enterprise reporter. He has broken and led reporting on stories ranging from allegations of sexual misconduct at LA’s Magic Castle to the fraught political ties between The Walt Disney Co. and the city of Anaheim and the mystery of a missing million-dollar pocket watch once owned by J.P. Morgan. He wrote, reported and hosted an award-winning podcast detailing the life of an enigmatic LA street racer, went inside the world of second-tier talent agents operating on the fringes of Hollywood and captured the annoyances of residents living on the same street as Kamala Harris (and yes, broke the story of the high-end grocery Erewhon’s removal of Hailey Bieber’s name from its $20 smoothie).

Daniel was named Journalist of the Year at the 2015 National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards and, a year later, received the Entertainment Journalist of the Year award from the L.A. Press Club. He was also a Loeb Awards finalist in 2016 for "Selling Stardom," a series on unscrupulous Hollywood operators. More recently, the Society for Features Journalism has twice recognized his narrative reporting with its Excellence-in-Features Awards.