NBC News’ White House Correspondent Kelly O’Donnell has been named President of the White House Correspondents’ Association for the 2023-’24 term after a tie breaking vote.
Photo Courtesy of Morning Joe.
On Monday, the WHCA released results for their annual election to decide three new members for the association’s nine person executive board, only to discover a tie between O’Donnell and the Politico White House Correspondent Anita Kumar for the At-Large executive board seat. Even more surprising, O’Donnell and Kumar were both top choices for the associations’ next presidential term, also on the ballot this year, with O’Donnell winning 204 to Kumar’s 191 votes.
However, according to the WHCA’s bylaws, only a sitting board member can be elected President. As a result, the decision on the next WHCA President of the 2023-’24 term became contingent on a tie-breaking vote by the outgoing executive board. Late Wednesday night, the board made their decision, voting 7 to 2 in O’Donnell’s favor, reports AdWeek.
The current WHCA President, Associated Press White House Correspondent Zeke Miller, will finish his term at the end of this year. CBS News Radio White House correspondent Steven Portnoy will take up the seat for the 2021-’22 term, followed by NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith for the 2022-’23 term.
In her 27 years working for NBC News, Kelly O’Donnell has covered several presidential campaigns, the summer and winter Olympics, and several major events including the Oklahoma City bombings and the O.J. Simpson trials. She was embedded in the 3rd Infantry Division during the Iraq War and was the first to report on live television Hillary Clinton’s concession call to President Trump following the 2016 elections. While at NBC she has worked as a Capitol Hill and White House correspondent, and has appeared on many NBC platforms including NBC Nightly News, Today, and Meet the Press.
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