Michael Cooper Is Our Next Politics Editor

Colleagues,

Our U.S. politics coverage has always been fearless and urgent. And over the last decade, we've transformed an effort that waxed and waned with the election cycle to an always-on enterprise that breaks news, investigates stories and interrogates the dynamics affecting the country - no matter whether that year ends in an odd or even number.

So for our next Politics editor, we needed a leader who was not only grounded in the complexities of the United States electoral map, but also an unflappable newshound with outstanding judgment and boundless stamina.

We are pleased to share that we have found that person in Michael Cooper, an esteemed colleague who has played a role in our coverage of most of this century's presidential elections. In 2000, he traveled on Dick Cheney's campaign plane and covered the election's overtime rounds in Tallahassee, Fla. Michael also helped cover the 2004 conventions, and in 2008 he covered the campaign of Senator John McCain, logging countless hours on the Straight Talk Express. During the 2012 campaign, Michael showed his innovative spirit by helping pioneer a more robust approach to fact-checking.

More recently, Michael anchored The Times's live coverage of the 2020 presidential campaign. And last year as the Trump and Harris campaigns made their final appeals to voters, Michael was weekend editor on the Politics team led by David Halbfinger, before David took his new role in Jerusalem .

With the Republican Party in power and the Democratic Party trying to determine its next moves, we know Michael and his superb team will have a rich trove of stories to mine heading into the 2026 midterm elections. The Politics team will continue to work collaboratively across the newsroom, especially with the Washington bureau and National desk, as well as Election Analytics and Graphics.

Beyond his wide-ranging experience in political coverage, Michael has honed his skills around the newsroom. Early in his career, he was a Metro reporter whose beats included the police, City Hall and the New York State Capitol in Albany, where he was the bureau chief. As a National correspondent, he reported on infrastructure, urban affairs and the Great Recession. Along the way, he covered hurricanes, plane crashes, 9/11 and the coronavirus pandemic.

Later, he joined Culture as a reporter to cover two of his passions, classical music and dance. In 2020, he was promoted to be a deputy editor in Culture for news coverage, where he has shed light on the artists, industries and institutions that power the cultural sphere - work that took the team of reporters he worked with from some of the world's most prestigious stages and museums to covering trials and crime scenes .

Michael, born and raised in New York City and a graduate of Columbia College, joined The Times as a night assistant during his freshman year in college. During one of his first election nights at The Times, Max Frankel stopped by the Metro desk to ask who was calling the City Council races. An editor pointed to Michael. "Good Lord!" Max said, and promptly gave the job to someone who was old enough, legally, to drink.

A couple of decades later, we couldn't be prouder that Michael will be at the helm on future election nights.

Please join us in congratulating Michael as he takes on one of our newsroom's most important roles.

- Joe, Carolyn and Marc