Candy Crowley

Fall 2012 Mary Louise Smith Chair in Women and Politics

*On November 13, 2012, Candy Crowley presented the lecture "Post-Election Analysis."

Candy Crowley departed CNN after 27 years on December 21, 2014, with an interview with President Obama. She became a fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics in fall 2015.

Crowley was anchor of CNN's "State of the Union with Candy Crowley," a political hour of newsmaker interviews and weekly analysis, from February 2010 through December 2014. As CNN’s chief political correspondent, Candy Crowley led CNN's coverage of presidential, congressional and gubernatorial races and major legislative developments on Capitol Hill. On Oct. 16, 2012, she was the first woman in two decades to moderate a nationally broadcast presidential debate.

As anchor chair for "State of the Union," Crowley interviewed top newsmakers including Vice President Joe Biden; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner; outgoing Secretary of Defense Robert Gates; former President George W. Bush with his brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush; former Vice President Dick Cheney with his daughter Liz Cheney; and 2012 Republican presidential candidates U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, businessman Herman Cain, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul and former Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum.

Crowley played a pivotal role in CNN’s “America Votes 2008" Peabody Award-winning coverage, traveling to both national conventions, every debate and additional stops along the campaign trail.

She has covered the presidential campaigns of Pat Buchanan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Howard Dean, Bob Dole, Jesse Jackson, Edward Kennedy, John Kerry, Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan. Since the presidential nomination of Jimmy Carter, Crowley has covered all but one of the national political party conventions. She also was granted an exclusive sit-down interview with President George W. Bush days before he left office.

Crowley began her broadcast journalism career in Washington, DC, as a newsroom assistant for Metromedia radio station WASH. She has served as an anchor for Mutual Broadcasting and as a general assignment and White House correspondent for the Associated Press, where she covered most of the Reagan era before moving on to NBC-TV to become a general assignment correspondent in its Washington bureau. She came to CNN from NBC News in 1987. Prior to her current role, Crowley served as a congressional correspondent for the network.

In 2013, Crowley received the Leonard Zeidenberg First Amendment Award from the Radio Television Digital News Foundation. In 2012, she was honored with the American News Women’s Club Award for Excellence in Journalism. In 2005, Crowley was honored with the Edward R. Murrow award and the Joan Shorenstein Barone Award for excellence in journalism for her reporting on the 2004 presidential election. Crowley won the Gracie Allen Award in 2004 for “War Stories” and a National Headliner and a Cine award for “CNN Presents: Fit to Kill.”

In 2003, Crowley won an Emmy Award for her work on “CNN Presents: Enemy Within.” She won the 1999 DuPont-Columbia University Silver Baton Award for her coverage of the impeachment and trial of President Bill Clinton. She won the 2003 and 1998 Dirksen Awards for distinguished reporting on Congress from the National Press Foundation and the 1997 Joan Shorenstein Barone Award for her coverage of Bob Dole’s campaign for the presidency. Her reporting on more than a dozen 1992 U.S. Senate campaigns was runner-up for the Joan Shorenstein Barone Award for Outstanding Journalism.

Crowley earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College.