Tom Verdin named democracy news editor

Earlier this year, the AP pledged to inject more resources into covering the challenges to democracy in the U.S. including voting rights and access, the administration of elections and the role of misinformation and propaganda. We are thrilled to move forward with this crucial journalism by announcing Tom Verdin as the AP’s new Democracy News Editor. Tom is well positioned to take the lead on this important coverage. Over the course of more than two decades at the AP, he has mastered the ability to leverage our footprint to produce ambitious journalism. He oversaw a groundbreaking review last year that found fewer than 475 instances of voter fraud in the six battleground states disputed by former President Donald Trump, a number that would have made no difference in the 2020 election. That reporting has been repeatedly cited by the AP and other outlets to disprove Trump’s lies about widespread voter fraud.

For the past seven years, Tom has managed AP’s signature coverage of state government in all 50 statehouses. That experience will be especially important as we look to the 2024 presidential election, which will require us to seamlessly fuse national political reporting with developments in legislatures and state governments. In his new role, Tom will be joining the wider politics, elections and democracy team and report to Deputy Washington Bureau Chief Steven Sloan. He will remain based in Sacramento and work closely with colleagues in Washington and throughout the U.S. to ensure the AP has robust and ambitious journalism on one of the most crucial issues of our time. AP is uniquely positioned for this moment. Not only have we covered elections around the world throughout most of our 176-year history, the AP has counted the vote across the United States and we call thousands of national, state and local races in each election cycle. Tom will build on the impressive coverage AP journalists are already doing on democracy and lead a dedicated reporting team who will cover a range of key issues from voting patterns and access, election administration, the dangers of misinformation, trust in elections and institutions and much more. Please join us in congratulating Tom!
Anna and Steven