Kelly O'Donnell (born May 17, 1965) is an American journalist. She is a political reporter for

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

and Capitol Hill correspondent. She appears on ''

NBC Nightly News ''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt'' for its weeknight broadcasts since June 22, 2015) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NB ...

'', ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

'', ''

Meet The Press ''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television news/interview program broadcast on NBC. It is the longest-running program on American television, though the current format bears little resemblance to the debut episode on November 6, 1947. ' ...

'', and

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...

Background

O'Donnell graduated from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science in Education degree, focusing on a combined course of study in journalism and public policy. She served as a reporter and anchor at WJW TV in Cleveland, Ohio, in the 1990s. At this time, O'Donnell worked with former NBC reporter Martin Savidge when WJW was still a

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

station in Cleveland. Beginning in 1994, O’Donnell followed a broad range of stories as an NBC News correspondent based in New York City and Los Angeles. O'Donnell was a regular panelist on ''

The Chris Matthews Show ''The Chris Matthews Show'' was a half-hour weekend news and political round table program produced by NBC News. It was taped in Washington, D.C., and nationally syndicated by NBCUniversal Television Distribution. The program debuted on September ...

'' until it was canceled. She had served as news anchor and substitute host on the ''

Weekend Today ''Weekend Today'' is currently the branding of the weekend editions of ''Today'', an American morning news and talk program that airs daily on NBC. Weekend editions of ''Today'', began with the launch of the Sunday edition of the program on Sep ...

'' program and the weekend edition of ''Nightly News''. She has contributed reports to the primetime news magazine ''

Dateline NBC ''Dateline NBC'' is a weekly American television news magazine/reality legal show that is broadcast on NBC. It was previously the network's flagship general interest news magazine, but now focuses mainly on true crime stories with only occasio ...

''. She served as White House correspondent for NBC News during the second term of George W. Bush; following the 2008 presidential campaign season, she became Capitol Hill correspondent. O'Donnell has covered the Bush Administration, Congress, and several presidential campaigns. In 2016, she was the first to report live on television that

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

had called

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

over the phone to concede the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

. During the Iraq war, she was embedded with the 3rd Infantry Division, stationed in Baghdad and Qatar. In addition, O'Donnell has reported a wide variety of events, including the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

, the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster, the

Oklahoma City bombing The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorism in the United States, domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, on April 19, 1995. Perpetrated by two anti-federal go ...

, and the O. J. Simpson trial. O'Donnell reported on the travels and death of

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

. She also covered both summer and winter Olympic games.

Honors

O'Donnell was inducted into the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Ohio Radio/Television Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2004. She has received the 2014 Alumnae Award and in 2010 the Alumni Merit award from Northwestern University. In 2017, O'Donnell was awarded the Northwestern Alumni Medal—the highest honor given by the Northwestern Alumni Association. She has received many honors, including Emmy awards, a National Headliner award, a New Hampshire Primary Award for Political Reporting, and Los Angeles Press Club awards. In 2021, she was elected president of the

White House Correspondents' Association The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor t ...

for 2023–2024.

Personal life

Kelly grew up in

Mentor, Ohio Mentor ( ) is the largest city in Lake County, Ohio, Lake County, Ohio, United States. The population was 47,450 at the United States Census 2020, 2020 census. It is part of the Cleveland metropolitan area. Mentor was first settled in 1797. In 187 ...

. She graduated Villa Angela Academy (now Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School), a Catholic school in Cleveland. O'Donnell’s grandparents on both sides came from Ireland and she maintains Irish citizenship. She is married to J. David Ake.

References

External links

* *
Senate Press
* {{DEFAULTSORT:ODonnell, Kelly 1965 births Living people American television reporters and correspondents American women television journalists MSNBC people NBC News people Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy alumni Television anchors from Cleveland American people of Irish descent