Richard E. Cohen, 62, is a senior congressional reporter for Politico. In that position, he writes about both legislative and electoral politics, and deals regularly with a broad cross-section of Members of Congress. He joined the staff in July 2010. Previously, he was a long-time congressional reporter for National Journal. He was the 1990 winner of the Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for distinguished reporting of Congress.
Cohen also has been an author of numerous books about Congress. From 2001 until 2010, he was co-author with Michael Barone of The Almanac of American Politics, the biennial “bible” of 535 Members of Congress and their districts. His biography of the late Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, the long-time chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, was published by Ivan R. Dee Publisher of Chicago in 1999. His previous titles include Washington at Work: Back Rooms and Clean Air, on the enactment of the 1990 Clean Air Act, which was initially published by Macmillan Publishing Co. in 1992. In 1993, he authored another book for Macmillan, Changing Course in Washington: Clinton and the New Congress, on how President Clinton and the Democrats in Congress initially sought to change the direction of government. In 1981, he wrote Congressional Leadership: Seeking a New Role, a monograph published by Georgetown University's Center for Strategic and International Studies. He also has been a frequent contributor to other publications, and he has been a regular guest on radio, TV and cable news programs. He has served many years as a member of the executive committee of the congressional periodical galleries, and currently is chairman of the committee.
He graduated in 1969 from Brown University, where he was publisher of the Brown Daily Herald, and in 1972 from Georgetown University Law Center. During law school, he was an aide to U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke of Massachusetts. A native of Northampton, Massachusetts, he attended local schools there. He and his wife Lyn Schlitt, who is Director of External Relations at the U.S. International Trade Commission, live in McLean Virginia. They have one daughter.