Lisa Desjardins is a correspondent for PBS NewsHour, where she covers news from the U.S. Capitol while also traveling across the country to report on how decisions in Washington affect people where they live and work. She won the 2021 Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress. She specializes in breaking down complex stories and political disagreements into the key pieces that matter, often translating numbers and fiscal information into accessible stories for the audience.

Prior to joining NewsHour, Desjardins spent nearly ten years with CNN as a senior correspondent and Capitol Hill reporter. Prior to CNN, she reported for the Associated Press, WBTW-TV, WIS-TV, WTS-TV, Reuters and The Sun News. At WIS in Columbia, South Carolina, she broke news of the compromise to bring down the Confederate flag from the state house dome.

Desjardins earned a bachelor’s degree at the College of William and Mary and a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She also received a first-level graduate degree in Russian Studies from the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia. Desjardins is the recipient of the 2021 Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association Joan S. Barone Award for her reporting during and after the January 6th Capitol insurrection, as well as a Peabody Award for CNN’s coverage of the 2008 election and a Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi award for national breaking news for coverage of the Haiti earthquake.

Desjardins briefed National Press Foundation fellows in April 2022: How Jan. 6 Changed the Congress Beat. She also briefed NPF fellows in February 2026: ‘Wild West’ is New Norm for Congressional Coverage.