Brianna Tucker spoke to NPF Widening the Pipeline fellows on October 21, 2022. 

Brianna Tucker is a deputy politics editor for NextGen Politics at The Washington Post, covering campaigns and Congress. As editor of this team, she guides what, when and how The Post publishes daily breaking political reporting on social platforms and The Post’s site, working closely with two new reporters responsible for social-first, on-the-ground reporting that brings The Post’s audiences the news in real-time.

Since 2021, Tucker has served as a deputy editor on the 202 newsletters team, where she earned a reputation as a compassionate manager and incisive line editor. As the 5 a.m. sentinel, she edited news and analysis and caught early morning scoops for The Early 202 (previously Power Up). Tucker was integral to the redesign and relaunch of the 202 newsletter suite last fall and edited the successful debut of The Climate 202 last year on the EPA’s plans to unveil aggressive climate action. She routinely collaborated with the climate team to boost The Post’s overall environmental coverage, guiding on-the-ground coordination of the climate newsletter during COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, and produced live coverage when executives from major oil companies testified before Congress.

Tucker also contributed to broader politics coverage and regularly identified opportunities to reach new audiences, helping launch pieces such as how young people watched the Jan. 6 committee hearings and the viral “DearWhiteStaffers” Instagram account, which scrutinized the culture of Capitol Hill.

Before joining The Post in 2021, Tucker edited and fact-checked political stories for Supermajority Education Fund. She previously worked at the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, where she edited and published in-depth research on race, immigration, religion, and politics, among other topics. Prior to that, Tucker was a lead writer for the Beat DC, a daily political newsletter.

Tucker graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, Online News Association, and National Press Club. She is also a recipient of the 2022 Maynard Institute Fellowship, which cultivates media leaders to expand diversity and belonging in news media.