Nicholas Fandos

I am a reporter covering New York politics and government for The New York Times.

What I Cover

New York is home to some of the biggest political personalities in the country, and I get to cover all of them. I’ve written extensively about influence peddling in Albany, helped to expose the web of lies spun by Representative George Santos and charted how New York became an unlikely but pivotal congressional election battleground. I also try to look closely at how some of the most complicated challenges facing the country — from the Covid pandemic to large-scale migration — are transforming New York City and its leaders.

My Background

I’ve been covering politics and policy for almost a decade. I started as an intern in The Times’s Washington bureau in 2015, and worked my way up from answering phones to covering Congress before eventually moving to New York. In four years on Capitol Hill, I chronicled the bruising confirmation fight over Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the first federal criminal justice overhaul in decades, the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, two impeachments and who knows how many bills and campaigns in between.

I was raised in the suburbs of St. Louis. I graduated from Harvard, where I studied American history and literature but mostly skipped class to report for the campus newspaper.

Journalistic Ethics

Journalistic independence is crucial to what we do at The Times, especially for political reporters. Like all Times journalists, I adhere to our extensive ethics policy. I don’t participate in political causes or make donations to candidates. I believe that it is important for me to treat the people and ideas I write about with fairness and respect, so that readers have the facts and perspective they need to make informed decisions.

• Email: nicholas.fandos@nytimes.com

• X: @npfandos

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