Alice Stewart, a Republican strategist and political commentator on CNN, has died. She was 58.
Her dying was introduced by CNN. The corporate mentioned the police discovered Ms. Stewart’s physique open air in Northern Virginia early Saturday morning. The authorities consider she had a medical emergency.
Mark Thompson, CNN’s chief govt, described her in an e-mail to workers members as “a political veteran and an Emmy Award-winning journalist who introduced an incomparable spark to CNN’s protection” and who was identified not simply “for her political savvy, however for her unwavering kindness,” CNN reported.
Ms. Stewart had appeared on the cable information outlet as a conservative commentator for the reason that 2016 presidential race. Earlier than that, Ms. Stewart had labored on a number of Republican presidential campaigns.
She was the communications director for the 2008 presidential marketing campaign of Mike Huckabee, the previous Arkansas governor, and went on to serve in related roles for Republican candidates in two following elections, together with Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum and Ted Cruz, based on her LinkedIn profile.
Ms. Stewart served because the deputy secretary of state in Arkansas, based on the Harvard Kennedy College Institute of Politics, the place she was a fellow in 2020. She had additionally executed work for the Republican Get together and conservative organizations.
At CNN, Ms. Stewart seen herself as a devoted promoter of conservatism whereas the Republican Get together reshaped itself beneath the management of former President Donald J. Trump.
“I don’t assume every little thing that he does is nice, and I don’t assume every little thing that he does is dangerous,” Ms. Stewart mentioned of Mr. Trump in a 2020 interview with Harvard Political Assessment. “My place at CNN is to be a conservative voice but an impartial thinker.”
In an opinion piece revealed on CNN final yr, Ms. Stewart requested Republican voters to rethink their unconditional help for Mr. Trump’s 2024 election bid given the varied felony costs he faces.
“This can be a marketing campaign about self-preservation, not selfless public service,” Ms. Stewart wrote. “I’m not satisfied that’s the way you Make America Nice Once more.”
Ms. Stewart had expertise presenting concepts on reside tv lengthy earlier than she joined CNN.
Earlier than transitioning to politics in 2005 with a job as press secretary within the administration of Mr. Huckabee, Ms. Stewart was a information anchor and reporter for seven years at an NBC tv affiliate in Little Rock, Ark., based on LinkedIn.
“I cherished overlaying politics. I cherished courts. I cherished breaking information,” Ms. Stewart mentioned in a 2020 interview with Harvard Worldwide Assessment. “However, a number of years in the past, I simply realized that there is perhaps one thing totally different for me to do.”
Ms. Stewart was born on March 11, 1966, in Atlanta, based on CNN. She earned a level in broadcast information and political science from the College of Georgia, based on Harvard Worldwide Assessment.
Ms. Stewart final appeared on CNN on Friday on “The State of affairs Room with Wolf Blitzer,” CNN mentioned.
An inventory of survivors was not instantly accessible.