Politico promotes Dixon to deputy managing editor

Politico executive editor Dafna Linzer sent out the following:

All—

We’re thrilled to announce that Darius Dixon is taking on an expanded role as a Deputy Managing Editor for States. It’s a mission-critical position that will become even more important as political power continues to shift from Washington to the states — and as our own ambitions grow.

The States operation, once a startup experiment in writing about New York politics, has expanded to more than 50 reporters and editors working across six states and Washington. We’ve built a robust model for producing urgent, day-defining coverage of statehouses for a professional audience. We’ve combined that with reporting on education and cannabis policy, plus a stream of high-level, scoopy stories on the rising influence of governors, mayors and other state and local officials.

Darius’ promotion is a testament to the major part he played in that: As Associate Editor on States, a role he took in 2019, Darius has edited and guided most of our state Playbooks, overseen the creation of state legislative analysis and coordinated reporting on state policy for Pro Premium subscribers. He’s shaped energy and environmental coverage across the states. And he has been working closely with the Education and Cannabis teams in recent months.

With his new expanded role, the Cannabis and Education teams will now report up to Darius, who will continue to keep much of his existing portfolio. He’ll work alongside Deputy Managing Editor Ryan Hutchins as we plan for the future of States.

Darius joined the company in 2010, making him one of the longest-tenured members of the staff. For years, he’s acted as an unofficial newsroom diplomat. He’s built connections between teams and people. He’s also played an important role advising members of the newsroom fellowship program and has been involved with the POLITICO Journalism Institute nearly every year since its inception.

Prior to becoming an editor, Darius covered the Energy Department, including nuclear power, the grid and more. He came to POLITICO from E&E News as one of the original reporters on the then-new Energy vertical, before to the launch of Pro.

Inside our newsroom, Darius is probably best known for asking a question or two at staff meetings and – in the pre-Covid days – organizing happy hours and monthly brainstorming sessions over Darius-approved untoasted bagels. He’s a New York City native (going back five generations) and will openly judge your pizza and bagel choices. But he’s made the DMV home with his wife of 10 years and two boys, ages 4 and 7.

He didn’t write for his college paper or envision a career in journalism until his late 20s: His first three degrees are in materials science and geology (journalism was the fourth).
Please join us in congratulating Darius on his important new assignment.