WSJ hires Stokols to help cover White House

Politico reporter Eli Stokols has been hired by The Wall Street Journal to help cover the White House.

Stokols covered the Republican side of the 2016 presidential election for Politico. He will start for the Journal in early April.

In an email to the staff, Washington bureau chief Paul Beckett wrote:

He covered the 2016 Republican primary, during which he wrote a definitive piece on the collapse of Jeb Bush’s juggernaut. Since then, he’s become a stand-out in coverage of the president, including detailed looks at the new Cabinet and its interaction with Mr. Trump’s inner circle.

Eli is a self-starter and an excellent team player, who will help broaden our coverage and help us reach deeper into the White House. His prior television experience and continuing regular appearances will also help raise our profile and draw more attention to our excellent work.

Before joining Politico in the spring of 2016, Stokols spent almost a decade covering politics in Colorado for Denver’s KDVR-TV, where he won a number of local Emmy awards and was recognized as one of the most influential political reporters in the state.

In addition to his on-air work filing daily reports, hosting a Sunday morning interview program and anchoring evening newscasts, he maintained a political blog and contributed written features to Politico Magazine and Denver’s 5280 Magazine.

A southern California native now living in Washington, D.C., Stokols began his journalism career in Louisiana. He is a graduate of Cal-Berkeley, where he pitched for the Cal baseball team. He holds a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.