John Avlon is the latest cable news commentator to run for office in NY

In recent years, a handful of media commentators have been stepping out of spinny cable news chairs and into hot button political races. Currently in the spotlight is the heated congressional race between former senior cable news analyst John Avlon and incumbent GOP Rep. Nick LaLota on the eastern portion of Long Island.

First-time candidate Avlon triumphed in a competitive primary last month against Nancy Goroff to run on the Democratic line in New York’s 1st Congressional District. Before the primaries, Goroff ran ads attacking Avlon, claiming that his ritzy career in New York City did not compare to the work she’s done for the district. Now he turns to the November general election as he faces Lalota, who has been pushing the same narrative that Avlon is a “CNN commentator and Manhattan elitist.” 

Indeed, Avlon appeared on CNN’s “Reality Check with John Avlon,” a segment where he analyzed present extremist politics in context of the past. But Avlon, who was also formerly editor-in-chief at the Daily Beast, is hardly the first cable news pundit to attempt to run for office. Others include unsuccessful congressional candidates Robert Zimmerman, Dylan Ratigan and Michelle Caruso-Cabrera. Maya Wiley, who came in third in the 2021 New York City mayor’s race, was an MSNBC commentator. Mimi Rocah, a former MSNBC legal analyst who was previously a criminal justice fellow at Pace University, was elected Westchester district attorney in 2020. 

As longtime Democratic political consultant Hank Sheinkopf noted, there are many other factors in this race beyond Avlon’s resume.

“He just got a bump from Joe Biden leaving the race, which means that the intensity of interest suddenly changed, so it's more likely that people are now paying more attention and will listen more to what he has to say,” said Sheinkopf.

“He's good to the camera, which is why he was at CNN. He's very smart, ... he knows how to write. He can respond well in debates, because he helped Rudy Giuliani (as a speechwriter). So he's really a talented kind of responder,” Sheinkopf said. “Does that all help him or not? And maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. We don't know yet.” 

Experience in front of the cameras gives these candidates an upper hand in terms of narrative building, name recognition and increased access to donors and endorsement networks that other first time political candidates may not have. 

But these cable news candidates often fall short. The performative nature of television personalities can make their campaigns feel less authentic, overly polished. With an extensive media portfolio also comes the chance of people digging in the archives and resurfacing unfavorable or out of context quotes that can hurt candidates.

“Politics is not just all about name recognition, it's about relationship building,” said Jacob Rubashkin, deputy editor of Inside Elections, a nonpartisan organization that creates election predictions. Inside Elections has ranked the 1st Congressional District as “lean Republican.”

“Someone on a cable news network who decides to run for office runs the risk of looking like they are parachuting into a district that they don't have connection to or haven't spent the time doing the work to get to know,” Rubashkin said.  

In 2022, Zimmerman, a businessman who frequently appeared as Democratic commentator on CNN, FOX and MSNBC, ran for Congress in the 3rd Congressional District on Long Island. Zimmerman won his competitive primary, like Avlon, but he ultimately lost the race to the notorious George Santos, who has since been expelled from Congress. 

In 2018, Ratigan, of MSNBC’s “The Dylan Ratigan Show,” ran in  the 21st Congressional District Democratic primary in northern New York. “My sense of justice ultimately supersedes my desire to maintain social status and lifestyle,” Ratigan said during a campaign interview. Ratigan might be known for his heated televised political debates on U.S. economics, but it wasn’t enough to get him elected into office. Despite his passion, Ratigan lost to Tedra Cobb, who was later defeated by Republican Elise Stefanik. 

In 2020, Caruso-Cabrera, the first Latina anchor on CNBC, lost the 14th district primary congressional race against incumbent Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the Bronx and Queens. Most of her campaigning involved bashing Ocasio-Cortez claiming that her ideas were divisive, whereas Caruso-Cabrera claimed she could bring “unity” to the Democratic Party. In 2021, Caruso-Cabrera campaigned for New York City comptroller, but also lost. 

Wiley, a civil rights lawyer who was also a former MSNBC legal analyst, ran for New York City Mayor in 2021. Wiley, who was also former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s counsel, said that she was “not a conventional candidate.” 

However, her extensive resume in civil rights law and advocacy and endorsements from Ocasio-Cortez and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren almost got her a win over Eric Adams, who has previously held office as the Brooklyn borough president. 

Though Ratigan, Caruso-Cabrera, Zimmerman and Wiley lost their races, reasons might not be completely related to their experience in the media. Someone else ultimately led a more convincing campaign – and that doesn’t require TV experience.