Eugene Daniels

Eugene Anthony Daniels-Stephens II (born February 12, 1989) is an American journalist. He is the senior Washington correspondent for MS NOW and co-host of The Weekend.

Early life and education Daniels was born in Manhattan, New York, on February 12, 1989. Less than a year later his family moved to Fort Hood, Texas. Daniels' father was a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army and was deployed several times to Iraq following the 9/11 attacks and the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He attended Shoemaker High School in Killeen, Texas where he played football. On December 12, 2006, Daniels committed to play NCAA Division I football at Colorado State University. He signed a letter of intent on February 7, 2007.

Daniels was a defensive lineman at Colorado State, where off the field he majored in political science, later switching to journalism. He was a redshirt freshman for the 2007-08 season. On August 20, 2009, Daniels was taken to the hospital following heat-related health issues during a team practice. In 2010, just before his junior season, Daniels injured his shoulder. He continued as a part of the team but stopped playing due to his shoulder injury. He began to focus more on his journalism career. At the 2011 NCAA Convention in San Antonio, Texas, Daniels successfully ran for vice-chair of the Division I National Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

Career Daniels joined Politico in 2018, covering the 2018 midterm elections. During the 2020 presidential election, Daniels covered the Andrew Yang campaign. Daniels is also a co-author of Politicos Playbook, a daily early-morning email newsletter. He is the first Black and first openly LGBTQ author of the newsletter.

In 2021, Daniels was named a MSNBC contributor. In April 2022, he was promoted to senior contributor on Morning Joe. Kaitlan Collins of CNN was elected president but resigned in September due to her promotion as co-anchor on CNN This Morning. According to WHCA bylaws, in the event that the president-elect is unable to serve, the person elected treasurer becomes president. As such, Daniels was designated president of the WHCA for 2024–25. He accepted the call to serve by saying, "I am both humbled and full of excitement to serve and for all that we will do together." He now serves as a senior Washington correspondent, and as one of the three co-hosts of The Weekend, which has made history as the first American national television program co-hosted by two openly gay Black men.

Personal life Daniels came out as gay in 2016. He married Nathan Thomas Stephens on October 29, 2022, at the Evergreen Museum & Library in Baltimore, Maryland.