Jonathan Allen

Jonathan Allen (born October 15, 1975) is an American political journalist and analyst. He has been a senior political analyst and political reporter for NBC News Digital since 2017. Allen has also reported for Congressional Quarterly, The Hill, Politico, Bloomberg News, and Vox. Allen's partnership with fellow political correspondent Amie Parnes resulted in two best-selling books on Hillary Clinton. In 2008, he won the Everett Dirksen Award and Sandy Hume Award.

Allen has appeared as a commentator on political talk shows such as Hardball with Chris Matthews and Meet the Press. Allen has also taught as an adjunct professor at Northwestern University.

Early life and education

Jonathan Allen was born in Bethesda, Maryland, on October 15, 1975, to Marin and Ira R. Allen, a reporter for United Press International. He is the first of two children, preceding his sister Amanda. During a talk with students at Duke University, Allen recollected:

When I was 14, my father told me I should get a job. So I took a sports reporter position covering high school football games, which I would have gone to anyway. They didn't care about my writing. They should have, but they didn't. They were just hoping I'd get the score right. Allen transferred to the University of Maryland and joined the staff of The Diamondback, the student newspaper.

Career

Congressional Quarterly and The Hill Allen's work at Congressional Quarterly (now CQ Roll Call, headquarters pictured) earned him the Everett Dirksen Award and Sandy Hume Award in 2008. In the fall of 2005, Allen left Congressional Quarterly for The Hill to work as a U.S. Senate reporter. He returned to Congressional Quarterly a year later. Politico then hired him on a fixed-term contract.

HRC, Bloomberg News, and Vox In 2012, Allen partnered with journalist Amie Parnes of The Hill to write a book on then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that focused on her tenure and political future.

HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton was published on February 11, 2014. Though the book was a New York Times Best Seller, it was negatively received by critics, who felt the authors had portrayed Clinton too sympathetically. Jodi Kantor of The New York Times accused Clinton's senior adviser Philippe Reines of meddling, commenting that "You can almost hear Philippe Reines, Clinton’s crafty public relations aide, parceling out anecdotes." Individuals on the list were rated from a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 being reserved for those perceived to be the most ungrateful for Clinton's past support. Democratic congresspeople rated a 7 included Claire McCaskill, John Kerry, and Jason Altmire. Allen would leave Bloomberg News for Vox in April 2015, reportedly due to the launch of Bloomberg Politics and its effect on the agency's political reporting. Allen served as chief political correspondent for Vox until October 2015, leaving to focus on a follow-up book on Hillary Clinton.

Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign was published on April 18, 2017. The book debuted at #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list for its combined print and digital book editions, and would remain on the list for eight weeks. The book received positive reviews from critics such as Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times and David Shribman of The Globe and Mail. Clinton's former campaign staff have denied Allen and Parnes' assertions that the Clinton campaign was marred by internal tensions and disputes, and provided photos of happy moments during the campaign. Christa Reynolds, the Clinton campaign's deputy communications director, refuted the book's claims in a blog post. However, no further developments have been announced since this.

Sidewire, NBC News, Lucky and Fight After leaving Vox in October 2015, Allen served as head of community content for Sidewire, a political news analysis platform. According to Allen, he saw potential in Sidewire following a post by Senator Lindsey Graham, who used the platform to discuss the presidential debate he had been excluded from.

Allen and Parnes regrouped to write a book on Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign, Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency. Lucky was published on March 2, 2021. The two authors describe conflicting ideas among Biden's campaign staff about political strategy, rhetoric, and policy. The book covers the campaign's relationships with Biden's former colleagues such as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the campaign's response to matters such as the COVID-19 pandemic and racial unrest, and how Biden won based on an unlikely set of circumstances. The book received mixed reviews from critics, who commended the book for being a valuable historical resource but concluded that it ultimately provided no new insights or ideas. Carlos Lozada of The Washington Post wrote that the book "provides useful detail to understand Biden's victory, even if the framing is not particularly novel." The biography, titled Clinton, follows the pair from the 1960s to Trump's defeat in the 2020 presidential election.

Allen and Parnes authored a book about the 2024 presidential election, Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House. It details Joe Biden's 2024 reelection campaign, withdrawal from the election, and replacement with Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee. It was published on April 1, 2025 and debuted at #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list for its combined print and digital book editions.

Personal life In 2005, Allen married his partner Stephanie; the couple had first met at Congressional Quarterly, where Stephanie worked as a researcher. The database was composed of publicly released data from the House of Representatives and from watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense. These findings won Allen the National Press Club's Sandy Hume Award and the National Press Foundation's Everett Dirksen Award in June and December 2008 respectively.

Works HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton (2014) Crown Publishing Group; written with Amie Parnes Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign (2017) Crown Publishing Group; written with Amie Parnes Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency (2021) Crown Publishing Group; written with Amie Parnes written with Amie Parnes