Danielle Kurtzleben
Danielle Kurtzleben is a White House correspondent on NPR's Washington Desk. She appears regularly on the NPR Politics Podcast and other NPR shows.
In her time at NPR, she has covered three presidential elections, from the 2016 Republican primary that Donald Trump went on to win, to Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. Kurtzleben traveled to dozens of Trump rallies and reported live on the ground from the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a would-be assassin shot at Trump. For that reporting, Kurtzleben was part of the team that won an Edgar R. Murrow Award for breaking news radio coverage.
As a White House correspondent, she specializes in covering Trump's economic policies, as well as his administration's political rhetoric.
Kurtzleben covered elections nationwide prior to covering the White House, traveling all over the country to understand the forces that determine how people vote.
She also covered the intersection of gender and politics for much of her time at NPR. Most notably, she carved out a unique niche in observing how politicians use masculinity to try to win elections, particularly the presidency. In addition, she has covered Women's Marches, the 2018 midterms that elected a wave of Democratic women, the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade, and the backlash to that decision.
Before joining NPR in 2015, Kurtzleben was a correspondent for Vox.com. As part of the site's original reporting team, she covered economics and business news.
Kurtzleben was with U.S. News & World Report for nearly four years prior to Vox.com, where she covered the economy, campaign finance and demographic issues. As associate editor, she launched Data Mine, a data visualization blog on usnews.com.
A native of Titonka, Iowa, Kurtzleben has a bachelor's degree in English from Carleton College. She also holds a master's degree in global communication from George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs.
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NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben talks to meteorologist Robert Ballard of National Weather Service about Hurricane Lala's impact on Hawaii.
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NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben speaks with journalist Nick Thorpe about the changes made by the Hungarian government since Victor Orban's Fidesz party lost power following elections in April.
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NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben speaks with Kevin Book of ClearView Energy about the United States' dwindling oil reserves as they hit the lowest level seen in more than four decades.
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NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben speaks to Wall Street Journal business reporter Theo Francis about refunds some businesses are getting on the billions of dollars they've paid on President Trump's tariffs.
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NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben speaks with Weezer's Rivers Cuomo. The band's latest self-titled album is also known as the Gold Album.
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How reliable are political polls right now? NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben speaks to G. Elliott Morris from the data-driven news website, Strength In Numbers.
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NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben talks unicorns and dragons with bookstore owner Starlin Marot. Fantasy romance novels are her best - and only - sellers.
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We look at how the Democrats are gearing up for the 2028 presidential primaries, as well as their takeaways from the current batch of primary races.
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We look at how the Democrats are gearing up for the 2028 presidential primaries, as well as their takeaways from the current batch of primary races.
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NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben talks with filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun about remakes, and their new film "Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma."