Live from Capitol Hill, reporters looking for gigs as legislators

Eric Sorensen changed channels in spring 2021 from starring on sunny local TV to running for Congress in a stormy midterm election season.

In a campaign ad at the time, Sorensen, a former Quad Cities meteorologist, told Illinois viewers whose votes he was seeking that "after a 22-year career as a weatherman, some things stay with you."

Sorensen, a Democrat who has served in Congress since 2023, recalled in a recent interview with USA TODAY, "I tell people back home, I got to Washington without – it wasn't just political baggage – I didn't even have a political carry-on."

The two-term congressman is now campaigning for a third term amid a bipartisan lineup of candidates across the country who are also wielding their breaking news bona fides to serve in a stalled House.

Depending on how the primaries shake out, the contenders include a possible matchup between two former anchors in Miami and a rematch in Pennsylvania between Rep. Scott Perry and a news anchor.

'Looking out for people' sets up local news stars for Congress

Former Rep. Cheri Bustos, who ran House Democrats' campaign arm, announced her retirement in 2021, sparking questions from Republicans about whether a Democrat could regain the seat. As he tells it, Sorensen was sitting in the studio at his former station, ABC affiliate WQAD, when Bustos decided not to seek reelection. Two on-air colleagues told him to run. He rebuffed their suggestion.

Later that night, Sorensen, who shares a dog Petey with his partner Shawn, reconsidered. "The 20 years that I spent in this congressional district looking out for people, maybe that was setting me up for that job," Sorensen recalled thinking.

A Rockford native, Sorensen flexed his name recognition, gained from more than two decades on local television, to prevail over a well-funded Republican opponent, Esther Joy King. Upon entering the House, Sorensen befriended Republican Rep. Mark Alford, a Missouri congressman who spent 25 years as a morning news anchor at Kansas City's Fox affiliate.

Sornesen said that the bipartisan pair share similar districts and "if they're not that much different, they shouldn't have their lawmakers have different politics," stressing a need to work together. Sorensen later became a mentor to Janelle Stelson, a Democrat who is campaigning to unseat Perry, the Republican incumbent, in Pennsylvania's 10th Congressional District in November. Stelson lost a close race to him in the last cycle.

Sorensen said that Stelson's experience delivering the nightly news on Lancaster, Pennsylvania's NBC station, WGAL, makes her uniquely suited to serve in Congress.

"I told her the way that you're going to win is with one word: trusted," Sorensen recalled. "I said, 'You were the trusted person to people when they were in really bad situations, when they were down at the end of their rope.'"

In Iowa, former TV anchor could join Senate

An Emmy-winning anchor, Stelson, who lost by 1 percentage point, has raised $4 million in her quest to win a district that includes Harrisburg, York and select suburbs. In a news-themed campaign ad last cycle, she said it was an "honor" to tell the story of thousands, but one story was getting harder to ignore: her opponent, Perry.

Sorensen said local TV anchors like Stelson can rely on their chops from the anchor desk to gain voters' trust. "There's the worst news, and then that anchor can find the right words and the right tone to help people get through a crisis," he said.

Across Illinois state lines in neighboring Iowa, Rep. Ashley Hinson is the Republican front-runner seeking an open seat currently held by retiring Sen. Joni Ernst. A former reporter and anchor at the ABC station KCRG in Cedar Rapids, Hinson unseated former Rep. Abby Finkenauer in 2020. Hinson hosted Republican politicos – including Sorensen's most recent opponent King – on a virtual talk show, "Hot Seat with Hinson," in 2024.

In a campaign ad during her first House run titled "News Flash," Hinson said, "You know me from the morning news. I loved reporting on our community because I got to see the goodness of Iowans from every walk of life."

But, as vignettes of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez played in the ad, Hinson said to the camera, "When I watch TV today, I'm outraged by the chaos and dysfunction I see in Washington."

She will face the winning Democrat, state Sen. Zach Wahls or state Rep. Josh Turek, for the seat later this year.

A possible anchor-on-anchor battle brews in Miami

In Miami, Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar is bracing for an uncertain forecast. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report moved the predicted outcome of her race in early April to "likely R," which moves the needle toward Democrats amid President Donald Trump's sinking approval ratings.

Salazar beat Clinton-era Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala for a seat in Congress in 2020, utilizing her resume and name ID as a well-known Telemundo journalist to appeal to potential constituents.

A Democratic primary win for Eliott Rodriguez could pit the well-known former Emmy-winning anchor at CBS Miami against Salazar. Hinson, in Iowa, faced her own anchor-on-anchor battle during a 2022 race for the House when state Sen. Liz Mathis, also an alum of Hinson's former station, KCRG, launched an unsuccessful bid for Congress.

Back in Illinois, Sorensen said it will be difficult for local journalists, including meteorologists, across the country to survive as local TV companies consolidate and stations shutter altogether.

He wants meteorologists to take stock of the value they hold with their viewers and possible political constituents – and consider the same path he took.

"I want meteorologists to ask the question, 'Is it time for me to serve in a different way?' Because now is the time that we need more meteorologists in Congress," Sorensen said.