ABC News’s Jonathan Karl Elected WHCA President For 2019-2020

By A.J. Katz 

The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) has elected ABC News’ chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl to be its president for 2019-2020.

Karl received 104 of 265 votes, and was also elected to a 3-year term as an at-large member of the WHCA’s board of directors, per a White House press pool report.

Karl, 49, has been an ABC Newser since 2003. He won the Walter Cronkite Award in 2013, and an Emmy in 2009.

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The native South Dakotan has covered basically every major beat in Washington, from Congress to the Pentagon to his present role, in which he will remain in addition to becoming the WHCA’s new president.

Todd Gillman of the Dallas Morning News finished in second for the role of president with 87 votes. Gilman, currently WHCA secretary, received a position on the board as a “newspaper representative.”

Bloomberg’s Margaret Talev takes over for Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason, and a year after her Olivier Knox from Yahoo News will assume the role.

Mason, the association’s president since 2016, acknowledged Karl and others voted to the board.

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