CNN political commentator Alice Stewart dies at 58

Alice Stewart, a CNN political commentator and veteran political adviser who labored on a variety of GOP presidential campaigns, has died at age 58, the information community reported Saturday.

Police in northern Virginia instructed CNN that Stewart’s physique was discovered open air within the Bellevue neighborhood early Saturday morning and that no foul play was suspected. Officers consider Stewart suffered a medical episode, in keeping with CNN.

In an electronic mail to employees, the community’s CEO Mark Thompson known as Stewart “a really expensive pal and colleague to all of us at CNN.”

“A political veteran and an Emmy Award-winning journalist who introduced an incomparable spark to CNN’s protection, identified throughout our bureaus not just for her political savvy, however for her unwavering kindness,” he wrote. “Our hearts are heavy as we mourn such a unprecedented loss.”

No additional details about the reason for dying or survivors was out there Saturday.

Stewart was born on March 11, 1966, in Atlanta, and started her profession as a neighborhood reporter in Georgia earlier than transferring to Little Rock, Arkansas to be a information anchor. She went on to function the communications director in then-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s workplace. She assumed comparable roles throughout Huckabee’s presidential run in 2008 and served as communications director for the 2012 presidential bids of Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann after which former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. Most not too long ago, Stewart was the communications director for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2016 marketing campaign.

“Heartbreaking,” Cruz posted Saturday on X, previously Twitter. “⁦Alice was fantastic and gifted and an expensive pal. And she or he beloved America fiercely. She lived day-after-day to the fullest, and he or she will probably be deeply missed. Might God’s consolation and peace be upon her family members. RIP.”

Stewart got here on board CNN as a political commentator earlier than the 2016 election and regularly appeared on air to supply perception on the political information of the day. She final appeared Friday on “The State of affairs Room with Wolf Blitzer.”

Stewart instructed the Harvard Political Overview in 2020 that she brings “a perspective that I feel CNN appreciates.”

“My place at CNN is to be a conservative voice but an unbiased thinker,” Stewart stated. “I’m not a Kool-Help drinker; I’m not a never-Trumper, and I didn’t verify my frequent sense and decency on the door after I voted for (Trump).”

Former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson posted on X that Stewart’s “sudden dying is such a loss to all who valued her friendship in addition to her political ardour”

“I first met Alice in Arkansas and I’m proud that she targeted on making buddies in politics and never making enemies,” he posted. “Thanks Alice Stewart!”

Stewart additionally co-hosted the podcast “Scorching Mics from Left to Proper” alongside fellow CNN commentator Maria Cardona and served on the senior advisory committee on the Institute of Politics at Harvard College’s Kennedy College the place she was beforehand a fellow.

In her free time, Stewart was an avid runner, in keeping with CNN. She regularly posted photographs from street races on social media, together with from the TCS New York Metropolis Marathon, which she ran in November, and the Credit score Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile race, which she ran final month.