Alec MacGillis
I have been reporting for ProPublica since 2015, most recently covering the post-pandemic schools crisis.
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What I Cover
In recent years, I have covered gun violence, economic inequality and the post-pandemic crisis in public education.
My Background
I worked for six newspapers, including The Baltimore Sun and The Washington Post. In 2011, I switched to magazines, at The New Republic, before arriving at ProPublica in 2015. My work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic and The New York Times Magazine, among others. I won the 2016 Robin Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting, the 2017 Polk Award for National Reporting and the 2017 Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award. A resident of Baltimore, I am the author of “The Cynic: The Political Education of Mitch McConnell” and “Fulfillment: America in the Shadow of Amazon.”
Why Is Mitch McConnell Picking This Fight?
What’s at stake for the majority leader in the battle over Scalia’s replacement.
‘Somebody Intervened in Washington’
How oil industry lobbyists played the long game — wearing down an overmatched federal bureaucracy to gain access to a fuel-rich corner of the Alaskan wilderness.
Who Turned My Blue State Red?
Why poor areas vote for politicians who want to slash the safety net.
More Trouble in Coal Country: Health Care at Risk for 12,000 Retired Miners and Their Families
Peabody Energy, the nation’s largest coal company, is seeking release from a pledge to pay into a health insurance fund.
Dealmakers Drop a Plan to Divert Millions from the Health Insurance of Retired Coal Miners
A bankruptcy plan for Patriot Coal Corp. would have thrown into question the medical coverage of 208 miners, wives and widows.
Is the Gun Lobby’s Power Overstated?
The National Rifle Association and other anti-gun-control groups are formidable, but political trends may be loosening their grip on lawmakers.
Bankruptcy Lawyers Strip Cash from Coal Miners’ Health Insurance
Workers often bear the brunt of the coal industry’s decline. One case stands out: 208 Indiana miners, wives and widows whose health care may fall to financial engineering.
Insurance Lobby That Fought Hillarycare and Obamacare Now Has Sturdy Bridges to Democrats
After insurers helped to torpedo Hillary Clinton’s 1993 health care reform, its lobby sought influence among Democrats through a new kind of Washington firm with ties to the Clintons.
Road Hazard: How the ‘Embarrassing’ Gas Tax Impasse Explains Washington
The main federal fund for roads and bridges runs at a deep deficit. If even red states can raise the gas tax, why can’t Congress?
Higher Ed Lobby Quietly Joins For-Profit Schools to Roll Back Tighter Rules
Traditional colleges and universities have become unlikely allies of the beleaguered for-profit industry as each group tries to fend off the government’s push for more accountability.