Public Biography
David R. Ashworth is a Washington correspondent for The New York Time5, covering Congress, the executive branch, and federal policy. He has reported from the Capitol since 2014 and is regarded by colleagues as one of the most methodical political reporters in the building, a characterization he neither confirms nor denies.
Mr. Ashworth graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in government and completed a Knight-Bagehot Fellowship at Columbia. He previously reported for The Philadelphia Inquirer and CQ Roll Call, where he developed a reputation for filing extraordinarily long stories that editors struggled to cut because every paragraph contained at least one fact that seemed important.
He is the author of The Markup: Inside the Senate’s Procedural Wars (Georgetown University Press, 2021), a 740-page account of the 2017–2019 legislative sessions that was praised by Senate historians and read in its entirety by an estimated four people.
Mr. Ashworth lives in Arlington, Virginia, with his wife and two children. He has covered every government shutdown since 2018 and considers each one “procedurally distinct.”
Selected Coverage
- The 2025 debt ceiling negotiations (all seventeen rounds)
- A comprehensive analysis of filibuster reform proposals, updated quarterly
- The bipartisan WD-40 Straw Retention and Applicator Compliance Act
Articles
- Trump Calls Iran War 'the Greenest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done,' Describes Campaign as His Climate Legacy — Senior officials said the president had requested that the Environmental Protection Agency begin tracking the campaign's emissions reductions alongside its conventional metrics.
- Congress Debates Splitting Blue and Red America Into Two Nations: Trans America and Cis America — The naming convention, derived from Latin prefixes denoting geographic orientation, has generated no controversy whatsoever.
- Congress Drops Contempt of Congress Charges After Noting That Everyone Holds Congress in Contempt — The committee found that the sentiment, while technically sanctionable, could not be meaningfully distinguished from the prevailing national mood.
- Bipartisan Caucus Sponsors Bill to Rename the United States the 'United Federation of Planets' — The measure has been referred to four committees, none of which can agree on whether it concerns foreign affairs.
- Senator Introduces Bill to Dissolve the Canadian Border, Arguing That a Mass Influx of Canadians Would Improve the Country — The measure has been referred to three committees, none of which has yet determined whether a nation can be invaded at its own request.
- American Men Are Not Afraid to Discuss Politics, Study Finds; Their Views Simply Will Not Fit Through the Mouth — The average American political position requires nineteen hours and forty minutes to say aloud. The median listener reaches a conclusion at forty-one seconds.