Lisa Desjardins

About Lisa

Lisa Desjardins is a correspondent for PBS News Hour, where she covers news from the U.S. Capitol while also traveling across the country to report on how decisions in Washington affect people where they live and work.

She specializes in breaking down complex stories and political disagreements into the key pieces that matter, often translating numbers and fiscal information into accessible stories for the audience.

Prior to joining News Hour, Desjardins spent nearly ten years with CNN as a senior correspondent and Capitol Hill reporter. Prior to CNN, she reported for the Associated Press, WBTW-TV, WIS-TV, WTS-TV, Reuters, and The Sun News. At WIS in Columbia, South Carolina, she broke news of the compromise to bring down the Confederate flag from the state house dome.

Desjardins earned a bachelor’s degree at the College of William and Mary and a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She also received a first level graduate degree in Russian Studies from the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia.

Desjardins’ reporting during and after the January 6th Capitol insurrection was the recipient of a Peabody Award, the Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association Joan S. Barone Award, and the National Press Foundation’s Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress. She is also the recipient of a Peabody Award for CNN’s coverage of the 2008 election and a Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi award for national breaking news for coverage of the Haiti earthquake.

Full Bio

Lisa’s Recent Stories

Politics Jul 04

Who is America? A look at the nation's demographics

The United States’ population now stands at 325 million. Amid new questions of American identity, this July Fourth seemed like a good idea to look at who exactly makes up America, by birth or choice and how it is forecast…

Politics Jun 27

GOP leaders delay Senate health care vote. What happened?

Senate Republican leaders had hoped to start the voting process for the Better Care Reconciliation Act on Wednesday. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pulled the 142-page bill -- which would make sweeping changes to Medicaid and the Affordable…

Health Jun 22

What's in the Senate Republican health care bill

It's part Obamacare-replace, part sweeping-Medicaid-overhaul. At roughly 10:45 am Thursday, Senate Republican leaders posted their 142-page health care proposal. This is the key starting point. Here is our initial look at what the Senate bill proposes.

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