Charles Mahtesian is POLITICO’s Senior Politics Editor.

He returned to POLITICO in 2015 after spending two years at NPR, where he served as Politics Editor and Deputy Washington Desk Chief. Prior to that, he spent five years directing POLITICO’s political coverage.

Mahtesian has served as the editor in chief of National Journal’s Almanac of American Politics, the biennial book often referred to as “the bible of American politics,” and worked as a national correspondent for Governing magazine, where he covered state legislatures, governors and big-city politics. He began his career reporting on elections and congressional redistricting for Congressional Quarterly.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in politics from Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and his law degree from American University.