I cover campaign finance as part of the paper’s politics team. Broadly, this beat is about money in politics, which includes political advertising, disclosure requirements and how candidates and their allies use the money they raise.
Before joining the politics beat in 2023, I covered courts and criminal justice around New York City. I came to The Times in 2021 after seven years at The Wall Street Journal, where I primarily wrote about white-collar law enforcement. I was part of a team there that won a 2019 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of payoffs to women who said they had affairs with Donald J. Trump. I also worked on award-winning coverage of the sexual abuse scandal in U.S.A. Gymnastics.
I began my professional reporting career at The Record, in Bergen County, N.J., where I was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2014 for my work on heroin addiction and the drug trade in northern New Jersey. I graduated from Harvard in 2006 with a degree in history and literature, then worked at a boarding school in Jordan.
I share the values of independence and follow the guidelines outlined in The Times’s Ethical Journalism Handbook, which details the standards of integrity that guide all Times journalists. I don’t participate in politics, nor do I make political donations. I aim to be straightforward, thorough, and unsentimental in my reporting and my writing, an approach that I think fosters independence and trust, which serves my subjects and my audience.
Email: rebecca.obrien@nytimes.com
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Ms. Shanahan, who has fueled Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign financially since becoming his running mate, has now poured nearly $15 million into the long-shot effort to elect him president.
By Rebecca Davis O’Brien and Chris Cameron
More than half a dozen New York City residents described encounters with people seeking their signature who did not make clear that their aim was to place the independent 2024 candidate on the ballot.
By Rebecca Davis O’Brien
Both presidential candidates are scheduled to address a Libertarian gathering this month in Washington.
By Neil Vigdor and Rebecca Davis O’Brien
The independent presidential candidate’s ballot access fight has already cost millions, federal campaign finance records show.
By Michael Barbaro, Rebecca Davis O’Brien, Rob Szypko, Carlos Prieto, Sydney Harper, Eric Krupke, Rachel Quester, Will Reid, Dan Powell and Alyssa Moxley
The ad, a sleek 30-minute production, was blocked for several hours on Friday and Saturday. Meta, which owns both platforms, said the link had been incorrectly flagged as spam.
By Rebecca Davis O’Brien
The consultant, Trent Pool, was arrested at a Manhattan hotel last weekend after a woman said he had assaulted her, according to the police.
By Rebecca Davis O’Brien
The state is the fourth where Mr. Kennedy is all but assured a spot on the ballot in November against President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump.
By Rebecca Davis O’Brien
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s effort to get on the ballot in 50 states has already cost millions, federal campaign finance records show.
By Rebecca Davis O’Brien
For presidential candidates who are not the Republican or Democratic Party nominee, getting on the ballot for the general election is a state-by-state, make-or-break scramble.
By Alyce McFadden, Taylor Robinson, Leanne Abraham and Rebecca Davis O’Brien
President Biden’s campaign had $85.5 million on hand at the end of March, filings show, and Donald Trump had $45 million, but the president is spending far more freely on the race.
By Rebecca Davis O’Brien and Neil Vigdor