After working as a novelist and later an intern for conservative writer
George Will, Cillizza began his career in journalism. He later worked on the
Washington, D.C., newspaper
Roll Call prior to joining
The Washington Post. For
The Cook Political Report he covered gubernatorial races and southern House races. He wrote a column on politics for
Congress Daily. During his four years at
Roll Call, which he joined in June 2001, he reported on campaign politics from the presidential to the congressional level, finishing his time at
Roll Call as the paper's White House correspondent. His freelance work has appeared in publications such as
The Atlantic Monthly,
Washingtonian, and
Slate. He has also been a guest on CNN,
Fox News Channel and MSNBC. He is also a frequent panelist on
Meet the Press. He is an adjunct faculty member at the
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications of
Syracuse University.
The Fix Cillizza founded the blog
The Fix in 2005 and wrote for it on a regular basis until he joined CNN in 2017. The blog's focus was American electoral politics, with Cillizza commenting on
gubernatorial,
Congressional and
presidential elections. He hosted the weekly
Fix live chat.
Media From 2007 to 2008, Cillizza was a co-host of the
MySpace/
MTV Presidential Dialogues, which hosted
John McCain,
Barack Obama, and others in a
live-streamed, interactive Presidential event series. Cillizza and fellow
The Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank appeared in a series of humor videos called
Mouthpiece Theater, hosted by
The Washington Post. An outcry followed a video in which, during a discussion of the White House "
Beer Summit", they chose new brands for a number of people, including "Mad Bitch Beer" for
Hillary Clinton. Both men apologized for the video and the series was canceled. In July 2012,
Broadway Books (a division of
Penguin Random House) released his book,
The Gospel According to the Fix. Written in a
blog-like format, it contains lists such as "The 10 Best/Worst Negative Ads", as well as coverage of the "deep personal hatreds that politics provoke" and predictions for the
2012 and
2016 presidential elections. Since 2014, Cillizza has served a regular co-host of
The Tony Kornheiser Show.
CNN On April 3, 2017, Cillizza joined CNN as a "political reporter and digital editor-at-large," contributing online and on television. On June 28, 2017, CNN Politics announced the launch of "The Point with Chris Cillizza." According to the official press release, the new "multiplatform brand" will include "daily columns, on-air analysis, an evening newsletter, [a] podcast, and the launch of trivia night events in Washington, DC." The show which was on
YouTube released political analysis videos hosted by Cillizza every Tuesday and Thursday. On December 1, 2022, Cillizza was laid off from CNN.
NewsNation Cillizza joined
NewsNation in March 2025.
YouTube On January 18, 2023, Chris Cillizza launched a YouTube show, "So What? With Chris Cillizza," featuring political analysis and other topics. The show's heavily produced style resembled mainstream media, with videos posted several times a week, each garnering a few thousand views. On January 9, 2024, Cillizza announced a shift in approach, citing his channel's limited audience of 5,000 subscribers. The new format emphasized authenticity, informality, and less scripting, with increased video frequency to nearly daily. ==Reception==