Sarah McCammon Sarah McCammon is a National Political Correspondent for NPR.
Sarah McCammon 2018 square
Stories By

Sarah McCammon

Kara Frame/NPR
Sarah McCammon 2018
Kara Frame/NPR

Sarah McCammon

Correspondent, Washington Desk

Sarah McCammon is a National Political Correspondent for NPR and co-host of the NPR Politics Podcast. Her work focuses on political, social and cultural divides in America, including abortion policy and the intersections of politics and religion. She's also a frequent guest host for NPR news programs.

She has covered several presidential elections, including the 2016 campaign, when she reported on the rise of the Trump movement, divisions within the Republican Party over its future, and the role of religion in those debates. McCammon's reporting has documented the growing political power of the religious right culminating with the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, efforts by abortion rights advocates to push back, and the rising tide of white Christian nationalism.

She's frequently called upon to cover breaking news events and national politics. Her work has won numerous awards, among them a 2023 Edward R. Murrow Award for her coverage of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, a 2023 Wilbur Award for religion reporting, a Gracie Award in 2020 for her reporting on reproductive rights, and a National Press Club Journalism Award for team coverage of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in 2018.

McCammon is the author of The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church, a 2024 book that is part memoir and part journalism, about the movement of people who grew up inside the powerful evangelical subculture and ultimately left in response to its increasing politicization.

She has appeared on numerous television programs including CNN's Inside Politics, MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes, PBS Newshour, and CSPAN's Washington Journal.

Prior to joining NPR in 2015, she reported for NPR Member stations in Georgia, Iowa, and Nebraska. She began her career as newspaper reporter in the Chicago area.

McCammon grew up in Kansas City, Missouri and is a graduate of Trinity College in Deerfield, Illinois.

Story Archive

Friday

Thursday

Donald Trump is set to accept his party’s nomination for president at the RNC tonight

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5044556/nx-s1-31f5f96b-7996-4bac-b10a-cd1235d91e82" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Are there options for Republicans who refuse to be on board with a Trump-led GOP?

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5035264/nx-s1-faff634f-1efd-4376-81ae-b8ca8c14538e" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Former Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks during the Republican National Convention Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. Charles Rex Arbogast/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

Tuesday

How language around abortion rights features in the new Republican Party platform

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5035029/nx-s1-bc60cd14-db45-4627-a0ae-6b215aabdff9" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

HISTORICAL VIEWS ON TRUMP ATTACK

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5039222/nx-s1-a2cd37fd-4396-4102-8916-ef83100dd324" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Sunday

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley announced that she would vote for former President Donald Trump during an event at the Hudson Institute on May 22. Haley will speak at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Thursday

Former President Donald Trump pumps his fist as he departs after speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2023, Saturday, March 4, 2023, at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Md. Alex Brandon/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Alex Brandon/AP

Trump's 2nd term goal: be a more powerful president

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197964558/1255554242" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Kristen Eichamer holds a Project 2025 fan in the group's tent at the Iowa State Fair, Aug. 14, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa. With more than a year to go before the 2024 election, a constellation of conservative organizations is preparing for a possible second White House term for Donald Trump. The Project 2025 effort is being led by the Heritage Foundation think tank. Charlie Neibergall/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Charlie Neibergall/AP

Project 2025 is a lengthy set of policy plans put together by former Trump officials.

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197964553/1255491094" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

President Joe Biden visits Denim Coffee after a campaign event in Harrisburg, Pa., on Sunday, July 7, 2024. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

President Biden, defiant, is not going anywhere — except the campaign trail.

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197964543/1255406006" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks during a news conference suspending her presidential campaign on March 6 in Charleston, S.C. Chris Carlson/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Chris Carlson/AP

Monday

Lattice Mission Autonomy software by Anduril is demonstrated at the Air & Space Forces Association Air, Space & Cyber Conference, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Oxon Hill, Md. Alex Brandon/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Alex Brandon/AP

What the next president has to contend with: AI weapons, North Korean cybercrime

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197964527/1255340086" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Chief Justice of the United States, John Roberts walks to the Senate chamber at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 16, 2020 Matt Rourke/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Matt Rourke/AP

Wednesday

Inside the Arizona State Capitol, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, in Phoenix after the Arizona legislature gave final approval to a the proposal that will ask voters to make it a state crime for noncitizens to enter the state through Mexico at any location other than a port of entry. Matt York/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Matt York/AP

Monday

Nikki Haley, second from left, then South Carolina Gov.-elect, is seated with Vice President Joe Biden during a luncheon at the Blair House across from the White House in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010. Charles Dharapak/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Charles Dharapak/AP

Thursday

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks with Peter Rough after speaking at the Hudson Institute,in Washington, Wednesday, May 22, 2024. Haley spoke about the dangers of National Security weakness. Cliff Owen/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Cliff Owen/AP

Trump rival, former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley, says in November she'll vote for Trump

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-4976225/nx-s1-8d30ebcf-a7d8-4e1a-8d28-03d1f7b083f6" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

How political stances on abortion have shifted — for Biden, Trump and voters

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1252991337/1252991338" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

A decoration depicting a cow holding a piece of cheese labelled with the word "Wisconsin," pictured Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009, in Green Bay, Wis. Mike Roemer/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Mike Roemer/AP

Wisconsin: Swing Voters, Swing Counties, Swing State

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197963546/1252975587" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

This file photo shows a peach-shaped water tower in Clanton, Ala., on Friday, Aug. 28, 2020. Jay Reeves/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Jay Reeves/AP

Anti-abortion activists who describe themselves as "abolitionists" protest outside a fertility clinic in North Carolina in April 2024. Sarah McCammon/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Sarah McCammon/NPR

Republicans try to soften stance on abortion as 'abolitionists' go farther

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1252320298/1252770386" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

Donald Trump, presumptive Republican presidential nominee, appears at the Minnesota Republican Lincoln Reagan Dinner Friday, May 17, 2024, at the Saint Paul RiverCentre in St. Paul, Minn. Abbie Parr/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Abbie Parr/AP

Republicans haven't won a Minnesota presidential contest in a half-century. Can Trump?

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197963466/1252535565" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

President Joe Biden speaks during an event in Virginia on Jan. 23, to campaign for abortion rights, a top issue for Democrats in the upcoming presidential election. Susan Walsh/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Susan Walsh/AP