Norah O'Donnell is the Chief Washington Correspondent for NBC News' 24-hour cable channel, msnbc. In addition, O'Donnell, an award-winning journalist, serves as contributing correspondent for NBC's top-rated "TODAY." She is a regular news anchor for NBC’s “Weekend TODAY,” and has co-anchored the 9 a.m. hour of “TODAY.”

O’Donnell covered the historic 2008 presidential election, anchoring throughout the primaries and reporting exit poll numbers. She was one of the main anchors of msnbc’s primetime coverage during both the Democratic and Republican conventions, moderating a panel of msnbc’s top political analysts. On election night, she was part of NBC News’ Emmy award-winning coverage.

She is a regular on “The Chris Matthews Show,” a Sunday morning political affairs program.

During her career at NBC News, O’Donnell covered the Pentagon, Congress and the White House. Her assignments took her around the globe, reporting from every continent except Antarctica with the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense.

O’Donnell has covered a number of breaking news stories for all of NBC News’ broadcasts, including the top-rated “Nightly News with Brian Williams,” “TODAY,” “Hardball,” and msnbc. She reported from the Pentagon on Sept. 11 and received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Breaking News Coverage for a “Dateline NBC” story titled, “D.C. In Crisis.” In the months following the attacks, she traveled extensively with then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumseld and reported on the war in Afghanistan and the war on terrorism.

During the 2004 campaign, O’Donnell covered the White House for NBC News and regularly reported for “TODAY,” “Nightly News” and “Hardball,” while covering the campaign of President George W. Bush. Prior to covering the White House, O’Donnell was NBC News’ congressional correspondent.

During the 2000 campaign, O’Donnell traveled across the country covering the campaigns of John McCain and George W. Bush. She provided analysis on “Hardball” during the debates and the Republican and Democratic conventions. She was one of the anchors on election night, reporting on the congressional contests that year.

O’Donnell joined NBC News in 1999. Prior to that she was an msnbc contributor and staff reporter for "Roll Call", a Capitol Hill newspaper. At "Roll Call," she traveled across the country reporting on congressional contests.

Washingtonian Magazine has included O’Donnell in its Washington’s 100 most powerful women. The magazine also called O’Donnell one of Washington’s most trusted anchors. She has also been named to the Irish American Magazine 2000 “Top 100 Irish Americans” list. She has hosted The St. Patrick’s Day parade on NBC in New York since 2007.

A native of San Antonio, Texas, O’Donnell is a graduate of Georgetown University and received a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy. She also holds a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Georgetown University.

O’Donnell is married to Geoff Tracy, a restaurateur, in Washington, D.C. They have three children.

Show full bio

Hide full bio