Charlie Cook

Charles Edward Cook Jr. (born November 20, 1953) is an American political analyst who specializes in election forecasts and political trends.

Cook writes election forecasts and rankings in the publication he founded, The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, and in other media. He is a political analyst for the National Journal and since 1994 with NBC. Cook writes two columns for National Journal, "The Cook Report" for the main publication and "Off to the Races" for the online National Journal Congress Daily. Since the 1984 US presidential election, Cook has provided election night commentary for various television networks.

Career
Cook graduated in 1972 from Captain Shreve High School in Shreveport and attended Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

In 1984, he founded the newsletter The Cook Political Report, which publishes analyses of the primaries and general elections for federal political offices and state governorships. The Report's predictions are accorded high credibility among journalists and politicians.

In 1997, Cook started producing the Cook Partisan Voting Index, a scoring metric of partisan lean in Congressional districts and states, which is still published biannually today and is frequently referenced in political commentary.

In 2006, Cook was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.

In 2010, he won the Carey McWilliams award from the American Political Science Association. The award is given annually to honor a major journalistic contribution to our understanding of politics and carries a prize of $750.

In 2013, he served as a Resident Fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics.

In 2021, Amy Walter took over Cook's roles as Editor and Publisher of the since-renamed Cook Political Report with Amy Walter. He will continue to write columns and analysis for the newsletter as well as for National Journal.

Family life
Cook is the son of Mary Hudgens Cook and Charles Cook Sr. (Magnolia, Arkansas 1916–2012). His father was a highly decorated officer in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, and an electrical engineering graduate from the University of Arkansas.

Cook and his wife Lucy live in Chevy Chase, Maryland. He has two sisters, Carole and Margaret, and a brother, Robert.