Dana Bash Has Been With CNN For Her Entire Career

On Dec. 15, CNN will host the upcoming Republican presidential debate and CNN's Dana Bash will return to the moderating team for the last GOP showdown this year. She previously moderated CNN's September and October debates, but as the field narrows down and Trump pulls ahead in the polls, the stakes are higher than ever for the upcoming face-off. The next Republican debate isn't until Jan. 14, so the competition is sure to be fierce to make sure voters and pundits have memorable moments to carry them through the holidays. Bash will have her work cut out for her, but she should be more than up for the challenge.

Bash was born Dana Schwartz to Stuart and Frances Schwartz, in Montclair, New Jersey. Bash's experience with journalism started early — her father was a producer at ABC News for 41 years and served as the senior producer of numerous shows including Good Morning America, World News Tonight, and This Week, before retiring in 2009. According to her CNN bio, Bash graduated cum laude with her bachelor's degree in political communications from George Washington University.

Bash has worked at CNN since shortly after graduating from college in 1993, beginning as a library assistant at the Washington bureau. According to the Washington Post, She had a "cinematically bad first-day-on-the-job experience" in which an anchor told her it would be her last day, but defied expectations and built her entire career at CNN. She has covered elections since 2000, and was part of the "Best Political Team on Television" Peabody Award-winning team that covered the 2008 election cycle.

Bash has succeeded throughout her career in "typically male reporter-dominated beats," as the Washington Post described, including the U.S. House and Senate and the State Department, and covering issues like Social Security and Congressional earmarks (for which she won the 2010 National Press Foundation Dirkson Award). In 2014, she revealed on-air that she had received inappropriate comments about her weight from male congressmen, similar to those received by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. But despite the sexism and misogyny in her field, Bash has dominated — earlier this year, she was promoted to chief political correspondent, replacing longtime anchor Candy Crowley.

Bash's work during this election has included personal interviews with nearly every presidential candidate and two debates so far. She was also responsible for giving the world this hilarious video of Sen. Lindsey Graham playing "F***, Marry, Kill." Bash has proven herself to be an excellent, respected journalist, and her talent and insight should once again be invaluable at the upcoming debate.