Dana Bash marks 30 years at CNN with celeb- and politician-filled soirée in DC - The Hill

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Dana Bash marks 30 years at CNN with celeb- and politician-filled soirée in DC | The Hill

NBC News’s Andrea Mitchell, CNN's Dana Bash and CBS News’s Norah O’Donnell — Jeremy Freeman/CNN
NBC News’s Andrea Mitchell, CNN’s Dana Bash and CBS News’s Norah O’Donnell

Dana Bash is marking a career milestone three decades in the making, celebrating her 30^th year at CNN with a high-profile gathering.

Friends, family, lawmakers, plenty of colleagues and even some familiar faces from rival networks fêted the journalist — who was named the new host of “Inside Politics” in April — Thursday at the downtown Riggs Washington D.C. hotel.

“Thirty years is a long time, and it is something that I’m very, very proud of,” Bash, 52, told ITK. “But it doesn’t feel like 30 years. But it’s nice. I have a lot of gratitude.”

The media landscape, and the world, has certainly changed since Bash’s first day at CNN in 1993, when she began as a library assistant in the Washington bureau.

“When I started at CNN, there was no Fox. There was no MSNBC. There was barely an internet that worked. We had barely email. Cell phones were like those giant shoebox size contraptions,” she exclaimed.

The reception honoring Bash had originally been scheduled for June, but was postponed when former President Trump’s arraignment in a Miami courthouse as part of a Department of Justice indictment over classified documents landed on the same day as the soiree. CNN had said the party’s delay came “because Dana is Dana, and the news comes first at CNN.”

Among the VIP crowd: former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), actor and Bash’s longtime partner Spencer Garrett, CNN chief national correspondent and Bash’s ex-husband John King and Jonah, the 12-year-old son they share, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), Irish Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason, Kara Swisher, Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), former “House of Cards” star Michael Kelly, Kasie Hunt, Doug Heye, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Susanna Quinn, CBS News’s Norah O’Donnell, Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), Sam Feist, Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio), Courtney Flantzer, Fox News’s Jennifer Griffin, Ukrainian ambassador Oksana Markarova, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), NBC’s Chuck Todd, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), Manu Raju, Olivier Knox, Brianna Keilar, Jeff Zeleny, Amy Entelis, David Leavy, Phil Mattingly, Tammy Haddad, Rebecca Cooper Dupin, Francesca Chambers and Adrienne Elrod.

Virginia Moseley, CNN’s executive vice president of editorial, told the crowd, “There is no one who exemplifies CNN more than Dana.”

“CNN and political journalism are better because of her work and the example she sets every day,” Moseley said.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) presented Bash with a certificate of congressional recognition, saying that her “dedication, professionalism, and commitment to delivering accurate and insightful news coverage have made a lasting impact on the media industry.”

Vice President Harris also lauded Bash in a letter, calling her a “talented and trusted journalist” whose reporting “has enriched our nation.”

“Additionally, [second gentleman Doug Emhoff] and I are grateful that you have used your platform to report on fighting discrimination and hate,” Harris said.

Bash arrived at the event at the same time as NBC News’s Andrea Mitchell, with both women sporting similar-looking white dresses. Asked about the twinning get-ups, Bash replied with a chuckle, “Of course we’re wearing the same thing.”

“It’s funny, [Mitchell] was like, ‘Oh I didn’t see your show today,” Bash said.

Bash said she responded to Mitchell, “Because you were on TV!”

“I feel like that kind of says it all about a lot of things, but in particular about the way that there’s kind of a nice sisterhood,” Bash continued.

“A lot of female journalists, particularly the TV correspondents, we support each other,” she said.

So where will Bash be in another 30 years?

“In 30 years, if I’m still at ‘Inside Politics,’ I give permission to a lot of people to do an intervention,” Bash cracked with a big laugh.