Michelle Caruso-Cabrera

Michelle Caruso-Cabrera (born February 9, 1967) is an American journalist and a former political candidate. A regular CNBC contributor, she was the chief international correspondent for eight years, and co-host of Power Lunch and Worldwide Exchange.

A longtime member of the Republican Party, Caruso-Cabrera moved from Midtown Manhattan to Sunnyside, Queens in late 2019. Less than a year later, she filed to challenge incumbent Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the Democratic primary for New York's 14th congressional district, which covers portions of The Bronx and Queens. Caruso-Cabrera was defeated in the primary after receiving 19.5% of votes.

Caruso-Cabrera was born in Dayton, Ohio and raised in Nashua, New Hampshire. After attending Nashua High School, she graduated from Wellesley College in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in Economics. In 1990, while still in college, she worked as a stringer for The New York Times, reporting for the education section.

Caruso-Cabrera was a researcher and later a special projects producer for Univision, where she was a producer on a team that won an Emmy Award for a five-part series on children with AIDS. She also received a Broadcaster of the Year (2004) award from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. She then worked as a reporter for WTSP in St. Petersburg, Florida.

She joined CNBC in 1998. She co-anchored Power Lunch with Bill Griffeth from 2002 to 2003. Caruso-Cabrera was replaced as an anchor by Sue Herera. As part of CNBC's extensive market coverage, Caruso-Cabrera started appearing regularly on Power Lunch in 2009 in an analyst capacity. Caruso-Cabrera was promoted to co-presenter of Power Lunch in 2009, and remained in that position until 2013. She rejoined Power Lunch for her third stint as co-presenter on January 19, 2016, replacing the departed Amanda Drury (who in turn, rejoined CNBC Asia that July). She co-hosted Power Lunch and the Worldwide Exchange program (along with Christine Tan in Asia and Ross Westgate in Europe). She is a CNBC contributor, and was the chief international correspondent for eight years.

She authored a book in 2010 entitled You Know I'm Right: More Prosperity, Less Government, which called for the elimination of both social security and Medicare, among numerous other conservative positions. The book has a foreword by Larry Kudlow, President Donald Trump's National Economic Council director.

2020 House campaign

Caruso-Cabrera filed official paperwork on February 10, 2020, challenging freshman Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the Democratic primary for New York's 14th congressional district, which covers portions of The Bronx and Queens. Caruso-Cabrera was endorsed by the United States Chamber of Commerce, a traditionally conservative lobbying group that supports business-related causes (Caruso-Cabrera had been a registered Republican until just a few years before launching her campaign). On April 8, 2020, it was reported that Caruso-Cabrera's campaign had raised $1 million, and that over four dozen finance industry professionals, including private equity executives and investment bankers, had made early donations to Caruso-Cabrera. She received 7,393 votes (19.5%), finishing in second place over 53 points behind Ocasio-Cortez.

Caruso-Cabrera moved to Sunnyside, Queens less than a year before running announcing her candidacy for congress. She had previously lived in Trump Tower in Manhattan for several years. Caruso-Cabrera is married to Stephen Dizard, an investment banker and Republican Party donor.