Peter Hamby

Peter Hamby is an award-winning American political journalist. He is currently the Head of News at Snapchat. He began his journalism career at CNN. Hamby has been described as an early adopter among political journalists of social media.

CNN

Hamby began his career at CNN in 2005 as a producer on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. He won multiple Emmy Awards at the network. In 2008, Hamby covered the presidential election for CNN, covering the primary in South Carolina and ultimately being embedded as a reporter covering the campaigns of Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Sarah Palin.Hamby covered the 2012 presidential election as a political reporter for CNN, where he earned a reputation for repeatedly breaking stories about campaign politics. Politico named him one of the "breakout reporters" of the 2012 campaign.

In 2013, Hamby was named national political correspondent for CNN and CNN Digital.

Harvard University Shorenstein Center

After the 2012 election, Hamby took a sabbatical from CNN to be a fellow at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. While there, Hamby wrote a paper titled “Did Twitter Kill the Boys on the Bus?” on the evolution of political reporting in the age of Twitter, which was widely discussed by political commentators and journalists. The Washington Post called it "the definitive work" on how political journalism has been re-shaped by technology.

Snapchat

In April 2015, Hamby joined Snapchat as Head of News to oversee the company’s news coverage. Hamby is also the host of “Good Luck America,” Snapchat's first original show, focused on the 2016 presidential race, and later, politics in Donald Trump's America. Since the show's launch, Hamby has interviewed Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, Paul Ryan, Bernie Sanders, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Lindsey Graham, Rick Perry, Cory Booker, John McCain, Condoleezza Rice and other political leaders and media personalities.

In 2017, The Hollywood Reporter named Hamby one of "The 35 Most Powerful People in New York Media," calling him "a rare newsman reaching young consumers."

Hamby was raised in Richmond, Virginia and attended Douglas S. Freeman High School. He graduated in 2003 from Georgetown University and earned a master's degree in journalism from New York University in 2004. He is the son of Emmy Award-winning television producers William and Tressa Hamby.