Jonathan Mark Ralston (born July 13, 1959) is an American journalist, political commentator, and former talk show host. His show, ''Ralston Live'', was seen each weekday on the two Nevada PBS stations in Las Vegas and Reno until being discontinued on June 21, 2016. In 2017, Ralston launched ''The Nevada Independent'' (TNI), a nonprofit online news site devoted to Nevada business and government.

Early life and education

Ralston was born in

Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a Town (New Jersey), town in and the county seat of Morris County, New Jersey, Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

and grew up in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, where he attended Williamsville South High School. He received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in English from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1981 and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in journalism from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

in 1983.

Career

After completing his master's degree, Ralston moved to

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, to become a night-time police reporter for the ''

Las Vegas Review-Journal The ''Las Vegas Review-Journal'' is a daily subscription newspaper published in Las Vegas, Nevada, since 1909. It is the largest circulating daily newspaper in Nevada and one of two daily newspapers in the Las Vegas area. The ''Review-Journal' ...

'' in 1984. In 1986, he was assigned to cover politics, and in 1989, he became a full-time political columnist for that paper. In 1999, he sold his newsletter side project to

Greenspun Media Group The Greenspun Media Group is an independent company and was a wholly owned subsidiary of The Greenspun Corporation. Headquartered in Henderson, Nevada, the group has over 60 years experience in the Las Vegas Valley. Beginning with the ''Las Veg ...

and began writing for the ''

Las Vegas Sun The ''Las Vegas Sun'' is one of the Las Vegas Valley's two daily subscription newspapers. It is owned by the Greenspun family and is affiliated with Greenspun Media Group. The paper published afternoons on weekdays from 1990 to 2005 and is now ...

'', one of its newspapers. His book, ''The Anointed One: An Inside Look At Nevada Politics'', was published in September 2000. It recounted how

Kenny Guinn Kenneth Carroll Guinn (August 24, 1936 – July 22, 2010), was an American businessman, academic administrator, and politician who served as the 27th Governor of Nevada from 1999 to 2007. He previously served as interim president of the Universi ...

won his first election, the Nevada governor's race in 1998, with backing from the casino industry and political insiders. In September 2012, Ralston left the ''

''. In 2014, Ralston appeared as an actor in the Amazon original series '' Alpha House''. His

KSNV KSNV (channel 3) is a television station in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside dual CW/MyNetworkTV affiliate KVCW (channel 33). The two stations share studios on Foremaste ...

''Ralston Reports'' TV show ended on December 12, 2014. On January 7, 2015, he began writing for the ''

Reno Gazette-Journal The ''Reno Gazette Journal'' is a daily newspaper in Reno, Nevada. It is owned and operated by the Gannett Company. History The newspaper came into being when the ''Nevada State Journal'' (founded on November 23, 1870) and the ''Reno Evening ...

''. As of 2016, did a television show, '' Ralston Live'', a different email newsletter called ''Flash'', and a twice-weekly column for the ''Reno Gazette-Journal''. His show was discontinued on June 21, 2016 by KLVX and KNPB.

Nevada election predictions and analysis

Ralston analyzes Nevada elections, especially based upon early voting results and accurately predicted both the presidential election in Nevada and the Nevada Senate race in 2016 on the basis of early voting data. In 2020, he accurately predicted the presidential election in Nevada and the two Las Vegas-area House races in which he offered predictions. In 2022, he accurately predicted the Nevada Senate race, two of the three Las Vegas-area House races, the gubernatorial race, the lieutenant gubernatorial election, the Secretary of State race, the Attorney General election, the Treasurer race, and the Controller race. In 2024, he incorrectly predicted that Kamala Harris would win the presidential election in Nevada.

2016 Nevada Democratic state convention

Reporting on the Nevada Democratic state convention in 2016, Ralston tweeted that supporters of U.S. Senator

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...

had thrown chairs. The

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

filed a similar report.

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

originally repeated Ralston's reporting as did other media outlets, but removed it after only being able to find evidence of a chair being lifted in the air but not of one being thrown.

Snopes ''Snopes'' (), formerly known as the ''Urban Legends Reference Pages'', is a fact-checking website. It has been described as a "well-regarded reference for sorting out myths and rumors" on the Internet. The site has also been seen as a source ...

, a website that documents and debunks urban legends and rumors, identified Ralston as the source for the statement that Sanders supporters had thrown chairs and said there was no evidence to support it.

''The Nevada Independent''

Ralston launched a digital news publication in early 2017 titled ''The Nevada Independent'', and Ralston announced he would disclose the sources of its donations.

Personal life

Ralston married Sarah Hoeveler, a former TV reporter and anchor, and they had one child. They divorced and Ralston in 2012 married Jessica Sferrazza, a Reno city councilor. The couple divorced in 2017.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ralston, Jon 1959 births Living people 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists American broadcast news analysts American male actors American male journalists American political commentators American political writers American television talk show hosts Cornell University alumni Journalists from Nevada Journalists from New York (state) Nevada independents PBS people University of Michigan alumni 21st-century American male writers