Sean P. Trende (born January 6, 1973) is an American journalist and political analyst specializing in American elections analysis. He is a Senior Elections Analyst at

RealClearPolitics RealClearPolitics (RCP) is an American political news website and polling data aggregator. It was founded in 2000 by former options trader John McIntyre and former advertising agency account executive Tom Bevan. It features selected polit ...

. He has regularly appeared as a guest on

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

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 ...

’s ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

'', and

CNN Radio Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news ...

. The ''

Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It covers general interest topics with an emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout Washington, D. ...

'' calls him "a premier political number cruncher". He is the author of ''Lost Majority'', published by

Palgrave Macmillan Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains offi ...

. On September 12, 2012, ''National Journal'' announced that Trende would be a co-author of the 2014 '' Almanac of American Politics''. Trende holds a B.A. degree from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, an M.A. in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

, a J.D. from

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

, a masters in applied statistics and a PhD from

The Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

. He practiced law for eight years at

Kirkland & Ellis Kirkland & Ellis LLP is an American multinational law firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1909, Kirkland & Ellis has been the largest law firm in the world by revenue since 2017 and, as of 2025, is the seventh-largest by number ...

LLP and

Hunton & Williams Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, formerly known as Hunton & Williams LLP and commonly known as Hunton, is an American law firm. The firm adopted its current name on April 2, 2018, when it merged with Andrews Kurth Kenyon LLP. Andrews Kurth Kenyon p ...

LLP before becoming a full-time political analyst. After living in

Midlothian Midlothian (; ) is registration county, lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh council ar ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

with his wife and children, as of 2017 he lives in the Columbus, Ohio area and is working part-time as a professor at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

. In 2021, Trende was selected as one of two redistricting

special master In the law of the United States, a special master is an official appointed by a judge to ensure judicial orders are followed, or in the alternative, to hear evidence on behalf of the judge and make recommendations to the judge as to the dispositi ...

s by the

Supreme Court of Virginia The Supreme Court of Virginia is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It primarily hears direct appeals in civil cases from the trial-level city and county circuit courts, as well as the criminal law, family law and administrativ ...

, after it was tasked with redrawing the state's congressional and legislative districts following the 2020 United States census. Republican legislative leaders Tommy Norment and Todd Gilbert had included Trende as part of a replacement list of nominees for the post, after the three nominees on their initial list were all disqualified by the Court for suspected partisanship.

References

External links

Sean Trende Articles
on ''RealClearPolitics''. *
Biography of Sean Trende at RealClearPolitics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trende, Sean 1973 births American columnists American male journalists American people of Italian descent American political commentators American political writers Duke University School of Law alumni People associated with Hunton Andrews Kurth People associated with Kirkland & Ellis Living people Online journalists People from Midlothian, Virginia Psephologists Yale University alumni