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Longtime CNN political correspondent Candy Crowley is leaving the network
Jeff Zucker announces departure in an email to staff
Crowley moderated 2012 presidential debate
CNN chief political correspondent and “State of the Union” host Candy Crowley is leaving the network, CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker said in a staff email Friday.
Zucker said Crowley “has made the decision to move on, so she can embark on the next chapter of her already prolific career. As difficult as it is for us to imagine CNN without Candy, we know that she comes to this decision thoughtfully, and she has our full support.”
Crowley, 65, joined CNN in 1987. Zucker said in 27 years with the network, Crowley had visited all 50 states and covered more than a dozen leading presidential contenders’ campaigns – from George H.W. Bush to Barack Obama.
He called Crowley “one of the most important and impactful journalists on our air.”
Crowley: It’s the losing campaigns I remember most
She moderated a 2012 presidential debate between Obama and Mitt Romney.
“To say she lives and breathes politics is more than an understatement. She has an innate ability to sense its nuance, push its limits, and ask questions that others won’t,” Zucker wrote. “She is beloved in Washington even by those that she so skillfully takes to task on Sunday mornings. And she’s an award-winning journalist – taking home everything from a Peabody and Emmys to an Edward R. Murrow award. She is a television news icon.”