Laura Washington is a Chicago Sun-Times columnist and political analyst for ABC7 with more than two decades of experience as a multimedia journalist, specializing in African American affairs, local and national politics, race and racism, and social justice. Washington’s column has been published by the Chicago Sun-Times since 2001. She is a frequent commentator on National Public Radio and Chicago Public Radio, and is widely quoted and featured in the national media. From 1990 to 2002, she served as editor and publisher of The Chicago Reporter, a nationally recognized investigative monthly specializing in racial issues and urban affairs. And before that, in 1985, Washington was appointed deputy press secretary to Mayor Harold Washington, Chicago’s first African American mayor. With a career based in Chicago, Washington has followed and reported on President Obama’s political career since 1997, when he was elected State Senator. Amongst the dozens of local and national awards she has received, Washington is a founding inductee to the Medill School of Journalism Hall of Achievement and an inaugural inductee to the Chicago Women’s Journalism Hall of Fame.