Samuel Benson is a staff writer for the Deseret News National team, focusing on politics and culture. He has written for POLITICO, The National Interest, The New Haven Register, The Orange County Register, The Harvard Crimson, and elsewhere. When not writing or reading, Benson enjoys cycling and hiking in Utah’s beautiful outdoors.

A Passover hangout with Gov. Cox, a rabbi and a Jewish policy wonk
A new poll shows Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is the early favorite to win the Republican Party presidential nomination among Utah voters.
Speaking anonymously, the chairs expressed their doubts about Trump’s ability to win.
BYU business school event explores the role of religion in the workplace.
Biden visits Mexico this week. Will he find a reliable partner, or a country in crisis?
Pearce’s family said he lived a life of “service to God, family and country.”
On the 2-year anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, Rusty Bowers — who resisted Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Arizona — will receive the nation’s second-highest civilian award
A new study suggests many religious journalists view their faith as a hindrance, instead of a strength, in covering religious topics.
Deseret Management Corp. — alongside the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Google News Lab and the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute — co-host a daylong workshop about religion and media for Mexican journalists.
The author of “The Burning Book” discusses the unique relationship between Judaism and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
America’s ‘single-greatest legal mind’ is fascinated by Latter-day Saints and fond of the Constitution. Does he believe they can help protect one another?
Utah will celebrate the unique, even improbable, balance between individualism and community that pioneers built 175 years ago.
The Arizona House Speaker recently testified before Congress about Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Yeah Samaké is running for president in the poverty-stricken West African country.
The 1993 BYUSA election was among the most contentious in school history, won by the “radical” son of university president Rex Lee.
The Senate candidate met her father-in-law, LaVell Edwards, while at BYU. He encouraged her desire to serve.
Isom’s first campaign experience stemmed from a BYU political science class
The radio host showed off his oil paintings over the weekend in Park City.
The Democrat-turned-independent says democracy is ‘hanging by a thread.’ But he has a plan to save it.
President Joe Biden slammed the media — again — during ‘Jimmy Kimmel’ appearance Wednesday.
On Thursday, GOP lawmakers released a landmark strategy to combat climate change.
The Deseret News invited three experts to respond to President Joe Biden’s Wall Street Journal op-ed.
A new poll shows widespread support for background checks, mental health measures.
The violent death of Rex Lee Sr. split St. Johns, Arizona, in two. The town is trying to move on.
A panel discussion on ethical journalism, hosted by the Deseret News in Washington, D.C., debated the ethics of this week’s Supreme Court leak.
Democrats believe the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade could breathe new life into their efforts to maintain control of Congress.
I sat down with Sen. Lee last year to discuss the 2020 election investigation. Some newly released texts complicate what he told me then.
Jack Rutter, a Utah-based musician who uses the spoonerism “Ritt Momney” as his stage name, was in Washington for a concert
Thomas B. Griffith introduced Ketanji Brown Jackson before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday. Now he’s trying to introduce America to a different kind of politics.
The activist ditches Idaho Republican Party, calling it “corrupt and wicked.”