Jonathan Lemire
Jonathan Lemire is an American political correspondent. He is currently co-host of Morning Joe on MS NOW and a staff writer at The Atlantic. He was formerly the White House bureau chief at
Politico and a White House correspondent at The Associated Press. He was previously the host of MSNBC's morning news show Way Too Early from 2021 through 2024.
Early life and education
Lemire grew up in the Pawtucketville neighborhood of Lowell, Massachusetts, the son of Susan and Robert C. Lemire Jr. His mother worked for the University of Massachusetts Lowell and his father was a high school teacher. He graduated from Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts, where he was a record-setting runner for the school's track and field team, and earned a bachelor's degree in history from Columbia University in 2001.Career
At Columbia, he wrote for the student newspaper, Columbia Daily Spectator, and later interned at the New York Daily News in 2001. Lemire said, "I was told that I would never be hired but I could stay on as an intern for another few months." A week later, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 occurred, and Lemire "was eventually brought on staff." Lemire worked there for more than a decade.In 2013, Lemire joined the Associated Press, where he covered New York City politics as well as Donald Trump's and Joe Biden's administrations. He gained media attention for his news conference question to Trump about Russia's Vladimir Putin at their July 2018 Helsinki summit, "Who do you believe, Putin or U.S. intelligence?" Lemire has also been a longtime political analyst for MSNBC and NBC News.
In October 2021, MSNBC named Lemire as the new host of its early morning news show Way Too Early, taking over full-time reporting duties from Kasie Hunt. He remained there until December 2024 before being promoted to co-host of Morning Joe. He joined The Atlantic as a contributing writer in January 2025 before being elevated to staff writer that August. Previously, he was also White House bureau chief of Politico, beginning his duties there in November 2021.