Meg Kinnard Hardee, better known to her readers as Meg Kinnard (ken-ARD), is a national politics reporter for The Associated Press. Meg reports on U.S. politics and breaking news for AP’s Washington, D.C., bureau and is the author of AP’s popular politics newsletter, Ground Game.
A native of Memphis and a seventh-generation Tennessean, she now lives in South Carolina and frequently reports from home. She most recently covered the 2024 presidential election, reporting on-site from the Republican and Democratic national conventions. Meg also anchored AP’s first live digital election-night broadcasts of the 2024 primary and general elections, as well as the organization’s first-ever broadcast from inside the United States Capitol during the State of the Union address.
Meg grew up in a political family and earned a BSFS in International Politics, with a concentration in International Security Studies, from Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service.
As the only grandchild of longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Ed Jones, Meg gained early political exposure by spending significant time with her grandparents in Washington and on the campaign trail in West Tennessee.
As a high school and college student, she interned for the Tennessee Republican Party, served as a House Page for Democratic U.S. Rep. John Tanner, and interned for the United States House Committee on Government Reform.
More interested in the political process than political ideology, Meg joined both the Georgetown University College Democrats and College Republicans simultaneously. That broad political exposure proved useful when her original plan to work for the CIA changed after joining the staff of the Georgetown Independent—a decision that ultimately redirected her career toward journalism.
After an internship with The Washington Post, Meg worked as an assistant editor at National Journal. A chance conversation at a bar in Columbia led to a career with The Associated Press, where she has worked for more than 20 years at what she considers the greatest news organization in the world.
In 2008, she was named AP Staffer of the Year, and in 2022 she received the Oliver S. Gramling Award, the organization’s highest internal honor.
Meg is an unabashed old-school, objective reporter, though she understands that this is not the only approach to journalism. In 2018, she returned to school and earned a master’s degree in digital communication from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her thesis examined how a journalist’s use of social media can influence the public’s perception of their news coverage.
In 2021, Meg was diagnosed with Stage IIIc inflammatory breast cancer, one of the rarest and most aggressive forms of the disease. After a series of misdiagnoses at a local health care facility, she sought a second opinion at a world-renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. Through expert care, faith, the support of family, friends, and even strangers—and her own determination—Meg now has no evidence of cancer. Because of that experience, she is a strong advocate for self-advocacy and seeking second opinions in medical care.
Meg and her husband have three children and plan to remain in South Carolina for the rest of their lives.