[2] Downey lives in Washington, D.C.,[5] with her husband (Neil Warner Averitt) and their five children.
In 2009, she quit her job to finish her biography of Frances Perkins,[6][1] The Woman Behind the New Deal, which was published in 2009 by Doubleday.
Downey won "several regional press association awards" for her "coverage of the aftermath of the savings-and-loan debacle of the late 1980s.
"[8][9] In 2008, she was among Washington Post staff members who received a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for their coverage of the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting.
Liviu Librescu and Kevin Granata, professors who died protecting their students.