Rachel Anne Maddow (/ˈmædoʊ/ ⓘ MAD-oh; born April 1, 1973) is an American television news program host and liberal political commentator.

Her father, Robert B. Maddow, is a former United States Air Force captain who resigned his commission the year before her birth and then worked as a lawyer for the East Bay Municipal Utility District.

[10] Referring to John Hughes films, Maddow has described herself as being "a cross between the jock and the antisocial girl" in high school.

[19] Maddow's first job as a radio host was in 1999 at WRNX (100.9 FM) in Holyoke, Massachusetts, then home to "The Dave in the Morning Show".

She entered and won a contest the station held to find a new second lead for the show's principal host, Dave Brinnel.

[20] After the WRNX show, she hosted Big Breakfast on WRSI in Northampton, Massachusetts, for two years, leaving in 2004 to join the new Air America radio network.

[18] There she hosted Unfiltered along with Chuck D (of the hip hop group Public Enemy) and Lizz Winstead (co-creator of The Daily Show) until its cancellation in March 2005.

Early in 2009, after renewing her contract with Air America, Maddow's radio show was moved to a one-hour timeslot at 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

[18] Olbermann advocated for Maddow to host her own show at MSNBC, and he was eventually able to persuade Phil Griffin to give her Dan Abrams' time slot.

[32] In August 2008, MSNBC announced The Rachel Maddow Show would replace Verdict with Dan Abrams in the network's 9:00 p.m. slot the following month.

[37] This show made Maddow the first openly gay or lesbian host of a primetime news program in the United States.

[41] Associated Press columnist David Bauder saw her as "[Keith] Olbermann's political soul mate", and he described the Olbermann-Maddow shows as a "liberal two-hour block".

[42] Of her collegial relationship with Roger Ailes of Fox News, whom she sought out for technical advice, on camera angles, Maddow said she does not want to talk about it because "I don't want anybody else to use it.

[44] She has been called by Rolling Stone as "America's wonkiest anchor" who "cut through the chaos of the Trump administration – and became the most trusted name in the news.

This often begins with film clips and other media from events in past years or decades which she eventually connects with the news of the day.

[52] Maddow took a hiatus from her show from February to April 2022 to coincide with production on the film adaptation of Bag Man.

[56] On May 22, 2020, the case was dismissed by Judge Cynthia Bashant, who found that "the contested statement is an opinion that cannot serve as the basis for a defamation".

"[64] Maddow's second book Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth was published in October 2019.

[67] Her third book, Bag Man: The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-up, and Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen Crook in the White House,[68] written with Michael Yarvitz, was published in December 2020.

[69] In October 2018, Maddow launched the podcast Bag Man, produced with MSNBC and focusing on the 1973 political scandal surrounding Vice President Spiro Agnew.

[53] In October 2022, Maddow and MSNBC launched Ultra, a podcast series chronicling U.S. right-wing extremism during the 1940s and World War II, including the 1944 sedition trial.

[74] A Newsweek profile said, "At her best, Maddow debates ideological opponents with civility and persistence ... but for all her eloquence, she can get so wound up ripping Republicans that she sounds like another smug cable partisan".

[76] The editors of The New Republic similarly criticized her – naming her among the "most over-rated thinkers" of 2011, they called her program "a textbook example of the intellectual limitations of a perfectly settled perspective".

[40][80] When asked about her political views in 2010 by the Valley Advocate, Maddow replied, "I'm undoubtedly a liberal, which means that I'm in almost total agreement with the Eisenhower-era Republican Party platform.

[90] In March 2017, she blamed Russia for WikiLeaks' Vault 7 disclosure of the CIA's hacking tools, saying: "Consider what the other U.S. agency is besides the State Department that Putin most hates?

"[90] Regarding the Trump-Russia investigation, Maddow said: "If the Trump presidency is knowingly the product of a foreign-intelligence operation, that is a full-stop national crisis.

"[43] Concerning "alternative facts" and fake news, Maddow said: "The president denigrating the press is important in terms of his behavior as an increasingly authoritarian-style leader, period.

[92] In July 2020, Maddow predicted that unemployment figures covering the previous month would be "absolutely terrible"; after the figures were released, showing the largest growth in employment in a single month in U.S. history, Politico named Maddow's prediction one of "the most audacious, confident and spectacularly incorrect prognostications about the year".

[94] Maddow splits her time between Manhattan in New York City, and West Cummington, Massachusetts, with her partner, artist Susan Mikula.

[138] In March of 2010 she wrote the introduction to the Batwoman: Elegy trade paperback, in which she noted her appreciation for the work of writer Greg Rucka.