Mark Preston is Vice President of Political & Special Events Programming and a Senior Political Analyst for CNN Worldwide, where he holds a senior role in shaping the network’s special and political programming.

In his current position, Preston guides all aspects of the network’s special and political events including debates, town halls and political conventions. In addition, with a career spanning 25 years, Preston has established himself as a trusted journalist who delivers non-partisan analysis on the ever-changing political landscape across all CNN platforms.

Responsible for conceptualizing and executing CNN’s live political events, Preston has also played a key role in recent years developing a slate of non-political specials including “Juneteenth: A Global Celebration of Freedom,” “The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor,” “The Fourth In America,” “Shine A Light: the 20-Year Remembrance of 9/11,” and “Stand Up: The Students of Stoneman Douglas Demand Action.”

In September 2023, Preston received his third Emmy Award for “Live from the Capitol: January 6th, One Year Later,” – a two-hour conversation between police officers, lawmakers, staff, and family impacted by the U.S. Capitol insurrection. Preston also has been recognized with a Peabody Award, Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in TV Political Journalism, i-3 Mirror Award, National Headliner Award, multiple Webby Awards and four Emmy Award nominations.

For more than two decades, Preston has criss-crossed the nation chronicling the dramatic changes in U.S. politics and the most important stories of the day from the historic Bush v. Gore election to Barack Obama’s groundbreaking presidency and the rise of Donald Trump. Preston also reported from the U.S. Capitol during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack, the subsequent 2001 anthrax attack, and the January 6, 2021 insurrection of the U.S. Capitol.

Prior to being named to his position in 2018, Preston served in multiple editorial and programming roles for the network including Political Director, Executive Editor of CNN Politics, and Executive Director of Political Programming.

Preston began his career as a journalist in Georgia covering a wide range of stories such as the death of Jon Benet Ramsey, bombing of a suburban-Atlanta abortion clinic, and the political fall of then-U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich. His reporting for the Marietta Daily Journal resulted in Freedom of Information Awards from the Georgia Press Association and Associated Press.

Prior to joining CNN, Preston was a senior staff writer for the Roll Call, where he often broke significant news on lawmaker’s political and policy decisions forcing other news organizations to frequently cite his newspaper. He began his journalism career in Washington as a correspondent for States News Service writing primarily for newspapers located in Massachusetts, Nevada, and Florida.

In addition to his television work, Preston hosted two political talk shows on SiriusXM POTUS 124 from 2016 to 2023. Preston received a B.A. in journalism and history from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.