Alice Stewart, a CNN Political Commentator, Dies at 58

Alice Stewart, a Republican strategist and political commentator on CNN, has died. She was 58.

Her death was announced by CNN. The company said the police found Ms. Stewart’s body outdoors in Northern Virginia early Saturday morning. The authorities believe she had a medical emergency.

Mark Thompson, CNN’s chief executive, described her in an email to staff members as “a political veteran and an Emmy Award-winning journalist who brought an incomparable spark to CNN’s coverage” and who was known not just “for her political savvy, but for her unwavering kindness,” CNN reported.

Ms. Stewart had appeared on the cable news outlet as a conservative commentator since the 2016 presidential race. Before that, Ms. Stewart had worked on several Republican presidential campaigns.

She was the communications director for the 2008 presidential campaign of Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, and went on to serve in similar roles for Republican candidates in two following elections, including Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum and Ted Cruz, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Ms. Stewart served as the deputy secretary of state in Arkansas, according to the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, where she was a fellow in 2020. She had also done work for the Republican Party and conservative organizations.

At CNN, Ms. Stewart viewed herself as a faithful promoter of conservatism while the Republican Party reshaped itself under the leadership of former President Donald J. Trump.

“I don’t think everything that he does is great, and I don’t think everything that he does is bad,” Ms. Stewart said of Mr. Trump in a 2020 interview with Harvard Political Review. “My position at CNN is to be a conservative voice yet an independent thinker.”

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