Charles McElwee

Charles McElwee is the founding editor of RealClearPennsylvania. He is a contributing writer for RealClearPolitics, City Journal, and POLITICO. His writing has been published at The Atlantic, POLITICO, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, among other publications.

Professional work

Editor of RealClearPennsylvania; 2020-2021 John Farley Memorial Alumni Fellow, part of the Robert Novak fellowship program; adjunct professor at Lebanon Valley College

Previous: An editor at the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal

Regular Contributor: City Journal, RealClearPolitics, POLITICO, the Philadelphia Inquirer, among other publications.

hometown

Hershey, PA & Hazleton, PA

Education

MPA, University of Pennsylvania, Fels Institute of Government (2015)

B.A., History, Lebanon Valley College (2011)

published work featured In:

POLITICO Playbook

RealClearPolitics, RealClearPolicy

The Drudge Report

The Philadelphia Inquirer

The New York Post

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Irish Times

Unherd.com

RTÉ

Charles McElwee is an editor and writer based outside Philadelphia. He launched RealClear’s first state-level vertical, RealClearPennsylvania. The statewide media platform examines overlooked political, economic, and social trends in Pennsylvania.

Charles is the inaugural John Farley Alumni Fund Fellow, part of The Fund for American Studies’ Novak fellowship program. He is editor of RealClearPennsylvania and regularly writes for RealClearPolitics.

Charles was previously an editor at the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal, where he launched City Talk, a weekly interview featuring authors, reporters, civic leaders, and public officials. He has contributed to the Manhattan Institute’s annual Urban Policy Series.

From 2012 to 2016, Charles wrote columns for the Hazleton Standard-Speaker, addressing contemporary heartland issues, within a historical context, that prefigured this current age. Since 2016, he has contributed to City Journal, the Philadelphia Inquirer, The Atlantic, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, among other publications.

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute of Government, Charles spearheaded revitalization projects in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, from downtown renewal and neighborhood improvement efforts to highlighting the city’s historic ties to Co. Donegal, Ireland. His work in Hazleton has been nationally recognized.

Charles has provided research assistance to national bestselling authors, appeared on television, lectured on politics and history, and edited books and essays. Charles’ writing has addressed contemporary culture, politics, history, religion, and economics.

Charles serves as Vice President of the Greater Hazleton Area Historical Society and Vice President of the Pennsylvania Resources Council.

Published Work

John F. Kennedy - A Remembrance

**RealClearPolitics**
**November 21, 2023**

The Realignment of Healthcare Politics

**POLITICO Magazine - The Friday Read**
**September 8, 2023**

Will Philadelphia’s Progressive Machine Prevail?

**City Journal**
**May 15, 2023**

This St. Patrick’s Day

On Irish Melancholy and Remembrance
**City Journal**
**March 17, 2023**

On the Way Home

**A Dedication to My Father,**
**Charles F. McElwee (1954-2022)**
**City Journal**
**Autumn Issue, 2022**

A Suburban Reckoning in Pennsylvania

**City Journal**
**November 14, 2022**

The Redstone State?

**City Journal**
**November 1, 2022**

Down with the Status Quo in Pennsylvania

**City Journal**
**May 27, 2022**

The Supply-Chain Empire

**City Journal**
**Winter Issue, 2022**

Twilight of the Blue-Collar Democrat

**City Journal**
**November 11, 2021**

Eyes on the Avenue

**City Journal**
**Summer Issue, 2021**

The Life of Jane Jacobs’s Hometown

**City Journal**
**June 30, 2021**

Testing Progressivism in Pennsylvania

**City Journal**
**May 21, 2021**

All or Nothing at All

**City Journal**
**April 14, 2021**

John Heinz’s Legacy and Pennsylvania’s Political Future

**RealClearPolitics / Republished in The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette**
**March 30, 2021**

Borough of Churches

**City Journal**
**March 17, 2021**

PA Suburbs Signal a National ‘Eds-and-Meds’ Realignment

**RealClearPolitics / Republished in The Philadelphia Inquirer**
**February 14, 2021**

Will a Biden Presidency Reflect His Scranton Roots?

**RealClearPolitics / Republished in The Philadelphia Inquirer**
**January 13, 2021**

Life in the Christmas City

**The American Conservative**
**December 24, 2020**

Criticism for the Sake of It

**City Journal**
**December 10, 2020**

Navigating Pennsylvania’s Political Future

**RealClearPolitics / Republished in The Philadelphia Inquirer**
**November 19, 2020**

Dissecting Pennsylvania’s Realignment

**City Journal**
**November 9, 2020**

Four Places to Watch in Pennsylvania

**RealClearPolitics**
**November 3, 2020**

Last Call in the Kennedy Belt

**City Journal**
**October 28, 2020**

Anthracite Coal County Keeps PA Unpredictable

**RealClearPolitics / Republished in The Philadelphia Inquirer**
**October 17, 2020**

Conflict Central

**City Journal**
**October 16, 2020**

Voter Mood Unclear in Key PA County After Trump Visit

**RealClearPolitics**
**September 29, 2020**

Trump’s Rural Base in Pennsylvania

**City Journal / Republished in The Philadelphia Inquirer**
**September 21, 2020**

Pennsylvania’s Bucks County: Ultimate Suburban Bellwether

**RealClearPolitics**
**September 11, 2020**

A Battle of Two Pennsylvania Counties

**RealClearPolitics / Republished in The Philadelphia Inquirer**
**August 12, 2020**

pete-hamill+%281%29.jpg — The Last Great Newspaperman

**City Journal**
**August 6, 2020**

Democrats’ Pennsylvania Trouble

**City Journal**
**July 24, 2020**

Fireworks Mayhem in Pennsylvania

**City Journal**
**July 10, 2020**

Keystone Clues

**City Journal**
**June 12, 2020**

The Tradition Goes On

**City Journal**
**May 22, 2020**

Keystone Rebellion

**City Journal**
**May 13, 2020**

New Yorkers Made These Bellwether Counties Pennsylvania’s Hotspot

**The American Conservative**
**May 7, 2020**

Easter’s Empty Basket

**City Journal**
**April 10, 2020**

In Hard Times, Hershey Kept Thousands Employed

**The American Conservative**
**March 27, 2020**

Chris Matthews’s Last Hurrah

**City Journal**
**March 6, 2020**

An Electoral Test of the Urban-Rural Divide

**City Journal / Republished in The Philadelphia Inquirer**
**March 2, 2020**

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Civil War

**City Journal**
**February 18, 2020**

5e0e6a371f403.image.jpg — The Lehigh Valley: A Bellwether for Trump

**The American Conservative**
**January 31, 2020**

voting-pennsylvania+%281%29.jpg — A Battle of Voting Margins

**City Journal**
**November 12, 2019**

An Overlooked Crisis

**City Journal**
**October 23, 2019**

How Private Dollars Can Manage Public Parks

**The Manhattan Institute’s Urban Policy Series**
**September 25, 2019**

Emergency in the Emergency Room

**City Journal**
**September 19, 2019**

Community Dies in Darkness

**City Journal**
**August 8, 2019**

In Defense of Hometowns

**City Journal / Republished in The Philadelphia Inquirer**
**July 30, 2019**

Insult to Injury in the Rust Belt

**City Journal**
**July 11, 2019**

JFK Jr.’s Accidental Legacy

**City Journal**
**June 28, 2019**

The Democrats’ Pennsylvania Edge

**City Journal**
**June 21, 2019**

Mayor Frank Rizzo

**The American Conservative**
**June 10, 2019**

Death of the Country Club

**City Journal**
**June 7, 2019**

county-donegal-ireland-fanad-lighthouse-co-donegal-ireland-391-.jpg — In Search of the Lost Nation

**City Journal**
**May 16, 2019**

ap_19119758698168_wide-e49895271f4de5442fbf3eec9de5b87aaefe7713-s800-c85.jpg — Biden’s Key: Pennsylvania

**City Journal / Republished in The Philadelphia Inquirer**
**May 2, 2019**

The Battle for Rust Belt Catholicism

**City Journal - Winter 2019 Issue**
**March 31, 2019**

Dark Horse from the City of Angels

**City Journal**
**January 17, 2019**

Millennials:
A Lost Generation Without the Booze and Jazz

**The American Conservative**
**January 15, 2019**

Glow of Gloom

**City Journal**
**December 26, 2018**

The Calm Before the Storm

**City Journal**
**December 5, 2018**

Serious
Monkey Business

**City Journal**
**November 29, 2018**

The Suburban Revolt

**City Journal**
**November 13, 2018**

early-voting-starts-at-board-of-elections-f5d8dc30ada5c2fc.jpg — In North Dakota, Trump Voters Put to the Test

**The American Conservative**
**November 6, 2018**

3-harrisburg-pennsylvania-city-skyline-panoramic-images.jpg — Battleground Pennsylvania

**City Journal**
**November 1, 2018**

What’s the Frequency, Gen X?

**The American Conservative**
**October 26, 2018**

Who Speaks For the Suffering Upper Middle Class?

**The American Conservative**
**September 13, 2018**

After Two Decades of Growth, Philadelphia Still Feels Left Behind

**The American Conservative**
**August 17, 2018**

Chain Migration Comes to Hazleton

**City Journal - Spring 2018 Issue**

Mourning in America: The Day RFK Was Shot in Los Angeles

**The American Conservative**
**June 5, 2018**

The ‘Rust Belt’ Echoes American Loss, But It’s No Cliché

**The American Conservative**
**May 30, 2018**

Remembering John Heinz’s Legacy

**The American Conservative - March 12, 2018**

Slow Fade of the Pennsylvania Irish

**The American Conservative**
**February 15, 2018**

Revisiting the 1998 Impeachment Proceedings

**The Federalist**
**January 2, 2018**

donad-trumps-working-class-whites-hitting-back-on-hillary-clinton-2016-images.jpg — How the GOP Can Hang on to the Working Class

**The American Conservative**
**December 17, 2017**

shutterstock_26013274.0.jpg — California Dream?

**The Weekly Standard**
**December 13, 2017**

downtown%2Bscranton.jpg — Pennsylvania's Senate Race Will Be a Battle Royale

**The Weekly Standard**
**November 20, 2017**

Philadelphia’s Boulevard of Broken Dreams

**The American Conservative**
**November 3, 2017**

Morton Downey Jr. Hosted the Original Trump Rally—30 Years Ago

**The American Conservative**
**October 2, 2017**

Remembering Daniel Patrick Moynihan

**The American Conservative**
**September 8, 2017**

640px-John_F._Kennedy_speaking_at_Springwood_the_Roosevelt_home_in_Hyde_Park_New_York_1960-554x370.jpg — Kennedy’s Forgotten Coalition: Working Class Catholics

**The American Conservative**
**August 16, 2017**

When Historic Preservation Depends on Gentrification

**The American Conservative**
**July 7, 2017**

It’s Time to Read John O’Hara Again

**The American Conservative**
**March 9, 2017**

Did John Updike Foresee the Trump Era?

**The American Conservative**
**December 19, 2017**

**Haunted in Hazleton**

**The Atlantic**
**November 5, 2016**

The Battle for Luzerne County - 2016

**Hazleton Standard-Speaker**
**July 17, 2016**

James Moran’s Paintings
- A Tribute

**Hazleton Standard-Speaker**
**April 24, 2016**

image+%281%29.jpg — The Story of Hazleton’s Parks

**Hazleton Standard-Speaker**
**February 7, 2016**

image (2).jpg — The Bells of St. Paul’s Are Waiting

**Hazleton Standard-Speaker**
**December 13, 2015**

Look Homeward, Hazleton

**Hazleton Standard-Speaker**
**September 13, 2015**

image+%283%29.jpg — The Altamont

**Hazleton Standard-Speaker**
**May 24, 2015**

image+%284%29.jpg — Recharging the Mountain City

**Hazleton Standard-Speaker**
**December 28, 2014**

Europe’s Last Waltz

Hazleton Standard-Speaker
September 21, 2014

A City Searches for its Identity

**Hazleton Standard-Speaker**
**July 13, 2014**

image+%285%29.jpg — Escaping an Epidemic

**Hazleton Standard-Speaker**
**June 8, 2014**

image (6).jpg — Banking on a City’s Future

**Hazleton Standard-Speaker**
**April 13, 2014**

Hazleton in Celluloid

**Hazleton Standard-Speaker**
**February 23, 2014**

Remembering John O’Hara

**Hazleton Standard-Speaker**
**January 19, 2014**

image+%287%29.jpg — City Hall at 100: A Century of Change

**Hazleton Standard-Speaker**
**December 13, 2013**

image+%288%29.jpg — Remembering John F. Kennedy

**Hazleton Standard-Speaker**
**November 17, 2013**

The Corner of Broad & Wyoming

**Hazleton Standard-Speaker**
**October 6, 2013**

ffe3c533-fceb-402a-8e9a-7163ec864bb1.c10.jpg — The Flora & Fauna of Spring Mountain

**Hazleton Standard-Speaker**
**September 8, 2013**

image+%289%29.jpg — Urban Renewal Gone Bad

**Hazleton Standard-Speaker**
**August 11, 2013**

image (10).jpg — The Anthracite Coal Region’s Irish Legacy

**Hazleton Standard-Speaker**
**March 17, 2013**

Building on the Past: Finding Hope in the Mountain City

**Hazleton Standard-Speaker**
**December 16, 2012**

Hazleton’s Italian Legacy

**Hazleton Standard-Speaker**
**August 7, 2012**

From County Donegal to Hazleton’s South Side

**Hazleton Standard-Speaker**
**March 16, 2012**

1950s-benjamin-franklin-parkway-looking-vintage-images.jpg

Media Appearances

Charles has lectured on history and politics at colleges. He also makes regular appearances on SSPTV in northeastern Pennsylvania. He has been a featured guest on the Sam Lesante Show.

43756869_10156711898539134_4281399502901870592_o+%281%29.jpg — Ben Bradlee, Jr. in conversation with Charles McElwee

Charles discusses Ben Bradlee’s book, “The Forgotten,” which explores Luzerne County’s role in the 2016 presidential election.