Rider alum shares stories as a congressional reporter

By Caroline Haviland

On Oct. 9, in room 202 of Lynch Adler Hall, a crowd of people welcomed a familiar face back to Rider. With drinks in hand and bright smiles across their faces, the guests filled the seats to hear a Rider alum speak about his journey in the journalism industry. 

Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics, proudly introduced Stephen Neukam ’21, a national political reporter for Axios.

“Four short years ago, [Neukam] spent election night in my office … We were held up there until four or five in the morning taking returns, and he helped me with interviews throughout the evening,” said Rasmussen. “Now, just one election cycle later, Stephen is the one doing commentary on CNN, Fox, CSPAN, you name it.”

After graduating from Rider in 2021, Neukam went to the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland for graduate school and landed a reporting fellowship with the Texas Tribune. He worked for The Hill as a breaking news reporter and later received a position covering Capitol Hill at The Messenger.

 His extensive experience in just three years post-grad brought him to Axios, where he covers the nation’s most important political stories on Capitol Hill. 

‘Never been outside the cornfields’

Neukam came to Rider with initial aspirations to be a sports reporter. Coming from a rural town along the eastern shore of Maryland, he was eager to find a university in the middle of all the action.

“Nobody in my family has ever completed college. I had never been outside the cornfields, and I wanted to find a school in between Philadelphia and New York City to be a sports reporter. When I got here, I was immediately homesick,” said Neukam. “But because of all my friends I met here that are like a community of people, I felt so supported.” 

His interest in politics was sparked by an introductory-level course his freshman year, and, despite his pessimistic view toward politics prior to Rider, Neukam was convinced that he should be a political science student. 

“I remember going to the library and one of the first books I read was about the positive change that politics can make in some dire circumstances,” said Neukam. “I understand that it isn’t all pessimistic and negative and that people in power can make a difference.”

From there, Neukam married his two interests: politics and journalism.

Covering Capitol Hill 

The Rider event hosted an open discussion between Neukam and the audience, with topics ranging from the upcoming election to his memorable experiences as a political reporter. 

Questions arose regarding concerns about President Joe Biden and his decision to step down from reelection. Neukam acknowledged the debate between former President Donald Trump and Biden as the pivotal point in Biden’s downfall. 

“America is only paying attention when we get closer to it. What is interesting as a journalist is that the president had been looking like that for a while. I didn’t anticipate how quickly Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill would have him step aside after that debate,” said Neukam.

The conversation moved on to Neukam’s experiences with politicians he has interviewed on Capitol Hill, where the journalist shared a conversation he once had with Senator Bernie Sanders. 

“[Sanders] does not play nice. I walked up to him and said, ‘Senator, Benjamin Netanyahu is coming to Washington. Are you going to boycott?’ He just looked at me and said, ‘There’s hundreds of thousands of children starving in Gaza and you’re asking me about a Netanyahu speech?’ It went exactly how I expected though,” said Neukam.

The evening came to a close with final pieces of advice Neukam thought to share with the aspiring journalists in the audience. 

“There are some things you can only learn from doing. I think something that journalism schools struggle with, and I don’t think it’s their fault since it’s a hard thing to teach, is cultivating and maintaining sourcing,” said Neukam. “It’s something you only learn from doing. So you just have to go and do it.”