Jon Ralston

For other people with the same name, see John Ralston.
Jon Ralston
Born Jonathan Mark Ralston
(1959-07-13) July 13, 1959
Morristown, New Jersey, U.S.
Residence Henderson, Nevada, U.S.
Alma mater Cornell University (B.A.)
University of Michigan (M.A.)
Occupation News writer/anchor
political commentator
Years active 1984–present
Employer Las Vegas Review-Journal (1984–1999)
Las Vegas Sun (1999–2012)
Politico (2015–present)
Reno Gazette-Journal (2015–present)
Notable credit(s) Face to Face with Jon Ralston
Ralston Live
Ralston Reports
Television KLAS-TV (1999–2010)
KENV-DT, KRNV-DT and KSNV (2010–2014)
KLVX and KNPB (2015–2016)
KTNV-TV (2016–present)
Spouse(s) Sarah Hoeveler (divorced)
Jessica Sferrazza (2012–present)
Children Jake Ralston
Website Official website

Jonathan Mark "Jon" Ralston (born July 13, 1959)[1] is an American journalist, political commentator and talk show host.[2] His show, Ralston Live, was seen each weekday on the two Nevada PBS stations in Las Vegas and Reno and his show was discontinued on June 21, 2016.[2] POLITICO reported in November 2016 that Ralston was set to launch a news organization in early 2017 called The Nevada Independent.[3]

Biography

Ralston was born in Morristown, NJ, and grew up in Buffalo, New York, USA[1] where he attended Williamsville South High School. He received a BA in English from Cornell University in 1981, and an MA in Journalism from the University of Michigan in 1983.[4][5][6]

After completing his education Ralston moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, to become a night-time police reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 1984.[6] In 1986, he was assigned to cover politics and in 1989, he became a full-time political columnist for that paper.[5][6] In 1999, he sold his newsletter side project to Greenspun Media Group and began writing for the Las Vegas Sun, one of their newspapers.[5] His book, The Anointed One: An Inside Look At Nevada Politics, was published in September 2000.[7][8]

In September 2012, Ralston left the Las Vegas Sun.[5] In 2014, Ralston appeared as an actor in the Amazon original series Alpha House.[9] His KSNV Ralston Reports TV show ended on December 12, 2014.[10] On January 7, 2015, he began writing for the Reno Gazette-Journal.[11] As of 2016, he was primarily known in Nevada for his television show, Ralston Live, a different email newsletter called Flash, and a twice-weekly column for the Reno Gazette-Journal. His show was discontinued on June 21, 2016.[1][5][11][12]

Nevada election predictions and analysis

Ralston is known nationally for his analysis of Nevada elections, especially based upon early voting results. He has made appearances as a political commentator on various TV shows and networks including Meet the Press, MSNBC, Fox News and PBS. Ralston accurately predicted Sen. Harry Reid's victory in 2010 based on his early vote predictions, despite polling showing that Reid would lose.[13] He accurately predicted both the presidential election in Nevada and the Nevada Senate race in 2016 on the basis of early voting data.[14][3]

2016 Nevada Democratic state convention

Reporting on the Nevada Democratic state convention in 2016, Ralston asserted that supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders had thrown chairs.[15] NPR, which had considered Ralston to be very reliable, originally reported the charge, which other media outlets also reported, but removed it after only being able to find evidence of a chair being lifted in the air but not of one being thrown.[16] Snopes, a website that documents and debunks urban legends and rumors, identified Ralston as the source for the statement that Sanders supporters had thrown chairs and said there was no evidence to support it.[17]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Jon Ralston - Biography". IMDb. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Ralston Live". Vegas PBS. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Jon Ralston to launch Nevada news site". POLITICO. Retrieved 2016-11-17.
  4. ↑ Ralston, Jon. "Jon Ralston". Vegas Pundit (ret.). Jon Ralston. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Ralston, Jon. "About". Ralston Reports. Jon Ralston. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 "Jon Ralston". Ballotpedia. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  7. ↑ Ralston, Jon. "Anointed One". Huntington Press. Huntington Press Publishing. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  8. ↑ "The Anointed One Paperback – September 19, 2000". Amazon.Com. Amazon.Com. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  9. ↑ Witt, Alex (January 11, 2014). "Surprising cameos in 'Alpha House' season finale". MSNBC. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  10. ↑ Roerink, Kyle (December 2, 2014). "TV station pulls the plug on Nevada political reporter Jon Ralston's 'Ralston Reports". Nevada State Personnel Watch. Ty Robben. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  11. 1 2 Scott, Kelly (December 17, 2014). "Jon Ralston joins RGJ political coverage team". Nevada State Personnel Watch. Ty Robben. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  12. ↑ http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/jon-ralston-political-shows-dumped-las-vegas-reno-pbs-stations
  13. ↑ Jamitis, Jim (November 5, 2016). "'Trump Is Dead' In NV Says Political Analyst Who Despite Polling Predicted Harry Reid Win in 2010". RedState.com. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  14. ↑ "Ralston: How deep does the blue wave go?". Reno Gazette Journal. Retrieved 2016-11-17.
  15. ↑ Cartwright, Zach (June 21, 2016). "Nevada Reporter Who Falsely Claimed Sanders Supporters Threw Chairs Just Got What He Deserves". US Uncut. Retrieved 2016-08-28.
  16. ↑ Elizabeth Jensen, "Fact-Checking NPR's Reports On Vegas 'Violence'", NPR ombudsman, May 18, 2016. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
  17. ↑ Kim LaCapria, "The Chair Thrown 'Round the World", Snopes, May 19, 2016. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
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