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Person

Chris Hayes

Nationality:

American
Born:

1979
Occupation:

MSNBC Host, “All In With Chris Hayes”

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Chris Hayes is an author, political pundit, and host of “All In With Chris Hayes” on the left-of-center news network MSNBC. Hayes is a self-described social democrat whose views align with the Democratic Party. 1

Background and Family

Chris Hayes was born in the Bronx, New York, on February 28, 1979. His father, Roger Hayes, was previously in a Jesuit seminary and engaged in activism inspired by left-wing activist Saul Alinsky, though he left the seminary to marry. As of 2013, Chris Hayes’s mother worked for the New York City Department of Education, and Roger Hayes worked for the New York City Department of Health. 2 3 4

Chris Hayes attended Brown University and majored in philosophy. In an interview, Hayes claimed that his “intellectual formation” occurred during this period, particularly by studying radical-left philosopher Michel Foucault. 5

At Brown, Hayes met his wife, Kate Shaw, 6 a professor at the Penn Carey Law School at the University of Pennsylvania. She previously worked in the Obama White House Counsel’s Office and served as a law clerk to the late former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and to former Judge Richard Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. 7

Chris’s younger brother, Luke Hayes, has a career in Democratic politics. After graduating from Vassar College in 2005, Luke worked on U.S. Senator Tim Kaine’s (D-VA) successful Virginia gubernatorial campaign and on Phillip Kellam’s unsuccessful U.S. Congressional campaign. In 2007, Luke worked on then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama’s (D-IL) first presidential campaign. Afterward, Luke joined Organizing for America, an Obama-inspired Democratic organizing group in Nevada. During the 2020 campaign cycle, Luke worked as the campaign manager for the campaign of U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY). Afterward, Luke joined Rank the Vote, a left-of-center advocacy group that recommends policies that would fundamentally transform the American electoral system at the national level, including the federalization of election administration and nationwide implementation of ranked choice voting (RCV). 8

Career

Print Journalism

After graduating from Brown University, Chris Hayes began his career as a contributor to the Chicago Reader, writing for the outlet from 2001 through 2006. Beginning in 2003, Hayes also began writing for In These Times, a left-wing labor-unionist magazine. As of July 2025, his last contribution was written in May 2022. From 2005 to 2007, Hayes was also editor-at-large at The Nation. 9 10 11

Television

From 2007 through 2010, Hayes was a repeat guest host on the MSNBC programs “Rachel Maddow Show,” and “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.” In October 2010, MSNBC pundit Keith Olbermann was suspended without pay for violating the network’s ethics policies by allegedly donating to candidates who appeared on his show; Hayes was hired to replace Olbermann during his suspension. 12 13 14 15

In August 2011, MSNBC announced that Hayes would host his own show, “Up With Chris Hayes,” airing on Saturday and Sunday mornings. 15

In March 2013, MSNBC announced that Hayes would host a new show, “All In With Chris Hayes,” in the 8 PM weekday primetime slot. Hayes replaced Ed Schultz, and according to a New York Times commentary, MSNBC made the switch to appeal to a wider and younger audiences. With the announcement, the 34-year-old Hayes was the youngest prime time news host in the United States. 16

Ad Fontes Media gives “All In With Chris Hayes” a “reliability score” of 22.81 out of 60, with 40 being considered a “generally good” score and below 24 being “generally problematic.” The group gives the show a bias rating of -18.26 on a scale of -42 to 42, with the negative scores indicating a left-leaning bias. 17

As of 2025, MSNBC confirmed Hayes would remain with the network following the layoffs of MSNBC hosts Joy Reid, Jose Diaz-Balart, and Katie Phang. 18

Other Work

From 2008 to 2010, Hayes was a Bernard Schwartz Fellow at the New America Foundation, a left-of-center think tank. He was also a fellow at Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics. 19

In 2018, Hayes launched a podcast, Why is This Happening? 20

Views

In a 2022 interview, Hayes described himself as “a social democrat, a Rawlsian liberal,” a supporter of “a mixed economy” that combines elements of market capitalism and socialism. Hayes has used the phrase, “freedom plus groceries,” a term coined during the New Deal to describe President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s policies. 1

Hayes is a registered Democrat. 21

Hayes is a critic of President Donald Trump, whom Hayes has clamed is “the most singular threat to the American constitutional order since the Civil War.”  22

In 2012, Hayes published his first book, Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy, in which he argues on the concept of “meritocracy” claiming this “core concept” is responsible for multiple problems in U.S politics including the rise of the Tea Party, the 2008 financial crisis, and the Iraq War. 23 24

Controversy

In May 2012, Chris Hayes claimed on his MSNBC program “Up With Chris Hayes” that he felt “uncomfortable” using the word “heroism” to describe U.S. military personnel deployed overseas. Though he claimed he did not want to “desecrate or disrespect the memory of anyone that’s fallen,” he considered it “problematic” to praise soldiers engaged in conflicts which he considered unjust. Hayes later apologized for his comments. 25 26

In February 2022, Hayes was criticized for spreading false claims that then-former President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign had previously accepted $3 million in illegal foreign contributions from the United Arab Emirates. 27

In October 2024, Hayes was criticized for using video footage from independent outlet 404 Media without accreditation on “All In With Chris Hayes.” After the creator of the video footage posted a message on X (formerly Twitter), Hayes publicly apologized. 28

References

  1. Roberts, David. “Volts podcast: Chris Hayes on how his politics have changed since 2015.” Volts. June 3, 2022. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://www.volts.wtf/p/volts-podcast-chris-hayes-on-how.
  2. Stoeffel, Kat. “MSNBC’s Fresh-Faced Chris Hayes Makes it ‘Up’ as He Goes Along.” Observer. November 19, 2011. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://observer.com/2011/10/msnbcs-fresh-faced-chris-hayes-makes-it-up-as-he-goes-along/.
  3. James, Brendan. “Chris Hayes Is Still ‘All In’ At MSNBC, Even As Everyone Counts Him Out.” International Business Times. November 24, 2015. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://www.ibtimes.com/chris-hayes-still-all-msnbc-even-everyone-counts-him-out-2196866.
  4. Stan, Adele M. “Meet MSNBC’s Next New Host, Christopher Hayes.” AlterNet. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20131226101737/http://www.alternet.org/story/151301/meet_msnbc%27s_next_new_host%2C_christopher_hayes?page=0%2C1
  5.  “Transcript: Ezra Klein Interviews Chris Hayes.” New York Times. January 11, 2022. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/11/podcasts/transcript-ezra-klein-interviews-chris-hayes.html.
  6. Reice, Alex. “Hayes ’01 talks mass incarceration, policing.” The Brown Daily Herald. September 23, 2018. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2018/09/hayes-01-talks-mass-incarceration-policing.
  7. “Kate Shaw.” Penn Carey Law University of Pennsylvania. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://www.law.upenn.edu/faculty/kateshaw.
  8. Clarendon, Dan. “Impressed by MSNBC’s Chris Hayes? Wait Until You Meet His Brother Luke.” Market Realist. March 1, 2023. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://marketrealist.com/p/chris-hayes-brother/.
  9. “Christopher Hayes.” Chicago Reader. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://chicagoreader.com/author/christopher-hayes/.
  10. “Christopher Hayes.” In These Times. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://inthesetimes.com/authors/christopher-hayes.
  11. “Christopher Hayes.” The Nation. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20071228042907/http://www.thenation.com/directory/bios/christopher_hayes.
  12. Conaway, Laura. “Breaking: Rachel Maddow’s different.” MSNBC. August 4, 2010. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20241209175738/https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/breaking-rachel-maddows-different-msna199391.
  13. Guthrie, Marisa. “Keith Olbermann’s Suspension Points to Contribution Double Standard.” The Hollywood Observer. November 7, 2010. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/keith-olbermanns-suspension-points-contribution-42700/.
  14. Aujla, Simmi. “Olbermann suspended after donations.” Politico. November 5, 2010. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://www.politico.com/story/2010/11/olbermann-suspended-after-donations-044734.
  15. Joyella, Mark. “MSNBC Gives Chris Hayes His Own Weekend Show.” Meditate. August 1, 2011. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://www.mediaite.com/media/tv/msnbc-gives-chris-hayes-his-own-weekend-show/.
  16. Stelter, Brian. “Chris Hayes to Take Over 8 P.M. Slot on MSNBC.” New York Times. March 14, 2013. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://archive.nytimes.com/mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/14/chris-hayes-to-take-over-8-p-m-show-on-msnbc/?smid=tw-share.
  17. “All In with Chris Hayes Bias and Reliability.” Ad Fontes Media. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://adfontesmedia.com/all-in-with-chris-hayes-bias-and-reliability/.
  18. “No, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes Is Not Leaving.” Yahoo! News. March 4, 2025. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://www.yahoo.com/news/no-msnbc-chris-hayes-not-054435818.html.
  19. “Chris Hayes.” MSNBC. June 6, 2014. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/chris-hayes-biography-n1157641.
  20. “Why Is This Happening?” MSNBC. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-podcast/why-is-this-happening-chris-hayes.
  21. Barr, Jeremy. “Democrat, Republican or Neither? How Cable News Talent Has Registered to Vote.” The Hollywood Reporter. August 7, 2019. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/politics-news/how-cable-news-talent-has-registered-vote-1229008/.
  22. Perez, Andrew. “Why Chris Hayes Thinks The Media Should Cover Trump More.” Rolling Stones. January 23, 2024. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/chris-hayes-media-trump-threat-2024-1234951898/.
  23. [1] “Chris Hayes.” MSNBC. June 6, 2014. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/chris-hayes-biography-n1157641.
  24. Hayes, Christopher. “The Misruling Class.” In These Times. June 25, 2012. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://inthesetimes.com/article/the-misruling-class.
  25. Friedersdorf, Conor. “In Defense of Chris Hayes.” The Atlantic. May 29, 2012. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/05/in-defense-of-chris-hayes/257744/.
  26. “MSNBC’s Chris Hayes apologizes for saying he’s ‘uncomfortable’ calling a fallen soldier ‘hero’.” NJ.com. May 28, 2012. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://www.nj.com/news/2012/05/msnbc_host_faces_criticism_for.html.
  27. Kornick, Lindsay. “MSNBC’s Chris Hayes mocked for false claim that Trump received illegal UAE donations when it was Clinton.” Fox News. February 15, 2022. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://www.foxnews.com/media/msnbc-chris-hayes-mocked-trump-campaign-illegal-foreign-donations.
  28. Kaloi, Stephanie. “Chris Hayes Apologizes for Covering Anti-Kamala Harris Social Ads Without Crediting His Source: ‘I’d Be Pissed if I Were You Too’.” Yahoo! News. October 19, 2024. Accessed July 13, 2025. https://www.yahoo.com/news/chris-hayes-apologizes-covering-anti-171244606.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIJlJq2T0LHMwF8sJeh15YTpilei5a5zXkxk19EqT6RXK87JLOKBFyht0M2wk2u4v9yfdxCVlxuMh5tiSGArvCBnakU_7A5x2XMU3PrPjt04tLL2XgUtpCi_s0RlYJICgGBALAh4u8DCj-d-mfp6JXl1NIGN8a4zyTiaiozbMip5.
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