Announcements

David Scott to lead new AP elections unit 

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In a memo to staff on Thursday, AP Executive Editor Julie Pace and Chief Revenue Officer Kristin Heitmann announced that David Scott will take on a new role as vice president of U.S. election services, a new business unit for AP: 

For nearly two centuries, The Associated Press has set the standard for counting the vote, declaring winners and explaining the results of American elections to the public. In 2024, more customers than ever before relied on AP’s elections services, expanding the audience for our trusted work and contributing to our efforts to grow and diversify our revenue streams.  

To build on this success, we’re happy to announce that David Scott will take on a new role as Vice President of U.S. Elections Services, effective immediately.

In this newly created position, David will oversee all aspects of AP’s elections business, including the decision and vote tabulation teams, our VoteCast survey of the electorate, customer engagement efforts, and the development of our elections platforms. David will work closely with colleagues in Technology and Revenue, as well as the News teams covering elections for AP’s customers and audiences. He’ll report jointly to me, for editorial matters, and Chief Revenue Officer Kristin Heitmann for the business side. He will be based in Washington.  

David Scott, vice president of U.S. election services. (AP Photo)

David is uniquely qualified to oversee the unified elections business and operations. He led AP’s decision team and VoteCast efforts in the 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns, delivering a 99.9% accuracy rate on race calls and expanding VoteCast into a digital-first data product; played a key role in the overhaul of AP’s elections technology platforms to ensure faster delivery to customers; and worked closely with our top elections customers. David also served as political editor in AP’s Washington bureau during the 2014 midterm and 2016 presidential elections. A former managing editor in News, he joined the AP in 1999 as a reporter in St. Louis and was most recently VP for News Strategy and Operations. 

In this new role, David’s team will include Brian Scanlon, who has successfully led the elections revenue and product teams for the past several cycles and will continue to be an essential leader of our elections efforts. 

David’s appointment marks an important step in our efforts to grow our elections business. 2024 was a record year, with a 30% increase in customers since the last presidential cycle. Most major news brands in the U.S. and globally, across news media – including newspapers, broadcasters and digital publishers and the largest global tech platforms – depend on AP for their election data needs. We are building on our ambitions as we aim to bring our gold standard election results and related news to as wide an audience as possible. 

Please join us in congratulating David on his new role.  

Julie and Kristin 

See more about APs’ role in U.S. elections.

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