T-Squared: Patrick Svitek is Latest Trib Hire

Over the last few months, when competing news organizations broke stories we hadn't yet nailed down, we often found ourselves shouting a particular name in frustration: Svitek!

Very soon we won’t have to shout. 

I’m thrilled to report that Patrick Svitek, a rising star in the Houston Chronicle's Capitol bureau, is joining the Tribune staff in a newly created role: breaking news political reporter. Patrick will chase and post quick-turn stories from the Legislature and the 2016 campaign trail, working closely with senior political reporter Jay Root and our D.C. bureau chief, Abby Livingston. 

A speedy and insightful journalist and social media maven who seems hardly to sleep, Patrick arrived in Austin in July, not long after graduating from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism (go ‘Cats). A New England native, he has interned at The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, Huffington Post Politics and the Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  

In his spare time Patrick runs, cooks and is a huge hip-hop fan. (Office karaoke just got a lot more entertaining.) But of course, as you'll discover, he really has no spare time. He breathes this stuff 24-7, which makes him a perfect fit for us and an even better source of news for you.