Akayla Gardner is a White House correspondent for Bloomberg News based in Washington D.C.

She follows the president and vice president around the country and the globe with a focus on telling stories about politics, policy, and the economy. She also authors a weekly newsletter, "Washington Edition: Inside the White House."

Gardner covered the historic 2024 presidential election for the wire service, traveling to every battleground state and reporting on campaign strategies, voter demographics and President Biden's unprecedented withdrawal from the race. 

Covering the White House has taken her to India to cover Biden's G-20 summit, to Vietnam for its formal upgrade of its relationship with the US, and to the UK for Queen Elizabeth II's funeral. Recently, she joined Vice President JD Vance in Italy and India, where she reported on the death of Pope Francis and trade negotiations with New Delhi. 

She also traveled with Vice President Harris to Switzerland for the Ukraine peace summit, along with the UAE for COP28 and Africa for a ten-day tour of the continent. During the 2022 midterms, she covered the record number of Black and Latino Republicans running for Congress around the country.

She has interviewed Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Council of Economic Advisors Chair Cecilia Rouse, Office and Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young and former Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.

Her work has been syndicated in the Washington Post, TIME, Fortune, Yahoo, the Boston Globe and more. She has also shared her reporting on NBC News Now, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and BBC.

In 2024, she was a National Press Foundation Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellow. Before joining Bloomberg, Gardner interned with CNN in Washington D.C. and NBC News' TODAY Show in New York.

A graduate of The Ohio State University, she produced an investigative documentary on allegations of unlicensed therapy and a toxic mental health culture under the former head coach of OSU's rowing team that won an award from the regional National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences chapter. She was also president of NABJ at OSU.

Gardner is a Maryland native and the daughter of Jamaican immigrants.