Amanda Carpenter

 Amanda Carpenter, born November 20th 1982, is an American author, speechwriter and advisor to the political arena. She is a former senior staffer for Senators Jim DeMint and Ted Cruz. From 2009 until 2010, she was a columnist for The Washington Times. She is also a regular contributor to CNN as political commentator. Carpenter was born in Montrose, Michigan. She graduated from Ball State University with a B.A. in Communication Studies in 2005.Carpenter worked as an official correspondent for the congressional office of Human Events from 2005 to 2007 before moving to Townhall.com to become the site's national political reporter.In March 2009, Carpenter took a position with The Washington Times. There, she was the writer of a daily column called the Hot Button that covered political and cultural issues , as well as other news articles.In early 2010, Carpenter was fired from The Washington Times and joined Senator Jim DeMint's staff as a senior communications advisor and speechwriterIn January 2013, Carpenter became senior communications advisor and speechwriter for Senator Ted Cruz. Carpenter returned to journalism in July of 2015.