Major Garrett is one of the most recognizable political reporters on American television. He has spent more than three decades covering Congress, the White House, and presidential campaigns. Today he is chief Washington correspondent for CBS News and the host of The Takeout, a weekday interview program on the network’s streaming service.
Searches for his name tend to cluster around a few questions. People ask about his age, his wife and ex-wife, his children, his politics, his pay, and whether he is still at CBS. This article answers each one using network biographies, press announcements, and reference sources, and it says plainly where public information runs out.
Some of the most popular searches rest on weak ground. Claims about his party registration or net worth appear on low-quality sites with no sourcing, so they are treated here as unverified. Everything below is current as of October 2026 unless a specific date is given.
Major Garrett at a Glance
Major Elliott Garrett was born in San Diego, California, and is based in Washington, D.C. He is chief Washington correspondent for CBS News, hosts The Takeout on CBS News 24/7, and holds journalism and political science degrees from the University of Missouri. His employers over the years have included CNN, Fox News, and National Journal before CBS.
The table below collects the facts that are well documented. Fields where no reliable public source exists are marked as such instead of being filled with guesses.
| Field | Information |
| Full Name | Major Elliott Garrett |
| Date of Birth | August 24, 1962 |
| Age | 64 (as of October 2026) |
| Birthplace | San Diego, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | University of Missouri, Bachelor of Journalism and Bachelor of Science in political science, 1984 |
| Profession | Journalist, author, television host |
| Current Role | Chief Washington Correspondent, CBS News |
| Current Show | The Takeout with Major Garrett, CBS News 24/7 |
| Spouse | Lara Brown (married 2016) |
| Previous Spouse | Julie Kirtz (married 1990, divorced 2015), per Wikipedia |
| Children | Three, per Wikipedia; names not confirmed |
| Height | Not reliably confirmed |
| Net Worth | Not reliably confirmed |
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Major Garrett Early Life and Education
Where Was Major Garrett Born and Raised?
Garrett was born on August 24, 1962, in San Diego. He grew up there and attended James Madison High School before leaving California for college. The network’s own biography still describes him as a San Diego native who now lives in the nation’s capital.
Little else about his childhood is documented in reliable public sources. He has spoken in alumni interviews about his love of reporting and even joked that he would have liked to be a baseball player if journalism had not worked out.
Because family details from his youth have not been published by reputable outlets, this article does not repeat the sibling lists and parent names that appear on some biography aggregators. Those pages do not cite sources, and they often mix up people who share the Garrett surname.
What Did Major Garrett Study?
Garrett attended the University of Missouri, home of one of the oldest journalism schools in the country. He graduated in 1984 with a Bachelor of Journalism and a Bachelor of Science in political science. That pairing of reporting skills and political study shaped the beat he would later own.
The university’s alumni profile of Garrett also shows how he thinks about the job. He has described the reporter’s duty as covering every story well, not only the biggest ones, and as taking a flood of information and making it understandable.
After graduating, he went straight into newsrooms rather than graduate school. His early assignments were at daily newspapers in Texas and Nevada, which gave him the police, city, and general assignment experience he later credited for his instincts.
How Old Is Major Garrett?
Garrett was born on August 24, 1962, which makes him 64 years old as of October 2026. His most recent birthday passed in late August, so any page listing him as 63 or younger is out of date.
Age is a common point of confusion with this name because several biography sites were last updated years ago. One such page still lists him at 58, a figure that was correct in 2020 but no longer applies.
His age has not slowed his schedule. Programming listings show new episodes of The Takeout airing on weekday evenings through the summer of 2026, alongside his regular reporting for CBS broadcasts and digital platforms.
Major Garrett Career Path
From Local Newspapers to the White House
Garrett started in print. Before television, he reported for newspapers in Houston, Las Vegas, and Amarillo, then moved to Washington as a congressional reporter for The Washington Times and a senior editor and congressional correspondent at U.S. News & World Report. That Capitol Hill grounding gave him deep sourcing on how legislation really moves.
Television came next, and each stop widened his role. He covered the White House for CNN during the Clinton and George W. Bush years, joined Fox News in 2002, and rose to senior White House correspondent there. The milestones are easier to follow in sequence.
- Early career: reporter at newspapers in Houston, Las Vegas, and Amarillo
- 1990s: congressional reporter for The Washington Times, then senior editor and congressional correspondent for U.S. News & World Report
- Early 2000: joined CNN’s White House team
- 2002: joined Fox News as a general assignment reporter
- January 13, 2009: became senior White House correspondent for Fox News
- September 3, 2010: left Fox News to join National Journal
- November 2012: announced as chief White House correspondent for CBS News
Joining CBS News
The CBS announcement came on Face the Nation on November 18, 2012, and Garrett took over as chief White House correspondent. He had already been a familiar face on the network through its election coverage partnership with National Journal.
From 2012 to 201,8 he covered the second Obama term and the first two years of the Trump presidency. CBS says he reported on efforts to confront ISIS and Ebola, nuclear talks with Iran, and the standoff with Russia over Ukraine, and he spent 16 months on the road during the Republican presidential campaign of 2015 and 2016.
In December 2018, the network named him chief Washington correspondent, a post previously held by John Dickerson and Bob Schieffer. Washington bureau chief Christopher Isham praised his precision in reporting and skill in writing at the time of the promotion. In May 20,19 he also served as interim anchor of the CBS Evening News for one week.
Books and Other Projects
Garrett is a published author as well as a broadcaster. CBS-affiliated speaker biographies count five books, and he has also hosted a podcast about the FBI spy Robert Hanssen called Agent of Betrayal. His books range from congressional budget politics to the Trump era and the aftermath of the 2020 election.
His speaker bureau profile adds that he also hosted a documentary-style CBS podcast called The Debrief. It also describes his coverage of the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol as nearly ten hours of continuous live reporting alongside Norah O’Donnell. That detail comes from promotional material, so it is best read as the bureau’s own characterization.
- Common Cents (1995), written with former Representative Tim Penny
- The Fifteen Biggest Lies in Politics (2000)
- The Enduring Revolution (2005 and 2006 editions), about the Republican ascendancy
- Mr. Trump’s Wild Ride (2018)
- The Big Truth: Upholding Democracy in the Age of “The Big Lie” (2022), written with David Becker
The Takeout With Major Garrett
How The Takeout Began
The Takeout started as a weekly podcast in 2017. CBS News Radio later distributed it nationwide as a one-hour program on politics, policy, and pop culture, hosted by Garrett with CBS News political director Steve Chaggaris. Garrett described it as a conversation rather than an interrogation.
The format set it apart from typical Washington talk. Guests were interviewed in relaxed settings around the capital, and the questions often wandered into sports, music, and food. Garrett opened each episode by calling it the best part of his broadcast week.
The podcast ran for eight seasons. He signed off in January 2025 while hinting that other plans were coming, and listeners spent several months wondering whether the show had been canceled.
What Happened to The Takeout With Major Garrett?
The podcast did not disappear. CBS News launched a new version as a daily streaming show at 5 p.m. Eastern on CBS News 24/7, airing five nights a week and anchored by Garrett from the network’s Washington bureau. The debut date was May 27, 2025.
The network described the show as built around in-depth interviews and original segments viewed through the politics of culture and the culture of politics. It also remained available in podcast form and through the CBS News app, so existing fans could keep listening.
The change explains why many people searching for what happened to The Takeout saw confusing results. The old weekly podcast ended, while the new weekday show took its place and kept the name. Streaming guide listings show fresh episodes airing as recently as July 2026.
Where to Watch The Takeout
The show streams on CBS News 24/7, which is available free through the CBS News app and many connected television services. Individual interviews are also posted online, and audio versions have circulated through podcast platforms.
Garrett also anchored another political streaming program called America Decides, according to trade coverage from 2025. Viewers who saw him on that program sometimes confuse it with The Takeout, although they were separate shows.
Because streaming schedules shift, it is worth checking the CBS News app for current airtimes. The 5 p.m. Eastern slot was the launch time, and later listings suggest the program still anchors the early evening block.
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Politics and Reporting Reputation
Is Major Garrett a Republican or a Democrat?
No reliable public record shows Garrett’s party registration, and he has not announced an affiliation in interviews that could be verified. Searches asking whether he is a Republican or Democrat often return a low-quality net worth page claiming he is a registered Democrat. That same page also gives the wrong birthplace and birth date, so its claim carries no weight.
His speaker bureau describes him as a nonpartisan reporter known for asking tough questions of all political actors regardless of party. That is a promotional statement, but it matches the way he has been presented by every network that employed him.
The honest answer is that his personal party affiliation is not publicly established. Journalists covering the White House frequently keep their voting preferences private, and Garrett has followed that norm.
Is Major Garrett a Conservative or a Liberal?
The conservative or liberal question comes up because his résumé spans Fox News, CNN, and CBS. Working at all three has led different audiences to label him differently, but employment history is not evidence of ideology. Reporters move between outlets for assignments, not beliefs.
His books show a similar range. He wrote about the Republican Revolution of the 1990s and the party’s ascendancy in the 2000s, then wrote a book on the Trump presidency and a 2022 book with election law expert David Becker defending the integrity of American elections.
Charges of bias in either direction are common for White House reporters, and no independent study cited in reliable sources classifies him as partisan. Readers who want to judge for themselves can watch his interviews with guests from both parties on The Takeout.
The 2015 Exchange With President Obama
His most widely remembered moment came in July 2015. After the Iran nuclear agreement, Garrett asked President Obama why he was content with the deal while four Americans remained detained in Iran, and Obama responded that the framing of the question was wrong and that Garrett should know better.
Obama argued that making the deal conditional on those releases would have given Iran leverage to demand more concessions. Supporters of Garrett said he was voicing a concern shared by many families, while critics said his wording was loaded.
The exchange is a good example of why his reputation is tied to tough questioning rather than to any party line. It was widely replayed, and it remains one of the first results when people search his name alongside the word bias.
Major Garrett Personal Life
Who Is Major Garrett Wife?
Garrett is married to Lara Brown, and the couple’s marriage dates to 2016. Brown is a political scientist who was born in California and previously taught at Villanova University.
She served as director of the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University from 2016 to 2022. The couple shares a professional interest in American politics, and they live in Washington, D.C.
Brown has her own public career as an author and commentator, so her details are documented independently of her husband’s. Beyond her work and the marriage itself, the couple keeps their private lives out of the spotlight.
Major Garrett Ex-Wife and First Marriage
Wikipedia lists Garrett’s first marriage to Julie Kirtz in 1990, ending in divorce in 2015. That makes Kirtz the answer to searches about his first wife and ex-wife. Some older gossip-style pages still list Kirtz as his current spouse, which is outdated.
The reasons for the divorce have not been reported by reputable outlets, and neither party appears to have commented publicly. A few low-quality sites describe the divorce in detail or attach rumors to it, but none provide evidence, so those claims are not repeated here.
The timing is the only firm point: the marriage ended in 2015, and he remarried in 2016. Anything beyond those dates should be treated as speculation.
Relationship Timeline
The following table shows only events that appear in reference sources. Each entry is labeled by its source type, and no private details have been added.
| Year | Event |
| 1990 | Married Julie Kirtz, per Wikipedia |
| 2015 | Divorced from Julie Kirtz, per Wikipedia |
| 2016 | Married Lara Brown, per Wikipedia and reference entries on Brown |
| 2026 | Still listed as married to Lara Brown in reference sources |
The 2026 line reflects that no divorce or separation has been reported, not a fresh confirmation from the couple. The reference entries have not changed in recent years.
Does Major Garrett Have Children?
Wikipedia’s infobox states that Garrett has three children. Beyond that number, public sources do not provide reliable names, ages, or other details. Several sites list names, but none cites an interview or official source.
Family privacy is an ordinary reason for the gap. Garrett’s public work centers on politics and not on his home life, and his children have not been featured in network profiles.
This article therefore reports only the number of children. If Garrett or CBS publishes more information later, this section can be updated.
Major Garrett Money and Earnings
Major Garrett’s Salary and Net Worth
CBS has never published Garrett’s salary, and no credible report discloses it. Network contracts for senior correspondents are generally private, so any specific figure for his annual pay should be treated as a guess.
Net worth sites offer wildly different numbers. One lists about 3 million dollars, while another page claims around 5 million dollars and an annual income near 3 million. These pages do not cite filings or reporting, and the second includes factual errors about his birth, so the figures are not credible.
- Salary: not publicly confirmed
- Net worth: no reliable estimate; unsourced websites disagree by a wide margin
- Income sources: network employment, books, and speaking engagements represented by a speakers bureau
Common Mix-Ups and Rumors
Is This the Same Person as Static Major?
Searches for Stephen Static Major Garrett relate to a completely different person. Static Major was the stage name of Stephen Ellis Garrett, a Louisville, Kentucky, songwriter, producer, and singer who died on February 25, 2008, at age 33.
He is best known for his posthumous Grammy-winning contribution to Lil Wayne’s Lollipop and for writing for artists such as Aaliyah. Nothing in reliable sources connects him to the CBS journalist, and the shared surname is a coincidence.
Because search engines match names loosely, the two profiles sometimes appear together. Readers looking for the musician’s biography should use music industry sources, while this article concerns only the political reporter.
Is Major Garrett Still With CBS News?
Yes, as far as public evidence shows. CBS News streaming listings from July 2026 still bill The Takeout as hosted by chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett. The network’s own staff page also continues to carry his profile with that title.
The question arises because CBS News has gone through a turbulent period. Bari Weiss became editor in chief in October 2025 after Paramount Skydance acquired her publication The Free Press, and staffing turnover and layoffs followed. Several prominent anchors announced departures during that time.
No credible report found for this article says Garrett left, was laid off, or was demoted. Staffing at news networks can change quickly, so readers who need the very latest status should check the CBS News website directly.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Major Garrett
How old is Major Garrett?
He was born on August 24, 1962, so he is 64 years old as of October 2026.
Who is Major Garrett wife?
His wife is Lara Brown, a political scientist who formerly directed the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University. They married in 2016, according to reference sources.
Who was Major Garrett’s ex-wife?
Wikipedia lists Julie Kirtz as his first wife. They married in 1990 and divorced in 2015. The reasons for the split have not been reported by reputable outlets.
Does Major Garrett have children?
Reference sources say he has three children. Their names and ages have not been reliably confirmed in public reporting.
Is Major Garrett a Republican or Democrat?
His party registration is not publicly established. His speaker bureau describes him as nonpartisan, and claims on other sites that he is a registered Democrat are unsourced.
What is Major Garrett current job?
He is chief Washington correspondent for CBS News and host of The Takeout, a weekday program on CBS News 24/7. He has held the chief Washington role since December 2018.
What is Major Garrett salary or net worth?
Neither figure has been publicly confirmed. Online estimates vary widely and lack sources, so no number can be stated with confidence.
Where can I watch The Takeout with Major Garrett?
It streams on CBS News 24/7, which is available through the CBS News app and many connected TV services. Audio versions have also been distributed on podcast platforms.
Conclusion
Major Garrett has built a long career moving from newspapers to CNN, Fox News, National Journal, and CBS News, where he has been chief Washington correspondent since 2018. His reporting, five books, and the evolution of The Takeout from a weekly podcast into a weekday streaming show make him one of the most durable political journalists on air today.
For readers searching Major Garrett, the verified picture is clear on his age, education, career, and marriage to Lara Brown, and it is limited on his first marriage, his children, his pay, and his personal politics. Where public sources run out, the responsible answer is to say so, and that standard applies to every rumor attached to his name.
Lacey Hester is a passionate content writer at Fames Update, specializing in celebrity insights, net worth breakdowns, trending headlines, and viral entertainment stories. With over 4 years of experience in digital media, she focuses on delivering fresh, accurate, and easy-to-understand articles that connect with modern readers and keep them updated with what’s happening around the world.