We’re thrilled to announce that POLITICO has hired Olivia Beavers to take over Huddle, which has thrived under the able hands of Melanie Zanona.

Huddle, a daily must-read in all the right congressional offices and well beyond Capitol Hill, is an important and growing franchise for us — and we’re confident we’ve found the perfect successor in Olivia. Mel will be rolling off the newsletter in January, diving into full- time coverage of the House at a time when the majority has much to do and little room for error.

Olivia joins us by way of The Hill, where her smart and aggressive reporting on impeachment and national security caught our eye. She’s a familiar presence to many on our team, having spent many a long night at the Capitol staking out closed-door meetings or covering witness hearings in the House. Olivia also has written extensively about the Mueller probe and the parallel congressional Russia probes. She’s been known to joke that the House should start charging her rent for the time she spends outside the Intelligence Committee’s SCIF.

A Virginia native and a University of Virginia graduate, Olivia got her start in Washington as a news associate at CNN, where she ran scripts for anchors like Jake Tapper and survived teleprompting for various shows. She started at The Hill as a breaking news reporter before covering cybersecurity and then national security. In her free time, Olivia tells us, she’s an amateur card shark and horseback rider.

Clearly a POLITICO from the moment we first met her, Olivia is a natural for Huddle, and she has big plans. She’ll be working closely with Burgess and Heather, who have stepped right into their new roles as co-bureau chiefs during this busy lame duck session. Please give her a warm welcome — and send her your stories and tips. Her first edition will be Jan. 4.

Carrie Blake