Alexi McCammond is a national reporter for Axios covering the 2020 presidential election. She joined Axios in 2017 after working for Bustle. Alexi’s reporting style earned her admirers at Axios, and within a few months, she was promoted from deputy news editor to national political reporter. In August 2019, Alexi received the Michael J. Feeney Emerging Journalist Award from the National Association of Black Journalists.
Aside from her work at Axios, Alexi is a frequent contributor on CNN and MSNBC. This piece will look at Alexi’s upbringing and career, her love life, and her feud with former NBA star Charles Barkley.
Alexi’s dream of becoming a doctor ended after her father lost his job
Alexi was born in 1994 in Chicago, Illinois. She grew up alongside two siblings; a sister and a brother. Alexi harbored dreams of becoming a doctor, but she had to abandon that dream after her father lost his job, and thus lost the means to pay tuition.
Fortunately, Alexi earned a scholarship to study sociology, romance languages, and literature at the University of Chicago. She started writing during her time in college, and immediately after her graduation, she got employed by Bustle.
Alexi maintains a good relationship with her parents and siblings. On 4th June 2020, she posted an Instagram throwback photo of her father and attached the caption:
“Hello. This is me as a bb with my dad. He’s got a lot less hair now, and mine’s just as crazy. But what keeps me up at night is that I can’t figure out what makes him different from George Floyd in the eyes of America. In the eyes of those alleged to protect us.”
Alexi’s relationship with former Biden aide TJ Ducklo indirectly led to his resignation
Alexi and TJ Ducklo met and got close as she covered Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, and he was then Biden’s press secretary. TJ was single, while Alexi was in a serious relationship. It didn’t prevent her from developing feelings from TJ.
The couple started dating in November 2020. Alexi’s superiors approved her request to be reassigned from covering President Biden to covering Congressional lawmakers and Vice President Kamala Harris. She told People that she wanted her professional life to remain separate from her personal life:
“When my personal life had the potential to interfere with my work, I didn’t think twice about sharing my happiness in November with Axios that I’d found someone in TJ who shows up for me in a way I’d only hoped for.”
TJ also sought and gained the approval of his superiors. The relationship was supposedly an ‘open secret’ in Washington before the couple went public with their relationship via People. “TJ and I knew full well the unfair criticism our relationship might face, but knew that we weren’t going to let bullies get in the way of our own happiness,” Alexi affirmed.
The couple opened up about their careers presenting several relationship challenges, but they were adamant that they could make it work without compromising each other professionally. Unfortunately, TJ’s violent and misogynistic reaction when questioned about the relationship led to his resignation from the White House.
Before the People piece came out, Tara Palmeri and one of her colleagues from Politico reached out to Alexi and TJ, respectively, to ask about the relationship. Looking to kill the story, TJ made a menacing call to Tara, not the male reporter who had reached out to him, threatening to soil her reputation. “I will destroy you,” he said, along with a slate of sexist and misogynist comments.
Despite President Biden’s insistence that such actions will attract immediate dismissal, TJ initially faced a light one-week suspension. After returning to work, it was announced that he wouldn’t work with reporters from Politico. However, TJ later announced via Twitter that he’d resigned from his position. He wrote:
“No words can express my regret, my embarrassment, and my disgust for my behavior. I used language that no woman should ever hear from anyone, especially in a situation where she was just trying to do her job.”
It remains unclear when Alexi broke up with her ex-fiancé Matt Kuncman
Before Alexi started dating Matt Kuncman, she was in a relationship with photographer and former Axios employee Rob Groulx. Alexi and Rob had a more public relationship compared to her relationship with Matt.
Matt has a private Instagram account, but he occasionally appears on Alexi’s page. On 8th June, Alexi posted a series of Instagram photos and videos announcing that she and Matt had gotten engaged. She attached the following caption:
“He joked about our wedding on the 4th date, though we both knew by the second that we were in trouble. I’ve felt happier, more confident, and 100% fearless since we met. He’s my best friend/ life partner and my rock during insane times. So, out of an abundance of caution: we’re getting married!”
It is unclear when exactly Matt and Alexi ended their engagement.
She spoke out against domestic violence after former NBA star Charles Barkley threatened her
On 19th November 2019, Alexi tweeted that former NBA player Charles Barkley told her that, “I don’t hit women, but if I did, I would hit you.” She explained that after she objected to Barkley’s comments, he dismissed what he’d said as a joke. Alexi used the experience to talk about domestic violence and the need for people to speak out against the vice.
Barkley apologized the following day via a tweet that read, “It was an attempted joke that wasn’t funny at all. There’s no excuse for it and I apologize.” Alexi responded with the following tweet:
“The comments Charles Barkley made to me are not acceptable. Threats of violence are not a joke, & no person deserves to be hit or threatened like that. Silence only allows the culture of misogyny to fester. And those kinds of comments don’t merit of the record protections.”
In the aftermath of the controversy, people unearthed derogatory tweets about Asians that McCammond wrote during her freshman year in college. Alexi deleted the tweets, and apologized via a tweet that read:
“… I am deeply sorry to anyone I offended. I have since deleted those tweets as they do not reflect my views or who I am today.”