CNN political commentator Alice Stewart dies at age 58

Alice Stewart was a treasured member of the CNN family since 2016, a fixture on CNN's political panels for the better part of a decade, using her even tone to bring sharp insights and analysis to viewers regularly. With regard to the drawing on years of her experience working on high profile Republican campaigns, and Maria says she earned the respect of her peers as a conservative strategist called on time and time again to support candidates and their causes. And the one she believed in. She brought a boundless well of energy to what's often gruelling work in the trenches of national politics. Alice's career started in journalism, working in local news in her home state of Georgia and as a news anchor in Little Rock, AR, Alice Stewart and press secretary. That's where she decided to move into politics, becoming a spokesperson for the state's then governor, Mike Huckabee. When he ran for president in 2008, she joined his campaign as press secretary. Spending untold days and weeks trudging through the Iowa winter, helping deliver Huckabee's insurgent campaign. A victory in the 2008 Iowa caucuses. Years later, after joining two more presidential campaigns in the 2012 cycle. Michele Bachmann, then Rick Santorum, she returned to Huckabee side for the 2016 run for the White House, unlike Donald Trump. After one last campaign for Ted Cruz in 2016, Stewart came to CNN. Even evangelicals that I talked as a conservative commentator, Stewart joined her fair share of contentious debates on our Air his past sins and say as long as that's in the past, let it stay in the past. It's no secret that we live in a time of deep political division. Alice was never divisive. She was a fierce debater, but she prized civil discourse and walked the walk. The potential downfall. She stood her ground and expressed her point of view, but was never angry about it. Just Friday night, hours before her unexpected passing, she was on the Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. Alice was always smiling, her MW smile on camera and off. She was so kind and thoughtful, cutting flowers from her garden to bring to colleagues in the makeup room just to make their day a bit nicer. That was Alice. Alice Stewart will be deeply missed and never forgotten. May her memory be a blessing. Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.