--- description: The commentator’s journey from childhood immigrant to View co-host and CNN contributor is marked by her passion for democracy. title: Ana Navarro Is Engaging Across Party Lines image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ab3b5b49d345eba/698a5a44929fadada9bfceab/ana-navarro-handout-abc-jeff-lipsky.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Sep 12, 2024 # Ana Navarro Is Engaging Across Party Lines by [Chantelle Lee](/author/chantelle-lee/) ## Chantelle Lee Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Reporter  THE VIEW - The View’s Season 28 Co-host photo shoot. “The View” airs Monday-Friday, 11am-12noon, ET on ABC. (ABC/JEFF LIPSKY) ANA NAVARRO THE VIEW - The View’s Season 28 Co-host photo shoot. “The View” airs Monday-Friday, 11am-12noon, ET on ABC. (ABC/JEFF LIPSKY) ANA NAVARROJeff Lipsky—ABC _Lea este artículo en español_ [_aquí_](http://time.com/7020146/spanish-ana-navarro-latino-leaders/ "undefined") Ana Navarro didn’t plan to go into politics; she thought she would spend her life as a lawyer. “I like to argue. I liked understanding the law,” says the co-host of _The View_ and CNN political commentator. “All I could do was talk and fight.” But growing up during a time of upheaval in Latin America drew her to the political world. Navarro, 52, was born in Nicaragua. In 1980, she and her family immigrated to Miami—at a time when hundreds of thousands of political exiles were fleeing to Florida from Latin and Central America—because of the Sandinista revolution. “I think you go one of two directions: either you realize that democracy matters and being involved matters and politics matters and become engaged, which is what happened to me, or you want nothing to do with that,” she says. Navarro went to law school, during which she successfully [fought](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/ana-navarro-and-the-p-word "undefined") to prevent thousands of Nicaraguan refugees from being deported. She thenbecame a political consultant in the Republican Party, serving in former Florida governor Jeb Bush’s administration and working on former Arizona Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. “Many, many times, I was the only Latina in the room,” she says. Navarro made her debut on _The View_ in 2013 and was named a [permanent co-host](https://deadline.com/2022/08/the-view-ana-navarro-delivers-passionate-speech-about-latino-representation-after-becoming-official-co-host-1235086765/ "undefined") of the talk show in 2022\. She has worked at ABC News, Telemundo, and CNN, becoming one of the leading Latina political voices on television. Navarro is known for her blunt and ruthless commentary, and she’s become an influential avatar for disaffected Republicans. The formerly self-described staunch Republican made national [headlines](https://people.com/politics/cnn-republican-strategist-ana-navarro-getting-through-election-with-sense-of-humor-and-good-liquor-store/ "undefined") during the 2016 election, when she spoke out [against](https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/07/opinions/navarro-republican-voting-for-clinton/index.html "undefined") Donald Trump, quickly becoming one of the most vocal Trump critics within the party. That year she voted for the first time for a non-Republican candidate: Hillary Clinton. It was a decision she struggled with at the time, but one she’s proud of nearly eight years later. While she’s still a registered Republican, she doesn’t identify with the current state of the party. Navarro [celebrated](https://x.com/ananavarro/status/1815210724794470475 "undefined") when Vice President Kamala Harris announced her 2024 bid for President. In August, Navarro [hosted](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/20/us/politics/ana-navarro-stephanie-grishamn-trump-dnc.html "undefined") the second night of the Democratic National Convention. Reflecting on differences in the media industry and politics since she started her career, Navarro says that “you hear more people with accents like mine on national TV” and it’s no longer uncommon to see more than one person of color on a political panel. “Things have changed—I think dramatically—in the way that people see diversity and embrace it and value it,” Navarro says. “People don’t just see you as a Latina commentator or a Latina host, but as a host of _The View_ who can talk about any political topic \[and\] current affair.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/latino-leaders-2024/7012293/ana-navarro-latino-leaders/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/latino-leaders-2024/7012293/ana-navarro-latino-leaders/"},"headline":"Ana Navarro Is Engaging Across Party Lines","datePublished":"2024-09-12T11:02:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:35:44.819Z","description":"The commentator’s journey from childhood immigrant to View co-host and CNN contributor is marked by her passion for democracy.","url":"https://time.com/collections/latino-leaders-2024/7012293/ana-navarro-latino-leaders/","keywords":["Latino Leaders 2024","list","franchise","News Desk","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ab3b5b49d345eba/698a5a44929fadada9bfceab/ana-navarro-handout-abc-jeff-lipsky.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chantelle Lee","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/"}],"creator":"Chantelle Lee","articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ab3b5b49d345eba/698a5a44929fadada9bfceab/ana-navarro-handout-abc-jeff-lipsky.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/latinoleaders2024/","name":"Latino Leaders 2024"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/latino-leaders-2024/7012293/ana-navarro-latino-leaders/","name":"Ana Navarro Is Engaging Across Party Lines"}}]}] ```