Nicole Gaudiano covers national K-12 education policy for POLITICO. She spent 13 years covering Congress and politics for the USA Today/Gannett Washington Bureau, moving from regional to national beats. Her assignments included covering Joe Biden as a senator, 2008 presidential candidate and vice president. She also covered Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign. She previously wrote for Air Force Times, The Record in New Jersey, and The (Annapolis) Capital. She grew up in New Jersey and Tennessee and graduated from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.