Eli Sanders Is Named Editor-in-Chief of The Stranger

Exciting news in Strangerland: Eli Sanders is returning to the paper as Editor-in-Chief in November.

Longtime Stranger readers will recognize his name—he worked his way up the journalistic ranks as a staff writer, news editor, and associate editor over 15 years before leaving in 2020 to become a lawyer, graduating from the University of Washington School of Law in 2024.

Eli won The Stranger’s first and only Pulitzer Prize (ahem, so far) for his phenomenal feature “The Bravest Woman in Seattle,” about Jennifer Hopper’s testimony after she survived a brutal attack, and the murder of her partner Teresa Butz, in their home in 2009.

Sanders also has a long history of calling out abuses of power. In 2010, he reported on the hypocrisy of Justice Richard B. Sanders (no relation), who was unseated later that year. In 2017, he went looking for Richard Spencer in Montana, and essentially caused Nazis to cancel their planned white nationalist rally. And in 2018, he reported on Facebook’s failure to follow Washington State’s strict disclosure rules for online political ads, for which the company was ultimately fined $25 million. Basically, Sanders likes to stir shit up in the best way.

About returning to the paper, he says, “I believe in both the power of local journalism and The Stranger‘s drive to connect people with the life, art, politics, and news of this city. I’m excited to be back at The Stranger with new tools, new perspective, and a continued focus on using this platform to push, expose, illuminate, celebrate, and laugh while we can. When The Stranger is at its best, Seattle is better for it.”

This story has been updated to correct the year Sanders reported on Richard Spencer, which was in 2017, not 2012. We regret the error. Bad look for the new boss, Seling!