Alex Wagner is returning to MSNBC.

Wagner, who anchored a noontime hour on MSNBC before moving out as the network placed new emphasis on covering breaking news in daytime hours, will work as a senior political analyst and guest anchor for the NBCUniversal-backed outlet. She joins as many big TV-news organizations are gearing up for coverage of the U.S. midterm elections later this year — a news event that could boost viewership levels after a general decline since early 2021.

Wagner led “Now With Alex Wagner” between 2011 and  2015, and Wagner joined MSNBC as part of a move to present more programming with a progressive lens. She returns to the network as it is tinkering with parts of its schedule and relying more heavily on hosts who offer analysis or perspective rather than delivering the news of the day.

Since her departure, Wagner has worked as a co-anchor on the Saturday broadcast of “CBS This Morning” and also as a co-host and executive producer of the political documentary series, “The Circus,” on Showtime. She is also a contributing writer at The Atlantic.

She has had an interesting and multi-faceted career. She is the author of “Futureface,” a memoir about identity and immigration in an America with a cultural makeup that is in flux, and has worked for Huffington Post and AOL’s Politics Daily. Earlier, she was the executive director of Not on Our Watch, a non-profit created to stop mass atrocities. Prior to that, she spent four years as the editor-in-chief of The Fader, covering music and culture.

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