Vaughn Hillyard was a born-and-raised Arizonan who has made a name for himself covering President Donald Trump.
Today, he’s the senior White House reporter for MS Now but it all began for him at Thunderbird High School — where Hillyard famously battled his school’s administration over an article they didn’t like.
He’s become well known for covering breaking political news and sometimes clashing with Trump. But now, he’s slowing down. At least for the moment.
That’s because Hillyard recently welcomed his first son, Hudson, with husband, Devan Cayea, in April. He was back in Arizona for his son’s birth.
Full conversation
VAUGHN HILLYARD: Getting to be home for it, that has just been everything. Arizona is and always has been, I mean, essentially, the most important, I think, part of my identity and who I am. And getting to be around my family and with my friends back home was awesome.
LAUREN GILGER: Has it been a little bit of a shock to the system to like, stop for a minute? [LAUGHS]
VAUGHN HILLYARD: Yeah. I mean, for literally like, the last 11, almost 12 years, I’ve been on the road, on the campaign trail. You know, really, it started with the first-ever Trump rally that happened to be in Phoenix in July of 2015. And little did I know what was going to become my own adult journalism career, and that’s been covering the Trump story ever since. It hasn’t changed, and that led me to this job here as a White House correspondent, covering the White House day to day.
And to suddenly, you know, shift focus to having a kid, a newborn, and stopping, and it — it required some separation from the news.
LAUREN GILGER: Yes. [LAUGHS]
VAUGHN HILLYARD: And really some focus on, I think, some of the more, you know, the family part of life that perhaps was not forefront of my working professional career up to this point. And so, really, in a way, it’s been helpful in refocusing that there’s perhaps, you know, chaos domestically and abroad, but ultimately for so many of us, so much of what happens in our own homes and in our own neighborhoods is paramount to the broader stories that I think we as journalists try to, try to tell.
LAUREN GILGER: Yeah. So, I mean, this was a long path, it sounds like, to having a child for you and your husband. You went the surrogacy route, which I understand can take some time and some patience, right? Tell us a little bit about — ... I mean, how did you get here? How was this process?
VAUGHN HILLYARD: Right. We actually — it was my husband back in June of 2024, it was the middle of the presidential campaign, and he said, "We should start thinking about, you know, having a kid." And I was like, "We’re in the middle of the presidential campaign. I can’t focus on that idea and that concept right now." ... And he really like, shepherded and moved the process along on the front end of it. And ultimately, it was — it all made sense, because it is a process.
And we worked with a surrogacy agency in Albany, New York, and they try to find a good match, somebody that could connect with you, that wants to be a surrogate for a desirable family. And they called up and they said, "Hey, so we’ve got a potential match. The issue is she lives all way out in — get this — Tempe, Arizona." And we’re like, "We haven’t even met Laura yet, but like, this is ... the spirits and the fate aligning."
And we met her first over Zoom, literally days after the 2024 election, and Laura was an absolutely awesome human being and has been for the last year and a half. She has two kids of her own, and she love pregnancy, and she wanted to help a family like our own that was not able to have and conceive ourselves. And she was a blessing all the way up until delivery, and is going to be a part of our kid’s life for as long as as he lives. And it’s — we’re really — we’re really lucky.
LAUREN GILGER: That’s amazing. So, yeah, that must have felt serendipitous. You get someone who’s from like, where you’re from, who wants to help out. ... I mean, talk about that, like, for people who aren’t familiar with surrogacy, like, is that rare? Is that common that you would keep the surrogate in your life, in your child’s life?
VAUGHN HILLYARD: Right. I don’t think there’s any right or wrong way to go about that journey. I think, though, it’s incumbent upon both sides being transparent of, why are you going through this process? What are you hoping for on the back end? And I think those are really important conversations.
And luckily, I think more of those conversations are happening, and I think it’s important to note it’s not just same-sex couples. And so, whether it be adoption or surrogacy, I think that there is a conversation that is happening around the country about how can people, you know, create and build families through perhaps once-untraditional means.
The one thing when it comes to surrogacy or even adoption, there is still a lot that can be done at the company, at the insurance level, but also even at the state level. For example, in Arizona, two gay dads, one of us had to select who was going to be mother on the birth certificate.
LAUREN GILGER: Oh, wow.
VAUGHN HILLYARD: And we had to go through a — get a Superior Court judge’s order to have two fathers be listed on the birth certificate. There is much more that can be done at the state level also on laws regarding surrogacy to make it easier to family-build.
LAUREN GILGER: I want to ask you another question, Vaughn, about about Arizona. You’re a third-generation Arizonan, is that right?
VAUGHN HILLYARD: Yeah, that’s right. My grandma was Glendale High, my mom Apollo High, my grandpa was Mesa High, dad Tempe High ... It runs in the desert a little.
LAUREN GILGER: And you went to Thunderbird, right?
VAUGHN HILLYARD: I went to Thunderbird High School.
LAUREN GILGER: And then ASU, where I gave you your Outstanding Student Award ... [LAUGHS]
VAUGHN HILLYARD: That is — that is accurate. Look at us now.
LAUREN GILGER: Look at us now. [LAUGHS] So, I mean, journalism, Arizona, are all very tied up in who you are. I wonder, as you followed the Trump story, as you said, over the last decade or so, I mean, have there been moments when all of those things have sort of aligned for you?
VAUGHN HILLYARD: Yes. I got into journalism largely out of frustration of how Arizona was depicted in the national media, right. I think it was so often the voices of Jan Brewer or Joe Arpaio, right, back in the early 2010s, for example, that were always the go-to voices.
And nothing against Arpaio and Brewer, it was just the fact that I think so often conversations and media stories were paired down in very simple terms when Arizona and the greater Phoenix community are so much more dynamic and diverse than that.
And so, I think that watching, you know, Arizona become more purple, if you will, over the course of the last decade, I think helped enhance that conversation and lead a lot of people in my own newsroom and also outside of news to be like, "Wait, explain Arizona. Explain who it is to me."
LAUREN GILGER: [LAUGHS] What is this place, right?
VAUGHN HILLYARD: What is this place, right? And nothing has been more rewarding. And so, from the 2018 midterms, when Kyrsten Sinema was first elected, to Ruben Gallego being elected, to the fact that, right, Doug Ducey was a popular conservative governor. How can all of these things happen at the same time?
And it’s like, well, look, Arizona, it’s full of, you know, there is a good number of natives, what, a third of people actually born in Arizona, but a lot of people that come looking for new opportunities and independence. And I think that that is at the root of its political identity. And so, having the opportunity to help share that story and perhaps why Arizona became such a critical swing state is been really rewarding. I think that that’s, that’s really cool.
LAUREN GILGER: Yeah, that’s really cool. So, you are at home still on parental leave with your new son. But I’m sure you’re contemplating when you will dive back into politics, to the kind of fast-paced lifestyle you’ve gotten used to.
I understand, though, you — you did sort of try to, you know, dip your toes back in. You went to the Correspondents’ Dinner, which turned out to be, I’m guessing, a little bit of a scary, anxiety-inducing place.
VAUGHN HILLYARD: I flew back to Washington, D.C. I am the senior White House reporter for MS Now, and so I thought it would be good to go. And, of course, that is when the shots rang out.
[NEWS CLIP PLAYS]
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Vaughn, are you with us?
VAUGHN HILLYARD: Hey, yeah. Can you guys hear me?
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yes. So, tell us what’s happening on the ground there.
VAUGHN HILLYARD: All right, here outside of the Washington Hilton here right now, and they’re pushing everybody back. We were just inside. I’m not sure if you have a signal of where we are here right now, but we’re on Connecticut Avenue, just outside of the Washington Hilton. We were in the room. We were among a group. ... We’re — we’re continuing to move. I know, come on.
[CLIP ENDS]
VAUGHN HILLYARD: And I was on the ground for less than 48 hours at that point, and my mother-in-law texted like, "You can come home now." [LAUGHS]
So, dipped — dipped the toes in there, and I think that that it helped, though, you know, again, to that conversation around focus. The news is going to be chaotic, and when I come back, the news will be chaotic.
And I think there is something to be said about taking the parental leave, and I’m grateful that my news organization does provide that. I will be back over on the White House grounds and traveling with President Trump soon enough, but then also know that my son, Hudson, will be home and that’s a, that’s a pretty cool thing that I’m grateful to have the chance to now live.
LAUREN GILGER: I know it’s early days, Vaughn, but do you feel like having had a child now and understanding that connection, that that’s sort of indescribable thing, do you think that’s going to change the way you view your role as a journalist?
VAUGHN HILLYARD: Yes. And that’s because I’m looking at a generation that will outlive me. And I know that the work that we do is not just about 2026 or the next campaign or the next administration, but we’re talking about the impact of who is going into office that will go well beyond our working time as journalists, you and me, and our time even on this earth.
And Hudson and other kids like your own kids, like so many communities near and far, they’re going to be living with the consequences — the good and bad ones. And so, yeah, I mean, it makes you a little bit more impassioned. It’s not just to get through the day or get through the next election or the next administration, but it goes well beyond, decades beyond, what we can even understand in real time.
LAUREN GILGER: Yeah. All right, Vaughn Hillyard, senior White House reporter at MS Now, joining us. New dad as well. Vaughn, thank you so much for coming on, appreciate it.
VAUGHN HILLYARD: Thanks, appreciate it.
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