Earlier this morning, TMZ—the tabloid empire known for its aggressively unfiltered paparazzi videos and ability to turn even the most minor celebrity mishap into national news—posted a brief announcement: “HEY EVERYONE, WE’RE HERE!!! TMZDC Staff Starts Today!!!”
Yes, that TMZ. In DC.
Consisting of three producers—Jakson Buhaj, Jacob Wasserman, and Charlie Cotton—TMZDC is, according to its own announcement, “on the hunt for good stories” as it sets up a new outpost on Capitol Hill. Which raises an immediate question: in a journalist-saturated city where ego, ambition, and a ravenous hunger for the national spotlight are hardly in short supply, what can TMZ do that Politico and company can’t?
TMZ founder and executive producer Harvey Levin says the decision to more closely follow politics was, “honestly… very spontaneous.” During a previous government shutdown, which left Department of Homeland Security employees without pay for 66 days, the outlet interviewed a TSA worker about the toll the moment was taking. Then, almost immediately after, TMZ pivoted—asking readers to submit photos or videos of members of Congress on vacation during the same period. The results, as they often are with TMZ, spoke for themselves.
According to Politico’s Inside Congress newsletter, some Democratic staffers are already trying to get ahead of TMZ’s arrival. After the outlet’s call for photos of lawmakers during recess, internal discussions began about setting up more formal lines of communication with the gossip site.
The newsletter also reported that, in a message sent via Signal to more than 250 digital staffers last week, a Democratic aide said the party’s messaging arm would help coordinate outreach to TMZ—while cautioning individual offices not to contact the outlet directly. The goal, the aide noted, is to stay aligned with what they described as TMZ’s “unique” approach to capturing content.
Could TMZ one day break the next Watergate-level scandal? Stranger things have happened. For now, it’s easy to imagine that TMZ will stick to what it does best: turning even the most buttoned-up figures into part of our national reality show. Take its February “exclusive” with Elizabeth Warren, where the senator revealed she’s the “fastest senator.”
In an interview with Bloomberg This Weekend, Levin says the outlet plans to expand its presence even further, building out a full-time team in Washington. “Don’t think that 535 members [of Congress] are going to scurry away from reporters,” he said. “What we’re doing is showing how the public feels about them.”
Tristan Espinoza joined Washingtonian as an Editorial Fellow in 2026. A proud Osage Native from Dallas, Texas, he is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (Nonfiction) at American University. He is a graduate of Columbia University and the London School of Economics. He lives in Mount Pleasant.
