Political commentator Tara Setmayer is a black, conservative woman born and raised in Paramus. She was once a frontrunner for co-host on The View but has since lost out to Ana Navarro.
A senior adviser to the Lincoln Project, she is known for her strong opinions on political issues. Her commentary has been seen on ABC News, CNN and Ebony magazine.
1. She was born in Paramus.
Tara Setmayer was born in Queens, New York but grew up in Paramus, a borough of Bergen County in northern New Jersey. Her family has lived in Paramus for many years, and her grandfather Emil Setmayer served as a captain with the Paramus Police Department for 40 years before retiring.
She is a mixed heritage person with German and Italian ancestry. Her mother, Jacquelyn Setmayer is of the same racial background while her father is of Afro-Guatemalan descent.
She has a bachelor’s degree in political science and public policy from The George Washington University in Washington DC. She has also been a media commentator for various national television programs. She has guest hosted The View, appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America and Nightline, HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher and spent a decade as a regular panelist on PBS’ women’s issues program To The Contrary. She has also hosted her own podcast Honestly Speaking with Tara.
2. She was raised in Jersey.
Tara Setmayer was born on September 9, 1975 and grew up in Paramus, a suburb of Bergen County, New Jersey. She is of mixed (African, American, Italian and German) ethnicity.
She was raised by her single mother, Jacquelyn Setmayer who did not have a husband. She is a former dancer and appeared in movies, commercials and road shows.
When she was a teenager, Tara hung out with friends and had good times. She also got a summer job at the local mall and was a co-captain on her school’s track team.
She went to high school in Paramus and then studied at George Washington University in Washington DC. She majored in Political Science with a focus on journalism and public policy.
3. She grew up in law enforcement.
Tara Setmayer is a former GOP communications director on Capitol Hill, contributor to ABC News and political commentator on CNN. She currently hosts the live show ‘The Breakdown’ on LPTV and is a board director for Stand up Republic, a non-profit organization formed in the wake of the 2016 presidential election to unite Americans behind the defense of democratic norms, ideals and institutions.
She has been a regular panelist on PBS’s women’s issues program To the Contrary and has appeared in local and national publications like XM Radio, Tell Me More on NPR, Ebony magazine and The Hill newspaper.
She has a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in public policy. She was born in Queens, New York City and raised in Paramus, Bergen County. Her mother, Jacquelyn Setmayer, is half Italian and half German while her father is Afro-Guatemalan. She grew up playing sports and attending public high school. She graduated from Paramus High School in 1993.
4. She’s a conservative.
Tara Setmayer has been a political commentator on CNN, ABC News and Real Time with Bill Maher, but she also works for a conservative group called Stand Up Republic. She is a board director of the organization, which was formed in the wake of the 2016 presidential election to defend democratic norms and institutions.
She is a former Congressman Dana Rohrabacher’s communications director and worked to get two wrongly convicted Border Patrol agents sentenced to life in prison commuted. Her work has been featured in numerous local and national publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Hill Newspaper and Ebony magazine.
She is also a regular guest on shows such as The View, Good Morning America and This Week with George Stephanopoulos. She has won several awards for her journalism, including a Peabody Award from CNN. She was also named journalist of the year by the National Association of Black Journalists. She was also one of Newsweek’s “10 People Who Make America Great.”
