Michael Patrick Leahy
Michael Patrick Leahy is the CEO, Editor-in-chief, and majority owner of Star News Digital Media, which owns and operates a family of 12 state-focused conservative news sites, including The Tennessee Star, The Arizona Sun Times, and The Star News Network. He is also the host of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, broadcast on 20 ‘America First’ radio stations weekdays on the John Fredericks Network from 9 am to 12 pm.
In 2025, Leahy and The Tennessee Star was awarded the prestigious Dao Prize for Best Local Journalism for their groundbreaking coverage of the 2022 Kilmar Abrego Garcia traffic stop.
Leahy was a Breitbart News contributor from 2012 to 2022, and is the author of Covenant of Liberty: The Ideological Origins of the Tea Party Movement, published by Harper Collins’ Broadside Books imprint in 2012, and is co-author of The Star News Digital Media Guide to the Constitution and Bill of Rights for Secondary School Students, published in 2019. As of 2025, the book is in its third printing.
An early innovator in social media, Leahy founded Top Conservatives on Twitter in 2008 and organized and hosted the February 20, 2009 conference call of a handful of activists, including Jenny Beth Martin of Tea Party Patriots, radio host Dana Loesch, and Star News Digital Media co-founder Christina Botteri, that launched the Tea Party Movement one week later.
A native of upstate New York, he is a graduate of Harvard College, has an MBA from Stanford University, and has lived in the Nashville area since 1991.
Radio
The Michael Patrick Leahy Show airs weekdays on the John Fredericks Media Network from 9:00am to 12:00pm CT and features newsmakers from around the country to discuss politics, policy, and more.
Author
Covenant of Liberty: The Ideological Origins of the Tea Party Movement
Rules for Conservative Radicals
I, Lightbulb: A Death Row Testamonial
Guide to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for Secondary Students
Journalist
Leahy was a journalist at Brietbart News from 2012 – 2022.
Leahy: ‘Trump Pollster’s Campaign Autopsy’ Simply an Analysis of Exit Polls in 10 Swing States
#RedForEd Victory in Kentucky: Democrat Governor 'Reinterprets State Law,' Declares Teacher Sick-Outs Now Legal
Republicans Warn of Drastic Consequences to Americans of Democrats Pack Courts
About 73% Biden Vote Margin Gain in PA from Areas Given $18 Million by Zuckerberg-Funded 'Safe Elections' Project
81% of Minnesota COVID-19 Deaths are from Nursing Homes, but Facilities Still Allowed to Admit Positive Patients
CEO
Leahy founded The Tennessee Star in February, 2017. By the end of 2023, a total of 14 outlets – 13 state-level plus the network hub – launched.
In 2025, Leahy and The Tennessee Star was awarded the prestigious Dao Prize for Best Local Journalism for their groundbreaking coverage of the 2022 Kilmar Abrego Garcia traffic stop.
Star News Digital Media, which owns and operates the state focused conservative news outlets, includes The Tennessee Star, The Ohio Star, The Michigan Star, The Minnesota Sun, The Virginia Star, The Georgia Star News, The Florida Capital Star, The Arizona Sun Times, The Wisconsin Daily Star, The Pennsylvania Daily Star, The Connecticut Star, The Iowa Star, The New Hampshire Star, The South Carolina Sun, and The Star News Network.
Community Development
Soon after the successful launch of The Tennessee Star, Leahy launched The Constitution Bee – a first-of-its-kind competition for secondary school students. The Bee has grown to welcome contestants from across the country, and offers scholarships of $10,000; $5,000; and $2,500 for the top finishers. The National Constitution Bee challenge questions are based on the book, co-authored by Leahy, titled The Star News Education Foundation Guide to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for Secondary Students.
Star News Education Foundation
The National Constitution Bee
