Where is Jason Riley?
Jason Riley is a conservative author and pundit fromthe United States working as a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and an editorial board member of The Wall Street Journal.His books include Let Them In: The Case for Open Borders, Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Hard for Blacks to Succeed, False Black Power?, Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell, and The Affirmative Action Myth. He has also written about his experiences as a Black person in America.
Jason Riley Age
The commentator is 54 years old as of 8 July 2025. He was born on 8 July 1971 in Buffalo, New York, United States.
Riley’s Family
Riley was born to Ola Riley and Lee Riley of Buffalo, New York.At the Buffalo mental Center, a hospital that provides residential mental treatment, his father worked as a social worker until his retirement. Riley was raised in a devout family.Prior to becoming a Jehovah’s Witness, his mother was a Baptist.
Where did Riley go to college?
He graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in English. He started his journalism career by working for USA Today and the Buffalo News.
Is Riley’s married?
In 2004, Riley wed Naomi Schaefer Riley, a fellow journalist. Together with their three kids, they live in a New York City suburb.
Who is the conservative columnist in the Wall Street Journal?
In 1994, Riley began working for The Wall Street Journal in New York City as a copyreader on the national news desk. He joined the editorial board in 2005 after being appointed to the newly created position of editorial interactive editor in April 1996.
Riley gained notoriety online in 2024 after stating in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece on July 9th that Kamala Harris would be the best Democratic candidate to run for president. Two weeks later, and just hours after Harris was declared the presumptive Democratic nominee, Riley retracted his statement, stating that Kamala Harris is not the change Democrats need.

Riley’s Books
Five books have been written by Riley. He made the case for a more free market-oriented U.S. immigration system in his 2008 book Let Them In: The Case for Open Borders.
Riley’s book Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed was published in 2014. Thomas Sowell gave the book high marks in the National Review, writing: “Pick up a copy and open pages at random to see how the author annihilates nonsense.” Salon claims that “[t]he American left should start paying attention to Jason Riley of The Wall Street Journal.” His reputation is growing. Riley contends in his 2017 book False Black Power? that achieving economic success is a more crucial tactic for Black empowerment than relying on political leadership. Riley released Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell in 2021.