Rep. Don Beyer buzzes to spelling bee win

Mark Schoeff Jr., CQ-Roll Call on Jun 26, 2025

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“Stygian” means having the characteristics of death, but the word kept a lawmaker alive in a spelling competition Wednesday night.

Rep. Donald S. Beyer Jr., D-Va., got it correct to move on to the final round of the National Press Club’s Press & Politicians Spelling Bee, where he squared off against Jessica Mendoza, a podcast co-host at The Wall Street Journal.

Mendoza spelled “caryatid” right, while Beyer missed “espalier” to start the round. But then Mendoza stumbled on “trichinosis,” knocking her out of the contest altogether and leaving Beyer as the last speller standing.

It was Beyer’s first bee victory since 2015. He was a runner-up the last two years in a row.

“My goal is always not to be the first one out,” Beyer said. “But I’ve lost enough times that I was more relaxed tonight than I usually am, because the dog still loves me all those times that I’ve lost.”

Beyer was one of five members of the politician team. The others were Reps. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., Chris Pappas, D-N.H., and Lizzie Fletcher, D-Texas. Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., was scheduled to join the team but was not able to attend.

In addition to Mendoza, the press team included Diana Paulsen, associate producer at ABC News Live; Katie Vogel, politics and D.C. editor at The Associated Press; Ben Nuckols, an AP sportswriter and editor; Delece Smith-Barrow, education editor at Politico; and Alex Clearfield, deputy team lead for state litigation at Bloomberg Industry Group.

The first National Press Club spelling bee was held in 1913. The tradition was revived in 2013. Since then, the press team has won six times, and the politicians have now prevailed in four contests. The bee was suspended for a couple of years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wednesday’s event raised more than $20,000 through sponsorships and ticket sales for the National Press Club Journalism Institute, the nonprofit arm of the club that sponsors training and scholarships for journalists and promotes press freedom.

The competition — in front of an audience of about 200 in the club ballroom — was intense but friendly, Beyer said.

“I kept telling myself how lucky I am to be part of this community,” Beyer said. “Everybody claps for everybody. Everybody cheers with compassion when someone drops out.”

Contestants reached back to what they learned in school, or picked up in their own reading, to advance in each round, Beyer said.

“It’s a wonderful affirmation of culture,” Beyer said. “It’s the life of the mind, too, because you don’t get to be a good speller unless you’ve read a lot of books.”

He was familiar with the word “stygian” before it was posed to him during the bee.

“I’ve read too much poetry,” Beyer said. “I knew it. It’s having to do with death. It’s Thanatos. I think it’s the River Styx. That’s why it has the s-t-y in it. If I’d been a classics major, I would win every year.”

While Beyer won the bee, the press achieved a higher team score than the politicians, 34-32.

Although Scholten and Vogel went out before the final round, they had the loudest cheering sections. Scholten’s supporters included three staffers who waved homemade signs.

Full disclosure: This author was neutral on whether the press or politicians won the bee, but he’s a big supporter of the National Press Club because he serves as its secretary.