On a muggy Wednesday evening, a raucous crowd gathered to cheer on politicos as they competed in what has become a beloved Washington tradition.

It wasn’t the Congressional Baseball Game, which was being held across town the same night. But the rivalry was no less fierce at the National Press Club’s Press and Politicians Spelling Bee, as words like “glitterati” and “florilegium” stumped contestants. 

Federal News Network reporter Rachel S. Cohen won the trophy for the press team after eight grueling rounds. The winning word: “amblyopia,” a condition that leads to weakened vision in one eye. 

It wasn’t Cohen’s first time winning a bee: The defense reporter was a spelling bee champion in her childhood, making it as far as the national championships before aging out of the competition. 

“I have resisted doing this for a long time because I was like, I don’t want to go back to being known as a spelling bee kid,” Cohen said. “But it’s fun to … puzzle over things in your head.”

Completing the press team were Associated Press editor Katie Vogel, deputy team lead Alex Clearfield from Bloomberg Law, CNBC editor Angela Greiling Keane and senior BBC producer Kelly Chase. 

They took an early lead over the politicians, who included spelling bee regulars Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., and Rep. Kevin Kiley, I-Calif. Joining them this year were Democratic Reps. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio and Sean Casten of Illinois.

Rep. Donald S. Beyer Jr., D-Va., the winner of last year’s contest, was feeling ill and couldn’t make it, organizers said. Taking his place was Shannon Kennedy, who said she’s not involved in journalism or politics but is married to Casten’s communications director. 

Kennedy said the call went out for volunteers and it was only minutes before the competition started that she realized she would be Beyer’s stand-in. “I thought I was volunteering for, like, a guest appearance round,” Kennedy said. 

She began with low expectations. “I walked in and said, I’m ready to embarrass myself,” she said.

But Kennedy became the last woman standing for the politicians’ team after Casten — who soldiered on through spelling “primaveral” and “murarium” — was eliminated over the word “ankylosaur.”

Other choice words of the evening included “daguerreotype,” a kind of early photograph, which eliminated Scholten. Kaptur was taken out by “diptych,” an artwork made of two images side-by-side. 

Kennedy was finally stumped by the word “duomo.”

The audience was no less engaged than one at, say, a baseball game. Several in the audience brought signs to cheer on Scholten, and one brought a sign depicting Clearfield’s head. 

Hosts Brian Sietsema, Scripps head associate pronouncer, and 2026 National Spelling Bee champion Shrey Parikh appeared to be relishing their roles. Sietsema in particular seemed to enjoy injecting humor into the affair. Asked to use “bastarda” in a sentence, he said, “Nothing says I take medieval typography way too seriously quite like starting a bar fight over whether a document used standard Carolingian minuscule or a particularly insouciant bastarda.”

Proceeds from the annual event go to the nonprofit National Press Club Journalism Institute, supporting scholarships, training and press freedom efforts.

Casten stumbled on a technicality when it came time to spell “athleisure” — he had not been aware of a rule against starting over once you’ve begun spelling. “Parliamentary inquiry?” he asked to laughter.

“I have not decided whether to concede, ’cause I think I got robbed,” Casten joked after the competition.