Kim Gamel, a former veteran Associated Press correspondent who covered conflicts and uprisings around the Middle East, including the height of the Iraq war and the Arab Spring, has died, according to her brother-in-law. She was 57.
Gamel died Wednesday in Idaho after a battle with lymphoma, Lee Ruff said.
Gamel brought the same care and compassion to her work reporting and directing coverage in war zones that she offered to her colleagues. She pursued the story of an Iraqi girl who was blinded in a Baghdad car bombing — bringing attention to her plight and leading to donations and offers of medical care.
“Kim was an energetic reporter and careful editor who made contacts easily, from military members and diplomats to store clerks and day laborers,” said Robert H. Reid, the AP’s former Middle East regional editor who worked with Gamel at the news agency and later at Stars and Stripes.
“She had a wide circle of friends and enjoyed mentoring less experienced journalists as much as producing her own work,” he said.
Even on the busiest days, Gamel always offered colleagues and guests at the Baghdad bureau cups of coffee — made in the machine she kept on her desk with the fine grounds she brought into the country. If a colleague was sick, Gamel offered some of the medication she also brought with her from the U.S.
“Kim’s career took her all over the world, and made her witness to history,” said Paul Haven, vice president of Global Newsgathering at AP. “But whether it was covering the Arab Spring or the war in Iraq, she sought the human stories that brought those wars to life. Her work made a difference in people’s lives, and she will be deeply missed.”
A native of Idaho, Gamel began her career in print journalism soon after she graduated with a degree in Russian from Bates College in Maine, working for an English-language newspaper in Russia, the Moscow Tribune. She later earned a master’s degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
She worked for the AP for about 20 years until 2014, when she left for a Knight-Wallace journalism fellowship at the University of Michigan. After the fellowship, Gamel joined Stars and Stripes, where she covered Asian affairs from her base in Seoul, South Korea. Most recently, she worked in Hawaii.
While at the AP, Gamel did a stint in Sweden as the Nordic and Baltic news editor, covering, among other things, the Nobel Prizes. Gamel also spent time in New York as an editor on the news agency’s International Desk. But she was best known for her work from conflict zones, including Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq and Egypt. She was news editor in both Iraq and Egypt.
From her post in Cairo, Gamel helped direct coverage of the Arab Spring uprisings that toppled several governments in the region in 2011 as well as the early years of Syria's civil war.
During Gamel’s time in Iraq, she learned about Shams Karim, a young girl who was blinded and disfigured by a 2006 bomb that also killed her mother.
Gamel followed the story, bringing the world’s attention to the girl who came from a poor family. The reports led to donations worth tens of thousands of dollars and Karim was taken abroad for treatment and given prosthetic eyes.
“Shams was luckier than many Iraqi victims of violence because so many people came forward with offers of help,” Gamel wrote in a dispatch in March 2009.
“Whatever good things happen to Shams in the future are due to Kim Gamel and her big heart,” Reid said.
Gamel is survived by her mother, Bobbie Gamel; sister, Seana Ruff; brother-in-law, Lee Ruff; as well as a nephew and a niece.
FILE - U.S. and Iraqi troops pass a poster of Muqtada al-Sadr, evidence of continued support for the anti-American cleric and his Mahdi Army militia, in Basra, Iraq, on June 10, 2008. (AP Photo/Kim Gamel, File)
This photo provided by the Honolulu Civil Beat in June 2026 shows Kim Gamel in the Honolulu Civil Beat newsroom. (Cory Lum/Honolulu Civil Beat via AP)
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump changed his tune Friday heading into South Carolina's runoff next week, saying either Republican contender for governor — not just Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, whom he endorsed before the primary earlier this month — would be a good pick.
On his Truth Social platform, Trump praised both Evette and state Attorney General Alan Wilson, writing: “Both have had amazing careers, and have been with me from the beginning. They are MAGA and America First all the way!”
The move represents a hedging of Trump's bets in a primary season where he has seen some of his endorsed candidates fall short, rare defeats that have stirred doubts about his clout as he approaches the back half of his second term.
Trump previously gave Evette his “Complete and Total Endorsement." He also said “A BIG added plus” for her campaign is that Henry McMaster Jr. — the son of the current governor, a close ally — may be Evette’s running mate. But the 38-year-old lawyer later said he would not be considered for the post.
On social media Friday, Evette posted: “I was proud to come in first as President @realDonaldTrump's endorsed candidate for Governor on June 9th. Looking forward to doing it again on June 23rd.”
Wilson said in a social media post Friday, “I am honored to have the endorsement of President Donald J. Trump.” Swiftly thereafter, Wilson issued a news release which in part enumerated the legal briefs he's filed in support of Trump's policies on issues including restricting birthright citizenship, on which the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet ruled.
Moments after Trump's double-endorsement post, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said on social media that he was backing Wilson, who he predicted “will lead with humility, courage, and an optimistic vision for our state.”
A person familiar with Scott’s thinking but not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Associated Press that the senator had been making calls for Wilson, helping fundraise and encouraging Trump to back his candidacy.
Evette has called Trump’s endorsement a “golden ticket” for Republicans seeking office in South Carolina, but the results have been a mixed bag in other races for governor. The Republican president’s choices in Iowa and Georgia lost this month.
Just before a 2022 U.S. Senate primary in Missouri between former Gov. Eric Greitens and Attorney General Eric Schmitt, Trump just endorsed “ERIC," presumably meaning either candidate, both of whom claimed the endorsement. Schmitt won the nomination and the office.
Arizona's primary is not until next month but Trump has been endorsing Republican candidates for governor for the past two years. In late 2024, Trump said that he was endorsing housing developer Karrin Taylor Robson. His choice angered some of his biggest allies in the state, who are suspicious of Robson's long-standing ties to the party's business establishment. Then in April 2025, Trump said he was backing U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs — in addition to Robson.
It has been a bit of a jumble when it comes to Trump's 2026 primary picks so far.
Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, in Ohio, and U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, in Alabama, secured backing from Trump early in their campaigns for governor, and they went on to dominate their primaries. Like Evette, former state Sen. Mike Mazzei got Trump's backing in his bid for Oklahoma governor in a crowded field without a clear front-runner, and advanced to an Aug. 25 runoff.
But Trump's chosen gubernatorial candidates have failed in other contests. Aided by more than $100 million — mostly from his personal fortune — billionaire healthcare tycoon Rick Jackson battled his way to the Republican nomination in Georgia over Trump's pick, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones.
U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, endorsed by Trump the same day as Evette, failed in his Iowa governor bid, losing to businessman Zach Lahn.
Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP
South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette speaks at an election night watch party after advancing to a GOP primary runoff in the governor's race on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in Greenville, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)
