Bender joined The Wall Street Journal in 2016.[2] He was awarded the Gerald R. Ford Foundation Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency in 2019,[1][3] and a National Press Club Award in 2020.[1][4] In 2021, he published his first book, Frankly, We Did Win This Election.[5] The book covers the events that led to PresidentDonald Trump's loss of the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden.[6] The book was an instant New York Times best seller.[1][7]