But is it undermining its own side? Im just going to leave it there because I thought it was funny. And so, she says, she cant talk right now. Smith has made a name for herself in recent months by working with a new crop of candidates in the middle of the country, including Michigan State Sen. Mallory McMorrow (center). The White House Correspondents Dinner is shrinking back to the boring awards ceremony journalists claimed to prefer. Ballotpedia features 408,464 encyclopedic articles written and curated by our professional staff of editors, writers, and researchers. Communications Director at Strickland for Governor from January 2010 to November 2010 (11 months) in Columbus, Ohio Area. Why? You have to know the social media ecosystem, how people are sharing and consuming their news. That's why you've seen them lean on people like Olivia Rodrigo, Matthew McConaughey, the Jonas brothers. How has it turned out so far? Part of it with him is the persona. Click here. In real life, I have a really close-knit family. if(document.getElementsByClassName("reference").length==0) if(document.getElementById('Footnotes')!==null) document.getElementById('Footnotes').parentNode.style.display = 'none'; Communications: Alison Graves Carley Allensworth Abigail Campbell Sarah Groat Erica Shumaker Caitlin Vanden Boom [8] On the de Blasio campaign, Smith worked with campaign manager Bill Hyers, the campaign manager for Martin O'Malley's 2016 presidential campaign. Its about hustling for opportunities. Each was the political id the candidate couldnt, or wouldnt, express. Maybe Im done. But its not just about the 18-year-old girl. [1] She was the deputy campaign director for Martin O'Malley's 2016 presidential campaign. Martin OMalley, who shed worked for, performing poorly in the Iowa caucuses. @media only screen and (max-width: 400px){ You've talked a bit about identifying talent, particularly candidates who might get overlooked, like a Pete Buttigieg. Im realistic here. Just before he was sworn in, de Blasio yielded to Peysers prodding and cut Smith loose just before he moved into the mayors office. And it drives me crazy because you see the Republican Party elevating governors left and right, like Ron DeSantis or Kristi Noem. No, actually, it shows a fundamental disrespect for the people who consume their news on this platform if you arent willing to go where they are.. The bad candidates are people who are insecure, who put their finger in the wind, who dont trust their instincts enough and dont have the backbone to do the right things. Wren: Lets talk about another Cincinnatian: Joey Burrow, your Bengals politically outspoken quarterback. I tell her that I have been calling around to former coworkers and associates, trying to get a sense of how she operates. What makes him such a magnet for criticism on both the left and the right? It was a long shot. He was an incredible leader at Louisiana State University someone that team could rally around, and such a maturity to him. Retail politics matters much less if there are no local papers or local TV stations to go out and capture you on the campaign trail. It was a reporter from BuzzFeed News, waiting to take my place. My observation, said Axelrod, who worked with Smith on Obamas 2012 reelection campaign, is that she is the quiet hero of his emergence.. The Obama campaigns director of rapid response, Lis Smith, is not afraid to take the gloves off on Twitter. Acting. And he is as squeaky clean behind the scenes as he is in front of the camera. The problem with a lot of people, not just candidates, but anyone in life who is caught up in a crisis is that they react. They have one man to thank. In the car, wed go back and forth on random trivia, and pulling up things on Google. I thought everybody knew that.. He announced he was running for the Democratic presidential nomination on January 23, 2019, and formally kicked off his campaign on April 14, 2019. Over a tumultuous two decades in politics, Lis Smith has seen a thing or two. What is Lis Smiths secret sauce? I think Ive heard Pete use the F-word once or twice, for example, and his personal life doesnt play out in the pages of the New York tabloids. People read about my personal life in Page Six, and they think Im going to be sort of an out-there type of person that is attention seeking and all of that. It gives me so much joy when I sit down for a Zoom with Mallory McMorrow which is supposed to be 15 minutes and it turns into two hours, and I get goosebumps again. RT @UChiPolitics: How do we avoid rookie mistakes on the campaign trail? At the newsstand around the corner, you could buy a New York magazine with Buttigiegs beatifically smiling face splashed across the cover, and a New York Times with an A1 story about his time at Harvard. And yet you signed on anyway. which Politico Magazine excerpted last week. Youve got this hard-nosed New York-style political operative and this friendly Hoosier mayor, he said. She puts the word fuck through every part of speech the word can be bent into: noun, pronoun, gerund, verb, term of endearment, sobriquet, epithet, honorific. Your knowledge of the process? Know of any staff we missed? The book gives an unvarnished behind-the-scenes look at campaign strategy and press relations. TV news executives are calling, she says, emailing, now complaining that Buttigieg isnt doing their shows often enough. Spitzer and Smith stayed together for more than two years, with the tabloids following them pretty much the whole time. Smith has been exploring the idea of renting a bus, and just as McCain did, inviting reporters aboard to travel and fire away at Buttigieg with any question they want, all day, day after day. . Wren: Could see a political career for him? He laid out his case for how a millennial municipal official from a town the size of a New York City Council district could somehow seize the Democratic nomination. With Bill de Blasio, that was a different situation. Our meeting was part of a strategy, one run with surprising sophistication and efficacy for a candidate whose highest-profile gig so far is a local office in the fourth-biggest city in Indiana. But I appreciate his courage in being willing to speak out about it. Smith is a fierce New York City-based Democratic operative who helped engineer the plan to get Buttigieg in front of not just national political reporters, but anybody with a camera or microphone. The way Smith tells it, she thought she was done with presidential politics after OMalleys campaign fizzled in 2016. It was a slim path. Other candidates, they dont need to do it. The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms LisSmithMartinO'Malley. Because he completely disrupts the idea of what a successful younger politician is. Not surprisingly, her politics are establishment liberal. 90 minutes with one of Americas top political consultants. It wasnt an ideal situation, but it taught me a lot, Smith says. Some are even in the White House, like Deputy Press Secretary Chris Meagher, who briefed the press not too long ago. She is not letting Buttigieg read her book, Any Given Tuesday: A Political Love Story, ahead of publication day. The death of local news is a tragedy for voters and it's a tragedy for campaigns. . You get a sense of the news, what is going to get picked up, she said, reaching into her bag for her copy of the Post, which she said she was saving for Buttigieg. Chuck Kennedy/PFA. Obama had David Axelrod. And you know what their problem is? And as you saw on Fox News Sunday, as I went to bed last night, [his clip] has 8 million views. David Freedlander writes about politics and culture. The story of American presidential politics is in part the story of the consiglieres who steer the candidate along the path: The person who pushes them forward, comforts them when the campaign flails, plots long-term strategy and tactical short-term advantage, bends the ear of the press corps and makes the public case for a candidate in ways the candidate cannot. The speed with which Buttegieg emerged has been astonishing, which happens to be the speed at which Smith works. Dont miss it! Smith now works as the deputy campaign manager for former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley in his campaign for the 2016 election. Hes been a guest on BuzzFeeds morning news show, been featured on Vices nightly news show and sat down with a couple of the guys from Barstool Sports. The tabloids followed the pair to Christmas at Smiths parents house in the upscale suburb of Bronxville. It wasnt really until 2012 when I worked for Barack Obama that I did find a really strong female mentor in Stephanie Cutter and I learned so much about my job, so much about politics, so much about how to effectively communicate from Stephanie Cutter. About Lis Smith Liswho has worked on over a dozen political campaigns has extensive experience in public affairs campaigns, media relations, and crisis communications at the local, state and national level. Smith: All the good candidates are comfortable in their own skin. You can unsubscribe at any time and you can contact us here. Did it worry you that he might not be the candidate with whom people most wanted to have a beer or should we say, get lit with? Theres just no one who can do a TV interview like Pete Buttigieg. He doesnt yell and scream, take the most extreme positions on issues, or tweet incendiary things. She gravitates to candidates who are challenging and testing the status quo. Weaver says that recreating that atmosphere in the days of Twitter, and in the days when the national political press corps has metastasized into a constantly hungry and multiheaded beast equipped with cell phones, is 10 times harder than when his team tried it in 1999. They are doing things that are more directly relevant to peoples lives. Smith went to Dartmouth. The candidate and the campaign manager dutifully board the aircraft, and just when it seems the door is about to close, as they start looking around nervously, in comes Smith, sunglasses and coat still on, laptop and cords dangling from her arms, phone pressed against her ear. On a cornier side, I think because he is such a good person, he made a lot of us better people throughout, because politics can be sort of a nasty business. It will codify Roe v. Wade. Smith says thats worth it. If there is one thing that makes Smith unique, its not her knowledge of great apes or her particular skill eviscerating her opponents on Twitter; Its that her skin was toughened by a stretch of time in the rawest, roughest media environment of all, the NYC tabloid scrum. Running for politics theres got to be a little element of narcissism or whatever you want to call it in you. "Joe Biden has had one of the most successful. Smith: Im not going to touch that with a 10-foot pole. She worked on campaigns for Jon Corzine, for New Jersey governor; Terry McAuliffe, for governor of Virginia; and. Gripping reads, smart analysis and a bit of high-minded fun. They just get swallowed up by the next news cycle, and never reach the voters who matter anyway. I know of one person in particular who said you were making a catastrophic career mistake working for a total nobody. Smith had moved to New York in 2013 to work for Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced former governor who had stepped down in a prostitution scandal. [2] Because he was a badass. It may look like the sky is falling, but just ride this out.. Fantasy football we were competitive about that. You dont reach out to the 35-year-old gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana, because you think it will be an easy ride.. Even in decline, AM radio matters more than you might think. This includes with her own boss. She texts the buzziest bits to her sprawling network of journalistic contacts, who tweet them out. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. Liz Smith, shown here keeping crowds under control during Elliot Spitzer's campaign to become New York City Controller, is entitled to her privacy and dignity. Chuck Kennedy/PFA. She has extensive experience in public affairs, media relations, and crisis communications at the local, state and national levels. She most recently served as the Deputy Campaign Manager for Martin Smith: Oh, thats simple. Wren: He rehabilitated you and taught you to love the political process again. In the past several months, Buttigieg has been not just all over cable and in the newspapers, but in Our Daily Planet, an environmental morning newsletter with just over 5,000 Twitter followers; in a financial planning podcast called Pete the Planner; and on West Wing Weekly, the obsessive episode-by-episode podcast breakdown of The West Wing. At 37, Smith is already a campaign-worn strategist and Washington, D.C., folk hero, credited with launching the 38-year-old mayor to, if not the top tier of the presidential race, its second. That was my philosophy. Her new book, "Any Given Tuesday: A Political Love Story," goes behind the scenes of her time with some of the nation's most powerful Democratic lawmakers, sometimes in the midst of spiraling crises. This is so funny, because I was just saying to Mike Schmuhl, Pete's 2020 campaign manager and now chairman of the Indiana Democrats, that my dream project would be to take off an entire year and go to the big Democratic fundraising dinner in all 50 states. And so when they feel like they are getting attacked, or their families are getting atttacked, they think staff can never talk to them on the level, and it is frustrating for principals, because they are like, You are just a kid, you dont know anything. But with me, I can tell them, This is what is going to happen, this is how we are going to deal with it. Wren: One of the theses of Petes campaign was that mayors are on the front lines of democracy. He was attempting a comeback by running for the modest job of New York City comptroller, and when the vote came in, he pulled in a respectable 48 percent, even though the entire citys political establishment was against him. He was a once-in-a-generation talent, someone who perfectly met the moment. Jeff Smith, her former boyfriend, recalls one time when he was running for office, his campaign managers phone rang. Smith: You never say never. Whats especially important to me, is, you know, making sure to take a lot of young women under my wing. Are you kidding me? Well before she worked for Cuomo and then briefly rejoined as an outside advisor during the height of his sexual harassment scandal, Smith worked for his arch nemesis, de Blasio. Adam Wren is national politics correspondent at POLITICO. Operations: Meghann Olshefski Mandy Morris Kelly Rindfleisch Now she has carefully orchestrated her own books launch doling out choice anecdotes to her beloved New York tabloids: De Blasio didnt trust NYPD security to keep secrets, ex-aide Lis Smith claims, blared one headline, which elicited an on the record statement from De Blasio himself. Im joking. But there's no doubt that there is no substitute for being in a scrum, and for having a traveling press corps with you every day, lobbing questions at you. Lis Smith is a Democratic campaign communications specialist and co-founder of 50 State Communications in New York. She is 36, a year younger than Buttigieg, which, Thank God. Hold on, Im sorry. What I realized from my time working in politics is how much mystery there still is around this industry. It pisses me off, she adds, When candidates think they are too good for some of these outlets, or that it cheapens them to do TMZ or do a more entertainment-focused thing. Sign up for POLITICO Magazines email of the weeks best, delivered to your inbox every Friday morning. Eight hundred have showed up. I wasnt born yesterday. Why do I fucking love John McCain? Mistakes Ive made in my private life. Smith: Yes. And so my advice would just be, get out there more, especially with Kamala, go out there more. Smith marched him to the front of where the national and New York press were gathered, telling him, Are you ready for your first gaggle? He stayed until the matter was exhausted. Pete Buttigieg emerges as Democratic rock star proclaimed Business Insider during the race. We are at the risk for seeing abortion rights eroded in more and more states. She wants to know if Id seen Buttigieg answer a question about the Notre Dame fire from a French TV station, in French. Smith said McCaskill chose to campaign aggressively in rural counties, which likely contributed to her narrow win over Talent. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles. ), Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo. The two of us talked this week about Buttigiegs political future, whether Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow could jump into politics, and the ingredients of a good political candidate. 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Please email us at editor@ballotpedia.org. 27 Apr 2023 19:44:36 [3] Buttigieg received the most pledged delegates in the Iowa caucuses . Wren: Fair enough. Letting Pete be Pete. She is most well known for being the senior advisor for Pete Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign and the director of rapid response for Obama's 2012 campaign. Politics is literally a matter of life and death. So what I try to do is to meet candidates where they are, and to help work with them on what their strengths are and not to erase the things in them that are quirky or not, but see if we can use them as assets. width: 100% !important; And there was not a better antidote to Trump than Pete in terms of style, in terms of life experience, and in terms of his worldview. In 2018, she served as the political press coordinator for Pete Buttigieg's campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. The national security site has found fresh energy as a savvy, progressive attack dog in national politics. Lis Smith, may find her job in . Wren: This book is in some ways a tell-all about the role of a political consultant. I like to call myself the Forrest Gump of politics but in a positive way because I feel like I have been a random witness to just so many seemingly insignificant things that then turned out to be like big historic events. It meant a lot to me as a woman to have someone like that. He looked white as a ghost, didnt say anything, just nodding along. From 2006 to 2010 she stayed busy, participating in numerous gubernatorial campaigns, and then in 2012 being named the rapid response director for the Barack Obama . Im horrified. He is in talks to do a Fox News town hall in the coming weeks, building off the surprise success of Bernie Sanders appearance on Fox, and in the past couple of weeks has also been on Ellen and The View, as well as Preet Bhararas podcast, The Intercepts podcast and The New Yorkers podcast. "[9] In January 2013, Politico reported that Smith had joined O'Malley's political action committee, O'Say Can You See PAC. Candidates and the people around them can get so spun up about things, and when you get spun up you make the worst mistakes, she says. Its just that I think with both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris that it would do the administration good to get out there a little bit more, and not to let the media and the Twitter dialogue get in your head, because most people dont speak like Pete Buttigieg in these beautiful, poetic, perfectly formed sentences. What else was the oppo they were dropping? . Rather than going after Pete, Harris trained her fire on Biden.. I was blindly ambitious, versus blindly loyal, and where the shiny object of being a New York City press secretary was more alluring to me that I was willing to overlook his very clear deficiencies. The obvious thing to do would have been to take on high-paying, quieter corporate gigs, or to reenter politics with someone truly high profile. I really did feel he treated me as an equal. John Edwards comes to mind. | Lets be real, Adam. The table below shows the candidate's 2020 early primary state directors and state communications directors. Can I tell you something very off the record, she texts. After the fundraiser, Smith and Buttigieg climb into an SUV and head to 30 Rock. We met at the Roxy Hotel in Tribeca. She had served as a senior aide on OMalleys 2016 bid and with the Maryland governor when he was head of the Democratic Governors Association. Shes on her phone talking to another Buttigieg aide. I would give Pete 95 percent of the credit and give me five percent of the credit. Lis Smith is a Democratic campaign communications specialist and co-founder of 50 State Communications in New York. Theres a public Terry and a private Terry. When Smith opens her laptop, there are saved tabs about Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, a YouTube video of a facial massage routine, kale recipes, a Time Out City Guide to Dubai and a 2012 Huffington Post article about how the Obama and Romney campaigns used Twitter. Political Hotshot Lis Smith Talks Women in Politics, Democrats' Future and the Secret to Buttigieg's Success. She is the most competitive person I have ever known.. In recent months you have made a name for yourself by working for this new crop of candidates out in the middle of the country: Michigan State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, Aftab Pureval and others. Eric Appleman of Democracy in Action describes candidates' efforts to hire staffers as a "race for talent, both nationally and in key early states." External Relations: Moira Delaney Hannah Nelson Caroline Presnell Pete made us all show up to give our 100 percent at work made us all better at our jobs. 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