Adam Jentleson

Adam Jentleson
Education	Columbia University (BA)
Notable work	Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy (2021)
Father	Bruce Jentleson

Adam Jentleson is an American writer, political commentator, and former chief of staff to John Fetterman.

Early life and education

Jentleson is the son of Bruce Jentleson, professor at Duke University and former director of the Sanford School of Public Policy. ^[1] He attended Montgomery County Public Schools and lives in Takoma Park, Maryland. ^{[2] [3]}

Jentleson received a BA in American History from Columbia University in 2003. ^{[4] [5] [6]}

Career

Jentleson began his career as a policy researcher and speechwriter for the John Kerry 2004 presidential campaign. ^[7] He then served as Manager of Congressional Affairs at the Center for American Progress, speechwriter for the 2008 presidential campaign of John Edwards. ^[8]

Jentleson served as communications director and, later, deputy chief of staff for United States Senator Harry Reid from 2010 to 2016. ^[9] The New York Times published his essay The Side of Harry Reid Most People Never Saw the day after Senator Reid's passing on December 28, 2021. ^[10]

Jentleson is a columnist for GQ . Jentleson has also contributed commentary to Politico Magazine and The Washington Post . His 2021 debut book, Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy , provides an extensive critique of the United States Senate, particularly the rise of the filibuster during the 19th century and 20th century to slow the advancement of civil rights legislation for American minorities, particularly African Americans. ^{[11] [12]}

In 2021, Jentelson co-founded the political consultancy Battle Born Collective with Rebecca Kirzner Katz, also a former communications director for Reid. ^[13] In 2022, Jentleson chaired a political action committee financed by Dustin Moskovitz in a failed attempt to oust Montgomery County executive Marc Elrich. ^[14]

In mid-November 2022, Pennsylvania's newly elected U.S. Senator John Fetterman announced the appointment of Jentleson as transition committee co-chair ^[15] and, a few weeks later, in early December, named Jentleson as his chief of staff. ^{[8] [16]} Jentleson resigned from Sen. Fetterman's office in the spring of 2024 and wrote a letter expressing his concerns about Fetterman's mental health to Fetterman's doctor in May 2024. ^[17] Jentleson has been described as a centrist and has stated that "The [ liberal] backlash that happens online is actually the sign that you’re doing something right". ^{[18] [19]}

In 2025, he founded the new Searchlight Institute. ^{[20] [21]}

Book

• Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy [2021] New York, NY Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN   9781631497773

References

1. Jentleson, Bruce W. The Peacemakers: Leadership Lessons from Twentieth-Century Statesmanship. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN   978-0-393-24957-6. Special thanks to my family: Adam and Katie, now young adults who continue to ...
2. "Adam Jentleson". Center for American Progress. Archived from the original on June 10, 2017.
3. "Adam Jentleson". W.W. Norton & Company. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
4. "The Broken Chamber: The Modern Senate and the Crippling of Democracy". Brennan Center of New York University. Archived from the original on May 11, 2021. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
5. "Open Secrets Revolving Door Education". OpenSecrets.
6. "Alumni in the News: March 8". Columbia College Today. Archived from the original on May 19, 2021. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
7. "Revolving Door Employment History Adam Jentleson". Open Secrets . Retrieved March 20, 2021.
8. Prose, J. D. (December 2, 2022). "Fetterman picks chief of staff, Pa. political director". pennlive. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
9. Sonmez, Felicia (June 10, 2011). "Adam Jentleson to become top Reid spokesman". Washington Post. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
10. Jentleson, Adam (December 29, 2021). "Opinion | The Side of Harry Reid That Most People Never Saw". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved February 10, 2022.
11. Szalai, Jennifer (January 25, 2021). "New Book Says the Senate Is Broken". The New York Times . Retrieved March 19, 2021.
12. "Former Senator's Staffer On What Senate Might Do In Response To Riot At U.S. Capitol". NPR.org. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
13. Higgins, Eoin (August 24, 2021). "The Centrist Who Taught the Left" . Retrieved July 21, 2025.
14. Gaines, Josh Kurtz, Danielle E. (June 30, 2022). "Political Notes: Billionaire Drops $500K to Oust Elrich, Sierra Club Corrects the Record, AG and Dist. 6 News". Maryland Matters. Retrieved July 21, 2025.
15. Prose, J. D. (November 11, 2022). "Fetterman names Senate veterans as transition committee co-chairs". pennlive. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
16. Queally, Jon (December 2, 2022). "Fetterman Taps Person Who Literally Wrote the Book on Killing Senate Filibuster as Chief of Staff". Common Dreams. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
17. Terris, Ben (May 2, 2025). "John Fetterman's Struggle". Intelligencer. Retrieved May 2, 2025.
18. Chávez, Aída (June 6, 2025). "I Just Got Back From the Centrist Rally. It Was Weird as Hell". ISSN   0027-8378 . Retrieved June 8, 2025.
19. Goldmacher, Shane; Epstein, Reid J. (June 5, 2025). "At 'CPAC of the Center,' Democratic Moderates Beat Up on the Left". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved June 8, 2025.
20. "A New Democratic Think Tank Wants to Curb the Influence of Liberal Groups". September 17, 2025. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
21. "New think tank 'Searchlight' pushes Democrats toward more popular positions". POLITICO. June 3, 2025. Retrieved September 21, 2025.