Hilary Rosen is the former head of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). She was a columnist for The Washington Post, became the first Washington editor-at-large and political director of The Huffington Post, and has provided political commentary for CNN, CNBC, and MSNBC.
Geraldine Anne Ferraro was an American politician, diplomat, and attorney. She served in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1985, and was the Democratic Party's vice presidential nominee in the 1984 presidential election, running alongside Walter Mondale; this made her the first female vice-presidential nominee representing a major American political party. She was also a journalist, author, and businesswoman.
Bret D. Schundler is an American Republican politician from New Jersey. Schundler was the mayor of Jersey City from 1992 until 2001. Schundler was the city's first Republican mayor since 1917. He ran for Governor of New Jersey in 2001 and 2005.
Edolphus "Ed" Towns Jr. is an American educator, military veteran, and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 to 2013. A Democrat from New York, Towns was Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee from 2009 to 2011.
Patricia Roberts Harris was an American politician, diplomat and legal scholar. She served as the 6th United States secretary of housing and urban development from 1977 to 1979 and as the 13th United States secretary of health and human services from 1979 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. She previously been appointed United States ambassador to Luxembourg from 1965 to 1967 under President Lyndon B. Johnson. A member of the Democratic Party, Harris was the first African American woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet, as well as first to be United States ambassador. She was also the first Black American woman to be dean of a law school, and the first to sit on a Fortune 500 company's board of directors.
Joseph Sill Clark Jr. was an American writer, lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 90th Mayor of Philadelphia from 1952 to 1956 and as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1957 to 1969. Clark was the only Unitarian Universalist elected to a major office in Pennsylvania in the modern era.
Robert M. "Bob" Shrum is the director of the Center for the Political Future and the Carmen H. and Louis Warschaw Chair in Practical Politics at the University of Southern California, where he is a professor of political science in the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. He is a former American political consultant, who has worked on numerous Democratic campaigns, including as senior advisor to the Kerry-Edwards campaign in 2004 and to the Gore-Lieberman campaign in 2000. Shrum wrote the famous speech Ted Kennedy gave at the 1980 Democratic National Convention conceding to and supporting President Jimmy Carter. He has been described as "the most sought-after consultant in the Democratic Party." Shrum served as speechwriter to New York Mayor John V. Lindsay from 1970 to 1971, speechwriter to Senator George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign and speechwriter and press secretary to Senator Edward M. Kennedy from 1980 to 1984 and political consultant until 2009.
Patrick Hayward Caddell was an American public opinion pollster and a political film consultant who served in the Carter administration. He worked for Democratic presidential candidates George McGovern in 1972, Jimmy Carter in 1976 and 1980, Gary Hart in 1984 (primary), Walter Mondale in 1984, Joe Biden in 1988, and Jerry Brown in 1992. He also worked for Mario Cuomo, Bob Graham, Michael Dukakis, Paul Simon, Ted Kennedy, Harold Washington, and Andrew Romanoff.
Howard Joseph Samuels was an American statesman, industrialist, civil rights activist and philanthropist who served as United States Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the Small Business Administration under President Johnson, special advisor to the campaign for president by John F. Kennedy and the administration of President Carter.
Karen Ruth Bass is an American politician, social worker and former physician assistant who has been serving as the 43rd mayor of Los Angeles since 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, Bass had previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2022, representing California's 33rd congressional district from 2011 to 2013 and California's 37th congressional district from 2013 to 2022. She also served in the California State Assembly from 2004 to 2010 and spent her final term serving as speaker.
Nancy Jacobson is an American political activist and CEO of No Labels, a centrist, non-partisan political organization. In 2007, Jacobson was named one of the 50 Most Powerful People in D.C. by GQ Magazine.
Stewart Alexis Alexander is an American democratic socialist politician, presidential nominee for the Socialist Party USA in the 2012 election, and former SPUSA nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 2008 election.
Mark David McKinnon is an American political advisor, reform advocate, media columnist, and television producer. He was the chief media advisor to five successful presidential primary and general election campaigns, and is a co-founder of No Labels, an organization dedicated to bipartisanship and political problem solving. He served as vice chairman of Public Strategies, Inc., which was acquired by the international communications consultancy Hill & Knowlton Strategies, and was president of Maverick Media. McKinnon is the co-creator, co-executive producer, and co-host of Showtime's The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth and consulted on the HBO series The Newsroom and Netflix's House of Cards. He was a regular columnist for The Daily Beast and The Daily Telegraph (London).
Steve Barr is an educator, political activist, and author, best known as a co-founder of Rock the Vote and founder of Green Dot Public Schools, a charter school organization in Los Angeles, California. He led Green Dot from 2000 to 2009. Barr also founded Future is Now Schools, a non-profit school organization that works on reforming schools from within.
Douglas Schoen is an American lawyer, political analyst, author, lobbyist, and commentator.
Elizabeth Frawley Bagley is an American diplomat, attorney, political activist and philanthropist who is the United States ambassador to Brazil in the Biden administration. She previously served as the United States ambassador to Portugal from 1994 to 1997.
Fred S. Karger is an American political consultant, gay rights activist and watchdog, and former actor. His unsuccessful candidacy for the Republican nomination for the 2012 US presidential election made him the first openly gay presidential candidate in a major political party in American history. Karger has worked on nine presidential campaigns and served as a senior consultant to the campaigns of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Gerald Ford.
The 2016 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. Republican nominee Donald Trump defeated Democratic former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the presidential election, while Republicans retained control of Congress. This marked the first and most recent time Republicans won or held unified control of the presidency and Congress since 2004 though they regained the House in the 2022 elections.
A special election to the United States House of Representatives for California's 25th congressional district was held March 3, 2020, the same day as the California presidential primaries. As no candidate received a majority, a runoff took place on May 12, 2020, between the top two finishers Christy Smith and Mike Garcia. Garcia's win was the first time Republicans flipped a Democratic-held House seat in California since 1998.
Lis Smith is an American political strategist affiliated with the Democratic Party. 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. She has also directed communications and strategy for a number of other gubernatorial, mayoral and congressional campaigns.
