Lis Smith

Lis Smith (born c. 1982) is an American political strategist affiliated with the Democratic Party. She was the senior communications director for Pete Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign.[1]

Early life and education

Lis Smith was born to lawyers Thomas, cousin of Senator Sam Ervin, and Adrienne Smith and was raised in Bronxville, New York along with her twin brother Angus and older siblings. In 2001, she graduated Bronxville High School. Smith double majored in government and anthropology at Dartmouth College, graduating in 2005.[2][3] During her time at Dartmouth, she volunteered for John Edwards' 2004 presidential campaign.[2]

Career

After graduation, Smith worked on Tom Daschle's 2004 Senate campaign as a field organizer.[4] In 2006, she went to work on Claire McCaskill's Senate campaign in Missouri. After McCaskill’s win, she joined a 2007 Kentucky governor’s race as traveling press secretary and communications director for a 2008 Illinois House race. In 2009, she became press secretary for Terry McAuliffe and Jon Corzine's gubernatorial races before moving on to becoming the communications director for Ted Strickland's 2010 Ohio governor’s race. In 2012, she became director of the Obama's 2012 rapid response team. While working for the Obama campaign, she met David Axelrod who Smith considers a mentor.[2] In 2013, she moved back to New York and became the press secretary for Eliot Spitzer's comptroller campaign in an attempt to come back from his prostitution scandal.[2][5] She followed this role by becoming spokeswoman for Bill de Blasio's mayoral run in 2013 and the deputy campaign manager for Martin O’Malley for president in 2016.[2]

In 2016, she was spokesperson for Marisol Alcantara's State Senate campaign. After winning the election, the candidate joined the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), and Smith became a consultant for the group as well as the spokeswoman for Jeffrey Klein, the leader of the IDC. Critics of the IDC have questioned Smith's loyalty to the implementation of progressive policies and candidates.[6][7] In 2018, Smith became spokeswoman for Andrew Cuomo's re-election campaign, who had endorsed the political entity.[2][6]

Pete Buttigieg presidential campaign, 2020

Smith met Pete Buttigieg on the recommendations of Axelrod and O’Malley when he was considering running for Democratic National Committee chair and became a consultant for the campaign. She ran his campaign publicly by courting the national political press, a technique she further honed during Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign.[5]

On the 2020 campaign, Smith is credited with implementing a strategy for the campaign that emphasized one-on-one interactions between Buttigieg and the press which has risen his profile from the mayor of the fourth-largest Indiana city to "Mayor Pete," a top-tier presidential candidate.[5][8] She later modeled a New Hampshire bus trip off of John McCain's Straight Talk Express during his 2000 presidential campaign in which reporters were invited on board to travel and question the candidate.[2][5]

Personal life

Smith dated Missouri politician Jeff Smith after meeting him at Dartmouth and handled some of his publicity during his campaign.[5][9] From 2013 to 2015, she had a relationship with the then-married New York governor Eliot Spitzer.[10] The relationship ended her role in de Blasio's mayoral campaign after tabloids published about the affair.[11]

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References
  1. Merica, Dan. "Pete Buttigieg is having a moment". CNN. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
  2. Malone, Clare (2020-02-01). "On the Ground With Lis Smith, the Political Pro Who Invented 'Mayor Pete'". Intelligencer. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
  3. Jan-Feb 2020, C. J. Hughes ’92 |. "Trail Blazer". Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  4. Bellafante, Ginia (2014-01-17). "A Tabloid Bashing, and a Lost Job With the Mayor". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  5. Freedl, David; ER. "'I Want Him on Everything': Meet the Woman Behind the Buttigieg Media Frenzy". POLITICO Magazine. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  6. Chang, Clio (2020-02-20). "To Know Mayor Pete, Look at His Top Adviser's Underreported Past". Vice. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  7. "Mayor Pete Buttigieg Is Even Worse Than He Seems". jacobinmag.com. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  8. Bassett, Laura (2019-10-23). "The Women Running Presidential Campaigns Give Us a Behind-the-Scenes Look at Life on the Trail". Marie Claire. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  9. Confidential. "Eliot Spitzer has friends in low places, throws book party for girlfriend's former beau". nydailynews.com. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  10. Campanile, Carl (2015-12-27). "Eliot Spitzer and Lis Smith break up". New York Post. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  11. DeFalco, Beth; Fredericks, Bob (2014-01-02). "Spitzer gal pal Lis Smith, de Blasio split". New York Post. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
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