Ashley Walker

Ashley Walker
Basic facts
Organization:	Mercury Public Affairs
Role:	Managing director
Location:	Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Affiliation:	Democratic
Education:	•Indiana University •Florida State University
Website:	Official website

Ashley Walker is managing director of Mercury Public Affairs in Florida.

Walker previously worked on both of President Barack Obama's (D) presidential campaigns in the state of Florida.

She was the Florida state director for Organizing for America, the organization established with the infrastructure of Obama's first campaign.

Walker got her start in politics in the office of Florida State Senator Bob Graham (D).

Career

Early career

After earning a B.A in sociology from Indiana University and an M.S. in international affairs from Florida State University, Ashley Walker began working in politics in the Tallahassee and Miami Lakes offices of former Florida Senator Bob Graham (D), who was in office from 1987 to 2005. In 2006, she worked as campaign manager for Florida State Senator Jeremy Ring (D) from Florida State Senate District 29.

Barack Obama presidential campaign and Organizing for America

Walker began working for President Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign in 2007 and became the deputy state director for the campaign in Florida. She worked as the Campaign for Accountability coordinated campaign director on behalf of Democratic Party of Florida in 2010. Walker also oversaw efforts to build support for policies like "passing Wall Street reform, Affordable Care Act and ending Don't Ask Don't Tell." She and John Bivona, another former Obama staffer, worked with Organizing for America, the organization created from the Obama campaign's infrastructure, and they were engaged in "traveling up and down Florida and holding similar meetings in city after city, town after town, to recruit, wake up old volunteers, listen, ask questions about what’s needed to make an impact in Florida."

Sunstream Strategies

Walker has also worked on a number of Florida campaigns as a consultant, first with Sunstream Strategies, the consulting group she co-founded. In 2010, she and Sunstream were the chief consultants on Laurie Rich Levinson's campaign for Broward County School Board. That same year, she also assisted the group Fair Districts Florida, which campaigned for two redistricting amendments, called Amendment 5 and Amendment 6.

Sunstream also worked for two judicial candidates in the Fort Lauderdale area in 2010. Walker and her company helped County Court Judge Ken Gottlieb and State Circuit Judge Carlos Rebollo win victories that year, according to the Broward/Palm Beach New Times.

Barack Obama 2012 presidential campaign

For Obama's 2012 presidential campaign, Walker served as the Florida state director, managing hundreds of staff and a multi-million dollar budget. Politico reported that Walker's early hiring—17 months before the election—signaled that "Obama’s team isn’t leaving much to chance" in the state. Walker spoke of the advantage of an early start for Obama's re-election, telling the Tampa Bay Times, "We have the advantage of 16 months of organizing and being able to experiment in the field to establish our best practices. ... That's a real advantage for us — figuring out what works and what doesn't, so by the time we're ready to hit 'start' we have our plan down, we have a grass roots organization that is built out statewide."

Mercury Public Affairs

See also: Mercury Public Affairs

In 2013, Ashley Walker became the managing director in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. of Mercury Public Affairs, a bipartisan public strategy firm with offices around the United States. That year, Campaigns & Elections named Walker a top Democratic Party influencer in Florida. Part of Walker's responsibilities with Mercury were focused on opening a new joint consultancy venture with Floridian Partners. Upon being hired, Walker said, "I am excited to bring my national network and experience to the Mercury Florida team. ... Our national reach and our record of winning in the Sunshine state will be unmatched, as our bipartisan team works tirelessly to provide great service to our clients." Of the partnership with Floridian Partners, Walker told the Sun Sentinel, "Both firms have some of the best and brightest strategists in politics and I am thrilled about this opportunity to work with them. With Mercury Florida, I will have the opportunity to continue working with campaigns at the state and national level while expanding my client base to businesses, trade associations, non-profits and others."

In 2014, Walker worked on a number of Florida-based campaigns. She was a member of the Democratic Party of Florida's LEAD Task Force, which looked to "retool and strengthen the Party’s brand, bolster candidate recruitment efforts, and improve field and outreach performance" before the 2016 presidential election. Walker was also brought on to manage a pro-school bond campaign in South Florida after the campaign's initial manager, Melanie Brennan, resigned. The campaign, which was ultimately successful, was to support an $800 million bond "to fix old schools in the east and to address crowding in a few western schools."

Presidential election, 2016

For the 2016 presidential election, Walker was named as part of Hillary Clinton's Florida Leadership Team. The Clinton campaign described the leadership council members as those who "serve as the in-state leadership for the campaign, amplifying the campaign’s national voice to Florida ... families and aiding the campaign with rapid response, organization building, grassroots organizing events, recruiting volunteer leaders, and identifying leaders for Get Out The Vote activities."

See also

• Barack Obama
• Mercury Public Affairs
• Democratic Party of Florida

External links

• Mercury Public Affairs
• Ashley Walker on Twitter