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Donna Brazile

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Donna Brazile
Donna Brazile 1.JPG
Basic facts
Organization:•Democratic National Committee
Role:Former interim chairwoman
Location:Washington, D.C.
Website:Official website



Donna Brazile is a political strategist, an adjunct professor, and a former interim chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. In 2000, she managed Al Gore's (D) presidential campaign, becoming the first African American woman to manage a major party's presidential campaign.[1][2][3] She served as interim DNC chair twice in 2011 and again in 2016.[4]

Background

Donna Brazile was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1959. She received a degree in industrial psychology from Louisiana State University in 1981. She also has honorary doctorate degrees from Louisiana State University, Xavier University of Louisiana and North Carolina A&T State University.[2][5][6][7]

Brazile worked on multiple campaigns, including volunteering for Jimmy Carter’s 1976 presidential campaign, and working on both the Rev. Jesse Jackson (D) presidential campaign and the Walter Mondale (D) presidential campaign in 1984.[5] Brazile worked as national field director for Gephardt’s presidential campaign three years later, and then served in the same role for Michael Dukakis’ 1988 presidential campaign.[5] In May 1999, Brazile joined Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign as deputy campaign manager and national political director.[8] She served as Gore’s campaign manager starting in October 1999, becoming the first African-American woman to manage a presidential campaign in U.S. history.[2][6]

In addition to campaign work, Brazile served as the national director for the 20th Anniversary March on Washington in 1983 and became a lobbyist for National Student Education Fund during the 1980s.[5] From 1990 to 1999, Brazile served as chief of staff for U.S. House of Representatives delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, and also became Voter Campaign Assessment program head for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 1998.[5] Brazile was a fellow at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics in 2001, and founded and became managing director of her own strategic communications firm called Brazile & Associates LLC in 2002.[5][9]

In 2011, Brazile served as interim chair of the Democratic National Committee when the selected chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, had to wait until at least 15 days after being put forth for the position in order to be elected.[10] She again served as the interim chairwoman of the DNC following former DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz's resignation in July 2016 until the election of DNC Chairman Tom Perez in February 2017.[11]

Work and activities

2016 presidential election

In July 2016, when DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned her post, Brazile was named interim chair.[1]

On October 11, 2016, WikiLeaks released a series of emails from within the Hillary Clinton campaign, one of which was a March 12, 2016 correspondence from Brazile. In that email, Brazile gave Clinton staffers advanced notice of a question that would be asked of the candidates in a March 13 debate. The question was on the topic of the death penalty, which did arise during the March 13 debate.[12]

Later in October 2016, another leak revealed that Brazile had also emailed the Clinton campaign on March 5 to give the campaign advanced notice of a question regarding lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan, the location of a March 6 primary debate. “One of the questions directed to HRC tomorrow is from a woman with a rash,” Brazile wrote in a March 5 email to Clinton’s aides. “Her family has lead poison and she will ask what, if anything, will Hillary do as president to help the ppl of Flint.” During the March 6 debate, a woman named Lee-Anne Walters posed a similar question to both Clinton and Bernie Sanders.[13]

On October 14, 2016, CNN accepted Donna Brazile's resignation as a contributor. While Brazile's contract with CNN had been suspended in July when she became interim DNC Chair, Brazile's October resignation completely severed ties between her and the network with a CNN spokesperson saying, "We are completely uncomfortable with what we have learned about her interactions with the Clinton campaign while she was a CNN contributor." The network also denied providing Brazile with any debate questions.[14]

2016 Democratic National Convention


Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Donna Brazile. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Donna Brazile - Google News

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Washington Post, "DNC chairwoman will resign in aftermath of committee email controversy," accessed October 31, 2016
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Donna Brazile, "About Donna.," accessed January 20, 2016
  3. ↑ Association for Healthcare Volunteer Resource Professionals, "Donna Brazile," accessed January 20, 2016
  4. ↑ Politico, "CNN, ABC cut ties with Donna Brazile, freeing her up for DNC job," July 24, 2016
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Encyclopedia.com, "Donna Brazile," accessed January 20, 2016
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 California University of Pennsylvania, "Donna Brazile Biography," accessed January 20, 2016
  7. ↑ Legistorm, "Donna Brazile," accessed August 6, 2025
  8. ↑ Democratic National Committee, "Donna Brazile Vice Chair of Voter Registration and Participation," accessed January 20, 2016
  9. ↑ Donna Brazile, "Brazile & Associates," accessed January 20, 2016
  10. ↑ Washington Post, "Donna Brazile to serve as interim DNC Chair," April 6, 2011
  11. ↑ Politico, "Perez elected DNC chairman," February 25, 2017
  12. ↑ Politico, "New email shows Brazile may have had exact wording of proposed town hall question before CNN," accessed October 31, 2016
  13. ↑ Politico, "Brazile leaked question to Clinton before CNN debate with Sanders," accessed October 31, 2016
  14. ↑ Yahoo! News, "CNN Parts Ways with Donna Brazile After Debate Questions Were Provided to Clinton," accessed October 31, 2016
  15. ↑ Ballotpedia's list of superdelegates to the 2016 Democratic National Convention is based on our own research and lists provided by the Democratic National Committee to Vox.com in February 2016 and May 2016. If you think we made an error in identifying superdelegates, please send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.
  16. ↑ To find out which candidate a superdelegate supported, Ballotpedia sought out public statements from the superdelegate in other media outlets and on social media. If we were unable to find a public statement that clearly articulated which candidate the superdelegate supported at the national convention, we listed that superdelegate as "unknown." If you believe we made an error in identifying which candidate a superdelegate supported, please email us at editor@ballotpedia.org.
  17. ↑ Congressional Research Service, "The Presidential Nominating Process and the National Party Conventions, 2016: Frequently Asked Questions," December 30, 2015
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Democratic National Committee, "2016 Democratic National Convention Delegate/Alternate Allocation," updated February 19, 2016
  19. ↑ The Green Papers, "2016 Democratic Convention," accessed May 7, 2021
  20. ↑ Democratic National Committee's Office of Party Affairs and Delegate Selection, "Unpledged Delegates -- By State," May 27, 2016
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