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Mike Schmuhl
Former campaign manager 2020 Buttigieg presidential campaign 2020 presidential campaign staff | ||
Affiliation: Democratic | ||
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Mike Schmuhl was elected by Party leadership to serve a four-year term as chair of the Indiana Democratic Party on March 20, 2021.[1]
He was the campaign manager for Pete Buttigieg's (D) 2020 presidential campaign. Schmuhl ran Buttigieg's 2011 South Bend, Indiana mayoral campaign and served as his chief of staff until 2013. He also worked on U.S. House campaigns for Mel Hall (D-Ind.) and Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.). Before his career in politics, Schmuhl was a producer at The Washington Post and a journalist in Minneapolis, MN.[2] Buttigieg and Schmuhl became friends in high school.[3]
Career
Schmuhl began his political career as campaign manager for Donnelly’s 2010 re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives.[2] After that, Buttigieg asked Schmuhl to run his 2011 mayoral campaign and, once elected, hired him as his chief of staff.[4]
In 2011, Schmuhl was elected as the Democratic party chair for Indiana's 2nd Congressional District by the district's Democratic precinct committee.[5]
Schmuhl left his position as Buttigieg's chief of staff in 2013 to attend graduate school in Paris.[6] After returning to the U.S., he was Grassroots Vice President at 270 Strategies and a consultant for Hall's 2018 congressional campaign.[2][7]
In 2017, Buttigieg asked Schmuhl to return to South Bend to run his political action committee. TIME reported, "He never actually told him he was planning to run for President. 'It was unspoken,' Schmuhl says."[8] Schmuhl was senior advisor and treasurer of Buttigieg's Hitting Home PAC until it was terminated on May 14, 2019.[2][9]
Schmuhl graduated with a degree in history from Notre Dame in 2005 and studied at the Paris Institute of Political Studies from 2013 until 2015.[2]
Pete Buttigieg 2020 presidential campaign
Campaign strategy
On April 22, 2019, AP quoted Schmuhl saying, "We want to build a campaign that’s a little disruptive, kind of entrepreneurial. Right now, it feels like a startup."[10]
CNN Politics described Schmuhl's campaign strategy in the following way:
| “ | The Buttigieg campaign, led by Schmuhl, has responded to the popularity with a number of out-of-the-box solutions, as evidenced by the video search feature on their website. Schmuhl also wants to open a storefront in downtown South Bend where people can sign-up to volunteer, buy merchandise and even -- in Schmuhl's dreams -- use virtual reality headsets to watch a Buttigieg town hall.
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” |
On September 2, 2019, McClatchy DC Bureau reported that Schmuhl said the following: "Labor Day for us is really going to be a turning point. … It’s when we’ll flip the switch." Schmuhl said the campaign would have 100 staffers in Iowa by the end of September.[12]
Key staff members
The table below shows a sampling of the candidate's 2020 national campaign staff members, including the campaign manager and some senior advisors, political directors, communication directors, and field directors. It also includes each staff member's position in the campaign, previous work experience, and Twitter handle, where available.[13] For a larger list of national campaign staff, visit Democracy in Action.
| Pete Buttigieg presidential campaign national staff, 2020 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Staff | Position | Prior experience | Twitter handle |
| Mike Schmuhl | Campaign manager | Consultant, Mel Hall for Congress, 2018 | N/A |
| Stephen Brokaw | National political director | Marketing manager, Google | N/A |
| Greta Carnes | National organizing director | Texting director, Virginia Democratic Coordinated Campaign, 2017 | @gretacarnes |
| Lis Smith | Communications director | Deputy campaign manager, Martin O'Malley for President of the United States, 2016 | @Lis_Smith |
| Chris Meagher | National press secretary | Communications director, Montanans for Jon Tester, 2018 | @chrismeagher |
| Nina Smith | Traveling press secretary | Managing partner/co-owner/director of media relations, Megaphone Strategies | @ninasophia81 |
| Sonal Shah | Policy director | Executive director, Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation | @SonalRShah |
| Jess O'Connell | Senior advisor | CEO, Democratic National Committee | @JessOConnell |
See also
- Sample Ballot Lookup
- Pete Buttigieg
- Pete Buttigieg presidential campaign, 2020
- Pete Buttigieg presidential campaign staff, 2020
- Presidential candidates, 2020
- Presidential campaign managers, 2020
- Mel Hall
- Joe Donnelly
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ South Bend Tribune, "Mike Schmuhl, former Buttigieg campaign manager, to lead Indiana Democratic Party," March 21, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Democracy in Action, "Pete for America," accessed August 15, 2019
- ↑ heavy., "Pete Buttigieg’s Campaign Staff: 5 Fast Facts," July 1, 2019
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 CNN Politics, "As Buttigieg grows in popularity, his campaign fights to keep up," April 23, 2019
- ↑ WNDU 16, "Mike Schmuhl elected 2nd District Democratic chair," November 13, 2011
- ↑ South Bend Tribune, "Mike Schmuhl leaving as mayor's chief of staff," May 31, 2013
- ↑ Politico, "Playbook," February 6, 2016
- ↑ TIME, "Mayor Pete Buttigieg's Unlikely, Untested, Unprecedented Presidential Campaign," May 2, 2019
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Reports Image Index for Committee ID: C00648501," accessed August 15, 2019
- ↑ AP, "Pete Buttigieg scrambles to turn 2020 buzz into momentum," April 22, 2019
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ McClatchy DC Bureau, "'Flip the switch:' Stuck in the polls, Buttigieg plans to beef up campaign staff," September 2, 2019
- ↑ Democracy in Action, "Organization," accessed November 4, 2019
