Robby Mook

Robby Mook
Basic facts
Location:	Washington, D.C.
Expertise:	Political strategist
Affiliation:	Democratic
Prior Experience •Executive director and political director, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee •Hillary Clinton 2008 presidential •Jeanne Shaheen 2008 U.S. Senate •Terry McAuliffe 2013 gubernatorial •Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential

Robby Mook was the campaign manager for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. Originally from Vermont, he began working in politics as a volunteer for the state representative campaign of Matt Dunne, who was Mook's high school theater teacher at the time. He is known for maintaining an easygoing atmosphere and managing campaigns that are driven by data.

As campaign manager, Mook was responsible for strategy and messaging in all aspects of the campaign.

Mook has previously managed campaigns for Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Terry McAuliffe (D-Va.) and has served as director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2016

See also: Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2016

Since 2013 and Terry McAuliffe's win in Virginia, Mook maintained contact with Hillary Clinton, a close political ally and supporter of McAuliffe. In January 2015, The Hill reported that Mook was the front-runner to be Clinton's campaign manager , and he was officially hired to that position after Clinton announced her candidacy in April 2015.

Campaign management style

Time noted that Mook's discipline and demeanor—as demonstrated in his management of McAuliffe's successful gubernatorial campaign—were key in the decision to hire him as campaign manager for Clinton. The magazine noted, "By all accounts, Mook was hired as much for his easygoing nature as for his expertise in ground game and harnessing the latest technology to get out the vote." Mook's interest in data was also key for the campaign. At the time of his hire, The Guardian called Mook "a political nerd who lives and dies by data." Bloomberg quoted David Plouffe, strategist for both of President Barack Obama's (D) presidential campaigns, as saying, "Robby understands modern campaigns, the value of data and technology. He beat us three times [in Ohio, Indiana and Nevada for Clinton's 2008 primary]; his footprint was on our back. He did the best job of anyone over there."

More on Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign staff
Staff overview
• Clinton staff overview
Management and strategy
• Robby Mook, Campaign manager • Joel Benenson, Chief strategist and pollster • Amanda Renteria, Political director • John Podesta, Campaign chairman • Huma Abedin, Vice chair
Communications
• Jennifer Palmieri, Communications director • Jim Margolis, Media advisor
Policy and outreach
• Jake Sullivan, Senior policy advisor • Marlon Marshall, Director of state campaigns and political engagement • Maya Harris, Senior policy advisor • LaDavia Drane, Congressional liaison

Just before the Iowa caucuses, The Daily Beast reported that Mook's style of management had taken hold in the Clinton campaign: "Mook has already accomplished something that’s always a central challenge in a large and high-pressure campaign—a culture that is remarkably free of the turf wars and infighting and leaks that hobbled Clinton in 2008. It did not go unnoticed in Hillaryland that after Clinton pal Terry McAuliffe won the governor’s race in Virginia in 2014, a winning campaign that Mook managed, there were no post-mortems about how Mook pulled it off."

In a September 2016 profile for Yahoo News, Clinton campaign chair John Podesta described his relationship with Mook as being like "yin and yang," saying, "I probably am a little bit more emotional and he’s a little bit more analytic. I think we probably compensate for each other." Podesta went on to say that part of the campaign's strategy was to avoid outside influence. He told Yahoo that Clinton would tell top donors, "If you’ve got advice, call Robby or call John, and they’ll hear you out. ... There was a lack of tolerance for people who wanted to reinvent the campaign."

Primary election activity

Criticism of Mook

In February 2016, after Clinton's narrow victory in the Iowa caucuses, the AP reported that "some Clinton allies and former staffers [had] floated the idea of demoting campaign manager Robby Mook, the architect of the ground operation in Iowa and beyond." Likewise, The New York Times reported that just after the Iowa votes were tallied, "discussions were underway among her outside advisers and donors about the need to bring in longtime Clinton aides and diminish the role of Robby Mook, her young data-driven campaign manager."

Comments on Donald Trump

In June 2016, after the California primary elections, Mook commented that Clinton's state victory was due to Donald Trump's status as the presumptive Republican nominee. Mook told the Los Angeles Times, "This was the first time that she really had a chance to lay out the case against Donald Trump. ... She used his own words to help people to understand what a threat he is, not just to our security, but to our values as Americans. And that’s what we’re going to continue to do as we move forward on the campaign." He later told CNN, "The most effective thing to do with Donald Trump is just to get his words out there and let him speak for himself."

General election activity

Comments on strategy

Speaking with The Wall Street Journal on July 27, 2016, Mook outlined some of the specific strategies the Clinton campaign would employ for the general election. He highlighted Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District as a target area (Nebraska allocates electoral votes by Congressional district) as well as the state of North Carolina. Citing Clinton's polling numbers with Latino voters, Mook added, "I would also argue that Florida is a state that is more competitive for us than in the past. I want to caveat that by saying it doesn't mean we're [definitely] going to win it."

Career

Early career

Mook's first experience in politics came when he was 14 and volunteered to work on the re-election campaign of former Vermont State Rep. Matt Dunne (D). While still a student at Columbia University, Mook continued working with Vermont Democrats. In 1998, he was a canvasser for the Democratic Party of Vermont, and in 2000, Mook worked for the Vermont Democratic House caucus. In July 2016, the Los Angeles Times quoted Mook as saying that his early political work in Vermont usually happened at the town dump. Mook said, "Where I grew up in Vermont, there is no municipal garbage removal. You have to bring your trash to the dump every weekend. Something like three hours on Saturday morning the entire town goes in. It is actually a very efficient place to do politics. I would go to the garbage dump, get petitions signed, give out literature, talk to voters."

After graduating with a degree in classics, Mook went on to work for New York City councilwoman Eva Markowitz (D) and was a field director for the Vermont Democratic Party's 2002 coordinated campaign. In 2004 Mook was the deputy field director in New Hampshire for former governor of Vermont Howard Dean's (D) presidential campaign. When Dean lost the Democratic nomination, Mook went over to Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry to work on his campaign. Of the Dean campaign, Mook told Columbia College Today, "That campaign taught a very important lesson to me early on: The winds can blow quickly in a very different direction, and when you have support, lock it in. Sometimes you learn more from losing than from winning."

In 2006, Mook ran the coordinated campaign to elect two Maryland lawmakers: Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) and Sen. Ben Cardin (D).

2008 campaigns

For the 2008 election cycle, Mook worked on Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, directing the primary campaign's ground operations in Ohio, Indiana and Nevada, three primary contests Clinton won. In Ohio, Mook prioritized direct contact with voters in a very close primary race. He told The New York Times, "At this point you have to remind people to go to the polls. That face-to-face interaction makes all the difference."

After Clinton lost the nomination, Mook moved to New Hampshire to act as campaign manager for Jeanne Shaheen (D), who was running for U.S. Senate; she won by a 6 percent margin. Shaheen described Mook to Politico in 2013, "Robby’s political instincts are spot on and his work ethic is tireless. I think he’s one of the most talented strategists I’ve ever worked with."

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

See also: Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

During the 2010 election cycle, Mook was political director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). In late 2010, then-incoming chairman, Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), appointed Mook executive director of the DCCC. As executive director, Mook was responsible for raising money and directing it to Democratic congressional candidates with chances to unseat Republican incumbents. Mook explained the preparation for Election Day at the DCCC in 2012: "Like any campaign, we move the majority of our resources late, so we’ll be in constant communication with our races to track progress and help push them over the top. ... Election Day itself is always one big contradiction: Everything you’ve been pouring your heart into for two years comes to a finish, but if you’ve done your job right, there’s absolutely nothing for you to do except sit and wait for results."

As executive director of the DCCC, Mook's campaign work included Terry McAuliffe's (D) successful bid for governor of Virginia. Mook was McAuliffe's campaign manager. In March 2015, the McAuliffe campaign's communications director, Brennan Bilberry, told The New York Times that Mook's campaign approach was to "test everything, question assumptions and let data drive things."

Media

Mook speaking with News 2 Today in South Carolina, January 2016

Mook campaigning the day before the Iowa caucuses, February 2016

Mook giving a presentation as executive director of DCCC, March 2012

See also

• Sample Ballot Lookup
• Hillary Clinton
• Terry McAuliffe
• Jeanne Shaheen
• Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2016
• Hillary Clinton presidential campaign key staff and advisors, 2016
• Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

External links

• Hillary for America
• Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee