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Simone Ward
| Simone Ward | |||
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| Basic facts | |||
| Affiliation: | Democratic | ||
| Education: | Oklahoma City University | ||
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Simone Ward, an experienced youth coordinator and women's rights advocate, was the Florida state director for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.[1]
Career
Early career
Simone Ward credits her early interest in politics to an experience organizing a sit-in in high school to begin a conversation about hate speech at the school. During the administration of former President Bill Clinton (D), Ward worke d int he White House as a special assistant in the office of presidential personnel.[3] She formally got into campaigning in college, when she worked as an intern for Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign while a student at Oklahoma City University.[4]
Early in her career, Ward held a number of positions in Democratic organizations. She worked with many youth outreach programs, including as the youth coordinator for the Democratic National Committee and as the executive director of the Young Democrats of America. She then moved to Democratic GAIN, "a national grassroots training and political placement program building infrastructure for the progressive community through political opportunities." Ward was the group's executive director.[3]
EMILY's List
Beginning in 2007, Ward worked in the political department at EMILY's List, an organization dedicated to electing pro-choice Democratic women to office. While at EMILY's List, Ward worked as the campaign manager for U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) in 2010. In a promotional video for the organization, Ward said, "I certainly had trained several campaign managers and fundraisers. Certainly that was always my message, "Go out, that's where the votes are. Get out of D.C. ... I guarantee that i would not be managing a race for Senator Mikulski without having worked at EMILY's List."[5] Mikulski won reelection with 62 percent of the votes.[6]
Democratic National Committee
In 2011, Ward joined the Democratic National Committee as the director of women's outreach and deputy constituency director. Ward had previously spent time with the DNC early in her career, when she hworked with then-Chairman Howard Dean on the group's American Majority Partnership. Her role in the DNC involved working to motivate women voters and donors for the Democratic Party. An August 2013 open letter on the DNC's blog typifies the kinds of appeals Ward made on behalf of the organization:[7]
| “ | Since their electoral defeats at the national and state level last November, the GOP has spent a lot of time talking about rebranding their party and expanding their base to constituencies like women, who fled their party in droves. However, a quick look at Republican statehouses nationwide and the GOP in Washington shows that is not what’s happening on the ground—it’s still the same old GOP. Governors across the country are signing legislation that severely limits women’s access to health care—and they are often doing it with no notice, late at night or hidden as part of larger unrelated bills.[8] | ” |
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
In January 2015, Ward joined the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) as the group's national political director.[9] Ward was hired to develop strategy to defend 10 Democratic Senate seats up for reelection and to gain enough Senate seats to win a Democratic majority.[4]
Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2016
On April 29, 2016, Bloomberg reported that Simone Ward would join Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign as the state director for Florida.[1] According to the Miami Herald, Ward's selection as state director was notable because Ward had not previously worked on campaigns in the state: "Her selection is something of a departure from Barack Obama's Florida campaign hires in that Ward has little experience in Florida that we know of."[2] The Associated Press noted that Ward's hiring, along with the appointments of Emmy Ruiz and Mike Vlacich to state-level positions in the general election campaign, pointed towards Clinton campaign making early preparations "for what may be a hard-fought — and personally ugly — fall campaign."[10]
Recent news
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See also
- Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2016
- Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
- Democratic National Committee
- EMILY's List
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bloomberg, "Clinton Hiring Staff in Battleground States for General Election," April 29, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Miami Herald, "Meet Hillary Clinton's new Florida campaign director," April 29, 2016
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Democratic GAIN, "Board Member Fundraising - Simone Ward," accessed May 6, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Atlantic, "Simone Ward: A Personal Take on Politics," March 27, 2015
- ↑ EMILY's List YouTube Channel, "We Are EMILY: Simone Ward," April 9, 2010
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed May 6, 2016
- ↑ Democratic National Committee, "GOP's outreach to women in the month of July - Another month, same old party," archived August 8, 2013
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Roll Call, "Exclusive: DSCC Hires National Political Director, Press Secretary," January 27, 2015
- ↑ The Associated Press, "White House 2016: Clinton gears up for Trump in fall race," April 29, 2016
