| Elijah Nouvelage/REUTERS. He was a once-in-a-generation talent, someone who perfectly met the moment. Letting Pete be Pete. The one thing you saw on our campaign in 2020 is that everywhere we went, he was introduced by young leaders, young mayors. Smith did not let anyone featured in the book read it ahead of time, not even former principals like Buttigieg or Cuomo, whom she levels in the book in the way her beloved Cincinnati Bengals new right tackle Lael Collins might decimate an opposing player. Running for politics theres got to be a little element of narcissism or whatever you want to call it in you. You deploy the F-bomb like Picasso used drypoint. Your knowledge of the process? And you had Democrats out there saying, when they go low, we kick them in the face, and engaging in all this over-the-top rhetoric. Democratic strategist Lis Smith, who served as the senior communications director for Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign, believed Christine Blasey Ford was . A lot of people people whose opinion you respect told you that you were nuts when you chose to work for Pete. Part of it with him is the persona. It meant a lot to me as a woman to have someone like that. But there's no doubt that there is no substitute for being in a scrum, and for having a traveling press corps with you every day, lobbing questions at you. That's helped him to make a strong case for himself for 2024, said Democratic strategist Lis Smith, an adviser to Pete Buttigieg in his 2020 bid. Smith: Democrats love to bitch that we dont have a bench. But he is also the kind of person journalists tend to like: bookish, somehow earnest with a sense of irony, and willing to talk the way journalists like people to talk, playing the pundit and getting into the political process and discussing his own ambitions. But it was one of those moments where I had to go with my gut. I love him. Lis knew that she had to build wide to build up, said Stephanie Cutter, who also worked on Obamas 2012 effort. Smith has made a name for herself in recent months by working with a new crop of candidates in the middle of the country, including Michigan State Sen. Mallory McMorrow (center). As for their interactions with reporters, it's a good question, but if you look back on the Biden campaign's outreach during the general election, I think it actually increased his number of interactions with local press with the number of interviews he did remotely in states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. How badly," she asks me, are you trying to fuck me over right now?, Interactive: The Lo-Fi Voices That Speak for AmericaBy M. Scott Mahaskey and Zack Stanton. I wasnt born yesterday. Based on that experience, how should Democrats make gains in those kinds of states in 2022? There are probably dozens of Mayor Petes out there across the country. [4], According to the Washington Post, Lis Smith began working with Martin O'Malley in 2011 during "the first part of his tenure as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. And what Pete understood, and why I believed in him, was that to beat Trump, we didnt need to be him. In 2018, she served as the political press coordinator for Pete Buttigieg's campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. The private Terry is a lot more low-key, and lot more humble, a lot more thoughtful. But I understand that what I do isnt just a game. From 2006 to 2010 she stayed busy, participating in numerous gubernatorial campaigns, and then in 2012 being named the rapid response director for the Barack Obama . Inside the Shrinking Newsroom of the Paper That Shapes the PrimariesBy Tim Alberta. Buttigieg reignited Smiths love for politics, she says, after a really difficult 2015 and 2016 due to her breakup with former New York Gov. My first impression was that he was a bit goofy and unserious, and never, never, ever in my wildest dreams did I think I would be sitting across the table from him 10 years later, interviewing to work for him as he was about to be the incoming mayor of New York. Pete Buttigieg emerges as Democratic rock star proclaimed Business Insider during the race. We should start thinking about what prominent national Democrats we can use to help raise money and help campaign for them to do things like flip the Michigan state Senate. The Democratic bench isnt going to be found on Meet the Press every Sunday, and its not going to be found on cable news. We needed to be the antidote to him. But in our party, it seems the only people we ever talk about are members of Congress and senators. The great media disruption comes for the Des Moines Register. I worked in politics nine years before I ever moved to New York. Wren: One of your legacies is the coaching tree, to use an apt football metaphor, that you left behind on the Pete campaign. I was coming off some New York races where everything is just all-day personal attacks getting in the mud. Why? Keep in mind she was 22 at the time, Smith said. ), Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo. Wren: Youve worked in a lot of red states South Dakota, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio. Hold on, Im sorry. He looked white as a ghost, didnt say anything, just nodding along. Click here to contact us for media inquiries, and please donate here to support our continued expansion. The tabloids followed the pair to Christmas at Smiths parents house in the upscale suburb of Bronxville. He stood out obviously because of his height, but he was one of those guys that was almost overly enthusiastic about knocking on doors and making phone calls, to the point that everyone else around the office sort of rolled their eyes. Wren: Lets talk about another Cincinnatian: Joey Burrow, your Bengals politically outspoken quarterback. I think I am impressive because I am a violinist and I went to Dartmouth and I speak French and have traveled all over the world and, I dont know, I know a lot about great apes, she says. Im joking. Hes going to sound so elitist. Or: Why does he have to answer every question with a proverb? Voters can smell when candidates are being authentic, and when candidates are not. At 37, Smith is already a campaign-worn strategist and Washington, D.C., folk hero, credited with launching the 38-year-old mayor to, if not the top tier of the presidential race, its second. And I do think that some of that savvy did come out of innovations they had to make during the 2020 campaign. And it makes it especially difficult for challengers. [12], O'Malley suspended his presidential campaign on February 1, 2016.[13]. As a thirty-something mayor of a medium-size city, Buttigieg faced a credibility threshold with the national press. Lets be real, Adam. #cjc2024. Well before she worked for Cuomo and then briefly rejoined as an outside advisor during the height of his sexual harassment scandal, Smith worked for his arch nemesis, de Blasio. And also keep in mind she was wasnt working on my campaign. Wren: Based on how you characterized the vice presidency, would you ever counsel the transportation secretary, regardless of what year it is, against taking the vice presidency? Smith: I think its been great. Gharavi is a BAFTA and Sundance-nominated filmmaker. Smith had no mentors. In that same vein, I know that there were people in the transportation secretarys inner circle that thought his taking that position wasnt the best idea. "We can't fool ourselves the Republicans are eating our lunch in terms of attention and viewership because of the unprecedented, unilateral, and arbitrary way the DNC Chair determined this. And if people like it they like it, and if they dont they were probably never going to vote for you anyway.. Smith previously worked on campaigns for former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D. I could bring out a little bit more of a killer instinct [in] him, but he could bring out sort of a gentler, more thoughtful side of me that was mutually beneficial to the campaign. You've talked a bit about identifying talent, particularly candidates who might get overlooked, like a Pete Buttigieg. Wren: You and Pete have very different brands. But another thing is that Im not someone whos just worked in New York. The Covid pandemic. I want Republicans to read this book. Smith also gets points for interacting. . It will codify Roe v. Wade. What I realized from my time working in politics is how much mystery there still is around this industry. Wren: Fair enough. "He has been dismissed and discounted at every turn, and still overperformed expectations. Smith has been studying the effort, reaching out to reporters who were there, and has been in regular contact with John Weaver, who helped engineer it. She often mentions others in her tweets and sometimes gets into multiple tweet disputes with people she disagrees with, which are always fun to watch. .circle { Theres just no one who can do a TV interview like Pete Buttigieg. Smith had moved to New York in 2013 to work for Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced former governor who had stepped down in a prostitution scandal. Pete asked the bouncer what the scene was like inside, and the bouncer told him it was lit. The term was lost on him. Smith: In my experience, the best working relationships between candidates and their top staff often depend on a sort of yin-yang dynamic. She had served as a senior aide on OMalleys 2016 bid and with the Maryland governor when he was head of the Democratic Governors Association. I had a beerhe stuck to waterand we talked about his political ambitions and the state of the Democratic Party and why Trump won. | James Devaney/GC Images. I want people to know what its like behind the scenes. None of those races were particularly easy. Fantasy football we were competitive about that. | Your Bengals fandom and their Super Bowl run is a part of the book. I want Democrats to read this book. Andrew Cuomo and former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. But I appreciate his courage in being willing to speak out about it. And so, she says, she cant talk right now. He adds, "The goal is to assemble a team of top talent that can work together effectively to mobilize resources, boost the candidate and his or her message, and ultimately secure the party's nomination. | Alums [of the campaign] are on the Hill. Smith, who helped take Buttigieg's star to the national level, is now working with Michigan state senator Mallory McMorrow, who went viral with a searing counterattack on anti-LGBTQ+ Republicans.. Because he completely disrupts the idea of what a successful younger politician is. It wasnt an ideal situation, but it taught me a lot, Smith says. When Smith opens her laptop, there are saved tabs about Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, a YouTube video of a facial massage routine, kale recipes, a Time Out City Guide to Dubai and a 2012 Huffington Post article about how the Obama and Romney campaigns used Twitter. | Smith went to Dartmouth. What else was the oppo they were dropping? Most people do have earnest sides to them. Weaver says that recreating that atmosphere in the days of Twitter, and in the days when the national political press corps has metastasized into a constantly hungry and multiheaded beast equipped with cell phones, is 10 times harder than when his team tried it in 1999. There were very, very few women in positions of power. Please email us at editor@ballotpedia.org. When I stood up and left the table, Buttigieg stayed, and I recognized a woman sitting at the bar. Smith: Joey Burrow is an incredible leader. Jeff Smith, her former boyfriend, recalls one time when he was running for office, his campaign managers phone rang. Because it would drive me nuts during the campaign hearing all his wonky, wonky talk about infrastructure, about roads, about smart sewers. Across the street, Brooklyn hipsters of all ages and manner of facial hair are lining up around the block at a bowling alley/music venue to catch Buttigieg at a fundraiser. Smith: Yes. When Smith signed on to help Mayor Pete run for DNC chair, it was a part-time gighelping a candidate nobody had ever heard of run for an insider position, the kind of job decided not by the public, but in backrooms by the most hardcore party loyalists. Pete helped pull back that part of me, because while that might work when youre dealing in the New York tabloids, that doesnt sell as well in the Des Moines Register. She signed on as a consultant when he was laying the groundwork for a long-shot campaign to become the chair of the Democratic National Committee. . This is an election where the women voters are going to be really important. We met at the Roxy Hotel in Tribeca. This is how we stop there from being a day three. But its not just about the 18-year-old girl. The national security site has found fresh energy as a savvy, progressive attack dog in national politics. Lis Smith Retweeted. Schmuhl, his campaign manager, says a typical scene from the trail for the three of them is arriving 10 or 15 minutes early to the airport gate, and while he and Buttegiegwho hes known since 8th grade in Indianatake a moment to relax for a minute before boarding, Smith will head to the airport bar with her laptop and phone and begins texting and emailing reporters and clapping back to critics on social media. Usually, it was all good-natured. Smith: It made me want to be better at my job. I romanticize it. Its just that I think with both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris that it would do the administration good to get out there a little bit more, and not to let the media and the Twitter dialogue get in your head, because most people dont speak like Pete Buttigieg in these beautiful, poetic, perfectly formed sentences. I dont live and breathe politics every day. Smith a Bengals fan believes quarterback Joe Burrow is a great leader with a clear social conscience, and she wouldnt rule out the possibility of him having a political career. From the second I met Pete, I knew that there was something special about him. She worked on campaigns for Jon Corzine, for New Jersey governor; Terry McAuliffe, for governor of Virginia; and. | Lorenzo Bevilaqua/ABC via Getty Images. Because even power needs a day off. The story of American presidential politics is in part the story of the consiglieres who steer the candidate along the path: The person who pushes them forward, comforts them when the campaign flails, plots long-term strategy and tactical short-term advantage, bends the ear of the press corps and makes the public case for a candidate in ways the candidate cannot. By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or updates from POLITICO and you agree to our privacy policy and terms of service. For example, you write in your book about going to a pop-up bar in South Bend with Pete and his best friend and campaign manager, Mike Schmuhl. At the newsstand around the corner, you could buy a New York magazine with Buttigiegs beatifically smiling face splashed across the cover, and a New York Times with an A1 story about his time at Harvard. I think hes a really good person. If you had any balls you would have said what I told you to say.. Smith: One of the reasons I wanted to write this book was because when I was thinking at 19 or 20 about getting into this world, [a book like this] didnt exist.