Garry South

A native of eastern Montana, South's father, Vernon, a carpenter, served on the Miles City, Montana, city council for years, a seat his older brother Carroll filled when Vernon retired.[2]

South attended the University of Montana in Missoula, graduating with honors in 1976 with a BA in history and political science after serving as student body president.[8] In 2008, South was named recipient of the University’s Distinguished Alumni Award.[9][10]

During his time at University of Montana, South supported long-shot former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential primary. South worked to place Carter’s name on Montana’s primary ballot and, after Carter clinched the party nomination, South became state coordinator in Montana for the general election. South served as the youngest state coordinator in the 50 states.[8]

Following his graduation and Carter’s successful presidential campaign, South worked as Midwest regional finance director of the Democratic National Committee and as special assistant to Secretary of Agriculture Bob Bergland. In 1978, the White House political office asked South to run the Democratic campaign in Illinois against Republican Sen. Charles H. Percy.[8] His other political positions have included communications director for Democratic Gov. Richard Celeste of Ohio, vice president of political communications for the National Association of Realtors and public information director of the Montana Legislature.[11] After Celeste was term-limited out of office in 1991, South moved to Southern California.[2][3]

Garry South Consulting

Garry South, Gray Davis cartoon

Soon after arriving in Southern California, South reengaged in politics and in 1994, managed Gray Davis' winning campaign for Lieutenant Governor of California. While 1994 was a historically poor election year for Democrats nationwide--Republicans captured control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time in decades and regained control of the Senate, Davis managed to capture more votes—aided by California’s large population—than any other Democratic candidate in the country. During Davis' tenure as lieutenant governor, South was his chief of staff.[12][13]

South with California Govs. Gray Davis and Gavin Newsom, the only two Democratic lieutenant governors in California history to be elected governor in their own right. South ran Davis' campaigns in 1998 and 2002, and Newsom's first run for governor in 2008-09, before he exited the 2010 race.

In 2000, South was a top advisor to Al Gore's California presidential campaign, which carried the state by 12% and 1.3 million votes, and in which he met and became friends with Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential nominee.[26][13] His efforts in the Gore race earned him the sobriquet “a California Carville” in a profile by The New York Times.[27] In 2003-04, South served as senior advisor to Lieberman in his 2004 presidential campaign. Upon the initial announcement that Lieberman had hired South, the liberal blog, DailyKos, reported “The guy behind California's Gray Davis, and one of the top political strategists in the Democratic Party, has signed on with Lieberman.”[28]

South’s political efforts included California’s robust proposition system. In 2000, South was lead strategist for the successful statewide school-bond-threshold measure, Prop. 39. South also advised the winning water and parks bond campaigns that year. In 2004, he was a strategist on the successful No on 67 campaign, working for a coalition of telecommunications providers, and the winning No on 68 campaign, a measure that would have allowed slot machines at race tracks and other venues.[29][30] In 2014, South was a top strategist on the successful No on Prop. 46 campaign, a measure that would have significantly increased the limits on how much trial lawyers could sue medical providers for.

In 2022, South was a communications-strategy consultant to Californians for Tribal Sovereignty and Safe Gaming, which opposed Proposition 27, funded by out-of-state sports-betting giants and that would have legalized online sports wagering in California. The measure was defeated by an overwhelming 18-to-82% margin, after the proponents dumped in more than $170 million.

South served as senior advisor in then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s first campaign for governor, from July 2008 to October ‘09, when Newsom exited the race. South then was senior strategist in Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn’s campaign for lieutenant governor in the 2010 Democratic primary. In the 2006 Democratic primary election, he served as senior advisor to Controller Steve Westly’s campaign for governor. South also advised Janice Hahn in her successful congressional race in the 2011 special election.

Despite working for progressive Democrats like Richard Celeste, Gavin Newsom and Janice Hahn, South has maintained a tense, if not sometimes biting, relationship with progressives in the liberal blogosphere. The criticisms range from his brash, fighting style—sometimes used against more liberal candidates—to his supposed call for moderating his candidates’ stances in order to “triangulate.”[31][32]

One Los Angeles Times profile of South in 2015 described him as “a famously pugilistic political strategist” with a “pile-driving personality and blast-furnace of a mouth.”[33] A 2002 profile in PRNews described him as "brash, profane and loves to trash his clients' opponents in the media."[34] In 2001, Arnold Schwarzenegger threatened to sue South for libel over an unflattering magazine article South sent out to the media with a provocative cover sheet.[35]

Book Cover - “The Collected Opinings over the Last 30 Years of Garry South”

In April 2012, South announced he was donating his entire collection of internal strategy memos, focus group tapes, polling data, TV spots and other campaign materials from the three campaigns he managed for Gray Davis to UCLA’s Library. The Garry South Political Campaigns Records, comprising 55 boxes of archives, said head UCLA Librarian Gary Strong, "gives tremendous insight into what goes on behind the scenes. The more we can demystify it, the more enlightening it will be for all of us.".[36]

Following a years-long decline for the California Republican Party in which they won no statewide offices in two out of three elections, and GOP voter registration dipped below 30% for the first time, newly elected state Chairman Jim Brulte invited South to speak to the party's board of directors in March 2013 and offer his diagnosis of their problems. "It's a pretty depressing presentation if you're a Republican," South said. "So I may have a doctor on hand to issue Prozac prescriptions." When asked why he would help the opposing party, South responded "I don't think it's helping them. It's the same presentation I've given to everybody from the dentists to the insurance agents."[37]

In 2023, South published a book, “The Collected Opinings over the Last 30 Years of Garry South,” which contains all of the 85 opinion pieces he has had published in national, state and local publications since moving to California in 1991. The back cover of the volume contains praise from the three governors South has worked for, California Govs. Gavin Newsom and Gray Davis, and former Ohio governor Richard Celeste.