Lis Smith

In 2012, she became director of the rapid response team for Barack Obama's 2012 presidential campaign. While working for the Obama campaign she met David Axelrod, whom Smith considers a mentor.[2] In 2013, she moved back to New York and became the press secretary for Eliot Spitzer's New York City comptroller campaign, an attempted political comeback after his prostitution scandal.[2][9] She later worked as the spokeswoman for Bill de Blasio's mayoral run in 2013.[2] In 2014, she became a communication consultant for Adriano Espaillat's congressional campaign.[10]

In 2016, she was the spokesperson for Marisol Alcantara's successful New York State Senate campaign. After winning the election, the candidate joined the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), and Smith consulted briefly for the group. Critics of the IDC have questioned Smith's loyalty to the implementation of progressive policies and candidates.[11][12] In 2018, Smith became spokeswoman for Andrew Cuomo's successful re-election campaign, who had endorsed the political entity.[2][11]

She was the deputy campaign manager for the Martin O'Malley 2016 presidential campaign. After O'Malley's campaign, she advised several nonprofit organizations, and incumbent governors such as Montana governor Steve Bullock.[13][14]

Smith met Pete Buttigieg on the recommendations of Axelrod and O’Malley when he was considering running for Democratic National Committee chair in 2017 and became a consultant for the campaign. She ran his campaign publicly by courting the national political press, a technique she further honed during Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign.[9] Smith was credited with implementing a campaign strategy that emphasized one-on-one interactions between Buttigieg and the press which helped raise his profile from the mayor of the fourth-largest Indiana city to a top-tier presidential candidate.[9][15] She later modeled a New Hampshire bus trip off of John McCain's Straight Talk Express during his 2000 presidential campaign in which reporters were invited on board to travel and question the candidate.[2][9]

Her role in the campaign was explored by the 2021 documentary film Mayor Pete.[16] Business Insider considered her to be one of the 10 most powerful women running the 2020 presidential campaigns.[17] She has been included in Fortune's 40 Under 40 in Government and Politics,[18] and Crain's list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in New York.[19]

In 2020, Smith was one of six political experts named as fellows by the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service.[20] She was a senior advisor on Corey Johnson's 2021 campaign for New York City Comptroller, and raised $3.5 million in funds for a PAC supporting Andrew Yang's 2021 mayoral campaign.[19]

In 2021, Smith worked closely with then-governor Andrew Cuomo, and advised him on how to respond to the sexual harassment allegations against him. A report by New York Attorney General Letitia James showed that Smith was working behind the scenes to protect Cuomo from the allegations.[21][22][23] In 2022, Smith became a communications adviser for Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow.[24]

Smith authored the 2022 book Any Given Tuesday: A Political Love Story. It was written over a period of 18 months,[25] and covers her life and political career. The book was praised for its insight into the personal and political fortunes of politicians she advised.[26][27][28] Philip Elliott of Time praised its transparency and wrote that it "may just rewrite the template for what a political memoir can be."[29] Lloyd Green, writing for The Guardian, called it "breezy and informative."[30] Some critics felt that it minimized her role in discrediting the sexual assault allegations against Cuomo.[31][32]