Firm looks forward to welcoming back partner Anita Dunn after her successful work as campaign’s senior adviser
WASHINGTON D.C. — SKDK congratulates President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris on their historic victory. We applaud the entire Biden-Harris Campaign team for their dedication and perseverance – and are especially proud of the role our partner Anita Dunn played in serving as senior adviser and strategist, helping to lead the campaign to a come-from-behind primary win and laying the groundwork for this historic victory. We look forward to her return to the firm in the coming weeks.
In addition to Anita’s contributions, Managing Director Greg Minoff led the Biden campaign’s direct mail program and his team developed the vote-by-mail program in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona – all critical states that led to the campaign’s success.
We also applaud the NAACP, under the great leadership of President and CEO Derrick Johnson, for its massive voter engagement campaign, which was instrumental in boosting Black turnout in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia and elsewhere. It was an honor to support the country’s premier civil rights organization in such a historic effort.
And we were proud to partner with the AFL-CIO, whose labor movement represents the workers making up what President-Elect Biden rightly calls the “the backbone of the nation.”
While ballots are still being counted all across the country, we want to congratulate our clients who won hard-fought victories on Tuesday: Senator Gary Peters (D-MI), who fended off millions of outside spending to get re-elected; North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, who won the most contested Governor’s race in the country; and Congresswoman-elect Sara Jacobs (CA-53), who will be California’s youngest Member of Congress.
Additionally, the SKDK public affairs team led the creation and execution of the #WeHaveHerBack campaign to defend Kamala Harris against racist and sexist stereotypes in the media and the #VoteForHer campaign to promote our new Vice President-Elect’s historic candidacy.
We also congratulate the following SKDK clients on their successful elections: Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18), Rep. Joseph Morelle (NY-25), Rep. Debbie Dingell (MI-12), Rep. Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), Rep. Jimmy Panetta (CA-20), Rep. Don Beyer (VA-8), Hamilton County, OH Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey, and Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Aftab Pureval.
We were honored to work with organizations across the country who helped pass paid family leave in Colorado and elect and re-elect Rep. Peter Defazio (OR-4), Illinois State Rep. Maura Hirschauer, Illinois State Rep. Joyce Mason, Illinois State Rep.-Elect Janet Yang-Rohr, New Mexico State Rep. Melanie Ann Stansbury, New Mexico State Senator Katy Duhigg, Texas State Rep. Erin Zwiener, Texas State Rep. Ann Johnson, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi, and Honolulu City Councilwoman Esther Kiaʻāina.
In 2017, Politico called SKDK “the loyal opposition where powerful Democrats plot the anti-Trump agenda.” The Holmes Report dubbed the firm “the hub of the resistance.” Beginning with our efforts to oppose the Muslim Ban in the first week of the Trump presidency, SKDK stood strongly against systemic cultural and societal inequalities as the administration rolled back protections for millions of Americans.
SKDK ran media campaigns to defend Americans’ access to affordable healthcare through the Affordable Care Act, save the DACA program to protect 700,000 immigrant youth from deportation, push for climate change legislation, elevate government whistleblowers’ voices and protect them from retribution, empower sexual assault survivors in the courtroom, and call for police accountability. SKDK’s also helped clients communicate to Black, Latino, LGBTQ, Indigenous, AAPI and other diverse communities.
During the 2020 election, SKDK was honored to work with AFSCME, Beyond Carbon, Be Change Now, EMILY’s List, the DCCC, Demand Justice, Priorities USA PAC, the Environmental Defense Action Fund, Independence USA, Senate Majority PAC, Supermajority, and the Campaign to Abolish the Electoral College. Each of these organizations and their staffs fought their hearts out for the issues they care about – and we congratulate them for their hard work and dedication to this country. We look forward to continuing our values-based work in the years to come.