The Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School - Campaign for President: The Managers Look at 2020

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Copyright 2022 by President and Fellows of Harvard College on behalf of the Institute of Politics

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Campaign for president (Conference) (13th : 2021 : John F. Kennedy School of Government. Institute of Politics), author. | John F. Kennedy School of Government. Institute of Politics, issuing body.

Title: Campaign for president : the managers look at 2020 / the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2022] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022001306 (print) | LCCN 2022001307 (ebook) | ISBN 9781538166789 (cloth) | ISBN 9781538166796 (paperback) | ISBN 9781538166802 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Biden, Joseph R., Jr.Congresses. | Democratic Party (U.S.)Congresses. | PresidentsUnited StatesElection2020Congresses. | Political campaignsUnited StatesCongresses. | Campaign managementUnited StatesCongresses. | United StatesPolitics and government2017-2021Congresses.

Classification: LCC JK526 2020 .C36 2022 (print) | LCC JK526 2020 (ebook) | DDC 324.973dc23/eng/20220225

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022001306

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022001307

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Yamiche Alcindor

White House Correspondent

PBS NewsHour

Bob Bauer

Senior Advisor

Biden for President

Kate Bedingfield

Deputy Campaign Manager

Biden for President

Justin Buoen

Campaign Manager

Amy for America

Alexander Burns

National Political Correspondent

The New York Times

David Chalian

Vice President of Political Coverage and Political Director

CNN

Stephanie Cutter

Chief Program Executive

Democratic National Convention

Addisu Demissie

Senior Advisor

Democratic National Convention Committee

Jennifer OMalley Dillon

Campaign Manager

Biden for President

Mike Donilon

Chief Strategist

Biden for President

Anita Dunn

Senior Advisor

Biden for President

Mark Gearan

Director

Institute of Politics

Zach Graumann

Campaign Manager

Friends of Andrew Yang

Heather Hargreaves

Campaign Manager

Tom Steyer 2020

Rohini Kosoglu

Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor

Kamala Harris for the People

Roger Lau

Campaign Manager

Warren for President

Mayor Michael Nutter

Co-chair

Mike Bloomberg 2020

Toluse Olorunnipa

Political Investigations and Enterprise Reporter

The Washington Post

Bruce Reed

Senior Advisor

Biden for President

Steve Ricchetti

Campaign Chairman

Biden for President

Congressman Cedric Richmond

Campaign Co-chair

Biden for President

Julie Rodriguez

Deputy Campaign Manager

Biden for President

Maya Rupert

Campaign Manager

Castro Victory Fund

Symone Sanders

Senior Advisor

Biden for President

Mike Schmuhl

Campaign Manager

Pete for America

Faiz Shakir

Campaign Manager

Bernie 2020

Margaret Talev

Managing Editor for Politics

Axios

David Wysong

Senior Advisor

Beto for America

O N JUNE 26, 2021, the Institute of Politics held their quadrennial conference bringing together campaign managers, senior advisors, and journalists to discuss the 2020 presidential campaign. The following is a transcript of the four sections of the conference. The transcript has been slightly edited to make it easier to follow for those who were not in attendance, but for the most part, the text is a verbatim transcript so that readers can appreciate the conversational nature of the discussions. At the end of the book, there is a timeline of key events from the 2020 election cycle.

While many of the decisions that are described and the strategies that were chosen were done because of the impact of the global pandemic, many of the themes in this book are ones that we have seen throughout presidential campaign historydecisions of whether to run, how to run, and when to stop running; choices about what messages to put forward, whom to target, and how to communicate; and prioritization of states, issues, and voters. We hope this behind-the-scenes look by many of the campaigns key decision makers will inspire and guide future campaign advisors and candidates as they make decisions about running for president.

Amanda Fuchs Miller

Mark Gearan

W HILE EVERY PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION is shaped and influenced by the broader events going on in the world, the 2020 election was impacted like no other in modern history. To set and remind us of the context, so much of our world changed in March 2020 as a global pandemic led to a national emergency being declared, Americans were told to stay in their homes, and the presidential candidates halted their public activities and campaigning. Instead, campaigns had to quickly transform their plans and strategies to figure out how to communicate withand persuadethe American public from their basements and living rooms.

This presidential campaign was unique for several other reasons as well. With more than 30 candidates seeking the presidency, the Democratic National Committee announced new rules for who could participate in the debates and how they would be run. The political conventions were held remotelywhich changed a tradition that party activists have been loyal to for decades. And our traditional campaign timeline extended beyond Election Day, as states were left counting and recounting votes and news organizations were delayed by weeks in declaring a winner.

Our 2020 Campaign for President conference was as unique as the election cycle. First, given the nature of Harvard Universitys remote-learning environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the proceedings were held virtually for the first time. Second, the panels only included the Democratic candidates. The general election campaign managers for former President Trump and President Biden, along with advisors to the Democratic primary campaigns, were invited in April 2021 to participate in the conference. President Bidens campaign manager agreed to participate and recommended other advisors to be included in the discussion. President Trumps general election campaign manager and other officials from President Trumps campaign did not respond to multiple requests to contribute to this effort. We spent a great deal of time internally thinking about how to proceed with the conference, but ultimately, we came to the conclusion that it was important to capture this unique look back at the 2020 election from the perspective of the campaign decision makers and to continue the work that Harvard Universitys Institute of Politics has been doing for the past 50 years following every presidential election. While we recognize that a full view of the election decision making is incomplete, we are confident that those who are reading this book will take away lessons learned and insights into the decisions made by the presidential campaigns just as previous readers have from the books we have published every four years since 1972.