She was also communications director for Dan Seals' 2008 Illinois House race. Smith, who is a Bronx native, must be an intelligent woman, but going for the "bad boys" might . Honesty is really, really important to handling a crisis because you have to have all the facts at your disposal. 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. I want political people to read this book, because I think its fun. It was by no means an obvious career move for Smith. It was a reporter from BuzzFeed News, waiting to take my place. Just before he was sworn in, de Blasio yielded to Peysers prodding and cut Smith loose just before he moved into the mayors office. He was out there. Buttigiegs rise from unlikeliest of contenders to actual top-tier presidential candidate has been fueled in part, maybe in large part, by his astonishing success courting the press. Because he was a badass. | Mark Peterson/Redux, Yuki Iwamura/Redux. Wren: Youre a very competitive person. By ERIN BANCO, GARRETT M. GRAFF, LARA SELIGMAN, NAHAL TOOSI and ALEXANDER WARD. I have talked to all the guys who see in the shots. He was also married. That means that shes held to a different standard than sometimes other candidates. I knew from the beginningthat our relationship would be a big tabloid story when it became public. It gives me so much joy when I sit down for a Zoom with Mallory McMorrow which is supposed to be 15 minutes and it turns into two hours, and I get goosebumps again. They lead with emotion. And someone needs to be. I worked in states like South Dakota, Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia. She is 36, a year younger than Buttigieg, which, Thank God. [The vice presidency] is probably the toughest, most thankless job in Washington D.C. But more broadly, they are diagnosing the ills of the party that paid their housing for years. 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. The photographer had captured Eliot and me exchanging loving looks as wed returned from a late-night dinner at a restaurant on my block.. The former New York mayor later divorced his wife and was spotted in places like Montego Bay and a Knicks game cozying up with Smith. You write: Here we go said Larry Grisolano, Petes media consultant, stating the obvious. Adam Wren: In the beginning, you scored the contract for this book based on your high-profile turn as a senior communications adviser to Pete Buttigieg. Mistakes Ive made in my private life. When you do more interviews, it reduces that gotcha instinct with the press, it reduces that cat and mouse game. Smith is a fierce New York City-based Democratic operative who helped engineer the plan to get Buttigieg in front of not just national political reporters, but anybody with a camera or microphone. ", Before they get in the car, I ask Buttigieg if Smith is being helpful in his campaign. Smith is 31; a Dartmouth graduate who apparently has a thing for bad boys. What do all the good candidates youve worked for have in common, and what do the bad candidates have in common? And they all lack humility. I have a really close-knit group of friends who have nothing to do with politics. Everyone thought I was crazy. But there have been a few times when Ive been around him when I knew something, a factoid or something he didnt know, and let me tell you, I fucking lord it all over him. Part of it with him is the persona. One thing I find incredibly admirable about him is what you see is what you get. Martin OMalley, who got like 1 percent in the Iowa Caucuses. But another thing is that Im not someone whos just worked in New York. And if people like me dont get involved, then Im scared about the future of our country. Win or lose in the 2020 Democratic campaign, Pete Buttigieg's senior adviser Lis Smith has turned an unknown mayor into a serious contender. I dont live and breathe politics every day. Ourmost scandalous transgression was showing up three minutes late to the breakfastbuffet and sweet talking our way into cheese and jalapeo omelets.. After McCaskill's win, she joined the 2007 Kentucky gubernatorial campaign of Bruce Lunsford and Greg Stumbo as traveling press secretary. But that didnt work out. It was a slim path. I had a beerhe stuck to waterand we talked about his political ambitions and the state of the Democratic Party and why Trump won. This 35-Year-Old Mayor From Indiana Is Wowing National Democrats The New Republic declared. And that was our media strategy. It may look like the sky is falling, but just ride this out.. And also keep in mind she was wasnt working on my campaign. Now that they have achieved liftoff, as it were, Smith is preparing for the next part of the campaign. By. Smith: So with John Edwards, I was a college student. Details of that relationship were first brought to light by various media outlets and then, in Smiths recently debuted memoir, Any Given Tuesday: A Political Love Story. ), Smith quipped. Click here. Because 2015 and 2016 were really difficult times in my life. And when I began asking around to figure out who was behind that strategy, the same name kept coming up: Lis Smith. Why would a Pete Buttigieg hire me? I worked in politics nine years before I ever moved to New York. If Im going to be honest about other people and their shortcomings, its really important for me to be honest about myself and my own shortcomings, Smith told me. He was a once-in-a-generation talent, someone who perfectly met the moment. Hes someone who is involved fighting childhood hunger. [13][14], Smith met Pete Buttigieg on the recommendations of Axelrod and OMalley when he was considering running for Democratic National Committee chair in 2017 and became a consultant for the campaign. Smith ended up dropping most of her other clients, politicians and nonprofits alike. Before getting involved with Spitzer, Smith allegedly became romantic with Jeff Smith, who she reportedly met at Dartmouth while he was working as her professor. Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten in February 2020. And I talked about that in the book. I tell her that I have been calling around to former coworkers and associates, trying to get a sense of how she operates. Wren: One of your legacies is the coaching tree, to use an apt football metaphor, that you left behind on the Pete campaign. So the Post is about to report that Im dating Eliot Spitzer. Lis Smith was supposed to become de Blasio's press secretary until The Post revealed that she was dating former Gov. I would say that these days, my vetting skills are maybe a little savvier. After 20 campaigns flacking for candidates such as Transportation Secretary and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, former Virginia Gov. Wed gone down to Jamaica to get away from tabloid drama, not actively court it, Smith said. Theres a public Terry and a private Terry. Eliot Spitzer. That maybe once he double-dipped his fry at Barnabys? The candidate and the campaign manager dutifully board the aircraft, and just when it seems the door is about to close, as they start looking around nervously, in comes Smith, sunglasses and coat still on, laptop and cords dangling from her arms, phone pressed against her ear. Smith: Joey Burrow is an incredible leader. [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. Some are even in the White House, like Deputy Press Secretary Chris Meagher, who briefed the press not too long ago. Hes someone I ask for advice. They have grown to like and trust each other. 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. The first time people saw Pete, it was the same as the reaction I had when I first met him, which is where the hell has this guy been my entire life?. James Devaney/Getty Images. The Buttigiegs announced last month that they were engaged in the adoption process. . After the fundraiser, Buttigieg is going to rush off to 30 Rock to do Maddow, then in the morning New Day on CNN, and then fly to Iowa, then do Morning Joe when hes back. My advice is just go out there more, communicate more. Eliot Spitzer while working for incoming Mayor Bill de Blasio. Has Gone Even Farther Right Than I Expected': Three Writers Talk About the Midterms", "Lis Smith: Why Democrats Should Go on Fox News", "Opinion | How Joe Biden Can Defeat Trump From His Basement", "Opinion | This is not the time to change how we talk about abortion", "Know Your Spox: A Look At The Obama Campaign Staff", "Check out Lis Smith on TIME's 140 Best Twitter Feeds List", "Eliot Spitzer has friends in low places, throws book party for girlfriend's former beau", "Spitzer gal pal Lis Smith, de Blasio split", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lis_Smith&oldid=1141070660, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 23 February 2023, at 05:39. There is this thing that I have to be very honest with, because maybe I had been seen as a little radioactive because I had unwillingly had my private life spread all over the tabloids, more established candidates might not have hired me. [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. I think thats probably the biggest misconception about me. So many flacks lose their mind over inconsequential things, and have no sense of, This is good press, this is mediocre press, and this is awful press. That is something you know once you have been through awful press.. The New York tabs may have sharpened her game, but people who've known her for years say Smith came ready for the fight. If there is one thing that makes Smith unique, its not her knowledge of great apes or her particular skill eviscerating her opponents on Twitter; Its that her skin was toughened by a stretch of time in the rawest, roughest media environment of all, the NYC tabloid scrum. [2] In 2014, she became a communication consultant for Adriano Espaillat's congressional campaign. Lis Smith on Pete Buttigieg's campaign bus during a. She is most well known for being the senior advisor for Pete Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign and the director of rapid response for Obama's 2012 campaign. Im horrified. | James Devaney/GC Images. Chuck Kennedy/PFA. How has it turned out so far? And no, politics is my love. She had an "itch," the political consultant writes in her. In what ways does your brand benefit from Petes, and in what ways does Petes brand benefit from yours? They have one man to thank. But I love politics because it touches everything in our lives. We knew the McKinsey stuff would be it, but he was bound by an NDA. Now more than ever, people are seeing politics touch everything in our lives. What we did is fucking ridiculous. I first met John Edwards when I was 19 or 20 years old. And there was not a better antidote to Trump than Pete in terms of style, in terms of life experience, and in terms of his worldview. [24], Smith authored the 2022 book Any Given Tuesday: A Political Love Story. The one thing you saw on our campaign in 2020 is that everywhere we went, he was introduced by young leaders, young mayors. 8,310 Followers, 856 Following, 219 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Lis Smith (@lis__smith) You know what people are going to react to, and you know that the tabloids, just like the political press, oftentimes just wants a little scalp and then they will move on., How the Intercept Is Fueling the Democratic Civil WarBy Steven Perlberg. 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. The 2022 book Any Given Tuesday: a political love story question with a proverb i think its fun like. Bad boys McKinsey stuff would be it, Smith authored the 2022 book Any Tuesday... She was also communications director for Dan Seals ' 2008 Illinois House race the future of our country Buttigieg his! 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