SWALWELL FOR AMERICA ANNOUNCES SENIOR STAFF
DUBLIN, CA – 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Congressman Eric Swalwell on Friday unveiled his campaign’s senior staff, including veterans of various presidential, Senate, House, and other notable campaigns.
“I’m humbled and honored to be supported by this diverse, talented, experienced team as we strive to bring the promise of America to all Americans,” Swalwell said. “Their varied, seasoned viewpoints and skills are helping us spread the message of going big in the issues we tackle, being bold in the solutions we offer, and doing good in the way that we govern.”
Swalwell, 38, announced his candidacy for President of the United States on April 8. He is a fourth-term Member of Congress from California who serves on the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees; co-chairs the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee; and is founder and chairman emeritus of Future Forum, a group of House Democrats that listens to and acts upon the needs of millennial Americans.
Swalwell for America’s senior staff includes:
Congressman Ruben Gallego, National Campaign Chair
Rep. Ruben Gallego is serving his third term representing Arizona’s 7th Congressional District. He is the son of Hispanic immigrants, and after graduating from Harvard University with a degree in International Relations, he joined the Marine Corps, serving in Iraq with the well-known combat unit Lima 3/25. Gallego in 2010 was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives, where he served as Assistant Minority Leader. He was elected to Congress in 2014, and currently serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the Natural Resources Committee, chairing the Natural Resources Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States. He is an Assistant Whip for the Democratic Caucus, the First Vice Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Vice Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Congressional Progressive Caucus Tribal Liaison, and Vice Chair of the Equality Caucus.
Lisa Tucker, Chief Strategist/Campaign Manager
Lisa Tucker is the founder and principal of The Tucker Group, a California-based political, communications and public relations firm which helped Eric win his congressional seat in 2012 by defeating a 40-year-incumbent. Earlier, she served as district director for Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) while Eric interned with that office. She also is a former political director for the Michigan Democratic Party, a former regional director for U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), and worked with the political consulting firm Staton Hughes & Shafer.
Garrick Delzell, Chief Operating Officer
Garrick Delzell has managed Senate, House, and local campaigns around the country including New Hampshire, Florida, and Colorado. He also served as EMILY’s List Political Advisor for the eastern seaboard in the 2014 cycle advising dozens of candidates. Among others, he helped elect or re-elect then Gov. Maggie Hassan (NH), U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Rep. Annie Kuster (NH), Rep. Carol Shea Porter (NH), Rep. Alma Adams (NC), Rep. Gwen Graham (FL), Rep. Katherine Clark (MA), and Gov. Gina Raimondo (RI). Garrick was most recently the Strategy and Planning Director of a coalition of environmental groups acting as a check on the Trump Administration’s attack on the climate.
Alex Evans, Senior Strategist
Alex Evans is Eric’s former House chief of staff. Earlier, he was founder and president of EMC Research, a full-service public opinion and market research company based in Oakland, Calif., which conducts research for corporations, political campaigns, and public agencies and entities. Alex also is a former Richmond (Calif.) City Council member and a former Moraga-Orinda (Calif.) Fire Protection District director.
Tim Sbranti, Senior Strategist
Tim Sbranti is athletic director at Dublin (Calif.) High School, Dublin’s former mayor, and a lifelong educator who was Eric’s economics teacher and mentor. He has served as deputy chief of staff in Eric’s House office; a member of the California Teachers Association State Council; and as CEO of Californians Dedicated to Education, former State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson’s statewide non-profit foundation. He is vice chair of the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence; a Chabot-Las Positas Community College District trustee; and co-chair of SupplyBank.Org.
Yardena Wolf, National Finance Director
Yardena Wolf is Managing Director, Campaigns at New York City-based Berger Hirschberg Strategies, a firm with a proven track record of raising financial support and public awareness for elected officials, capital campaigns and non-profits. In this capacity, Yardena has worked on campaigns from the federal to the local level across the country. Earlier, she worked on several statewide campaigns in Alabama and conducted research for Fletcher Rowley Inc., formerly a communications and political consulting firm in Nashville.
Stephanie Berger, National Finance Senior Advisor
Stephanie Berger is a veteran of three presidential campaigns and an expert, teacher and trainer in the field of fundraising and non-profit development. Stephanie laid the groundwork for starting Berger Hirschberg Strategies by working for 16 years as a political fundraiser. She served as the California Finance Director for Al Gore’s presidential campaign, Finance Director for the Democratic National Committee, National Finance Director for John Kerry’s presidential campaign, and Vice President of Development for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
Josh Richman, Communications Director
Josh Richman served as Eric’s House communications director for three years. Before that, he was a national and California politics reporter for the Bay Area News Group – the Oakland Tribune, San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, and affiliated newspapers – for 19 years. There, he wrote the Political Blotter blog; was part of the award-winning Chauncey Bailey Project, investigating circumstances around a former colleague’s assassination; and was a frequent quest on KQED television’s “This Week in Northern California.” Earlier, he reported at the Express-Times of Easton, PA, for five years.
Caitlyn McNamee, National Press Secretary
Caitlyn McNamee served as Eric’s House press secretary for three years. She also managed policy and communications for Future Forum, the coalition of young House Democrats that Eric founded in 2015, with which he and other Members of Congress held listening events all over America to engage with and act on issues of importance to young Americans.
Kunal Basu-Dutta, Director of Email Strategy
Kunal Basu-Dutta joined Eric's congressional campaign during the 2018 midterm election. Before that, he had done volunteer work in Hanoi, Vietnam, including helping the World Wildlife Foundation with its marketing strategy. Earlier, he was on Amazon.com's social media team, leading several campaigns; worked with a coalition on Chicago’s South Side, led by the University of Chicago, on a bid for the Obama Presidential Library's location; and worked at the National Association for Charter School Authorizers, a non-profit aimed at improving school choice.
Hannah Cranston, Director of Digital Strategy
Hannah Cranston most recently ran her own consulting business, helping high-profile people develop personal brands, grow audiences, and increase engagement through social media and email campaigns. Earlier, she was host and executive producer of YouTube's ThinkTank, a millennial news and culture show with nearly 1.5 million subscribers. She was also a regular guest host on The Young Turks, a live news program on TYT, the world’s largest online news network. In 2016, Hannah hosted the nationally syndicated, daily television news show Top 30. She hosts a podcast, Too Much To Handle, and has had bylines on HuffPost and PopSugar News. She is a mentor to at-risk, pre-teen girls through the Empowher Program and has been a volunteer at the UCLA-Santa Monica Rape Treatment Center for over 14 years.
Aaron Fielding, Director of Scheduling
Aaron Fielding served with Eric’s congressional campaign since the start of 2016. Earlier, he worked in Iowa with John Edwards’ presidential campaign during that state’s 2008 presidential caucuses, and has worked on Senate, House and gubernatorial campaigns in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Louisiana, New Mexico, Ohio, New Jersey and Wisconsin.
Vikki Brown, Iowa Campaign Chair
Vikki Brown has chaired the Black Hawk County Democrats since 2017, contributing to wins in highly competitive elections including a Congressional seat, an Iowa state senate seat, and an Iowa state house seat. With a history of activism dating back to her childhood during the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, AL, she has been a staunch supporter of Democratic candidates since working on mayoral and gubernatorial campaigns in the 1970s in Michigan. More recently she was a Black Hawk County precinct captain and worked on many city, county, state, and national Democratic campaigns. She served on President Obama's Inaugural Committees in 2008 and 2012; on Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart’s successful 2015 and 2017 campaigns; as the Eastern Iowa African American Outreach Coordinator for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, and as Iowa’s Ambassador at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
Eddie Alvarez, Iowa State Director
Eddie Alvarez formerly was political director for the Alameda County Building and Construction Trades Unions. He’s the son of Mexican immigrant parents and the grandson of a Bracero. He has worked in education in a variety of roles, as a baseball coach, and as a proud protector of our right to collective bargaining and open and free public lands.
