Jay Inslee bolsters campaign team
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has bolstered his presidential campaign with a series of new hires experienced in the politics of climate change, which has been the animating focus of Inslee's 2020 run.
Inslee's new hires include three digital strategists: digital director Travis Mackler, deputy digital director Rainee Taylor and digital organizing director Kristin Brown. Taylor is an alum of the Climate Reality Project, while Brown previously worked at the League of Conservation Voters. Inslee also hired two strategists who had previously worked for Tom Steyer's NextGen America group: deputy political director Alex Fujinaka and deputy policy director Maggie Thomas.
Inslee has been pushing the Democratic National Committee to devote a debate to the subject of climate change, but the party committee has resisted tying particular debates to specific subjects.
Inslee's campaign also brought on press secretary Katie Rodihan, operations director Molly Keenan, trip director Chase Gallagher and scheduler Joann Grimm. Inslee's staff now numbers over two dozen, growing by more than 50 percent since the beginning of May.
"The Inslee campaign has seen a major boost of support from grassroots donors and activists over the past six weeks, ever since Gov. Inslee began rolling out his climate plans on May 3," Inslee campaign manager Aisling Kerins said in a statement. "Now we're putting down the campaign infrastructure on the ground to grow for the long haul."
The campaign has also added staff in the early primary and caucus states. In May, the Inslee campaign brought on Keith Presley as Iowa state director and Saif Ratul as Iowa caucus director. Kait Krolik, an alum of the Battleborn Progress group, joined as deputy Nevada state director in May as well. And in June, Inslee hired Pat Drupp as deputy New Hampshire state director.
