Photo Courtesy of Hamilton College
On April 11, Hamilton will host a discussion between Reince Priebus and Jim Messina. Priebus is the former chief of staff for President Trump, and Messina is the former deputy chief of staff for President Obama.
Messina served in top roles during both of Obama’s terms in office and was a top advisor for both the 2008 and 2012 elections. He was a part of Obama’s transition team during his first term and helped him select members of his cabinet. He left the White House briefly in 2011 to spend time learning from CEOs of tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Zynga with the intention of bringing their management models to Obama’s re-election campaign. For the work he did in the 2012 election, Messina was nicknamed “The Fixer,” and became known as one of the most successful and innovative political advisors in Washington. During Obama’s executive tenure, Messina is also credited with playing an instrumental role in passing the Affordable Care Act and catalyzing the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.”
Though a revered political advisor to Democrats in America, Messina’s career has not been as clear-cut in his work abroad. In 2013, he announced he would be working with the British Conservative Party ahead of the 2015 British elections, which came as a surprise considering his work with the Democratic Party in the US. That year, the Conservatives maintained their majority in Parliament in spite of strong opposition from the left-leaning Labour Party.
Messina and his political advising organization, the Messina Group, have advised presidents and prime ministers on five continents, including the U.K.’s Theresa May and David Cameron, Mexico’s Enrique Peña Nieto, Argentina’s Mauricio Macri, Italy’s Matteo Renzi, and Spain’s President Mariano Rajoy.
He also appears on news programs like news outlets such as
MSNBC
,
CNN
,
Bloomberg
,
BBC
and others to discuss political issues. He serves on the boards of Organizing for Action, Virgin Hyperloop One, Google’s Advanced Technology Panel, Vectra.ai, Pillpack, the Patient Safety Movement Foundation, LanzaTech, Hyp3r, the United States Soccer Foundation, and the Montana Land Reliance.
Messina is considered one of the most powerful people in Washington. He ran two of the most organized campaigns recent political history and served as a top advisor in the Obama White House. President Obama, for his part, expressed thanks to Messina for his work and lauded his innovation and creative problem-solving.
Reince Priebus had a decidedly different relationship with the president he served. Before calling for party unity during the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, Priebus was openly critical of then-candidate Trump. Later, he became a supporter of the campaign as the field dwindled. The two enjoyed a positive working relationship during their time together.
Prior to serving as chief of staff, Priebus was the chairman of the Republican National Committee. Previously, he was the chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, having first worked as 1st congressional district chairman, state party treasurer, and first vice chair.
This spring, he is a visiting Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard’s Kennedy School. He is also president and chief strategist of Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, and chairman of the Board of Advisors of Michael Best Strategies, the firm’s government relations and public affairs group.
Both Messina and Priebus led impressive campaigns for the past two American presidents, pulling off wins that were historic in different ways. They come from different backgrounds, ideological views, and experiences in the White House, and should have an interesting conversation on a variety of contemporary political issues.
Past Common Ground speakers include political strategists David Axelrod and Karl Rove (Oct. 2017,) Former national security advisors Condoleezza Rice and Susan Rice (April 2018,) and Mike Dubke and Marc Elias, who worked in the Trump White House and Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, respectively (Oct. 2018.) Moderators for those three events were USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, and journalist Jackie Judd, respectively.
The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Tickets are available at:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/common-ground-featuring-reince-priebus-and-jim-messina-tickets-54616361006.
