And yet you signed on anyway. How has it turned out so far? Smith had moved to New York in 2013 to work for Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced former governor who had stepped down in a prostitution scandal. Deciding to get into politics for me, and in the world of political operatives, was like jumping off a cliff. Ourmost scandalous transgression was showing up three minutes late to the breakfastbuffet and sweet talking our way into cheese and jalapeo omelets.. | Scott Olson/Getty Images, Lis has an insurgent mentality, said Axelrod, a top aide for both of President Obamas campaigns. I think we saw that Kamalas attack on Biden was obviously was pretty pointed. But until they released him from the NDA, we just didnt get his clients. It was a long shot. He's on his way into a black car to do Maddow. Smith is 31; a Dartmouth graduate who apparently has a thing for bad boys. By ERIN BANCO, GARRETT M. GRAFF, LARA SELIGMAN, NAHAL TOOSI and ALEXANDER WARD. 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 want people to know what its like behind the scenes. A lot of people people whose opinion you respect told you that you were nuts when you chose to work for Pete. And they all lack humility. The national security site has found fresh energy as a savvy, progressive attack dog in national politics. Smith: Thats hilarious. I love him. Fantasy football we were competitive about that. Lis Smith (born October 15, 1982) is an American political strategist affiliated with the Democratic Party. Lets be real, Adam. Buttigieg reignited Smiths love for politics, she says, after a really difficult 2015 and 2016 due to her breakup with former New York Gov. Of course, then I would, Id get a tepid reception and she would never let me hear the end of it. And someone needs to be. I figured he was special and it couldnt hurt if everybody knows who he is.. She figured that Buttigiegs sexual orientation and impossible-to-pronounce last name rendered him dead on arrival, but started researching the 35-year-old Indiana mayor and promptly took an eight-hour fall down a Google rabbit hole. Also how many, like, mind-games campaigns are playing with others. And so when they feel like they are getting attacked, or their families are getting atttacked, they think staff can never talk to them on the level, and it is frustrating for principals, because they are like, You are just a kid, you dont know anything. But with me, I can tell them, This is what is going to happen, this is how we are going to deal with it. Smith, the famously aggressive political operative battle-honed in the brass knuckles politics of New York City and in red-state political tilts, plotted the rollout of Buttigiegs longshot presidential campaign. Lis Smith Net Worth 2023, Age, Height, Relationships, Married, Dating, Family, Wiki Biography. The Post ran the exclusive photos of Spitzer ducking in and out of the Soho walk-up. Overtime: David Duchovny, Matt Taibbi, Lis Smith | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) Real Time with Bill Maher 2.54M subscribers Subscribe 11K Share 913K views 6 months ago Subscribe to the Real. When I met him was right after Trump won the election, and Democrats are running around with their hair on fire for good reason. But I appreciate his courage in being willing to speak out about it. Smith: All the good candidates are comfortable in their own skin. | James Devaney/GC Images. We've received your submission. Riley Keough has been married to Australian stuntman Ben Smith-Petersen since 2015. Lis Smith (born October 15, 1982) is an American political strategist affiliated with the Democratic Party. Read on for more details on the relationship that cost Smith her job, who she has dated since, and what shes up to these days. Most people do have nerdy sides to them. When you do more interviews, it reduces that gotcha instinct with the press, it reduces that cat and mouse game. But they did teach me the importance of always making sure that candidates are reflecting the values of their voters. February 5, 2020 younolly Biography 0. Still, she still sought to rationalize her relationship with Spitzer. This story has been shared 102,835 times. Political strategist Lis Smith isnt a married woman, though she may one day decide to tie the knot with a lucky somebody. They have grown to like and trust each other. Photo: amyandstuart.com@AmyandStuart. Did I think I was going to walk into his office and tell him that I was dating Eliot Spitzer? Your Bengals fandom and their Super Bowl run is a part of the book. Seeing how Pete cuts through with people and what a truly effective messenger hes become for the Democratic Party, it makes you realize: Theres not just one Mayor Pete. When I was starting in politics, we didnt have women. It is, she says, the only newspaper she subscribes to. Letting Pete be Pete. For example, you write in your book about going to a pop-up bar in South Bend with Pete and his best friend and campaign manager, Mike Schmuhl. We are humble and kind, to quote Tim McGraw. Wren: When you started working with Aftab Pureval did Pete feel like you were two-timing him with another Midwestern mayor of a river city with a funny name? I couldnt talk to the media, and they didnt lift a finger to defend me.. Petes hitting at this moment in part because of the legwork they did. I want Republicans to read this book. Wren: Youre often credited with vaulting Pete from the mayor of Indianas fourth-largest city to a member of Bidens cabinet. He lives in New York. E! People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Mistakes that Ive made with media. And it was a running joke between us: I was like, I cant listen to you talk about smart sewers one more time, or I will lose my mind. He loves that stuff. But he is also the kind of person journalists tend to like: bookish, somehow earnest with a sense of irony, and willing to talk the way journalists like people to talk, playing the pundit and getting into the political process and discussing his own ambitions. It wasnt really until 2012 when I worked for Barack Obama that I did find a really strong female mentor in Stephanie Cutter and I learned so much about my job, so much about politics, so much about how to effectively communicate from Stephanie Cutter. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Phil snorted: Fck. I would do that for free.). If Id thought things couldnt have gotten worse, I was wrong, she said. Chuck Kennedy/PFA. On Sunday, Bill de Blasio put out a statement in a New York Post story in his own name defending himself against the portrait you paint of him in your book as obsessively paranoid. If you were working for him, and a book like yours came out authored by someone else, how would you have advised him to address the situation? That means that shes held to a different standard than sometimes other candidates. This is what day two looks like. Smith double majored in government and anthropology at Dartmouth College, graduating in 2005. Did I think hed sit on the floor with me and sing Kumbaya and tell me it would be all okay? Theres the article in the Atlantic where the writer met the mayor of South Bend, Indiana for a chicken tempura lunch in Manhattan. The most important thing is theres no one way to be a Democrat no matter what any of these lefty groups in Washington say, and we cannot expect candidates in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and Ohio and Arizona and North Carolina to check off every box on the progressive party purity test. The way Smith tells it, she thought she was done with presidential politics after OMalleys campaign fizzled in 2016. The whole saga also taught her the rhythms of the New York tabloids, which have similarities to the national political press. Theyre just not looking in the right places. In the car, wed go back and forth on random trivia, and pulling up things on Google. You have to know the social media ecosystem, how people are sharing and consuming their news. The two of us talked this week about Buttigiegs political future, whether Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow could jump into politics, and the ingredients of a good political candidate. The private Terry is a lot more low-key, and lot more humble, a lot more thoughtful. Most people do have corny sides to them. What do I get if I pay for your consulting services? It was a reporter from BuzzFeed News, waiting to take my place. Hes someone who is involved fighting childhood hunger. By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or updates from POLITICO and you agree to our privacy policy and terms of service. 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. She has also directed communications and strategy for a number of other gubernatorial, mayoral and congressional campaigns. Letting Terry be Terry. And so, she says, she cant talk right now. | Maybe theres still time for me to choose a new life path because I felt extremely disillusioned. And so much of my book is about the power of belief and the element of belief that it takes to succeed in professional football, in politics, and hes the one who brought that belief back for me, and brought my love my pure love of politics back for me. Wren: Did you have a good handle before the campaign on Petes vulnerabilities? Im just going to leave it there because I thought it was funny. When Smith signed on to help Mayor Pete run for DNC chair, it was a part-time gighelping a candidate nobody had ever heard of run for an insider position, the kind of job decided not by the public, but in backrooms by the most hardcore party loyalists. In fact, other than Spitzer, Smith appears to have been flying solo for the last few years. In crisis PR mode, Lis Smith told top Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa to 'just have your fucking assistant text people' and 'this is insane' as sexual harassment scandal blew up. Politics is really personal to me. After news broke on the relationship, more photos were released, and Smith was eventually forced to come clean to fellow campaign members about the love match she had formed with Spitzer. [43], Smith says she experiences stage fright. Copyright 2023 Market Realist. Before a debate, you have no idea how much gossip is going around. How consequential was that looking back? Wren: One of your legacies is the coaching tree, to use an apt football metaphor, that you left behind on the Pete campaign. Whats especially important to me, is, you know, making sure to take a lot of young women under my wing. He was also married. There were very, very few women in positions of power. The attack we had been dreading was coming. Oh really, you didnt know that? Smith: It made me want to be better at my job. Smith said she learned a hard lesson: Even a professional cant try to manage a personal crisis without help. 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