Robby Mook

Robby Mook (born December 3, 1979) is an American political campaign strategist and campaign manager. He is the campaign manager for Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.

While in high school, Mook served as a volunteer for a teacher's reelection campaign to the Vermont House of Representatives. After college, he worked as a United States Senate Page, then returned to Vermont to work for the Vermont Democratic Party. He worked on state campaigns, leading up to Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign. Mook then joined the Democratic National Committee, and worked for Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign as a state director in three states.

Mook managed Jeanne Shaheen's campaign as she ran for election to the U.S. Senate that fall, served as the executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2012, and the campaign manager for Terry McAuliffe's successful 2013 gubernatorial campaign.

Early life

Mook is from Sharon, Vermont, but was raised in nearby Norwich, across the river from Hanover, New Hampshire. His father is a physics professor at Dartmouth College in Hanover, and his mother works a hospital administrator at Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center, in nearby Lebanon, New Hampshire.^[1][2]

Mook attended Hanover High School, where Matt Dunne, a member of the Vermont House of Representatives, served as the theater director. Dunne noticed Mook when he auditioned for a school play, and Mook volunteered for Dunne's re-election campaign.^[1][2] He attended Columbia University, where he majored in classics and took no courses on political science. Mook graduated from Columbia in 2002.^[2][3][4] Mook also served in the United States Senate Page program.^[1]

Career

During the summer after Mook's freshman year at Columbia, Dunne hired Mook as the first paid staffer for the Vermont Democratic House Campaign, working to elect Democrats to the Vermont House.^[1][4] Mook worked as a field director during the 2002 Vermont gubernatorial election, which the Democrats lost. He served as deputy field director during Dean's 2004 presidential campaign in Wisconsin and New Hampshire. He joined the Democratic National Committee after Dean lost the nomination to John Kerry, serving as director of the get out the vote effort in Wisconsin during the general election. He worked for David W. Marsden, managing a campaign that successfully won a Republican-held seat in the Virginia House of Delegates in 2005. In 2006, he coordinated the campaigns of Martin O'Malley, who defeated incumbent Bob Ehrlich in the Maryland gubernatorial election, and Ben Cardin, who defeated Michael Steele to win the United States Senate election.^[2]

Mook joined Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign in 2007. He served as the campaign's state director for Nevada, Indiana, and Ohio. Clinton won the popular vote in all three states. Mook then managed Jeanne Shaheen's successful campaign for the United States Senate that fall.^[5][2] Mook joined the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) in 2009 as their political director, and was named independent expenditure director of the DCCC in May 2010.^[6] After the 2010 House of Representatives elections, where the Democrats lost the majority, Mook was named executive director.^[7] In the 2012 House of Representatives elections, he aided the Democrats in gaining eight seats,^[5] though Democrats had aimed for the 25 seats needed to retake the majority.^[4]

In 2013, Mook left the DCCC and was named the campaign manager of Terry McAuliffe's gubernatorial campaign.^[3][5] That year, Politico named Mook one of their "50 Politicos to Watch".^[8] Mook led McAuliffe's campaign to victory.^[9]

In January 2015, Clinton hired Mook and Joel Benenson as strategists.^[10] Upon the April 2015 announcement of Clinton's 2016 campaign for president, Mook was introduced as Clinton's campaign manager.^[11][12]

Personal life

Mook is openly gay, and the first openly gay manager of a major presidential campaign.^[13]

References