New Hampshire Democratic Party names Liz Wester to key post of 2020 coordinated campaign director
Former Warren campaign NH director to head party’s top-to-bottom grassroots organizing effort as campaign ramps up
Former Warren campaign NH director to head party’s top-to-bottom grassroots organizing effort as campaign ramps up
Experienced progressive organizer Liz Wester has been tapped to head the state Democratic Party’s coordinated campaign as the party’s organizing effort ramps up in preparation for the November general election.
Wester is a veteran of several campaigns and issue-focused groups. She most recently was the New Hampshire state director of Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s presidential primary campaign.
Wester was political director of Hillary Clinton’s New Hampshire general election campaign in 2016 and later was state director of the voting rights advocacy group America Votes New Hampshire.
She worked for the NHDP’s Committee to Elect House Democrats as well as for Standing Up For New Hampshire Families and the Human Rights Campaign.
Wester also held posts in the offices of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in 2017, and Massachusetts U.S. Reps. John Tierney in 2013-2014 and Niki Tsongas in 2012.
State Democratic Party Chair Raymond Buckley described the critical nature of the role of coordinated campaign director in a 2016 interview.
“It is absolutely the most important staff position during the campaign,” Buckley said at the time. “This is the person who oversees everyone and makes sure all the trains run on time.”
The NHDP added Monday, “Wester will work with Democratic campaigns up and down the ticket to build the largest grassroots operation in Granite State history.”
Buckley called the 2020 contest “the most important election of our lives” and said Democrats “are taking nothing for granted.”
“We are thrilled to have Liz on board to lead a massive voter outreach effort that focuses on talking one-on-one with Granite Staters about Democrats’ plans to make health care more affordable, raise the minimum wage, address climate change and protect women’s rights.”
The NHDP contended it is “already far ahead of the New Hampshire Republican Party when it comes to organizing and outreach,” noting that volunteers made telephone calls and went door-to-door for their favorite Democratic presidential candidates for many months leading to the Feb. 11 primary.
The Trump Victory campaign described its own organizing efforts in a WMUR report last week
The state Democratic Party cited its growth in voter registrations prompted by the strong presidential primary turnout, saying, “According to the Secretary of State's data, there are more registered Democrats now than there were members of any political party in the state's history, and the 2020 Democratic presidential primary beat the primary turnout records of both parties.”
The party noted that during the COVID-19 outbreak, its volunteers have been telephoning voters and joining staffers in online campaign trainings.
“The New Hampshire Democratic Party's grassroots organizing and massive outreach efforts to voters across the spectrum has been decisive in victories for years,” Buckley said, adding that he expects the trend to continue this year.
He said President Donald Trump and Gov. Chris Sununu have “broken promises on health care, the environment, and women's rights to make their own health care decisions.
“We will make sure every Granite Stater knows that Donald Trump and every Republican running against Jeanne Shaheen, Annie Kuster, and Chris Pappas is actively trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act and take away health care from tens of thousands of people in New Hampshire while ending protections for 570,000 Granite Staters who have pre-existing conditions.”
The party said that since its success in the 2018 midterm election, its candidates won more than 76 percent of the 2019 municipal races in which they competed, including flipping the Laconia mayoral race from a Republican to Democrat Andrew Hosmer in a city Trump won in 2016 by more than 10 percentage points.
It also cited Democrat Kathy Martins' recent win in a special New Hampshire House election in Hooksett, despite the town’s heavy Republican advantage in voter registrations.
“Our neighbor-to-neighbor statewide approach will once again prove to be more effective than TV ads, Russian tricks, or the deliberate disinformation campaign the NHGOP has already started to run,” said Buckley.