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Mary Beth Cahill
Mary Beth Cahill
Director of the Office of Public Liaison
	In office; February 5, 1999 – January 20, 2001
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Minyon Moore
Succeeded by	Lezlee Westine
Personal details
Born	December 1954 (age 70); Dorchester, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Education	Emmanuel College (BA)

Mary Beth Cahill (born December 1954) is an American political advisor who served as the campaign manager of the John Kerry 2004 presidential campaign. She was Kerry's second campaign manager, replacing Jim Jordan in November 2003, after Jordan was fired by Kerry.^[1] In February 2018, Cahill was named interim CEO of the Democratic National Committee.^[2]

Early life and education

Cahill was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts and raised in Framingham, Massachusetts by a large, politically active, Irish-Catholic family. Cahill graduated from Emmanuel College, Boston, a small local Catholic liberal arts school with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and political science in 1976.^[3]^[4]^[5]

Career

Cahill started her political career by working as a receptionist and caseworker for Congressman Robert Drinan, a Jesuit priest, after which she became Chief of Staff for Representative Barney Frank.^[6] In 1986, she was the campaign manager for Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT).^[7] She was also an Assistant to the President and Director of Public Liaison^[8] in Bill Clinton's White House and chief of staff to Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA).

Following the Kerry campaign, Cahill was a fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in the spring of 2005. She led a study group for undergraduates entitled "Campaigns 101." She also co-founded The Atlas Project, a political consulting firm that worked primarily with Democrats, labor unions, and liberal activist organizations.^[9]^[10]

Cahill last worked to raise funds for Massachusetts Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick, who defeated Attorney General Tom Reilly and businessman Chris Gabrieli in the 2006 primary and Kerry Healey in the general election.

Cahill was the Executive Director of EMILY's List for five years and has trained women on how to run for political office in countries including Russia, North Macedonia, and Ireland.

In March 2024, Cahill was announced as co-leader of a new team within the Democratic National Committee to combat third-party and independent challengers in the 2024 United States presidential election.^[11]

References

^ "Kerry Fires Campaign Manager". New York Times. Associated Press. 2003-11-10. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
^ Debenedetti, Gabriel; Dovere, Edward-Isaac (February 1, 2018). "DNC hires Mary Beth Cahill as interim CEO". Politico. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
^ Johanna Neuman (2004-01-29). "Campaign Manager in Spotlight as Kerry Becomes Frontrunner". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
^ "Years of Planning." (PDF). Emmanuel magazine. Retrieved 2018-11-22.
^ "Mary Beth Cahill". The Graduate School of Political Management. Retrieved 2018-11-22.
^ "Our Advisory Board". atlasproject.net. Retrieved 2018-11-22.
^ Karen Tumulty (2004-03-08). "The Miracle Worker". Time. Archived from the original on May 18, 2012. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
^ "White House Transition Project Institutional Memory Series: The White House Office of Public Liaison" (PDF). p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
^ "About Us". The Atlas Project. Archived from the original on 2011-11-23. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
^ "Our Partners - Organizations". The Atlas Project. Archived from the original on 2011-11-23. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
^ Seitz-Wald, Alex (2024-03-14). "Democrats prepare to go to war against third-party candidates". NBC News. Archived from the original on 2024-03-14. Retrieved 2024-03-14.