Programming note: Due to the holiday, next week’s edition will publish on Tuesday, September 8.
Not many people can say they’ve advised a Vice President of the United States. Even fewer can say they’ve done it during a global pandemic AND during that Vice President’s 107-day sprint as the Democratic Party’s newly named nominee for President.
Kirsten Allen can say that - and a whole lot more. She has served as Communications Director for the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis, as national spokesperson for the federal government’s COVID-19 response, and on presidential, congressional, and statewide campaigns across the country.
As a former colleague and longtime admirer of Kirsten, I’m very excited to share her insights on responding to a crisis, giving voters what they’re actually asking for, and, above all, keeping our focus on winning.
This is ON BACKGROUND:
5 short questions. 5 quick responses featuring Kirsten Allen, former Communications Director to Vice President Kamala Harris and Deputy Assistant to the President who’s hung her own shingle, advising leaders and causes through KNA Strategies Inc.
Kirsten, you spent 4 years traveling alongside and advising the highest-ranking female officeholder in U.S. history. What advice would you give people working for women who are held to a different standard by the media than their male counterparts? Any specific situations come to mind?
Written down, this advice may sound harsh or dismissive, but my honest advice to staff is: get over it. Then get to work. Racism, sexism and bias (to name a few) are a given. And none of it is new to the woman you’re advising. Chances are she has spent her entire career breaking through the barriers you are now only seeing up close.
Your job is not to be shocked by the double standard. Your job is to plan for it. Understand how it will shape coverage. Anticipate where her words may be distorted, discounted or dismissed. Then, develop a strategy that gives people direct access to her message, her brilliance, and most importantly for elected officials, her vision. Name the bias when it is useful, but don’t let your rightful outrage over the unfairness become a substitute for doing the work required to break through it.
As Communications Director for a Vice President and National Press Secretary for the federal COVID response, you’ve seen your fair share of crises. What’s one lesson that dealing with a tough jam taught you, and what’s the story behind it?
“Pause and consider.” It’s a phrase my dad used to say alllll the time when I was growing up. Every time a decision or precarious situation presents itself: pause and consider.
My first week in the White House, the Vice President tested positive for COVID-19. Just over two years later, on July 21, 2024, my Chief of Staff called to tell me to get to the Naval Observatory immediately because within the hour President Biden was going to announce he was abandoning his campaign for re-election. In situations like these, often the instinct is to move quickly without first establishing the ground truth. That almost always results in more chaos. What happened? What do we know? What don’t we know? Who needs to make a decision? Then, communicate directly with your team as early as possible. This part is critical.
That Sunday, in particular, one of my recommendations was that the Vice President’s first stop on Monday should be campaign headquarters in Delaware. The staff was processing a host of emotions, and there would likely not be another opportunity to gather them that way during the 107-day sprint ahead of us. They needed to hear directly from her and to understand that they were a critical part of what came next.
Whether you’re running for president or leading any team, people look to you to corral the chaos. Don’t become part of the chaos. Get the facts, pause and consider, and bring your people into the solution as early as you can.
What do you think Republicans are doing better than us?
Elevating young people.
Creating an echo chamber and weaponizing it.
Exercising power.
What do you want to shout from the rooftops?
As you know from our time working together, I don’t shout. But I do want us to focus: spend less time online arguing with one another and focus that energy bringing people back into the civic process so they understand—and exercise—their power to win.
Focus on what Americans are telling us they want and then do everything in our power to deliver it. In our administration we spent a lot of time telling Americans what they needed (and delivering good stuff!) but it was not what they asked for.
Anyone you recommend we make time to talk to?
Two former DCCC colleagues of ours, Tayhlor Coleman (@tayhlorcoleman) and Ryan Thompson (@ryedth). Tayhlor is a proud Texan and deeply thoughtful strategist who understands trends and desires of voters because she is deeply rooted in – and actually organizes – the communities our party needs to reach. Ryan is one of the smartest and creative digital mobilization strategists in the party. He knows how to turn attention into action and has built programs that move people at scale. Both are builders, not just commentators, and more people should know (and hire) them.
I’d also encourage you to talk with a young press aide or organizer on the ground in one of these hotly contested statewide races (after Election Day). Their day-to-day experience is fundamentally different from ours when we started on campaigns 10-15 years ago and they will be on the front lines of whatever comes next, no matter the outcome. We have to make sure we understand what is motivating them, what they’re seeing and what those of us who have been doing it for a while are missing.
Thanks for your time, Kirsten.