News

DNC director of communications to step down

by Ben Kamisar - 06/02/15 1:33 PM ET

Mo Elleithee, the Democratic National Committee’s communications director, is stepping down from his post at the organization to become the founding executive director of the new Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service.

Eleithee announced his decision in a Medium post after Buzzfeed News first reported the news.

The lengthy post opines on his passion for politics and service, declaring: “I love politics. And that’s why I’m leaving it.”

{mosads}“I’m leaving politics to learn how to do it better,” he wrote. “And I’m counting on young people to show me how.”

In previewing the announcement of the institute’s creation, Elleithee outlined his goals for his new school.

“We want this to be a place where students drive the conversation,” he wrote.

“An incubator of political thought where students are connected with public servants and political practitioners to come up with the next big ideas on how to make our political system work better.

He also lauded those who enter the political world, including government officials, civil servants, elected politicians, campaign organizers and journalists.

He said that all of those positions exist to serve the American people and that “too many people have lost faith, because too many people in politics have forgotten about the public service.”

Elleithee is a longtime Democratic operative who has worked in a host of roles on behalf of the party and Democratic candidates. He has served on the press teams of four presidential campaigns, including as Hillary Clinton’s senior spokesman and traveling press secretary in 2008.

He has also worked for a number of Democratic senatorial and gubernatorial campaigns and as an advisor to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

He joined the DNC in 2013, working through the midterm elections, where Democrats suffered significant losses in Congress.

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