The Kamala Harris campaign has brought in seasoned political operatives to run its statewide operations in California.
Courtni Pugh will be serving as senior adviser to the Harris campaign, Marco Meneghin of Hilltop Public Solutions told NTD.
Hilltop Public Solutions is a political consulting firm where Pugh is a partner and leads their California team. Their website describes her as “one of the most sought-after political consultants in the state,” and she “made her mark by running a Mayor’s race in the second largest city in America.”
Pugh formerly served as Caucus Director for the California State Senate Democratic Caucus and worked in senior roles for the 2020 Biden, Harris, and Bloomberg campaigns, the 2016 Clinton campaign, the 2004 Kerry campaign, and the 2000 Gore campaign. She was also head of Harris’ U.S. Senate state campaign operation.
Meneghin also confirmed to NTD that the Harris campaign has brought on Teri Holoman as state director and Melanie Ramil as deputy state director.
Holoman is currently an associate executive director of government relations with the California Teachers Association, which, according to their website, is the National Education Association’s (NEA) largest affiliate.
The NEA is currently the largest labor union in the U.S. and has donated over $45 million to Democrats over the years.
Ramil is currently the executive director of Emerge California, a group that “trains Democratic women leaders to run for elected office and win.” She helped Harris “secure the California Democratic Party endorsement” in 2016, according to their website.
California, once upon a time a Republican stronghold, is one of the darkest blue states in the country. According to FiveThirtyEight’s polling Wednesday, Harris is beating Trump by nearly 25 percent in the Golden State.
With polling in their favor and California’s close proximity to swing states Arizona and Nevada, it is possible that the California Democrats could use their resources for Get Out The Vote activity in those swing states. When asked about this potential strategy, James Gallagher, the Republican Minority Leader in the California State Assembly, told NTD News in a statement that “If her campaign wants to have a bunch of California liberal activists call up swing state voters to talk about her record, I wholeheartedly encourage that.”
FiveThirtyEight currently has Trump up 1.4 percent in Arizona and Harris up 1 percent in Nevada.
NTD contacted the Chairman of the California Democratic Party, Rusty Hicks, who declined to comment on this story. The Harris presidential campaign did not return a request for comment.