SPEAKER: Donna Brazile, Former Chairman, Democratic National Committee (DNC); Author,Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House
Audrey Cooper, Editor in Chief, San Francisco Chronicle—Moderator
TITLE: Donna Brazile: The Hacking of an American Election
DATE: Thursday, November 9, 2017
TIME: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program, 7:30 p.m. book signing
PLACE: Marines’ Memorial Theatre, 609 Sutter St., 2nd floor, San Francisco, 94102
PRICE: Members $20, Non-Members $35, Premium + Book: Members $50,
Premium + Book: Non-Members $65, Students $10 (with valid ID). To buy tickets call(415) 597-6705. Prices subject to change.
CONTACT:
Riki Rafner, Director of Media and Public Relations, (415) 597-6712
Media interested in attending should please RSVP to rrafner@commonwealthclub.org
Former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Donna Brazile will speak about her time as the leader of the Democratic Party. In July 2016, just four months before Donald Trump’s stunning victory, the Democratic Party was in shambles. Their computer systems had been infiltrated by a mysterious and seemingly unstoppable hacker. Leaked emails revealed that disgraced former party leader Debbie Wasserman Schultz and several of her top aides had machinated behind the scenes to tip the scales during the primary in favor of Hillary Clinton. Bitter internal rivalries and power struggles had ground Democratic staffers’ work to a near halt, all while the Republican attack machine leveled broadside after broadside against “Crooked Hillary” and her progressive agenda.
In desperation, the Democrats turned to the only person they could trust to stabilize their flailing operation: legendary political strategist Donna Brazile, who shepherded the Democrats through one of the most turbulent general elections in history. During her time at the helm of the DNC, Brazile weathered some of the most difficult challenges of any party leader in American history—from bomb threats called in to Democratic headquarters to cyberattacks suspected to be orchestrated by Russian intelligence to a brutal personal Twitter feud with Donald Trump.
Renowned political strategist and author Donna Brazile is the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). She is also the founder of Brazile & Associates, a consulting firm that helps train individuals in political advocacy. She appears frequently as commentator on CNN and ABC, and is a regular guest on ABC’s “This Week.” Brazile was named among the 100 Most Powerful Women by Washingtonian magazine, one of the Top 50 Women in America by Essence magazine, and received the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s highest award for political achievement. O, The Oprah Magazine chose Brazile as one of its 20 “remarkable visionaries” for the magazine’s first-ever O Power List in August 2009.
Previously, Brazile was the campaign manager for Al Gore’s 2000 presidential run. In 1998, she ran the Voter/Campaign Assessment Program for the midterm elections, which helped bring more African Americans to the polls. Prior to that, she was the chief of staff for Eleanor Holmes Norton, was the national field director for Michael Dukakis’s presidential campaign and worked for Reverend Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign. She is a graduate of Louisiana State University.
Audrey Cooper is the first woman to hold the position of Editor-in-Chief at the San Francisco Chronicle. Before joining the San Francisco Chronicle team in 2006, Cooper worked as an editor for the Tri-Valley Herald, The Associated Press, and the Stockton Record. Cooper graduated magna-cum-laude from Boston University with degrees in journalism and political science. In her free time, Cooper leads walking tours of North Beach, the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood and Golden Gate Park.
