Pete Buttigieg tapped a familiar face for his campaign manager: Mike Schmuhl. Switzer is a graduate of Duke University and according to his LinkedIn profile, working in the White House was one of his first jobs. Pete Buttigieg's campaign team includes former Obama and Clinton campaign staffers. Meagher has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Michigan State University and a law degree from Santa Barbara College of Law. “I know it sounds strange that some people are involved in US politics. Stephen Brokaw, who attended Harvard at the same time Pete Buttigieg was a student, joined Pete for America as the National Political Director at the beginning of the campaign. The Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics, says Schmuhl was paid about $25,000 from the PAC in 2018. Twitter sleuths zeroed in on the US style of English and his use of American twitter affectations like “y’all” and “yikes” in his tweets as evidence that the account belonged to Smith. Time to leave it all on the floor. Schmuhl resigned as Buttigieg’s chief of staff in 2013 in order to pursue a master’s degree. Powered by. By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from Mother Jones and our partners. Listen on Apple Podcasts. Terms & Conditions. In 2015 and 2016, Smith was the Deputy Campaign Manager for Martin O’Malley’s presidential campaign. The two have been friends since their teenage years. Then came COVID-19, CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice, http://www.djindexes.com/mdsidx/html/tandc/indexestandcs.html. © 2020 Fortune Media IP Limited. The hoopla mostly stemmed from a single tweet: “Team Pete. According to the Federal Election Commission, Schmuhl was serving as Treasurer of Buttigieg’s fundraising committee called “Hitting Home PAC” in 2018. (Donnelly represented Indiana in the House from 2007-2013 and served in the Senate from 2013 to 2018). Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation. (Full disclosure: This writer was working for CBSN at that time and met and produced political interviews in which Smith appeared). Getty It’s Lis. A lot of people abroad are supporting Pete,” he said.”I don’t know how to describe it. Hey. https://heavy.com/news/2019/03/pete-buttigieg-campaign-staff Schmuhl’s first major political job was serving as Joe Donnelly’s campaign manager in 2010. Schmuhl ran Buttigieg’s mayoral campaigns and served as his chief of staff in South Bend, Indiana. He told Mother Jones that he is a millennial; he spent several years time in the US and moved back to Nigeria several years ago. He is still listed as its Treasurer. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Brokaw did not become a member of President Obama’s staff after the election. (British English is more common in Nigeria.) Switzer runs his own fundraising company called the Switzer Consulting Group, which he founded in April of 2018. “I thought y’all was universal,” he said. Smith’s credentials include working as a senior communications advisor for Governor O’Malley’s political action committee; representing current New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio during his campaign and while he was the mayor-elect; the Director of Rapid Response for President Obama’s re-election campaign; and Communications Director for former Ohio governor Ted Strickland’s re-election campaign in 2010. And if you agree that Mother Jones' reporting can help guide us through this historic moment, please consider supporting our nonprofit journalism during our fall fundraising drive: We need to raise $350,000 by October 31. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell My Info | Ad Choices  ‘sentiment analysis’ tool says, The holidays used to be UPS’s busiest time. It’s Lis” tweet as being a “joke” based on campaign emails that mentioned, “Phase 4” in the campaign process where get out the vote operations for Buttigieg start ramping up. A tasty breakfast and some cool t-shirts at Peggs this morning in South Bend. Truth #2: Team Reality is bigger than it seems. Powered and implemented by Interactive Data Managed Solutions. After 18 months in the private sector, Switzer went back to the campaign world in April of 2015 and served as Hillary Clinton’s Deputy National Finance Director. It’s all very strange,” he said. All rights reserved. He was also on the African American Leadership Council, which he remained a part of after the election was over and he returned to the DNC until October of 2013. “It’s very stressful. pic.twitter.com/7VJhtt9U5L. Ali Raj, Sofia Moutinho, Veronica Penney, Kristen Lombardi, Sammy Fretwell, Elisabeth Gawthrop, and Dean Russell. Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg's spokesperson Lis Smith speaks to the press. The South Bend mayor has a PAC spending money in Iowa, is staffing up with presidential campaign vets … Pete for America announced on July 1 that it had raised $24.8 million in the second quarter of 2019, which is more than triple the amount the campaign raised in the first quarter. Phone bankers we need you,” which was interpreted as a classic account-juggling mistake made by Smith. Pete Buttigieg brought on another veteran of national Democratic campaigns to serve as the national Finance Director: Marcus Switzer. For indispensable reporting on … Mother Jones CEO Monika Bauerlein unpacks that and more, and we hope you'll give her pre-election column a read because we all need to be prepared for what's ahead. Truth #6: The only thing that can save us is…us. Subscribe today and get a full year of Mother Jones for just $12. Instead, he went back to school for his law degree, which he earned from the University of Illinois in 2012. It’s normal for people abroad to closely follow the American political process given how much American politics affect the rest of the world, and the supposed creator of @EasyChinedu said that was why he cared so much too. It’s Phase 4. Read here to learn more. That's part of what I unpack in my pre-election column, and I hope you'll give it a read because we all need to be prepared for what's ahead. Smith denied that the account was hers all day Sunday until BuzzFeed reporter Jane Lytvynenko reported that she had communicated with the man behind the account. While it’s possible to spoof numbers, the FaceTime call and a separate call on WhatsApp came through a Nigerian international code. He told the South Bend Tribune that he was drawn to Mayor Pete’s team because of his “message of generational leadership.”. It’s almost midnight here and I’ve just been dealing with controversies all day,” said a man claiming to behind the @easychinedu account, a pro-Pete Buttigieg account that went viral on Sunday morning after high-profile Twitter users like David Klion alleged that it was burner belonging to Lis Smith, Buttigieg’s spokesperson. We noticed you have an ad blocker on. How have authoritarians been stopped before? He joined the campaign in April of 2019. JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images. Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg's spokesperson Lis Smith speaks to the press. They went to Catholic school together at St. Joseph High. And in "This Is How Authoritarians Get Defeated," MoJo's Monika Bauerlein unpacks six truths to remember during the homestretch of an election where democracy, truth, and decency are on the line.