Vanessa Nakate to Open Giving Black Conference 2026 With Climate Justice Keynote
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United States David Axelrod, a preeminent American political consultant and analyst, served as chief strategist for Barack Obama's presidential campaigns and later as a Senior Advisor to the President.
David Axelrod co-founded AKPD Message and Media, along with Eric Sedler. This American political and media consulting firm caters to Democratic candidates and related causes. The firm was formerly known as Axelrod and Associates and was sold in 2009.
David Axelrod operated ASK Public Strategies, which later became ASGK Public Strategies. This firm was also sold in 2009.
David Axelrod joined CNN as a Senior Political Commentator in September 2015. He hosts 'The Axe Files' podcast, a series of in-depth discussions and interviews with various political figures.
In January 2013, Axelrod established a bipartisan Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago, where he served as its director until 2023, and became a senior fellow and chair of its advisory board.
On February 19, 2013, David Axelrod joined NBC News and MSNBC as a senior political analyst, a role he held until September 2015.
In 2014, Axelrod was appointed senior strategic adviser to the British Labour Party to assist party leader Ed Miliband in the run-up to the 2015 general election.
Axelrod worked as a consultant for Exelon, an Illinois-area utility company that operated the largest fleet of nuclear reactors in the United States.
Hillary Clinton raised significant funds for epilepsy on behalf of a foundation co-founded by Axelrod's wife and mother, Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE).
David M. Axelrod was born on February 22, 1955, in New York City, and grew up in the Stuyvesant Town area. He was raised in a Jewish family and showed an early interest in politics, selling campaign buttons for Robert F. Kennedy at the age of thirteen. After graduating from Stuyvesant High School in 1972, Axelrod attended the University of Chicago, majoring in political science. During his undergraduate years, he contributed to the Hyde Park Herald, covering political events, and secured an internship at the Chicago Tribune. His father, Joseph Axelrod, a psychologist, immigrated from Eastern Europe at age eleven. David Axelrod describes his childhood as turbulent.
Axelrod began his professional career as a political reporter for the Chicago Tribune, working there for eight years and becoming their youngest political writer in 1981. He advanced to City Hall Bureau Chief and a political columnist before leaving in 1984. He then joined Paul Simon’s U.S. Senate campaign as communications director, quickly being promoted to co-campaign manager. In 1985, Axelrod founded his political consultancy firm, Axelrod & Associates. He developed a reputation as a Democratic strategist, particularly in Illinois, advising Chicago Mayors Harold Washington and Richard M. Daley. His client list expanded to include other notable black mayoral candidates such as Dennis Archer in Detroit and Anthony A. Williams in Washington, D.C.
Axelrod’s career further expanded to national and international politics. He advised John Edwards during his 2004 presidential campaign and was a key political adviser for Rahm Emanuel in the 2006 U.S. House of Representatives elections. In 2002, he was retained by the Liberal Party of Ontario in Canada to assist Dalton McGuinty’s election campaign. He became widely known as the chief strategist for Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. After Obama’s election in 2008, Axelrod served as Senior Advisor to the President in the White House from 2009 to 2011. Since 2015, he has been a Senior Political Commentator on CNN and established the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, where he served as director until 2023.
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