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Celinda Lake
Celinda is one of the Democratic Party's leading political strategists, serving as tactician and senior advisor to the national party committees, dozens of Democratic incumbents and challengers at all levels of the electoral process. Her work also took her to advise fledgling democratic parties in several post-war Eastern European countries, including Bosnia, and South Africa. Lake and her firm are known for cutting edge research on issues including the economy, health care, the environment and education, and have worked for a number of institutions including the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Governor's Association (DGA), The White House Project, America Coming Together, AFL-CIO, SEIU, CWA, IAFF, Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, Human Rights Campaign, Emily's List and the Kaiser Foundation.
Since its formation, Lake Research Partners has become one of the most respected Democratic polling firms in the country, with its Battleground poll widely recognized as one of the leading national issue and election thermometers. The firm's work has moved the progressive agenda forward on a variety of issues. Working against the conservatives, Lake's research showed not to call their side "religious right" but rather "religious political extremists". In the healthcare arena, her research showed that it was key to include getting healthcare costs down, not just the uninsured, and positioning the uninsured as 8 in 10 of working families.
Lake is one of the nation's foremost experts on electing women candidates and on framing issues to women voters. American Politics calls Lake a "super-strategist or, better yet, the Godmother," and Working Woman says she is "arguably the most influential woman in her field." She is renowned for her groundbreaking research on single women voters in conjunction with Women's Voices Women Vote and has helped elect numerous female candidates, including Barbara Mikulski, the "Dean" of Women Senators, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, Blanche Lincoln, U.S. Senator from Arkansas, Mary Landrieu, the first woman Senator from the South elected in her own right, Patricia Madrid the first Hispanic woman Attorney General in New Mexico, and the historic victory of Carol Moseley-Braun, who was the first African-American woman to be elected to the United States Senate. She also works for Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the House minority.
In past election cycles, Lake served as pollster for many candidates at all levels of government, including Governor Gary Locke of Washington state, the first Asian-American Governor in the country, and Congressman Robert Menendez, the first Hispanic leader in the House Democratic Caucus. In 2000 Lake and her firm were the only firm to beat 2 Republican incumbents to elect Debbie Stabenow to the U.S. Senate and Bob Wise as Governor of West Virginia, and in 1992 election cycle, Lake oversaw focus group research for the Clinton/Gore campaign and served as a general consultant throughout the campaign. An experienced moderator, Lake has conducted focus group research throughout the United States on a large variety of topics including union labor, environmental and immigration issues, and speaking to women on economy. She is also credited with identifying key voter groups, including Reagan seniors, NASCAR dads, waitress moms, the marriage gap and generation D.
Prior to forming Lake Research Partners, Lake was partner and vice president at Greenberg-Lake. Her earlier experience includes serving as political director of the Women's Campaign Fund, and as the Research Director at the Institute for Social Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Policy Analyst for the Subcommittee on Select Education.
Lake, a native of Montana and one of the political world's most avid whitewater rafters, holds a Masters degree in Political Science and Survey Research from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and a certificate in political science from the University of Geneva, in Geneva, Switzerland. Lake received her undergraduate degree from Smith College in Massachusetts, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with honors and was recently awarded the Distinguished Alumna Medal by the College.
Celinda has recently co-authored a book with republican pollster Kellyanne Conway entitled What Women Really Want: How Women are Quietly Erasing Political, Racial, Class and Religious Lines to Change the Way We Live. |
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