CANDIDATE BREDESEN NAMES TOP CAMPAIGN STAFFERS
Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Phil Bredesen has announced members of his initial campaign team, relying on a number of Tennesseans who worked for him when the millionaire businessman ran and served as Tennessee governor. He’s also added some new faces.
“I’m confident that, together, we can make a strong case to Tennesseans who want the Senate to get back to basics and who want to bring common sense to Washington,” Bredesen said in a news release.
The list includes attorney and longtime Bredesen adviser Dick Lodge as finance chief over fundraising efforts, as well as Lodge’s wife, Gina Lodge, a businesswoman and former state Human Services commissioner under Bredesen’s gubernatorial administration, as campaign treasurer.
Other long-time Bredesen advisers include two of his former deputies while governor, businessman Stuart Brunson and public-affairs consultant Dave Cooley, who has been involved in Tennessee political campaigns for decades. Other advisers include long-time Bredesen friend and attorney Byron Trauger and Anna Durham Windrow, who works in government relations.
Another experienced hand, Bob Corney, who served as the Bredesen administration’s communications director and who formerly worked for then-Vice President Al Gore, is campaign manager. Corney is taking leave from his job as senior vice president of the Calvert Street Group public-affairs firm in Nashville and has done corporate PR work for a number of national firms.
Steve Murphy, managing partner of MVAR Media, is heading up the campaign’s TV, radio, print and digital advertising. Fred Yang, partner in the Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group, will handle polling and public-opinion research. Both have worked for Bredesen in the past.
The former governor also has recruited new talent, including Alfred Degrafinreid as deputy campaign manager. Degrafinreid is a former adviser to U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., and recently worked for Davidson County Criminal Court Clerk Howard Gentry. He named Andrew Adamski, who has worked in a number of campaigns including Nashville Mayor Megan Barry’s successful 2015 effort, to oversee statewide get-out-the-vote efforts.
His Tennessee finance director is Brian Cordova, who most recently ran finance efforts for former U.S. Senate candidate James Mackler, who bowed out of the contest when Bredesen announced.
The campaign has also hired Laura Zapata, a Memphis native, as communications director. Zapata served as press secretary for Hillary Clinton’s Ohio campaign, as well as communications director for U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, and former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Most recently, she worked for ride-sharing company Uber.
His press secretary is Alyssa Hansen, a former TV reporter taking leave from her role as communications director of the Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council.
U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and former U.S. Rep. Stephen Fincher, R-Tenn., are vying for the GOP nomination.