Biography of Donna Brazile

Donna Brazile is Chair of the Democratic National Committee's Voting Rights Institute (VRI) and an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. The VRI was established in 2001 to help protect and promote the rights of all Americans to participate in the political process.

Brazile is also the author of Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pots in American Politics, a memoir about her life in the political arena, and co-author of What We Do Now, which was published by Melville House in 2004. She was recently named as Rutgers University Center for American Women in Politics' 2005 Senator Winona Lipman Chair.

Brazile, a veteran Democratic political strategist, is the former Campaign Manager for Gore-Lieberman 2000 - the first African American to lead a major presidential campaign. Prior to joining the Gore campaign, Brazile was Chief of Staff and Press Secretary to Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton of the District of Columbia where she helped guide the District's budget and local legislation on Capitol Hill.

Donna Brazile is a weekly contributor and political commentator on CNN's Inside Politics and American Morning. In addition, she is a columnist for Roll Call Newspaper and appears regularly on MSNBC's Hardball and Fox's Hannity and Colmes.

During the 2002 mid-term election, Brazile traveled to over 29 states and 53 congressional districts to help train Democratic activists. At the conclusion of the 2002 mid-term elections, Brazile served as a media consultant and grassroots organizer for Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA).

A veteran of numerous national and statewide campaigns, Brazile worked on several presidential campaigns for Democratic candidates, including Carter-Mondale in 1976 and 1980, Rev. Jesse Jackson's first historic bid for the presidency in 1984, Mondale-Ferraro in 1984, U.S. Representative Dick Gephardt in 1988, Dukakis-Bentsen in 1988, and Clinton-Gore in 1992 and 1996. In addition to working on political campaigns, Brazile has served as a senior lecturer and adjunct professor at the University of Maryland and a fellow at Harvard's Institute of Politics.

Brazile is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including Washingtonian Magazine's 100 Most Powerful Women in Washington, D.C., Essence Magazine's 50 Most Powerful Women in America, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Award for Political Achievement.