Anita Dunn | |
|---|---|
 Dunn in 2023 | |
| Senior Advisor to the President for Communications | |
| In office May 5, 2022 – August 2024 | |
| In office January 20, 2021 – August 12, 2021 | |
| President | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | Jared Kushner Stephen Miller Ivanka Trump |
| Succeeded by | Ben LaBolt[1] Karine Jean-Pierre[2] |
| White House Communications Director | |
| Acting April 21, 2009 – November 30, 2009 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Ellen Moran |
| Succeeded by | Daniel Pfeiffer |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Anita Babbitt (1958-01-08)January 8, 1958 (age 67) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Robert Bauer |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | University of Maryland, College Park (BA) |
Anita Dunn (néeBabbitt; born January 8, 1958) is an Americanpolitical strategist who served as asenior advisor to U.S. PresidentJoe Biden, holding the post from January 20, 2021, to August 12, 2021,[3] and again from May 5, 2022, to August 2024.[4] She is currently serving as a senior adviser to theFuture Forward PAC.[5]
Previously, she served as actingWhite House Communications Director in the Obama White House. Additionally, she served as managing director atSKDK, a strategic communications firm inWashington, D.C.,[6] and an advisor to theBiden presidential transition.[7] Dunn has worked on sixDemocratic presidential campaigns over a period of 40 years.[8]
Dunn was raised inBethesda, Maryland, the daughter of Albert E. Babbitt and Carol (Hutto) Babbitt. Her uncle was the modernist composerMilton Babbitt. She attended Walter Johnson High School, graduating in 1976. She earned aBachelor of Arts degree from theUniversity of Maryland, College Park.[9]
Dunn began her career in theCarterWhite House,[10] first as anintern for White House Communications DirectorGerald Rafshoon and then worked forchief of staffHamilton Jordan.[11]
She worked on the campaign of U.S. SenatorJohn Glenn (D-OH) in 1984,[10] and on Capitol Hill before joining the firm founded by Bob Squier and William Knapp in 1993. She was the adviser and communications director to SenatorBill Bradley (D-NJ),[12] and served as the chief strategist for his presidential campaign.[11][13]
Dunn also served as advisor to SenatorEvan Bayh (D-IN), formerSenate Majority LeaderTom Daschle (D-SD)[14] and as communications director forAl Gore's presidential campaign in 2000.[15]
In 2004, Dunn produced the media for CongressmanLloyd Doggett (D-TX).[16] In 2006, she was hired by then-SenatorBarack Obama to direct communications and strategy for his political action committee, The Hopefund. This move signaled to many that Obama was planning to run for the presidency. While advising Hopefund and Obama in 2006, she was instrumental in the preparations for the launch ofObama for America, and brought many key staffers to the Obama campaign with whom she had worked in Bayh's and Daschle's offices.[14]
In April 2008, it was announced that Dunn, who had joined the Obama campaign in February, would be the director of communications, policy and research operations forObama for America, where she held the title Senior Adviser[17] and was one of the major decision makers of the Obama campaign. She was featured as one of four top advisers (along withDavid Axelrod,David Plouffe, andRobert Gibbs) in a60 Minutes interview held after then-President-elect Obama's November 4, 2008, victory speech atGrant Park,Chicago, Illinois. She was described, in the60 Minutes interview, as, "a relative newcomer who handled communications, research and policy."[18]
Dunn served as interimWhite House Communications Director from April to November 2009.[11][19] She took the lead in the Obama administration's criticism of theFox News Channel,[20][21] leveling harsh criticisms against its apparent bias in favor of theRepublican Party and againstBill Ayers andACORN.[22][23][24]
Dunn made controversial comments in reference toMao Zedong that drew the ire of conservative media during a June 2009 commencement address at St. Andrew’s Episcopal High School, in Washington, D.C. Said Dunn: "The third lesson and tip actually come from two of my favorite political philosophers:Mao Zedong andMother Teresa. [They're] not often coupled with each other, but the two people that I turn to most to basically deliver a simple point, which is, you're going to make choices. You're going to challenge, you're going to say, 'Why not?'. You’re going to figure out how to do things that have never been done before." Dunn replied to the criticism: "The Mao quote is one I picked up from the late Republican strategistLee Atwater from something I read in the late 1980s, so I hope I don't get my progressive friends mad at me. ... The use of the phrase 'favorite political philosophers' was intended as irony, but clearly the effort fell flat -- at least with a certain Fox commentator whose sense of irony may be missing."[25][26][27]
Dunn left her interim post one month following the comments, at the end of November 2009 and was replaced by her deputyDan Pfeiffer.[28]
After leaving the White House, Dunn rejoinedSKDK. During this interim, Dunn was known as "a close friend of President Obama."[29] Although working for a lobbying firm, White House records show that Dunn maintained strong connections with the administration, having visited over 100 times between her departure in 2009 and 2012.[30] At the same time the firm announced a "major expansion" emphasizing strategic communications and advocacy work for business.[31] The firm added about a dozen Obama administration insiders as the firm's staff doubled in size.[30] Among the major clients the firm took on wereGeneral Electric,AT&T,Time Warner, andPratt & Whitney.[31] In particular, SKDKnickerbocker corporate clients have included such controversial companies as the for-profitKaplan University andTransCanada Corp., the developer of theKeystone XL pipeline.[32]
OtherSKDK Knickerbocker clients include New York City landlords and real estate associations resisting stronger rent protections for tenants,[33] big food companies such asGeneral Mills,Pepsi Co,Nestle,Kellogg,Viacom, andMcDonalds in their work to resist Obama-era nutritional standards for marketing foods to children,[34][35] and Google and Pfizer in their campaign to cut taxes on foreign profits.[34] Knickerbocker produced ads urging citizens and legislators to support charter schools.[36]
During her career, Dunn has been a guest or panelist onThe Daily Show,60 Minutes,Meet the Press,Face the Nation,CBS This Morning,MTP Daily,At This Hour,Deadline: White House,This Week, andState of the Union. Dunn was also interviewed for two documentaries,The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth andJFK: The Making of Modern Politics.[37]
During the2012 Obama campaign, Dunn helped Obama prepare for the debates.[38] When Journalist Lee Fang asked Dunn if she felt it was "disingenuous" to advise Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign "while simultaneously being paid by a lot of corporations to lobby against his reforms" Dunn said in her response, "I work with some corporations because the fact of the matter is we're in a democracy and there's a dialogue and people have a right to be heard. And the fact of the matter is that most of the time when I work with people, they have a story to be told and we tell it."[39]
Ahead of reporting inThe New York Times aboutHarvey Weinstein's alleged sexual abuse, Weinstein reached out to Dunn for public relations advice. Dunn's firm stated that she was not paid for this, "was asked to speak with him by a friend" and that Weinstein was not a client of hers.[40]The New York Times later reported that Dunn told Weinstein in an email "you should accept your fate graciously, and not seek to deny or discredit those who your behavior has affected."[41] However, according to reporting from CNN, that email was actually written by a British man namedJames Linton in an attempt to elicit incriminating statements from Weinstein.[42]
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Dunn was hired as a senior advisor to Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign in 2019 to assist with communications strategy. She first met Biden in the 1980s during her time as the communications director for theDemocratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and they reconnected in 2008 when Biden was named as Obama's running mate.[8] After Biden's disappointing fourth-place finish in the2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses, Dunn was elevated to a more senior position managing overall campaign strategy, personnel, and finances.[43]
On September 5, 2020, Dunn was announced to be a co-chair of the Biden-Harris Transition Team, which planned thepresidential transition of Joe Biden.[44][45] After Biden's victory in the general election,The Atlantic reported that Dunn was "the only person in modern presidential politics who has been in the inner circle of two winning candidates—first Barack Obama's and now Biden's."[8]
On January 15, 2021, it was announced that Dunn would serve as asenior advisor to the president of the United States in theBiden administration. Dunn worked alongside fellow senior advisorsMike Donilon andCedric Richmond.[46]
Dunn and her husband, Robert Bauer, assisted President Biden in preparation forthe June 27 presidential debate during the2024 presidential election campaign.[47]
In July 2024, it was reported that Dunn would be leaving her White House post to move over to the "Future Forward" super PAC supporting Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign.[5]
Dunn is married toRobert Bauer, former partner atPerkins Coie and former personal counsel to President Obama and theWhite House Counsel. They have two children.[48][49][50]
In 2008,Newsweek named Dunn and Bauer the new "power couple" inWashington, D.C.[51]
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | White House Director of Communications Acting 2009 | Succeeded by |
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