Julianna Smoot | |
|---|---|
Smoot in 2021 as Detroit's Chief Development Officer | |
| 28thWhite House Social Secretary | |
| In office February 26, 2010 – March 1, 2011 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Desirée Rogers |
| Succeeded by | Jeremy Bernard |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Julianna Skinner Smoot 1967 (age 58–59) North Carolina, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Education | Smith College (BA) |
Julianna Smoot is an American political aide and fundraiser for theDemocratic Party. She served as a Deputy Manager ofBarack Obama's2012 presidential reelection campaign,[1] having previously served asWhite House Social Secretary,Deputy Assistant to the President.[2] and Chief of Staff toUnited States Trade RepresentativeRon Kirk. Smoot previously served as a professional fundraiser for theDemocratic Party.[3] She was the national finance director forBarack Obama 2008 presidential campaign. Under her direction, the campaign raised $32.5 million during the second quarter of 2007 and by election day, more money than any campaign in American history.[4] She was named Social Secretary after her predecessor,Desirée Rogers resigned on February 26, 2010.[3][5][6][7][8][9]
Smoot was born in North Carolina, where she was adebutante inRaleigh and the surrounding area. She graduated fromSmith College in 1989, where she was a classmate ofStephanie Cutter.
She took leave from her job at theAmerican Trial Lawyers Association to be finance director ofJohn Edwards's1998 campaign for U.S. Senate. She metPete Rouse and Steve Hildebrand onSenate Majority LeaderTom Daschle's unsuccessful reelectioncampaign in 2004, where she raised $21 million. Rouse and Hildebrand brought her to the first Obama presidential campaign in January, 2007.[9] She has also held positions with SenatorRichard Durbin of Illinois andJay Rockefeller of West Virginia. She worked in Senatorial campaigns forChris Dodd andHarry Reid.[6][8][10]
During the2006 election cycle, she raised record sums as finance director for theDemocratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, underChuck Schumer.[9]
Smoot was, according to a press report, declared "MVP for the first fundraising quarter" due to her success in raising money for the Obama presidential campaign in 2007.[11][12]
In 2013 she founded the political consulting firm STG Results with fellow Obama staffer Scott Tewes.[13] Smoot is now serving on the board of nonprofitObama Foundation, which was officially set up for constructing theBarack Obama Presidential Library and Museum.[14] She is also a founder and senior advisor of WaterWorks Fund, a funding portal for sustainable water solutions.[15]
Her husband,Lon Johnson, was briefly the chairperson of theMichigan Democratic Party[16][17] until he resigned in June 2015 to run for the United States House of Representatives in Michigan's 1st District and was an unsuccessful candidate in the2012 election for the 103rd district in theMichigan House of Representatives.[18] His wife's employment in the Obama reelection effort was a campaign issue.[19]
White House social secretary Desiree Rogers, who has been under fire ever since Michaele and Tareq Salahi crashed President Barack Obama's first state dinner, will resign in March, she told Chicago Sun-Times columnist Lynn Sweet.
(quoted:)
Representative Rendon sent out a fundraising letter that calls attention to the fact that Johnson's wife ... is one of the people running President Obama's reelection campaign, and a superstar of Democratic politics. ...Johnson released a letter that calls on his Republican opponent to lay off his wife.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | White House Social Secretary 2010–2011 | Succeeded by |