David Axelrod facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
David Axelrod
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Axelrod in 2015
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| Senior Advisor to the President | |
| In office January 20, 2009 – January 10, 2011 |
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| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Barry Jackson |
| Succeeded by | David Plouffe |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 22, 1955 New York City, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse |
Susan Landau
(m. 1979) |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent |
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| Education | University of Chicago (BA) |
David M. Axelrod (born February 22, 1955) is an American political expert and advisor. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He is most famous for being the main strategist for Barack Obama during his presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012. Also, during Obama's first time as president, Axelrod worked in the White House as a Senior Advisor to the President.
David Axelrod was born and grew up in New York City. He started his career as a political reporter for the Chicago Tribune newspaper. Later, he helped Paul Simon win his election for the U.S. Senate in Illinois in 1984. Axelrod then started his own company to advise politicians. He became a well-known Democratic strategist, especially in Illinois. He advised important leaders like Chicago Mayors Harold Washington and Richard M. Daley. He also advised national figures like John Edwards during his 2004 presidential campaign and Rahm Emanuel in the 2006 elections.
During the 2008 presidential election, Axelrod was the chief strategist for Barack Obama. They had first met in the early 1990s. After Obama won the election, Axelrod became a Senior Advisor to the President. He left this job in early 2011 to become the Senior Strategist for Obama's successful re-election campaign in 2012. After the campaign, Axelrod stopped working as a political consultant. From 2012 until 2023, he was the director of the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. Since 2015, he has also been a Senior Political Commentator on CNN.
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David Axelrod's Early Life
Axelrod was born in Manhattan, New York City, and grew up in the Stuyvesant Town area. He was raised in a liberal Jewish family. His mother, Myril Bennett, was a journalist and later worked in advertising. His father, Joseph Axelrod, was a psychologist who came to the United States from Eastern Europe when he was eleven. David's parents separated when he was eight years old. When David was 19, his father passed away after struggling with severe clinical depression.
Axelrod shared that he got into politics because he believed in making things better. He said it felt great to be part of something that brought back the kind of hope he remembered from when he was a kid. When he was thirteen, he was already selling campaign buttons for Robert F. Kennedy. After finishing Stuyvesant High School in New York in 1972, Axelrod went to the University of Chicago. There, he studied political science. Axelrod has described his childhood as "very turbulent."
While in college, Axelrod wrote for the Hyde Park Herald, covering politics. He also had an internship at the Chicago Tribune newspaper.
David Axelrod's Family Life
While at the University of Chicago, David Axelrod met Susan Landau, who would become his wife. They got married in 1979.
In 1981, they had their first child, a daughter. When she was seven months old, she was diagnosed with epilepsy. This condition caused her to have severe seizures, which meant she needed many different medications. Because of this, she developed some learning difficulties. After high school, the family looked for programs to help her. In 2002, she moved into Misericordia Home, a large group home where she lives an active life. As of 2021, Axelrod supports different types of group homes that help people like his daughter.
The Axelrods have two other children as well.
David Axelrod's Career Journey
Before Working with Obama
The Chicago Tribune hired Axelrod after he graduated from college. He worked there for eight years, covering politics at different levels. In 1981, at age 27, he became the youngest political writer for the paper. He later became the City Hall Bureau Chief and a political columnist. In 1984, he left the Tribune to join U.S. Senator Paul Simon's campaign as communications director. Soon after, he became a co-campaign manager.
In 1985, Axelrod started his own political consulting company, Axelrod & Associates. He became known for helping Black politicians win elections. He worked on the successful re-election campaign of Harold Washington, Chicago's first Black mayor, in 1987. He also helped other Black candidates become mayors in cities like Detroit, Cleveland, and Houston. Axelrod was a long-time advisor for former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. He is known as a "specialist in urban politics" and for helping Black candidates appeal to all voters.
In 2004, Axelrod worked for John Edwards' presidential campaign. He later said that even though he respected John Edwards, the candidate didn't quite "close the deal" with voters.
Axelrod also taught a class at Northwestern University called Campaign Strategy, where students learned about political campaigns. In 2009, he received an honorary degree from DePaul University.
Working on Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential Campaign
Axelrod first met Obama in 1992. Obama asked Axelrod for advice before giving an anti-war speech in 2002 and also asked him to read drafts of his book The Audacity of Hope.
Axelrod had many past clients running in the 2008 presidential campaign, including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It was a tough choice because Hillary Clinton had helped raise money for a foundation that helps people with epilepsy, a cause important to Axelrod's family because his daughter has the condition. However, Axelrod decided to join Obama's campaign as the chief strategist. He said he felt that helping Barack Obama get to Washington would be a great achievement in his life.
Axelrod helped start Obama's campaign by creating a five-minute video that was released online in January 2007. He continued to use videos that showed everyday people to make the political ads feel more real and personal.
While the Clinton campaign focused on experience, Axelrod helped create Obama's main message of "change." He believed that people wanted something new. This "change" message was very important in Obama's win in the Iowa caucus. Many voters there said "change" was the most important thing they looked for in a candidate, and most of them chose Obama. Axelrod also thought the Clinton campaign didn't understand how important the caucus states were. Obama won most of the states that used the caucus system in 2008.
Axelrod is also known for encouraging many people to get involved in the campaign. He explained that Obama wanted the campaign to help people feel like they were part of something important. Getting volunteers involved became a key part of the campaign. They used online tools and social media to help people connect and support Obama. This allowed people to blog, create their own pages, and even make phone calls from home. Axelrod's smart use of the internet helped Obama get many young voters and over 475,000 donors in 2007, most of whom gave small amounts of money online. This was different from Hillary Clinton's campaign, which relied more on well-known supporters and large donors.
People described Axelrod as calm and mild-mannered. An aide said he was a "calming presence" and not a "screamer." He also had a good sense of humor, which helped to ease tense situations. In June 2008, The New York Times called Axelrod a "campaign guru" who understood Chicago-style politics.
Senior Advisor to the President (2009–2011)
On November 20, 2008, President Obama chose Axelrod to be a senior advisor in his administration. His job was to help create policies and explain the President's message to the public. He worked closely with President Obama, his team, and speechwriters.
Working on Barack Obama's 2012 Presidential Campaign
Axelrod left his White House job on January 28, 2011. He then became a top advisor for Obama's 2012 re-election campaign. Axelrod said that this job as Obama's chief campaign strategist would be his last time working as a political operative.
After the Second Obama Campaign
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In January 2013, Axelrod started a non-partisan Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago. He served as its director until January 2023. On January 23, 2013, it was reported that Axelrod was helping Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti with his election campaign.
In February 2013, Axelrod joined NBC News and MSNBC as a senior political analyst. He held this position until September 2015, when he moved to CNN.
In 2014, Axelrod was chosen to be a senior strategic advisor to the British Labour Party. He helped their leader, Ed Miliband, prepare for the 2015 general election.
He is also a co-founder of AKPD Message and Media. In February 2015, Axelrod's book Believer: My Forty Years in Politics was published.
In 2015, Axelrod started hosting a podcast called The Axe Files. In this podcast, he has deep discussions and interviews with many political figures. In June 2019, he started another podcast called Hacks on Tap with co-host Mike Murphy. In this show, they talk about political news and updates. He also joined CNN as a senior political commentator in September 2015.
In 2018, Axelrod shared his views on important political processes, like the idea of removing a president from office. He argued that if such a process became a common political tool, it could harm democracy.
In 2022, he announced that he would retire as director of the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. He became a senior fellow and chair of its advisory board in January 2023. The President of the University of Chicago, Paul Alivisatos, praised Axelrod's leadership, saying it led to the institute's amazing growth and success.
Images for kids
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Axelrod in 2015
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Axelrod talking to reporters in the "spin room" after the Cleveland Democratic debate in February 2008
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Axelrod with President Barack Obama
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Axelrod in Chicago in 2016
