Kellyanne Conway

Kellyanne Conway

Conway in 2016
Born Kellyanne Elizabeth Fitzpatrick
(1967-01-20) January 20, 1967
Camden, New Jersey, U.S.
Alma mater Trinity Washington University
(BA)
George Washington University
(JD)
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) George Conway

Kellyanne Elizabeth Conway (née Fitzpatrick; born January 20, 1967) is an American Republican campaign manager, strategist, and pollster. She is president and CEO of The Polling Company Inc./Woman Trend, and has been a political commentator on CNN, Fox News, Fox Business, and more. She has been a guest on shows such as Good Morning America, Real Time with Bill Maher, Meet the Press, and Hannity.

In 2016, she endorsed Ted Cruz in the Republican presidential primary and chaired a pro-Cruz political action committee. After Cruz suspended his presidential campaign, she became campaign manager for Republican Donald Trump's presidential campaign on August 17, 2016. With Trump's victory on November 8, 2016, she became the first woman in history to lead a successful U.S. presidential campaign.[1]

Early life and education

Kellyanne Elizabeth Fitzpatrick was born on January 20, 1967 in Camden, New Jersey, to Diane Fitzpatrick.[2][3] Conway’s Irish father owned a small trucking company, and her Italian mother worked at a bank. They divorced when she was three.[4] She was raised in the Atco section of Waterford Township, New Jersey and graduated from St. Joseph High School in 1985.[5][2]

Conway credits her experience working for eight summers on a blueberry farm in Hammonton for teaching her a strong work ethic. "The faster you went, the more money you'd make." At age 16 she won the New Jersey Blueberry Princess pageant. At 20, she won the World Champion Blueberry Packing competition. She states, "Everything I learned about life and business started on that farm."[6]

Before entering politics, Conway pursued a career in law. After receiving her B.A. in Political Science in 1989 from Trinity College, Washington, D.C. (now Trinity Washington University), she earned a J.D. in 1992 from the George Washington University Law School and then clerked for a judge in Washington, D.C.[7]

Career

Conway at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

Conway entered the polling business with Wirthlin Group, a GOP polling firm and also worked for Luntz Research Companies before founding her own firm,[7] The Polling Company, in 1995. Conway's company has consulted on consumer trends, often trends regarding women. Conway's clients have included Vaseline, American Express and Hasbro.[8]

Among the political figures Conway has worked for are Congressman Jack Kemp; Senator Fred Thompson;[7] former Vice President Dan Quayle; Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich; and Congressman (now Indiana Governor and Vice President-elect) Mike Pence.[8] She worked as the senior advisor to Gingrich during his 2012 United States presidential election campaign.[9]

In addition to her political opinion research work, Conway has directed demographic and attitudinal survey projects for trade associations and private companies, including American Express, ABC News, Major League Baseball, and Ladies Home Journal.[7] Her firm The Polling Company also includes WomanTrend, a research and consulting division created to better connect corporate America with the female consumer. WomanTrend monitors female consumers as well as a multitude of current and prospective lifestyle, home, work, entertainment, technological, and generational trends affecting all consumers.[7]

Conway has appeared as a commentator on polling and the political scene, having appeared on ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, NY1, and the Fox News Channel, in addition to various radio programs. She has received the Washington Post's "Crystal Ball" award for accurately predicted elections.[7]

2016 presidential election

In the 2016 Republican presidential campaign, Conway endorsed Ted Cruz and chaired a pro-Cruz political action committee. Conway's organization criticized Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as "extreme" and "not a conservative."[10] On January 25, 2016, Conway criticized Trump as "a man who seems to be offending his way to the nomination."[11] On January 26, 2016, Conway criticized Trump's use of eminent domain, saying "Donald Trump has literally bulldozed over the little guy to get his way."[12]

On August 17, 2016, after Cruz suspended his presidential campaign and Donald Trump won the Republican Presidential nomination, the PAC morphed into Make America Number 1, informally known as the "Defeat Crooked Hillary PAC".[13]

On July 1, 2016, Trump announced that he hired Conway for a senior advisory position.[14] Conway was expected to advise Trump on how to better appeal to female voters.[14] Conway became the Trump campaign's third campaign manager in August 2016.[8][15] This made her the first woman to run a Republican general election presidential campaign.[15] At the time, Trump was trailing Hillary Clinton by about ten percentage points in various opinion polls. Journalist Ryan Lizza credits Conway with closing the gap in the polls by improving Trump's effectiveness while giving speeches, using language to appeal to voters and focusing speeches, such as when Trump described America as "a nation of strivers, dreamers, and believers."[8] Trump ultimately won the presidential election, with Conway being credited by The Guardian for playing a major role in transforming Trump's campaign and for appealing to female voters.[16]

On November 10, 2016, Conway tweeted publicly that Trump had offered her a White House job.[17] "I can have any job I want," she said on November 28, 2016.[18]

On November 24, 2016, Conway tweeted that she was "Receiving deluge of social media & private comms re: Romney. Some Trump loyalists warn against Romney as sec of state" with a link to an article on Trump loyalists' discontent for the 2012 nominee. Conway told CNN she was only tweeting what she has shared with President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence in private.[19]

On November 28, 2016, two top sources at the Trump transition team told media outlets that Trump "was furious" at Conway for media comments she made on Trump administration cabinet appointments.[20] On November 29, 2016, however, Trump released a written statement stating that the campaign sources were wrong and that he had sanctioned her critical comments on Romney.[21] CNBC reported on November 28, 2016 that senior officials in the Trump transition "have reportedly been growing frustrated by Conway's failure to become a team player."[22]

On December 1, 2016, Conway appeared with senior aides of the Trump campaign, at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, in Cambridge, MA, for a forum on the 2016 presidential race, a tradition held at the School of Government since 1972. Sitting across from Conway were senior aides of the Clinton campaign including Hillary Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook. As tempers began to flare, the forum escalated into a "shouting match". During one exchange, Clinton senior strategist Joel Benenson said "The fact of the matter is that more Americans voted for Hillary Clinton than for Donald Trump." Conway replied to Benenson while looking at the Trump aides: “Hey, guys, we won. You don’t have to respond. He was the better candidate. That’s why he won.” [23]

Bibliography

In 2005, Conway and Democratic pollster Celinda Lake co-authored What Women Really Want: How American Women Are Quietly Erasing Political, Racial, Class, and Religious Lines to Change the Way We Live (Free Press/Simon and Schuster, 2005; ISBN 0-7432-7382-6).

Mass Connections, Inc. commissioned Conway's research services to inform Volumes 1–3 of the Touch America series, including The Consumer Connection, The Shopper Connection, and Connecting with Consumers ... IN STORE· ON LINE· IN LIFE.[24]

Personal life

Conway is married to George T. Conway III, a litigation partner at the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The couple have four children and live in Alpine, New Jersey.[7][25] George Conway was an adviser to Paula Jones in her lawsuit against Bill Clinton.[26]

References

  1. ↑ Lange, Jeva (November 9, 2016). "Kellyanne Conway becomes first woman to successfully run a presidential campaign". The Week. New York City. Retrieved November 9, 2016. Hillary Clinton may not have been elected president, but other glass ceilings were shattered on Election Day nonetheless. One such historic moment came from Trump's own camp, where Kellyanne Conway became the first woman to successfully run a presidential campaign.
  2. 1 2 Brunetti, Michelle (October 17, 2016). "Trump strategist Kellyanne Conway has deep roots in South Jersey". Press of Atlantic City. Marie DiNatale and grandmother Antoinette DiNatale in a brick rancher just off the White Horse Pike in the working-class Atco section of Waterford Township in Camden County. She attended St. Joseph's High School, just 10 miles east down the pike in Hammonton.
  3. ↑ Kopan, Tal (September 9, 2016). "Trump campaign manager: Obama was born in US". CNN.
  4. ↑ Kessler, Ronald (September 22, 2008). "GOP Strategist: McCain Will Win". Newsmax. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  5. ↑ Johnson, Brent (September 26, 2016). "Meet the N.J. native who's running Donald Trump's campaign". NJ.com.
  6. ↑ Johnson, Brent (September 26, 2016). "Meet the N.J. native who's running Donald Trump's campaign". NJ.com.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 The Polling Company (2016). "Kellyanne Conway biography". pollingcompany.com. Retrieved 2016-08-22.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Lizza, Ryan (October 17, 2016). "KellyAnne Conway's Political Machinations: Can the first woman to run a Republican Presidential campaign reform Donald Trump?". The New Yorker. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
  9. ↑ Author unknown (2012-01-11). Gingrich: "the next 10 days are the most important". Fox News Insider, January 11, 2012. Retrieved on 2015-09-13. .
  10. ↑ "Pro-Ted Cruz super PAC roasts Donald Trump in new TV ads," by Colin Campbell, Business Insider, January 25, 2016, retrieved November 28, 2016.
  11. ↑ "The only Republicans man enough to stop Trump are women," by Patricia Murphy, Roll Call, January 25, 2016, retrieved November 28, 2016.
  12. ↑ "Republican rivals launch effort to villainize Donald Trump," The Hill, January 26, 2016, retrieved November 28, 2016.
  13. ↑ Kilgore, Ed (August 17, 2016). "Meet Kellyanne Conway – Trump's New Campaign Manager". New York Magazine, August 17, 2016. Retrieved on 2016-08-18.
  14. 1 2 Bailey, Holly (July 1, 2016). "Departures come as steady a campaign operation that has been shaken by internal drama". Yahoo Politics. Retrieved 2016-07-01.
  15. 1 2 "Kellyanne Conway Becomes First Woman to Run GOP Presidential Campaign; Nets Yawn". Fox News. August 17, 2016. Retrieved 2016-08-19.
  16. ↑ Hughes, Sarah (2016-11-12). "Kellyanne Conway: the secret weapon that won the war". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
  17. ↑ Kellyanne Conway tweet, November 10, 2016, retrieved November 28, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Trump furious over Kellyanne Conway comments on Sunday shows about Romney: Sources," CNBC, November 28, 2016, retrieved November 30, 2016.
  19. ↑ LoBionco, Tom (2016-11-24). "Conway tweets about Trump base anger over Romney". CNN. Retrieved 2016-11-24.
  20. ↑ "Trump furious over Kellyanne Conway comments on Sunday shows," CNBC, November 28, 2016, retrieved November 28, 2016.
  21. ↑ "Challenging the Boss in Public? For Kellyanne Conway, It’s Part of the Job," The New York Times, November 29, 2016, retrieved November 29, 2016
  22. ↑ "Trump furious over Kellyanne Conway comments on Sunday shows about Romney: Sources," CNBC, November 28, 2016, retrieved November 30, 2016.
  23. ↑ Tumulty, Karen (December 1, 2016). "Shouting match erupts between Clinton and Trump aides". Washington Post. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  24. ↑ "Home Page".
  25. ↑ Johnson, Brent. "How N.J. native Conway got Trump over the finish line", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, November 9, 2016. Accessed November 9, 2016. "Conway, who grew up in the Atco section of Waterford Township in Camden County, was hired in August, at a time when Trump was suffering from gaffes and drooping poll numbers.... Conway, her husband, and her four children now live in the northern part of the state, in Alpine in Bergen County."
  26. ↑ Conason, Joe (February 16, 1998). "Drudge's Mystery Source? It's Wachtell's Conway". Observer. Retrieved 2016-09-29.

External links

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