WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaign named a veteran campaigner for Democrats with strong ties to the organized Jewish community as its Jewish outreach director.
Sarah Bard, 35, served on Clinton’s unsuccessful 2008 campaign and then switched to President Barack Obama’s campaign when he won the nomination. She led the Jewish Leadership Council during Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, a fundraising body for the campaign.
She also worked for the Democratic National Committee, as an aide to its chairwoman, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., one of the most prominent Jewish lawmakers. In that capacity, Bard worked on Jewish outreach.
The daughter of a Boston area rabbi, Dov Bard, she has lived in Israel and has held leadership roles in the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington’s Young Leadership Division.
Jewish outreach directors shape messaging for the community and help fundraise.
“Since the beginning of the campaign, Hillary for America staff have cultivated and maintained strong connections with the full range of Jewish organizations and Jewish supporters, building on Hillary Clinton’s long-time ties with this community and her strong record on Israel,” the campaign said in a statement.
“Our policy and outreach teams have regularly consulted on key issues, and we have held events focused on this community, including an event for Jewish donors around the White House Hanukkah reception that top campaign staff attended.”
Clinton has been the front-runner in polls for the Democratic Party’s presidential nod, although in recent weeks, rival Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has surpassed her in polling in early voting states New Hampshire and Iowa.
“The campaign needed someone who is well versed in our complicated community, a veteran campaign organizer, knowledgeable about the issues, and not uncomfortable at a political fundraiser,” said Steve Rabinowitz, who heads a well-known Washington public relations shop for Democrats and Jewish groups, and who backs Clinton. “They get all that and more in Sarah.”
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