Celinda Lake

Celinda Lake is one of the Democratic Party's leading political strategists, serving as tactician and senior advisor to the national party committees, dozens of Democratic incumbents and challengers at all levels of the electoral process, and democratic parties in several Eastern European countries and South Africa. Celinda Lake and her firm are known for cutting edge research on issues including the economy, health care, the environment and education. They work for a number of institutions including the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Governor's Association (DGA), AFL-CIO, SEIU, CWA, IAFF, Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, Human Rights Campaign, Emily's List and the Kaiser Foundation. Celinda Lake is one of the nation's foremost experts on electing women candidates and on framing issues to women voters. American Politics calls Lake a "super-strategist or, better yet, the Godmother," and Working Woman says she is "arguably the most influential woman in her field." In past election cycles, Lake served as pollster for many candidates at all levels of government, including Governor Gary Locke of Washington state, the first Asian-American Governor in the country, Blanche Lincoln, U.S. Senator from Arkansas, Mary Landrieu, the first woman Senator from the South elected in her own right, Patricia Madrid the first Hispanic woman Attorney General in New Mexico, and the historic victory of Carol Moseley-Braun, who was the first African-American woman to be elected to the United States Senate. In 2000 Lake and her firm were the only firm to beat 2 Republican incumbents to elect Debbie Stabenow to the U.S. Senate and Bob Wise as Governor of West Virginia. During the 1992 election cycle, Celinda Lake oversaw focus group research for the Clinton/Gore campaign and served as a general consultant throughout the campaign. Prior to forming Lake Snell Perry and Associates, she was partner and vice president at Greenberg-Lake. Lake has served as political director of the Women's Campaign Fund. She has also been Research Director at the Institute for Social Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Policy Analyst for the Subcommittee on Select Education. Celinda Lake, a native of Montana and one of the political world's most avid whitewater rafters, holds a Masters degree in Political Science and Survey Research from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and a certificate in political science from the University of Geneva, in Geneva, Switzerland. Lake received her undergraduate degree from Smith College in Massachusetts. Smith College recently awarded her the Distinguished Alumna Medal.