For Immediate Release
June 3, 2016
SC Dems Announce Hiring of Policy & Communications Director
Columbia, SC – The South Carolina Democratic Party announced today that Matthew Ellison was hired as Policy & Communications Director. This is a new position with responsibility for managing policy and messaging strategy, serving as the party’s liaison to the news media, assisting candidates in developing issue platforms and messaging for their campaigns, and coordinating with the S.C. House and Senate legislative caucuses.
Ellison, a Charleston native, comes to the party after spending the past six years on the staff of Congressman James E. Clyburn in Washington, during which time he earned his law degree in the evenings at the Georgetown University Law Center. He worked on a wide range of issues for Congressman Clyburn, including the “10-20-30” anti-poverty initiative, voting rights, the federal budget, health care, and national security, while also playing a major role in communications strategy. He got his start in politics as an intern for then-Senator Joe Biden.
SCDP Chair Jaime Harrison said, “It is my great pleasure to welcome Matthew home to South Carolina. He has a clear vision for South Carolina’s future, a strong passion for electing Democrats who can realize that vision, and a keen intellect necessary to channel that passion productively for our party and our state.”
“Having grown up here and worked for the sole Democratic member of our congressional delegation, I am intimately familiar with the challenges that the Democratic Party faces in South Carolina,” Ellison said. “But our state’s future depends on South Carolina Democrats taking those challenges head on. We offer a better way than failed Republican governance, and I look forward to showcasing the Democratic alternative throughout every corner of our state.”
Ellison can be reached at matthew@scdp.org. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewBEllison.
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