Karen Finney (born August 15,[1] 1967)[2] is an American political consultant and spokesperson for the Clinton 2016 presidential campaign. She was a political commentator for MSNBC and hosted the show Disrupt with Karen Finney.

Karen Finney
Personal details
Born (1967-08-15) August 15, 1967 (age 56)
New York, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationUniversity of California, Los
Angeles
(BA)

Early life and education edit

Finney was born in New York to an African-American father who worked as a civil rights lawyer and a white mother who worked as a labor negotiator. Through her mother, she is related to the Confederate Civil War general, Robert E. Lee.[3] As a child, she moved to California with her mother, and attended the University of California, Los Angeles.[4]

Career edit

Finney served four years as the spokesperson and Director of Communications at the Democratic National Committee. She has also written for The Hill,[5] is a commentator for Politico,[6] MSNBC, and The Huffington Post.[7]

Finney served as Press Secretary for Hillary Clinton in the early 1990s.[8] She then moved into the private sector, working in marketing for the Scholastic Corporation.

In 2001, she managed crisis communications for the New York City Panel for Educational Policy, and worked for Elizabeth Edwards during the John Edwards 2004 presidential campaign.

On April 2, 2013, it was announced that Finney would host a weekend news program called Disrupt with Karen Finney on MSNBC.[9] On June 5, 2014, it was announced that Finney's weekend news program was cancelled.[10]

On November 25, 2014 Finney joined Media Matters for America as a senior fellow and consultant.[11]

On April 6, 2015, CNN announced that she was selected as Strategic Communications Adviser and Senior Spokesperson for the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign.[12]

On January 6, 2019, she made her debut as a CNN political commentator.[13]

References edit

  1. ^ Karen Finney (@finneyk) (August 15, 2012). ""@LeeFinney43: Happy birthday from your biggest fan! @finneyk" Thanks Mom!". Twitter. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  2. ^ Karen Finney (@finneyk) (March 6, 2016). "It's so great to be back in Detroit! Spent my 25th birthday here working on another Clinton campaign". Twitter. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  3. ^ Finney, Karen (7 June 2010). "Virginia Shame". Huffington Post. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  4. ^ Easton, Nina. "Meet the woman who speaks for Hillary Clinton". Forbes. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  5. ^ "Karen Finney". The Hill.
  6. ^ "Karen Finney". Politico.
  7. ^ "Karen Finney". The Huffington Post.
  8. ^ Julie Pace (2012-09-22). "Campaign is in high gear, but White House is quiet". MSNBC.[dead link]
  9. ^ "Karen Finney named new MSNBC weekend host". Msnbc.com. NBC Universal. April 2, 2013. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
  10. ^ "Karen Finney's MSNBC show canceled". politico.com. Polictio LLC. June 5, 2014. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
  11. ^ "Karen Finney joins Media Matters". Politico. November 25, 2014. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  12. ^ "Hillary Clinton adds to campaign press team". CNN. April 6, 2015. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
  13. ^ "Trump's Revisionist History Love On T.V." CNN. January 6, 2019. Retrieved January 6, 2019.

External links edit