Cornell Belcher
Born
Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.
Alma materJames Madison University
Political partyDemocratic
Websitebrilliant-corners.com

Cornell Belcher (born in Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.) is an American writer, pollster, and political strategist who is the founder and president of Brilliant Corners Research & Strategies.

Early life and education

Born in Norfolk, Virginia,[1] Belcher became interested in politics at a young age when he visited Washington, D.C., on a field trip.[2] He moved to Washington, D.C., after graduating from James Madison University.[1]

Career

In the 1998 election cycle, he served as Women VOTE! coordinator for Emily's List. He was also the Special Projects Director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in the 2000 campaign cycle, and as Senior Political Advisor to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) in the 2002 cycle.[3] In these roles, he worked first as an intern at Stan Greenberg's Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, and later for Diane Feldman's Feldman Group.[1] In 2005, he began serving as the Democratic National Committee's pollster, making him the first minority to hold this role for the Democratic or Republican Party.[3][4] In this capacity, he conducted polling research on the potential of Democrats to win "red states" that they had previously considered to be out of reach, and helped to organize the "fifty-state strategy" favored by the committee's then-chairman, Howard Dean.[3][5]

In fall 2015, Belcher was a visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.[6] Belcher has also been a featured speaker at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University.[7]

In the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Belcher advised Michael Bloomberg on African American outreach strategy.[8]

Belcher is a regular contributor on NBC News, MSNBC, and NPR.[9][10] He had previously been a political contributor to CNN.[6] Belcher has appeared as a guest on Pod Save America.[11]

Brilliant Corners

In 2001, Belcher founded Brilliant Corners Research & Strategies (stylized brilliant corners Research & Strategies), a polling firm that played a major role in electing Barack Obama as President of the United States in both 2008 and 2012. As of 2020, Belcher remains the firm's president.[3][12] He helped conduct some of the Obama campaign's earliest research on race leading up to the 2008 election.[13]

Recognition

Belcher has been named a pollster of the year by the American Association of Political Consultants, and has twice been named a member of The Root 100.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 McCarthy, Aoife (February 27, 2007). "Obama's Pollster Also Working With the Party". Politico. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  2. ↑ Parker, Robin Rose (April 24, 2011). "First Person Singular: Pollster Cornell Belcher". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Cornell Bio". Brilliant Corners - Research & Strategies. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  4. ↑ "Democratic Pollster Talks about Race and Politics". George Washington University. March 24, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  5. ↑ Summers, Juana (October 15, 2020). "House Democrats' Campaign Committee Launches Blitz Targeting Black Voters". NPR. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  6. 1 2 "Cornell Belcher". Harvard Institute of Politics. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Distinguished Visiting Urbanist Michael Blake in Conversation with Cornell Belcher". IR Insider. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  8. ↑ Russonello, Giovanni (February 18, 2020). "On Politics: Bloomberg's in the Debate". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  9. ↑ Khalid, Asma (June 12, 2020). "Pressure Grows On Joe Biden To Pick A Black Woman As His Running Mate". NPR. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  10. ↑ Keith, Tamara (June 8, 2020). "How President Trump Uses Law-And-Order Narrative For His Reelection Bid". NPR. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  11. ↑ "Distinguished Visiting Urbanist Michael Blake in Conversation with Cornell Belcher | NYU Wagner". Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. New York University. November 12, 2019. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  12. ↑ Reyes, Sebastian (March 4, 2016). "Interview: Cornell Belcher". Harvard Political Review. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  13. ↑ Ambinder, Marc (January–February 2009). "Race Over?". The Atlantic. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
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