Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s presidential campaign has hired Jeff Berman, national delegate director for President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, as senior adviser for delegate strategy.
Berman wrote a book about Obama’s delegate strategy and the technical, complicated rules around assigning delegates in the Democratic presidential nomination process.
The strategy, dubbed a “secret weapon,” led to Obama amassing pledged delegates, awarded based on performance in primaries and caucuses, which carried him to win the Democratic presidential nomination over Hillary Clinton. Clinton later hired Berman to lead delegate strategy for her 2016 presidential bid.
The rules for assigning delegates have changed for the 2020 cycle, and the strategy is different in a crowded field of more than 20 candidates. Still, campaigns expect that navigating the delegate system will be key to securing the nomination. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., also hired a delegate guru that helped Clinton secure the presidential nomination in 2016.
Berman joins Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, O’Rourke’s campaign manager and another Obama alumna, on the campaign. The hiring of the two Obama strategists is an effort to professionalize his campaign following a hastily organized launch on the heels of his failed bid for Senate in Texas.
“Jeff and Beto met early on, and he was one of the first people I reached out to when I came on board because delegate strategy is so critical to our overall strategy,” O’Malley Dillon said in a statement. “Jeff and I were both struck by Beto’s unifying leadership, the energy he inspires at the grassroots level, and his persistent belief that you can campaign to be a president for all Americans. That’s exactly what voters are searching for.”
O’Rourke said in a statement that the campaign is “excited” to have Berman.
