The Maryland Democratic Party, rocked in recent days by criticism over harsh remarks emanating from the party about President Reagan and Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R), has hired a new communications director. The party this week announced the arrival of Arinze Ifekauche as its new communications guru.
Ifekauche was most recently a principal at Precision Strategies, a Washington, D.C.-based public affairs and PR firm run by three senior advisers from President Obama’s 2012 campaign team.
Prior to his work at Precision, Ifekauche served as the public information officer for Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby (D).
“We’re working to energize and mobilize Marylanders ahead of the Convention and the 2020 election, and to prevent Governor Hogan from furthering his political ambitions in the U.S. Senate or the White House by taking credit for the work of Maryland’s Democratic lawmakers,” Maryland Democratic Party Chair Maya Rockeymoore Cummings said in a statement. “Much of that work starts with a successful communications program. Arinze’s experience makes him well suited for elevating the work of the Party and connecting with the thousands of volunteers and donors that are eager to recapture the governor’s mansion and the White House.”
In addition to managing Mosby’s 2014 win, Ifekauche worked as a political consultant on Baltimore City Councilman Ryan Dorsey’s race in 2016 and as a get-out-the-vote adviser on Forward Maryland’s ballot initiative to support marriage equality in 2012. He was former Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s field director in 2011 and managed field operations for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “Frontline” program in the 2008 and 2010 cycles.
Ifekauche worked on Capitol Hill from 2009 to 2010 for then-Rep. Parker Griffith (D-Ala.) and then-Rep. John Boccieri (D-Ohio). He holds a Master’s degree in public relations from Kent State University and a Bachelor’s degree in public relations from the University of Alabama.
At the state party, Ifekauche is replacing Fabion Seaton, who took a job as communications director for Democrats on the U.S. Senate Small Business Committee, whose ranking member is Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.).
Josh Kurtz
Founding editor
Founding Editor Josh Kurtz is a veteran chronicler of Maryland politics and government. He began covering the State House in 1995 for The Gazette newspapers, and has been writing about state and local politics ever since. He was an editor at Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, for eight years, and for eight years was the editor of E&E Daily, which covers energy and environmental policy on Capitol Hill. For 6 1/2 years Kurtz wrote a weekly column on state politics for Center Maryland and has written for several other Maryland publications as well. Kurtz regularly gives speeches and appears on TV and radio shows to discuss Maryland politics.
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