The outcome of the presidential election in Maryland is hardly in doubt, but former vice president Joe Biden has hired two professional political operatives to staff the campaign here.
Leathia West will serve as Maryland state director and Saif Ratul will serve as Maryland state organizing director, the campaign said.
West has served as a regional field director for President Obama’s campaign, so has already focused on get-out-the-vote operations for a presidential candidate in Maryland. She also headed up volunteer efforts in Prince George’s County for Hillary Clinton’s White House bid, and served as state grass-roots adviser for the coordinated Maryland Democratic campaign in 2018. And she has worked on several campaigns for U.S. Rep. Anthony G. Brown (D-Md.).
Most recently, Ratul served as the Iowa engagement director for Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s presidential campaign, where he was responsible for planning and implementing a constituency organizing program. Prior to that, Ratul served as the Iowa caucus director for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s White House campaign, and was field director for the 2018 Tennessee Democratic coordinated campaign. He has also worked as state field director for the Maryland Democrats, and worked in Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s primary and general election campaigns.
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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