Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) announced Tuesday that he is bringing back Amelia Chassé Alcivar, a top aide in his first term communications shop, as chief of staff. She’ll start her new job on Oct. 26 ― and in all likelihood will be the first woman to serve as chief of staff to a Maryland governor.
Chassé Alcivar comes to the administration from her current role as communications director for the Republican Governors Association, a job she’s held since early 2019. She will be taking over for Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr., who has been serving as acting chief of staff since Roy McGrath resigned under fire in mid-August.
Mitchell, who has been on Hogan’s staff since the start of the administration, will continue to serve as the administration’s chief legislative officer while assuming an expanded strategic portfolio as senior counselor to the governor.
McGrath, another longtime Hogan consigliere, resigned after reports surfaced of a quarter-million dollar settlement he received after leaving his job as head of the Maryland Environmental Service earlier in the year to become Hogan’s chief of staff.
Chassé Alcivar served as Hogan’s communications director from 2018-2019 and as deputy communications director from 2016-2018.
“Amelia brings to the table a deep knowledge of our administration’s priorities and a management record of results that will be invaluable as we continue working to change Maryland for the better,” Hogan said in a statement.
Prior to joining the Hogan administration in 2016, Chassé Alcivar held positions with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), America Rising PAC, and Arizona Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign.
Douglass V. Mayer, who worked alongside Chassé Alcivar in Hogan’s press office and served as communications director when she was the deputy, said in an interview that his former colleague “will bring a calm professional focus to these final two years” of Hogan’s term.
“The governor has a lot to accomplish,” Mayer said. “Amelia is a perfect choice to help him do what he wants to do. Working with her, she made me 20 times better. She makes people around her better. She’s extremely well organized.”
No Maryland governor in the modern era has had a female chief of staff ― which means it’s almost certain that Chassé Alcivar will become the first woman gubernatorial chief of staff in state history.
“Now it’s time to roll up our sleeves and get to work to support the governor’s bipartisan record of protecting the health and safety of our families and our schools, strengthening our economy, and delivering for Marylanders,” she said in a statement.
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.
Related Articles
Two powerful Black officeholders from Prince George’s turn against their county executive, while The Washington Post editorial board takes sides in the primary.
‘The liquor store was open during COVID, but not the reentry programs,’ an advocate notes.
Leaders highlight the GOP Senate candidate’s history of vetoing legislation on health care, housing bills during his term as governor.
Creative Commons Attribution