David Axelrod Biography Quotes 27 Report mistakes

Early Life and Education
David M. Axelrod was born in 1955 in New York City and grew up in the Stuyvesant Town development on Manhattan's East Side. His mother, Myril, worked in journalism and later in advertising, and his parents separated when he was young, experiences that shaped his sense of resilience and public purpose. Politics and media fascinated him early on, and after high school he left New York for the University of Chicago, where he studied political science. In Hyde Park he gravitated toward campus and neighborhood journalism, developing a reporter's eye for how power is won, used, and held to account in a big city.

Journalism in Chicago
Axelrod joined the Chicago Tribune after college and quickly became a recognizable byline on the city's political beat. He covered City Hall, mayoral politics, and the often rough-and-tumble contests that defined Chicago's machine era and its reform movements. Reporting on mayors such as Jane Byrne and Harold Washington taught him how coalitions are assembled and how messages travel from neighborhood meetings to front pages and evening news. The craft of storytelling he honed as a reporter would later underpin his approach to political communications, emphasizing clarity, authenticity, and the lived experience of voters.

Transition to Political Consulting
In the mid-1980s, Axelrod left the Tribune to become a political strategist. He helped candidates present their records and values in ways that connected across race, class, and region, a signature of his later work. He advised U.S. Senator Paul Simon of Illinois and worked on Harold Washington's reelection effort, building a reputation for bringing reform-minded narratives to broad electorates. His Chicago-based firm grew with races for mayor and governor, including long-running work with Mayor Richard M. Daley. The enterprise that would be known as AKPD Message and Media became a hub for message development and advertising; colleagues over the years included rising strategists such as David Plouffe, reflecting a collaborative culture that blended polling, storytelling, and media execution.

Partnership with Barack Obama
Axelrod met Barack Obama in Chicago in the 1990s, when Obama was emerging as a community-rooted lawyer and organizer moving into electoral politics. Axelrod helped Obama frame his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign around themes of unity and civic renewal, supporting a message that resonated well beyond Illinois. As chief strategist for Obama's 2008 presidential run, he worked closely with campaign manager David Plouffe, communications adviser Robert Gibbs, and longtime Chicago confidante Valerie Jarrett. Michelle Obama, whose own voice and biography became a powerful part of the campaign's narrative, helped anchor the effort's authenticity. The 2008 campaign's focus on hope, change, and grassroots organization built an extraordinary national coalition and culminated in victory over Senator John McCain. Four years later, Axelrod returned as a senior strategist for the 2012 reelection, collaborating with campaign manager Jim Messina and again with Plouffe, in a race ultimately won against former Governor Mitt Romney.

White House Service
From 2009 to 2011, Axelrod served in Washington as Senior Advisor to the President. In that role he helped guide political strategy and communications around early administration priorities, including the economic recovery in the wake of the financial crisis, the rescue of the American auto industry, and the legislative path that led to the Affordable Care Act. His work intersected daily with Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, advisor Valerie Jarrett, press secretary Robert Gibbs, and Vice President Joe Biden, part of a team managing intense political and media crosscurrents. The aim, consistent with Axelrod's longstanding approach, was to translate complex policy into human terms while navigating the realities of Congress and the national press. In early 2011 he left the White House to return to Chicago and prepare the reelection campaign.

Later Career and Public Engagement
After the campaign, Axelrod devoted himself to civic education and public conversation. He founded the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, creating a nonpartisan forum that brings students into contact with practitioners from across the spectrum, including journalists, campaign managers, diplomats, organizers, and public officials. He also became a political commentator, offering analysis on national television and in print. His interview program, The Axe Files, produced with the Institute of Politics and in partnership with CNN, features in-depth conversations with figures from both parties, academics, journalists, and cultural leaders, reflecting his belief in listening as a political art. In his memoir, Believer: My Forty Years in Politics, he traces his path from New York to Chicago newsrooms to national campaigns, and the people who shaped him along the way, including Obama, Jarrett, Plouffe, Emanuel, and many others.

Personal Life and Advocacy
Axelrod married Susan Axelrod, and their family's experience with epilepsy led Susan to co-found Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE), a nonprofit that has supported research and patient advocacy nationwide. Axelrod has frequently linked his public work to personal values, speaking about family, public service, and the obligation to connect policy to people's real lives. Friends and colleagues describe a professional style that blends competitive drive with loyalty and mentorship, qualities visible in the career arcs of collaborators like David Plouffe and in his ongoing encouragement of students and young operatives at the Institute of Politics.

Influence and Legacy
David Axelrod's career helped redefine how candidates articulate purpose in a fractured media environment. He brought a journalist's discipline to political storytelling, insisting that effective campaigns begin with biography and values rather than poll-tested jargon. His work across Chicago's factional landscape and on national campaigns showed that coalition-building rests on listening as much as on speaking. Central partnerships with Barack and Michelle Obama, and close collaboration with Valerie Jarrett, Rahm Emanuel, Robert Gibbs, David Plouffe, and Jim Messina, marked him as a team builder as well as a strategist. As a White House advisor and later as a public commentator and educator, he remained focused on the connective tissue between policy and people, encouraging a politics that contends with differences but still seeks common ground. Through teaching, interviews, and ongoing analysis, he continues to shape how future public servants, journalists, and campaign professionals think about governing, persuasion, and the obligations that come with democratic leadership.

Our collection contains 27 quotes who is written by David, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Justice - Leadership - Victory - Health.

Other people realated to David: Robert Gibbs (Public Servant)