Cornell Belcher
{{short description|American political strategist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Cornell Belcher
| birth_date = {{birth date and age |1969 |05 |24}}
| birth_place = Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.
| alma_mater = James Madison University
| party = Democratic
| website = {{URL|brilliant-corners.com}}
}}
Cornell Belcher (born in Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.) is an American writer, pollster, and political strategist who is the founder and president of Brilliant Corners Research & Strategies.
Early life and education
Born in Norfolk, Virginia,{{Cite news |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2007/02/obamas-pollster-also-working-with-the-party-002925 |title=Obama's Pollster Also Working With the Party |last=McCarthy |first=Aoife |date=February 27, 2007 |work=Politico |access-date=May 17, 2018}} Belcher became interested in politics at a young age when he visited Washington, D.C., on a field trip.{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/first-person-singular-pollster-cornell-belcher/2011/03/30/AFHIJsKE_story.html |title=First Person Singular: Pollster Cornell Belcher |last=Parker |first=Robin Rose |date=April 24, 2011 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=May 17, 2018 |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}} He moved to Washington, D.C., after graduating from James Madison University.
Career
In the 1998 election cycle, he served as Women VOTE! coordinator for Emily's List. He was also the Special Projects Director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in the 2000 campaign cycle, and as Senior Political Advisor to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) in the 2002 cycle.{{Cite web |url=http://www.brilliant-corners.com/cornell-bio/ |title=Cornell Bio |website=Brilliant Corners - Research & Strategies |language=en-US |access-date=May 17, 2018}} In these roles, he worked first as an intern at Stan Greenberg's Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, and later for Diane Feldman's Feldman Group. In 2005, he began serving as the Democratic National Committee's pollster, making him the first minority to hold this role for the Democratic or Republican Party.{{Cite web |url=https://smpa.gwu.edu/democratic-pollster-talks-about-race-and-politics |title=Democratic Pollster Talks about Race and Politics |date=March 24, 2017 |website=George Washington University |language=en |access-date=May 17, 2018}} In this capacity, he conducted polling research on the potential of Democrats to win "red states" that they had previously considered to be out of reach, and helped to organize the "fifty-state strategy" favored by the committee's then-chairman, Howard Dean.{{Cite news |title=House Democrats' Campaign Committee Launches Blitz Targeting Black Voters |url=https://www.npr.org/2020/10/15/923793792/house-democrats-campaign-committee-launches-blitz-targeting-black-voters |access-date=October 27, 2020 |work=NPR |date=October 15, 2020 |language=en |last1=Summers |first1=Juana}}
In fall 2015, Belcher was a visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.{{Cite web |title=Cornell Belcher |url=https://iop.harvard.edu/fellows/cornell-belcher |access-date=October 27, 2020 |website=Harvard Institute of Politics |language=en}} Belcher has also been a featured speaker at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University.{{Cite web |title=Distinguished Visiting Urbanist Michael Blake in Conversation with Cornell Belcher |url=https://www.irinsider.org/monthly-briefs-1/2019/11/23/distinguished-visiting-urbanist-michael-blake-in-conversation-with-cornell-belcher |access-date=October 27, 2020 |website=IR Insider |language=en-US}}
In the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Belcher advised Michael Bloomberg on African American outreach strategy.{{Cite news |last=Russonello |first=Giovanni |date=February 18, 2020 |title=On Politics: Bloomberg's in the Debate |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/18/us/politics/bloomberg-democratic-debate.html |access-date=October 27, 2020 |issn=0362-4331}}
Belcher is a regular contributor on NBC News, MSNBC, and NPR.{{Cite news |first=Asma |last=Khalid |title=Pressure Grows On Joe Biden To Pick A Black Woman As His Running Mate |url=https://www.npr.org/2020/06/12/875000650/pressure-grows-on-joe-biden-to-pick-a-black-woman-as-his-running-mate |access-date=October 27, 2020 |date=June 12, 2020 |work=NPR |language=en}}{{Cite news |first=Tamara |last=Keith |title=How President Trump Uses Law-And-Order Narrative For His Reelection Bid |url=https://www.npr.org/2020/06/08/872470069/how-president-trump-uses-law-and-order-narrative-for-his-reelection-bid |access-date=October 27, 2020 |date=June 8, 2020 |work=NPR |language=en}} He had previously been a political contributor to CNN. Belcher has appeared as a guest on Pod Save America.{{Cite web |title=Distinguished Visiting Urbanist Michael Blake in Conversation with Cornell Belcher {{!}} NYU Wagner |url=https://wagner.nyu.edu/community/events/distinguished-visiting-urbanist-michael-blake-conversation-cornell-belcher-2019-11 |access-date=October 27, 2020 |date=November 12, 2019 |website=Wagner Graduate School of Public Service |publisher=New York University}}
=Brilliant Corners=
In 2001, Belcher founded Brilliant Corners Research & Strategies (stylized as brilliant corners Research & Strategies), a polling firm that played a major role in electing Barack Obama as President of the United States in both 2008 and 2012. As of 2020, Belcher remains the firm's president.{{Cite magazine |url=http://harvardpolitics.com/interviews/interview-cornell-belcher/ |title=Interview: Cornell Belcher |last=Reyes |first=Sebastian |date=March 4, 2016 |magazine=Harvard Political Review |language=en |access-date=May 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306104120/http://harvardpolitics.com/interviews/interview-cornell-belcher/ |archive-date=March 6, 2016}} He helped conduct some of the Obama campaign's earliest research on race leading up to the 2008 election.{{Cite magazine |last=Ambinder |first=Marc |date=January–February 2009 |title=Race Over? |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/01/race-over/307215/ |magazine=The Atlantic |language=en-US |access-date=October 8, 2018}}
=Recognition=
Belcher has been named a pollster of the year by the American Association of Political Consultants, and has twice been named a member of The Root 100.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{C-SPAN|1004368}}
- {{Twitter|cornellbelcher|Cornell Belcher}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belcher, Cornell}}
Category:American political consultants
Category:People from Norfolk, Virginia
Category:James Madison University alumni
Category:Democratic National Committee people
Category:Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign