Donna Brazile, Ana Navarro to Speak at UW March 30

Former Democratic National Committee Interim Chair Donna Brazile and former Republican strategist and political contributor Ana Navarro will discuss today’s political landscape Monday, March 30, at the University of Wyoming.

The free public event, “An Afternoon of Conversation with Donna Brazile and Ana Navarro,” is from noon-1 p.m. in the UW College of Arts and Sciences auditorium. The event is part of the ongoing women’s suffrage 150th anniversary celebration. On Dec. 10, 1869, Wyoming passed the first unconditional law in the U.S. permanently guaranteeing women their inherent right to vote and hold office -- a full 50 years before women in the rest of the nation were guaranteed this same right.

With years of political expertise and media experience under their belts, Brazile and Navarro are seasoned analysts and are among the best political commentators on television today. They can quickly scrutinize geopolitical trends and other major forces at play in the nation. When Brazile and Navarro team up, they deliver straightforward perspectives about the future of Washington, D.C., while peppering their talks with real-life stories from campaigns and television sets.

Brazile is a renowned political strategist and commentator; the former interim chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2016-17; and a current Fox News contributor. She also was an ABC News and CNN political news contributor.

She is the author of the New York Times bestseller “Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-Ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House” and the 2004 bestselling memoir, “Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pots in America.”

Brazile was the first African American woman to direct a major presidential campaign, acting as campaign manager for Al Gore in 2000. She also has worked on several presidential campaigns for Democratic candidates, including Jesse Jackson and Walter Mondale/Geraldine Ferraro campaigns in 1984, and for Dick Gephardt in the 1988 Democratic primary.

She is the recipient of more than 10 honorary doctoral degrees from major colleges and universities, including her alma mater, Louisiana State University. Brazile was the recipient of the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal, Harvard’s highest honor in African American studies. She has served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University since 2002 and spent fall 2017 serving as a Joan Shorenstein Fellow in Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Howard University has appointed Brazile as the Gwendolyn S. and Colbert I. King Endowed Chair in Public Policy for two consecutive academic years.

Navarro is a well-known Republican strategist; political analyst for CNN, CNN en Español and Telemundo; and is a co-host of ABC’s “The View.” The Miami New Times named her a “Republican power-consultant,” and the Tampa Bay Times called her “a sought-after voice in Republican politics and an adviser for any presidential hopeful.”

Navarro served as the national Hispanic co-chair for former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman’s 2012 campaign and was the national co-chair of the late U.S. Sen. John McCain’s Hispanic Advisory Council in 2008, where she also was the national surrogate for the McCain 2008 campaign. Navarro has played a role in several federal and state races in Florida.

She served on former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s transition team in 1998 and was his first director of immigration policy in Florida’s Executive Office of the Governor. In 2001, she served as ambassador to the United Nations’ Human Rights Commission, devoting much of her energy to condemning human rights abuses in Cuba. In 1999, she worked in the private sector, representing private and public clients on federal issues, particularly related to immigration, trade and policy affecting Central America. In 1997, she was a special adviser to the government of Nicaragua.

Navarro is a graduate of the University of Miami, obtaining degrees in Latin American studies and political science. She obtained a Juris Doctorate in 1997. She was born in Nicaragua and, in 1980, because of the Sandinista revolution, she and her family immigrated to the United States.

Among sponsors of the program are the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office; the School of Culture, Gender and Social Justice; the Milward L. Simpson Fund; the School of Politics, Public Affairs and International Studies; the College of Law; and the departments of Communication and Journalism, English, and Criminal Justice and Sociology.

For more information, call Jacquelyn Bridgeman, director of UW’s School of Culture, Gender and Social Justice, and Kepler Professor of Law, at (307) 766-5259 or email JBridge@uwyo.edu.