- Pritzker Fellows
- Former Fellows
- Kirsten Kukowski
Kirsten Kukowski
Republican Media Strategist
Fall 2016 Pritzker Fellow
Seminar Series: “The American Political Playbook: Can’t Live With It, Can’t Live Without It”
Biography
Kirsten Kukowski has spent more than a decade as a communications professional at the national level developing communications strategy and working on national press relations for GOP political candidates and organizations. Most recently, Kukowski served as the communications director for the Republican National Convention in Cleveland after leading communications in 2015 for Governor Scott Walker’s presidential campaign. Previously, Kukowski worked as national press secretary for the Republican National Committee for four years in Washington. She has spent many years in and out of the Midwest working for Illinois Senator Mark Kirk’s first campaign for the Senate in 2010, as a regional press secretary for the RNC for all Midwest/Great Lakes states and the McCain/Palin Victory effort in Wisconsin in 2008. She graduated with degrees in journalism and political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and grew up outside Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Seminars
“The American Political Playbook: Can’t Live With It, Can’t Live Without It”
GOP political operative Kirsten Kukwoski will give a behind-the-scenes look at the roller coaster 2016 presidential election and what life looks like inside political campaigns - a day in the life, what barriers have been broken and how we move forward. How has this election cycle changed how we do business and will it last? What shape does the Republican Party take moving forward? Has Donald Trump upended the party and presidential politics as we know it?
In this opening seminar, Kirsten and her guest will explore the role of political parties historically and consider how the 2016 presidential race has turned that understanding on its head. They’ll start with the party today: Did the GOP convention change the party in any meaningful way? Is the Republican Party - any party - still relevant? Has Trump forever changed the GOP? They’ll look at specific moments during the GOP primary and general election and dissect how the RNC and other candidates reacted to Trump’s rise. Looking back, they’ll define "establishment" and sort out how and when it became a four-letter word. They’ll also pick apart the role of party chairman, using current RNC Chairman Reince Priebus as an example.
Special Guest: Rick Wiley, former Republican National Committee Political Director & Campaign Manager for Scott Walker’s Presidential Campaign
From early morning until the wee hours of the night, campaign work never stops. Kirsten will dissect campaign operations and explain how she saw them change as she moved from state communications director to a communications director on a U.S. Senate race and on to a presidential campaign. She’ll also explore the ways in which campaign work is different from government work and why some people are built for politics over government. Kirsten will discuss the intersection of the party and campaigns and how money impacts it all.
Kirsten and her guest will explore campaign plans - how and why they are written and whether they are relevant in a Trump world. Looking back over the 2016 race, they’ll explore how candidates attempted to distinguish themselves in a field of 17 and consider whether earned media is more important than paid media. How has Trump used the intersection of cable news and social media to create the world that we live in? Does 2016 represent the new face of presidential campaigns or is it simply an anomaly? What will we learn from 2016 and how will that impact 2020?
Special Guest: Zac Moffatt, Co-Founder of Digital Firm Targeted Victory & Digital Director for Mitt Romney's 2012 Presidential Campaign
With Election Day less than three weeks away, Kirsten Kukowski and IOP Fellow and GOP strategist Liesl Hickey will discuss the latest in the presidential race and their unique vantage point as women in the Republican Party - what it’s like now and how it’s changed over time. While Kukowski wraps up her seminar series, Hickey will preview what she plans to cover in her four-week seminar: How this tumultuous presidential race affects congressional contests across the country and what that means for GOP party unity now and going forward.