Independent presidential candidate and academic Cornel West issued a press release on Wednesday evening announcing the installation of a “first-of-its-kind cooperative campaign management model” to fill the vacancy left by former campaign manager Peter Daou.
Late last month, Cornel West announced that Peter Daou, the progressive blogger and former 2024 campaign manager for Marianne Williamson, was departing from his campaign due to health-related concerns.
“I am very sorry about the resignation of brother Peter @PeterDaou based on his health. I sincerely pray for him and his precious family and thank him for his service to my campaign,” West stated in an X post at the time.
A post made by Daou on his personal account provided further clarification. He stated that he was in good physical health but had been grappling with the impact of current events triggering his childhood PTSD, as well as burnout brought on by his mother being in hospice care.
“After Dr. Cornel West posted that I left his campaign because of ‘health’ issues, lots of friends and family have expressed concern,” Daou posted on X, “I’m physically 100% healthy, just burned out from an exceptionally intense year, including my mom being in hospice. And the #GazaGenocide is triggering PTSD from my childhood under bombardment in Beirut. Seeing children torn apart by bombs is soul-crushing.”
Now, West has unveiled what he calls a “cooperative campaign management model,” comprising four individuals. The team consists of Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright, Ceyanna Dent, Edwin DeJesus, and Madeline Merritt. These four individuals come from diverse professional backgrounds but share a common thread in progressive community organizing. In the case of DeJesus, he also brings electoral experience, having ran as a Green candidate with the backing of the People’s Party for New York City Council in 2021.
Excited to introduce a first-of-its-kind cooperative campaign management model led by a dynamic quartet: Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright, Ceyanna Dent, Edwin DeJesus, and Madeline Merritt. Just as Brother Coltrane’s quartet reshaped jazz, this team symbolizes a new era of political… pic.twitter.com/m0LWA2sE6T
— Cornel West (@CornelWest) November 1, 2023
“This campaign started with a spirit of cooperation, a covenant between Brother West and the people he’s met over the years and during the course of the campaign […], West stated in the press release. “It’s in that spirit that the campaign announces a new, first-of-its-kind cooperative campaign management model led by Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright, Ceyanna Dent, Edwin DeJesus, and Madeline Merritt.”
West also made a comparison between the “dynamic quartet of seasoned and dedicated leaders” and the famous jazz musician John Coltrane’s quartet. He emphasized that the new campaign team additions embodies a similar approach characterized by “hard work, improvisation, synergy, and cooperation.”
Readers of Independent Political Report can access the full press release issued by Cornel West on his official campaign website.
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright is a cutting-edge environmental justice leader. He’s written some blistering critiques of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Edwin DeJesus has run for NYC Council as a Green. He gave a barnburner of an anti-duopoly speech in front of AOC’s office a couple of years ago.
I’m not familiar with Dent or Merritt, but see this move as positive overall.
Uh, yeah!
West needs to hope that one of these four actually has some political organizational skills — and hopefully at least as good as somebody’s PR skills in slinging this — as community organizing isn’t the same as political campaign management.
Otherwise, this smacks of the start of Carter’s and Clinton’s presidencies, when they decided they didn’t need a traditional chief of staff and found out just how wrong they were.
In this case, West is trying to make a virtue of necessity, but still.
At least he didn’t do a Bob Jr., and hire an in-law to run the campaign. But, the day is still young, so to speak.