Jaime Harrison

Harrison was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina. He was raised by his mother and his grandparents.[3] In 1994, he was selected to the United States Senate Youth Program. He attended Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School[4] and received a scholarship to Yale University, where he majored in political science.[3] After graduating from Yale in 1998, Harrison worked as a teacher for a year at his former high school.[4] In 1999, he was appointed COO of College Summit, a non-profit organization that helps low-income youth find a path to college and career.[5][6] He earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 2004.[7]

After leaving College Summit, Harrison became involved in politics, working for Jim Clyburn as his director of floor operations while Clyburn was the Majority Whip of the United States House of Representatives.[8] Harrison went on to serve as executive director of the House Democratic Caucus and the vice chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party.[7] He later served as a lobbyist for the Podesta Group.[3][9] In addition to lobbying work at Podesta Group, he has also lobbied on behalf of United Way Worldwide and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.[4]

In May 2013, Harrison became the chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party. He is the first African American to have served in this role.[3][10]

Harrison declared his candidacy for chairperson of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in the February 2017 election.[11][12] He defended his eight-year record at the Podesta Group, saying, "It's how I pay back the $160,000 of student loan debt."[13] His clients at the Podesta Group included banks such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo, financial giants Berkshire Hathaway and Avenue Capital Management,[14] pharmaceutical companies Merck[15] and Amylin, casinos such as Caesars and Harrah's; the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity; Walmart,[16] General Motors, Google, and Lockheed Martin.[17]

Harrison ended his bid for DNC chair on February 23, 2017 and endorsed Tom Perez.[18]

Harrison accepted a position as associate chairman and counselor of the DNC (appointed by Tom Perez). Harrison implemented a program called "Every ZIP code Counts" with the DNC. The program supplied each state party with $10,000 per month so long as the state party did an analysis of its strengths and weaknesses for its internal operations.[19]

Harrison filed paperwork on February 7, 2019, to challenge Senator Lindsey Graham by running for his seat in the U.S. Senate in the 2020 election. No Democrat has won a statewide election in South Carolina since 2006.[20] Harrison launched his campaign on May 29, 2019, with a short video released on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.[2]

Despite their political rivalry, Harrison is friends with Matt Moore, a former chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party. The two co-taught a course at the University of South Carolina during the fall semester of 2015.[21]

Harrison lives with his wife, Marie Boyd, a graduate of Harvard University, in Columbia, South Carolina.[8] She earned her law degree from Yale Law School in 2007.[22]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jaime Harrison.

• Jaime Harrison for Senate campaign website
• Jaime Harrison at Ballotpedia

• Profile at Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Appearances on C-SPAN