Subject: Tester picks aide as next DSCC executive director - James Hohmann and John Bresnahan - POLITICO
From: "Eric Schwerin" <[email-masked]>
To: "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 19:02:53 -0500

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/tom-lopach-democratic-senatorial-campaign-committee-112912.html

Tester picks aide as next DSCC executive director

One lingering concern among some Senate Democrats is that Sen. Jon Tester comes from a red state without much of a fundraising base. | AP Photo

Montana Sen. Jon Tester has picked a longtime aide, Tom Lopach, to be the next executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, two sources familiar with his plans told POLITICO Friday.

The second-term Tester was formally selected Thursday to lead the Senate Democrat’s campaign arm.

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Lopach, a Helena native, has been Tester’s chief of staff since 2010. He was the DSCC’s finance director during the 2008 cycle under Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and before that was finance director for the late Ted Kennedy’s final 2006 reelection campaign in Massachusetts.

(Also on POLITICO: GOP rules change may hit Ryan)

Lopach will succeed Guy Cecil, who served in the role for two cycles and is in contention to manage Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

“Senator Tester will announce DSCC staff next week,” emailed his spokeswoman, Marnee Banks, declining to officially confirm the decision until then.

Lopach did not respond to a request for comment.

The GOP voted Thursday to have Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker chair the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and current NRSC political director Ward Baker has been picked as the new executive director, though final details of the arrangement are being finalized.

(Also on POLITICO: Ward Baker to run GOP Senate campaign arm)

One lingering concern among some Senate Democrats is that Tester comes from a red state without much of a fundraising base. He raised $14.4 million in the 2012 cycle, when he fended off then-Rep. Denny Rehberg. Lopach’s past fundraising experience at the committee made him an attractive candidate for the executive director job.

After graduating from Gonzaga University, Lopach worked as a field rep for then-Democratic Rep. Pat Williams in Montana. He worked his way up in Kennedy’s office, starting as an office manager in 1999 on the official side and then moving to the Kennedy political operation from 2001 to 2007.

Tester is next up for reelection in 2018.

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Eric D. Schwerin
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