Hillaryland was the self-designated name of a group of core advisors to
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States senat ...
, when she was
First Lady of the United States
The first lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is the title held by the hostess of the White House, usually the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has never ...
and again when, as
United States Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and p ...
, she was one of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
candidates for President in
the 2008 U.S. election.
The group included
Huma Abedin
Huma Mahmood Abedin ( ur, ; born July 28, 1975) is an American political staffer who was vice chair of Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign for President of the United States. Before that, Abedin was deputy chief of staff to Clinton when she was U. ...
,
Patti Solis Doyle
Patti Solis Doyle (born August 23, 1965) is an American political operative and was in 2008 a senior adviser to the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, where she was the campaign chief of staff to Joe Biden, Obama's vice presidential choice.
...
(credited with coining the name "Hillaryland"),
Mandy Grunwald
Madeleine Grunwald (born January 23, 1957) is an American professional political consultant and media advisor for the Democratic Party. Grunwald is one of the few women at the top of the field, having helped elect numerous senators and governors a ...
, Neel Lattimore,
Ann Lewis
Ann C. Frank Lewis (born December 19, 1937) is a leading American Democratic Party strategist and communicator. Lewis served as White House Communications Director in the Clinton administration and in senior roles under Hillary Clinton. She is ...
,
Evelyn Lieberman, Tamera Luzzatto,
Capricia Marshall
Capricia Penavic Marshall served as Chief of Protocol of the United States from 2009 to August 2013.
Early life
Marshall was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to immigrant parents, a Croatian father and Mexican mother. In 1986, she graduated from Pur ...
,
Cheryl Mills
Cheryl D. Mills (born 1965) is an American lawyer and corporate executive. She first came into public prominence while serving as deputy White House Counsel for President Bill Clinton, whom she defended during his 1999 impeachment trial. She has ...
,
Minyon Moore
Minyon Moore (born May 16, 1958) is an American political activist and civil servant. Moore is the founder of Women Building for the Future, and heads Dewey Square Group's state and local practice.
She was formerly chief executive officer and b ...
, Lissa Muscatine,
Neera Tanden
Neera Tanden (born September 10, 1970) is an American political consultant and government official who has been a senior advisor and staff secretary to President Joe Biden since 2021. Tanden previously served as president of the Center for Ame ...
,
Melanne Verveer
Melanne Verveer is the executive director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security at Georgetown University. She is a founding partner of Seneca Point Global, a global women strategy firm and a co-founder of Seneca Women. Melann ...
,
Lisa Caputo
Lisa Caputo is the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for The Travelers Companies, Inc. She joined Travelers on June 1, 2011. At Travelers, she is a member of the Management and Operating Committees and the ...
,
Ann Stock
Judith Ann Stewart Stock is an American government employee who served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, from June 23, 2010, until July 2013.
Early life and education
Stock, an Indiana native, received he ...
and
Maggie Williams
Margaret Ann Williams (born December 25, 1954) is a former director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University and is a partner in Griffin Williams, a management-consulting firm.
She was the campaign manager for Hillary Clinton's 2008 ...
. In her autobiography, ''
Living History
Living history is an activity that incorporates historical tools, activities and dress into an interactive presentation that seeks to give observers and participants a sense of stepping back in time. Although it does not necessarily seek to ree ...
'', Clinton credits campaign aide
Steve Rabinowitz with first using the term.
Almost all are women; the only man in the group was former First Lady deputy press secretary Neel Lattimore. Most worked in the
Clinton Administration
Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory ove ...
, and have been personal friends and confidants of Hillary Clinton since at least then, if not earlier. The name Hillaryland dates back to the
Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, when it was the portion of his
Little Rock, Arkansas
( The "Little Rock")
, government_type = Council-manager
, leader_title = Mayor
, leader_name = Frank Scott Jr.
, leader_party = D
, leader_title2 = Council
, leader_name2 ...
"war room" that housed Hillary Clinton's staff.
Later it became better known as the moniker for the area of the
West Wing
The West Wing of the White House houses the offices of the president of the United States. The West Wing contains the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room, the Situation Room, and the Roosevelt Room.
The West Wing's four floors contain offices for ...
of the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. preside ...
in which the
First Lady's staff had their offices; according to Clinton, Hillaryland had its own
subculture, based on camaraderie, never leaking information to the press, and having plenty of toys and cookies around for the children of staffers – as Hillary put it, "While the West Wing had a tendency to leak... Hillaryland never did, and every child who ever visited knew exactly where we stashed the cookies."
Clinton biographers
Jeff Gerth
Jeff Gerth is a former investigative reporter for ''The New York Times'' who has written lengthy, probing stories that drew both praise and criticism. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for covering the transfer of American satellite-launch technolo ...
and
Don Van Natta, Jr.
Don Van Natta Jr. (born July 22, 1964) is an American journalist, writer and broadcaster. He is an investigative reporter for ESPN, since January 2012, and the host and executive producer of “Backstory,” an ESPN docuseries. He previously worke ...
described Hillaryland as "an important subculture during the Clinton presidency."
[ Chapter 16.]
The advisers were also present during
Clinton's tenure as U.S. Senator.
But the role of Hillaryland came under considerable discussion during and after
Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign
The 2008 presidential campaign of Hillary Rodham Clinton, then junior United States senator from New York, was announced on her website on January 20, 2007. Hillary Clinton was previously the First Lady of the United States and First Lady ...
that she conducted while senator.
Michelle Cottle of
''New York'' magazine described its role as "less a campaign entity than an extended sisterhood defined by its devotion to its namesake. Even so, the group's protective ethos dominates her presidential campaign, where loyalty is demanded, self-promotion frowned upon, and talking out of school, especially to the press,
s strongly discouraged
S, or s, is the nineteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ess'' (pronounced ), plural ''esses''.
Histo ...
"
As campaign chroniclers
John Heilemann
John Arthur Heilemann (born January 23, 1966) is an American journalist and national affairs analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. With Mark Halperin, he co-authored '' Game Change'' (2010) and '' Double Down'' (2013), books about presidential campai ...
and
Mark Halperin
Mark Evan Halperin (born January 11, 1965)Mark Halperin. ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Gale Biography In Context. is an American journalist, currently a host and commentator for Newsmax TV. Halperin previously worked as ...
later wrote, "the people comprising it ... were loyal to a fault, smart and ruthless, hard-headed and hardboiled. ... They referred to themselves collectively as Hillaryland, and everyone else in politics did too."
By this point the definition of Hillaryland was often expanded a bit to include campaign insiders such as chief strategist
Mark Penn
Mark J. Penn (born January 15, 1954) is an American businessman, pollster, political strategist, and author.
Penn is chairman and chief executive officer of Stagwell, a marketing group created upon the merger of Stagwell Marketing Group—a priv ...
.
After she ended up losing the 2008 Democratic nomination, critics often focused on the limited and isolated circle of advisers and dysfunctional management style as one of the reasons behind the campaign's failure.
One criticism was that she valued personal loyalty over the ability to do the job.
The level of protection and the consequent inability to criticize failed tactics—and the public perception that Clinton needed that much protection—alarmed critics in 2015 as well,
prior to her loss in the general election the following year.
At the beginning of
Clinton's 2009–13 tenure as U.S. Secretary of State, she brought over some of the Hillaryland personnel to staff the State Department, but she also hired other people as well.
Gallery
File:Huma Abedin DNC 2016 Pre Hillary Clinton Speech at Democratic National Convention (July 28, 2016).jpg, Huma Abedin
Huma Mahmood Abedin ( ur, ; born July 28, 1975) is an American political staffer who was vice chair of Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign for President of the United States. Before that, Abedin was deputy chief of staff to Clinton when she was U. ...
File:Mandy Grunwald.jpg, Mandy Grunwald
Madeleine Grunwald (born January 23, 1957) is an American professional political consultant and media advisor for the Democratic Party. Grunwald is one of the few women at the top of the field, having helped elect numerous senators and governors a ...
File:Ann Lewis (138) (13315485475).jpg, Ann Lewis
Ann C. Frank Lewis (born December 19, 1937) is a leading American Democratic Party strategist and communicator. Lewis served as White House Communications Director in the Clinton administration and in senior roles under Hillary Clinton. She is ...
File:Evelyn S. Lieberman 1993.jpg, Evelyn S. Lieberman
Evelyn May Lieberman ( Simonowitz; July 9, 1944 – December 12, 2015) was an American public affairs professional who, during the Clinton administration, became the first woman to serve as White House Deputy Chief of Staff, and was the first Uni ...
File:Capricia Marshall.jpg, Capricia Marshall
Capricia Penavic Marshall served as Chief of Protocol of the United States from 2009 to August 2013.
Early life
Marshall was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to immigrant parents, a Croatian father and Mexican mother. In 1986, she graduated from Pur ...
File:Cheryl D. Mills.jpg, Cheryl Mills
Cheryl D. Mills (born 1965) is an American lawyer and corporate executive. She first came into public prominence while serving as deputy White House Counsel for President Bill Clinton, whom she defended during his 1999 impeachment trial. She has ...
File:Minyon Moore 1251972.jpg, Minyon Moore
Minyon Moore (born May 16, 1958) is an American political activist and civil servant. Moore is the founder of Women Building for the Future, and heads Dewey Square Group's state and local practice.
She was formerly chief executive officer and b ...
File:Neera Tanden by Gage Skidmore (cropped).jpg, Neera Tanden
Neera Tanden (born September 10, 1970) is an American political consultant and government official who has been a senior advisor and staff secretary to President Joe Biden since 2021. Tanden previously served as president of the Center for Ame ...
File:Melanne Verveer at the India Economic Summit 2009.jpg, Melanne Verveer
Melanne Verveer is the executive director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security at Georgetown University. She is a founding partner of Seneca Point Global, a global women strategy firm and a co-founder of Seneca Women. Melann ...
File:Lisa Caputo.jpg, Lisa Caputo
Lisa Caputo is the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for The Travelers Companies, Inc. She joined Travelers on June 1, 2011. At Travelers, she is a member of the Management and Operating Committees and the ...
File:AnnStock.jpg, Ann Stock
Judith Ann Stewart Stock is an American government employee who served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, from June 23, 2010, until July 2013.
Early life and education
Stock, an Indiana native, received he ...
File:Talbot Clinton (cropped) - Mark Penn.jpeg, Mark Penn
Mark J. Penn (born January 15, 1954) is an American businessman, pollster, political strategist, and author.
Penn is chairman and chief executive officer of Stagwell, a marketing group created upon the merger of Stagwell Marketing Group—a priv ...
See also
*
Black Cabinet
The Black Cabinet, or Federal Council of Negro Affairs or Black Brain Trust, was the informal term for a group of African Americans who served as public policy advisors to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in his te ...
*
Kitchen Cabinet
Kitchen cabinets are the built-in furniture installed in many kitchens for storage of food, cooking equipment, and often silverware and dishes for table service. Appliances such as refrigerators, dishwashers, and ovens are often integrated i ...
*
Medicine Ball Cabinet Medicine Ball Cabinet was a nickname given to the cabinet and advisors of President Herbert Hoover. The term arose because the president, cabinet members, and advisors would play regular games of Hooverball at the White House, during Hoover's admini ...
*
The War Room
''The War Room'' is a 1993 American documentary film about Bill Clinton's campaign for President of the United States during the 1992 United States presidential election. Directed by Chris Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker, the film was released on De ...
References
{{Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton
Presidency of Bill Clinton
Hillary Clinton 2008 presidential campaign
American political consultants
American women in politics