Marc Elias

Born to a Jewish family in New York City, Elias was raised in Suffern, New York.[4] He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Hamilton College in 1990. He then earned both a master's degree in political science from Duke University and a J.D. degree from Duke University School of Law.[5][6][7]

Elias is the head of the Political Law practice at Perkins Coie, a large Seattle-based law firm with many political clients.[8] He represents the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Democratic Governors Association, and many Democratic members of Congress.[5] He has represented the leadership of the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. He was general counsel for the 2004 presidential campaign of John Kerry and the 2016 presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton.[9]

He served as lead counsel for Senator Al Franken in the 2008 United States Senate election in Minnesota recount and contest, the longest recount and contest in American history.[10] Elias has testified on campaign finance before committees in both houses of Congress and before the Federal Election Commission.[11] Elias has worked on voting rights and redistricting lawsuits in more than 25 states, including Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.[12]

In 2010, Elias sought advisory opinions from the Federal Election Commission, declaring that certain online[13][14] advertisements were, like advertisements sent via text, covered by the "small items" and "impracticable" exemptions of the law that otherwise requires advertisements by political committees to include a disclaimer revealing who paid for them.[14] The commission granted the request involving character-limited search advertisements, and deadlocked on the request involving small display advertisements.

In April 2015, Hillary Clinton engaged Elias as attorney of record for her 2016 presidential campaign.[9] According to The Washington Post, in April 2016, Elias hired Fusion GPS on behalf of the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign to create the research that resulted in the Steele dossier.[15] On October 24, 2017, Perkins Coie released Fusion GPS from its client confidentiality obligation.[15]

Elias serves on the Board of Advisors of Let America Vote, an organization founded by former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander that aims to end voter suppression.[16]

Elias served as the attorney for Dan McCready during the investigation of fraud allegations in the 2018 election in North Carolina's 9th congressional district .[17] In January 2019, Elias became general counsel of the Kamala Harris 2020 presidential campaign.[18]

Ahead of the 2020 election and amid the coronavirus pandemic, Elias filed dozens of lawsuits to expand voter access.[19][20]