Ricki Seidman

Seidman was born on August 24, 1955 to a Jewish family, the daughter of Eileen Joan (née Ladenson) and Frank Seidman.[1][2] She received a B.A. from Miami University and a J.D. from the University of Georgia School of Law.[3] After school, she worked as a senior investigator for the investigation firm, Investigative Group International[4][5] and later for the People for the American Way.[6] She then worked as an assistant to Senator Ted Kennedy and chief investigator for the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee[4] where she worked against the Robert Bork (1987) and Clarence Thomas (1990) nominations to the U.S. Supreme Court.[7] Nan Aron from Alliance for Justice asserts that she was the one that tipped Seidman off about Thomas' alleged harassment.[8] In 1991, she prepped Anita Hill before she testified.[9]

She has been involved in presidential campaigns beginning with Walter Mondale in 1984, Michael Dukakis in 1988,[4] and Bill Clinton in 1992. Seidman worked for President Bill Clinton as Assistant to the President, as the Director of Scheduling and Advance, and as the Deputy Communications Director and Assistant to the President.[4] She served as Deputy Communications Director during the Clinton-Gore Presidential Campaign Transition,[4] and worked on the failed nominations of Lani Guinier and Webster Hubbell.[7] Subsequently, she was named as a Deputy Associate Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice.[3][10] In 2000, she served as a senior principal at TSD Communications, a position she maintains today.[10] She served as then-Senator Joe Biden's communications director during the Obama presidential campaign in 2008.[3] In 2009, she advised President Barack Obama during the successful nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.[10]

She also served as a fellow of the Harvard Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and for three years as executive director of Rock the Vote.[3]

In September 2018, Politico reported that she is serving as an adviser to Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in 1982 when they were teenagers.[11] Her involvement was criticized by Cassie Smedile, press secretary for the Republican National Committee, who stated, "If you're concerned about an appearance of partisanship, hiring a Democratic operative with a history of smearing conservative judges doesn't exactly mitigate that."[12]

She appeared in the 1993 documentary film about the 1992 Clinton campaign for President, The War Room, and the 2008 film The Return of the War Room documenting Barack Obama's presidential campaign. She was played by Grace Gummer in the HBO film Confirmation, depicting her role as adviser to Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination.[13]

• "Surviving a Campaign Crisis -Two campaign strategists spoke in a forum on handling crises in political campaigns during a campaign training seminar: Alex Castellanos and Ricki Seidman". CSPAN. June 16, 1993.