how it impacts their lives from the Supreme
Court to war to the economy.”
“Having diverse members on your staff, be it
campaign or legislative, can help an elected official make the decisions that best understand and
represent the electorate,” adds Christie, who has
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
CLINTON
RICHARDSON
OBAMA
EDWARDS
MCCAIN
BIDEN
Native American Asian Latino
Yzaguirre—former chair of the National
Council of La Raza—responded first to
DiversityInc’s requests for this information.
Her staff has the broadest racial/ethnic representation across employment levels.
“These people are in positions because
they’re qualified to be
there, but it gives us a
great edge because we
get different ideas and
different perspectives,”
says Solis Doyle, who
has worked closely with
Clinton for nearly 16
years—through her
eight years as First Lady
and her first senatorial
run. “The talent is out
there and as a Mexican-
American woman head-
ing up this campaign, it
is something that I
think about when I put
this staff together.”
People of color com-
prise 43 percent of
Obama’s 14-member sen-
Black White ior staff. According to the
data provided by the can-
didates, people of color
are 38 percent of Edwards’ 21-member team,
23 percent of Biden’s 13-member team, and 46
percent of Richardson’s 26-member staff, which
includes the only Native American employed by
any of the eight candidates: Laura Harris,
Native American political director.
DiversityInc vigorously attempted to contact
the staffs of Giuliani, Romney and McCain but
received no response to repeated requests for
confirmation of our research. Based on our
findings, two (1 0 percent) of McCain’s 20
national campaign staff members are people of
color—one black, one Latino. Of the 15 staffers
identified for Giuliani, we found no people of
Source: DiversityInc
GUILIANI
ROMNEY
served in senior positions for both President
Bush and Vice President Cheney since beginning his Capitol Hill career in 1991.
THE KEY FINDINGS
So which potential president plans on leveraging diversity to win? Four of the candidates’
campaign staffs—Clinton’s, Obama’s,
Richardson’s and Edwards’—beat the Top 50
work-force representation of people of color.
Clinton’s 63-member staff is 63. 5 percent
people of color. Clinton’s campaign, spearheaded by Patti Solis Doyle—the first Latina
campaign manager—and co-chaired by Raúl
