Exclusive: Top liberal group taps new president
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The Center for American Progress Action Fund, a top anti-Trump group, is bringing on Obama White House alum Carlissia Graham as its new president, the organization first told Axios.
Why it matters: The liberal nonprofit and its sister think tank have been influential in Democratic politics, helping lead the opposition against President Trump and staff former President Biden's administration.
- Recently, the groups have sought to tie Trump to high prices and held events promoting potential Democratic presidential candidates for 2028.
Zoom in: Graham told Axios her goal is to "help shape the debate around what matters most to working-class people, which is affordability, and create conditions for real change in a way that a lot of organizations can't do because they don't have both that media power plus actual policy power."
- Graham was a special assistant in President Obama's White House and is a former managing director at Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Most recently, she was president of New Media Ventures.
- Neera Tanden, CEO of the Center for American Progress think tank and its action fund, told Axios she believes attacking Trump's health care cuts and tariffs could help Democrats win back working-class voters in "realigning elections."
- "The combination of Trump's policies, Elon Musk and what he's doing, DOGE, and the looming threats of AI make a kind of potent combination," she said.
By the numbers: The Center for American Progress Action Fund, a 501(c)(4) group, creates liberal social media content and messaging guidance for outside strategists. It raised $22 million in 2024, according to IRS filings.
- The group also launched the now-defunct liberal website ThinkProgress.
