Welcome to The Permanent Campaign
My Contribution to the Group Project of Helping Democrats Find Their Way Forward
Hello! Welcome to The Permanent Campaign.
Democrats need to enter permanent campaign mode. We need to work every day, every year to craft and communicate big ideas that win elections. We need to successfully govern on those ideas to make life better for Americans, which will then help us win the next election. We need to shake up the business of governing and we certainly cannot build back to the way government worked before Trump and Musk took an axe to our institutions.
I read a lot of what other people are writing about policymaking, governing, politics, and, well, Democrats. I enjoy most of it! I do not see much writing by people who have experience developing a presidential campaign policy agenda or implementing policy in the federal government. I want to contribute my perspective, informed by my prior campaign and government work, as we collectively try to figure out the way forward for Democrats.
About Me
I’m Stef Feldman. I was Joe Biden’s national policy director for his winning 2020 presidential campaign. I spent four years as a senior policy advisor during his presidency. During his presidency, I first worked in the White House Domestic Policy Council on a range of domestic and economic policy issues. At the end of the Biden Administration, I served as White House Staff Secretary and established and led the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
I don’t identify as a centrist Democrat or a progressive. Honestly, I don’t really like political parties. I am a Democrat because Democrats align with my values far more than Republicans. I believe the centrist-progressive dichotomy is hurting our party. We need to find a different approach. (I’ll write more on this later.)
What To Expect from The Permanent Campaign
I plan to write on topics such as:
What Trump is up to, why it matters, and, based on my experience working in the federal government, how we push back.
What big problems Democrats need to solve.
What big ideas Democrats should be proposing or enacting, especially ideas our governors and mayors can be testing at the state and local level.
Lessons I learned from my time working for Biden on the 2020 campaign and in the White House. The Biden team got a lot right and we got a lot wrong. We need to learn from both.
My take on Democrats’ discourse regarding “the groups,” especially given my experience navigation all of those interest group campaign questionnaires.
Why the centrist versus progressives intraparty war is killing our party and how we (try to) break free.
What Abundance gets right and wrong about why we govern with delay.
Basic explainers about how policymaking happens in the executive branch, when I think that information could help us understand Trump actions or Democratic policy proposals. (This is the type of content I also produce on Instagram under the handle @stefexplains.)
I welcome ideas for what you want to read.
Why I Am Collecting Tips
Because the goal of The Permanent Campaign is to contribute to the group project of helping Democrats find their way forward, my current plan is to not produce any paid content. That being said, if you want to support my work and encourage me to keep committing some of my time to The Permanent Campaign, please consider leaving a small tip on my Ko-Fi site. I really appreciate it!