Called the premier public affairs firm in Trump’s Washington by the Financial Times, Ballard Partners has built its name in large part through its deep connections in modern Republican circles. The firm’s popular podcast, 13th & Park, has followed suit, welcoming Republican senators, representatives, and media figures as guests for insightful conversations about their lives and careers.
However, Ballard Partners, founded by Brian Ballard, maintains a bipartisan staff that also includes prominent Democrats, including former aides to Barack Obama, Gavin Newsom, and Jill Biden. 13th & Park has similarly also welcomed high-profile Democratic figures as guests. Let’s take a look at a few.
Gavin Newsom
The current governor of California entered politics as a volunteer on Willie Brown’s winning San Francisco mayoral campaign. He became a mentee of Brown, who appointed Newsom to a vacant seat on the city’s Board of Supervisors.
After Brown left office, Newsom ran successfully for mayor in 2003. Upon taking office, he pursued business-friendly policies, such as extending incentives aimed at luring companies to the city, while maintaining liberal stances on social issues, including same-sex marriage.
Newsom ran for governor of California in 2009 but dropped out of that race and was ultimately elected lieutenant governor in the administration of Jerry Brown. When Brown was nearing the end of his second and final term, Newsom ran for governor again, easily winning this time to become the 40th governor in the state’s history. In 2024, he joined 13th & Park for a conversation about leadership and his rise in politics.
As governor, Newsom quickly placed a moratorium on executions and, when COVID-19 began spreading the country, made California the first state to impose strict restrictions. He later survived a recall attempt driven in part by his being photographed at a party where guests were not wearing masks, a direct violation of his stated public policies. However, he was elected to a second term in 2022 and is believed to be a candidate for president in 2028.
Terry McAuliffe
As governor of Virginia from 2014 to 2018, Terry McAuliffe turned around the commonwealth’s economy, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs while transforming a $2.4 billion deficit into a surplus. His knowledge of business comes from firsthand experience. An entrepreneur since the age of 14, he has partnered with and headed numerous businesses.
Apart from improving Virginia’s economy, McAuliffe restored civil rights to 173,000 rehabilitated felons. Named “Public Official of the Year” by Governing magazine in 2017, he was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Council of Governors in 2014 and was later elected chair of the National Governors Association. McAuliffe discussed his career in depth and shared his thoughts on the current political climate on a 2023 episode of 13th & Park.
Prior to being elected governor, McAuliffe was the chairman of the 2000 Democratic National Convention and held important roles in President Bill Clinton’s first term as well as Clinton’s successful 1996 reelection campaign. A graduate of Catholic University of America and Georgetown University Law Center, he is a proud husband and father of five.
Tony Coelho
Tony Coelho has dedicated his life to advocating for people with disabilities. As a California congressman, he was the primary sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a law that that, within only a few years of being signed in 1990, helped hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities find employment. His dedication to people with disabilities also saw him serve as chair of the DNC Disability Council, chairman of the President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, and vice chair of the National Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities.
Coelho was elected to six terms in the House of Representatives, spending his final two years in office as majority whip. After leaving government, he has kept up his focus on disability rights, chairing Life Without Limits, the Disability Pride & Power Committee, and the board of directors of the American Association for People with Disabilities.
Today, he advocates for people with disabilities as chair of the Partnership to Improve Patient Care and through the Coelho Center for Disability Law, Policy and Innovation at Loyola Marymount University. In 2023, he looked back on his career in government and discussed his ongoing work on behalf of the disabled community on 13th & Park.
