In the latest installment of From the Lobby‘s Meet the Team series, host Joanna Pasceri sits down with Emily Sullivan, a fellow at O’Donnell & Associates and a senior at Dickinson College studying political science and anthropology. A Putnam County native, Sullivan brings rare on-the-ground experience to the firm: she organized for the Biden-Harris and Harris-Walz presidential campaigns in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania—one of the few Pennsylvania counties to shift bluer in 2024 than it had in 2020. In a wide-ranging conversation, Sullivan reflects on the grueling rhythm of presidential campaign work, what it felt like to come back from a loss, and why she sees the policy and advocacy work at O’Donnell & Associates as a different but equally meaningful way to drive change.
Joanna Pasceri
Hi, everyone, and welcome back to From the Lobby with Jack O’Donnell. Today, we’re continuing our Meet the Team series where we introduce you to the people behind the work at O’Donnell & Associates—the people building relationships, knocking on doors, talking with business leaders and lawmakers, and helping move ideas forward. Today’s guest is Emily Sullivan, a fellow with O’Donnell & Associates. Emily comes to us with real campaign experience. She worked as an organizer on the Biden-Harris 2024 presidential campaign and later the Harris-Walz campaign. She helped recruit and train voter outreach teams in Pennsylvania, one of the most closely watched states in the country. She’s also a New Yorker, a native of Putnam County, and currently studying political science and anthropology at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, where she serves as vice president of the Dickinson College Democrats. Emily, great to have you.
Emily Sullivan
Thanks so much for having me. Very excited to be here.
Joanna Pasceri
Well, let’s start at the beginning. You grew up in Putnam County, New York. When did politics first grab your attention?
Emily Sullivan
I think politics was just something that I always paid attention to. This is gonna sound kind of crazy, but it’s one of my earliest memories. I have a blurry memory of seeing news coverage of Obama’s first inauguration, and I would have been like four and a half at that point. I watched the news a lot as a kid, and I just kind of always wanted to know what was going on, especially in terms of politics.
Joanna Pasceri
Was it because your parents were politically engaged?
Emily Sullivan
You know, I did go to vote with my mom basically all the time, but I think it was just mostly like, I mean, she always had the news on, so it was something that really drew my attention, like, right from the beginning.
Joanna Pasceri
Well, your first campaign experience was working on Janelle Stelson’s congressional race in Pennsylvania. Campaigns move fast. The hours are long. What surprised you the most when you first jumped into campaign work?
Emily Sullivan
Yeah, I never actually expected to get involved in, like, campaign work. And Janelle’s campaign was really, like, my first introduction to that industry. And I did start, like, just as a student fellow for her. So obviously I wasn’t getting the complete campaign experience. But, I mean, I remember thinking to myself, just, wow, there’s so many different things to do. You know, like, it’s donor research and petitions and social media and voter outreach, and you can just never really check everything off the to-do list. Like, there’s always something to get done. You’re just always like, go, go, go.
Joanna Pasceri
I see she is running again for a seat in Congress. So her first attempt was unsuccessful. Is that the campaign you were working on?
Emily Sullivan
Yes. So she won her primary, and that was around the time that I left her campaign, but she lost to Scott Perry by a very, very narrow margin. And so from my understanding is she’s running hoping that with a little bit more name recognition this time and also kind of the ongoing backlash against the Republican Party, that she’ll have a better shot this time. And so I’m looking forward to seeing what happens for sure.
Joanna Pasceri
Well, you later worked as an organizer on the Biden-Harris campaign and then the Harris-Walz campaign. Two presidential campaigns. That’s a pretty big deal. Your job was recruiting and training voter outreach teams across Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. For people who’ve never worked on a campaign, what does that actually look like day to day?
Emily Sullivan
Right. So I was hired really early on in like, the first big round of organizers that got hired for Pennsylvania. So my day to day, I guess, looked really different in like, May or June than it did in October. But by October, we were sending out canvassers like multiple times a day. You know, bright and early in the morning, I think I was usually in the office by 8:30 at the latest to make sure we were on time for like a nine canvass launch. A lot of the time I would also go out and knock doors too. So I would like, grab a packet and then I had to make sure I was back in time for the noon canvass launch. So I did what they called engagement organizing. So I also hosted trainings and workshops for the relational organizing app Reach. So I would usually host like a training for that after the noon launch. And then there was another 3 p.m. canvass launch. And after that, around 4, we would start call time. So either hosting a phone bank or doing phone banking of my own until, I don’t know, maybe 8 p.m. and then, you know, clean up the office, close down for the day, and get out and get home by maybe 9:30 p.m. and do it all the next day.
Joanna Pasceri
My goodness, that is one long, busy day. Do you ever see the fruits of that labor? Do you ever get a sense that what you’re doing is actually making a difference for the candidates?
Emily Sullivan
Yeah, I mean, for me, like, on a personal level, I say all the time that it was like simultaneously the best and worst experience of my life, because it really was like gratifying on a personal level and the growth that I saw. But I also did see the way that I was reaching people, you know, on the doors, people who came into my office. I mean, my district, Cumberland County, we were one of only a few in Pennsylvania to actually go bluer in this election than they had in the past. So I think we—Cumberland County was bluer by like 2 percentage points than they had been in 2020. So that for me was like, really huge that there was progress. The team that I had, the groundwork I did, like, we did make a meaningful enough outreach to actually see some movement there.
Joanna Pasceri
Well, working so hard for a campaign that ultimately was unsuccessful. How do you come back from that?
Emily Sullivan
Yeah, I mean, it was hard. I definitely—I think we all took some time to grieve and it was definitely really difficult to feel like, you know, did I put in enough work? Like, was there anything we all could have, that I could have done better, that all of us could have done better? But I think what it comes down to is like moving forward and being like, you know, okay, what am I doing next? And I think that’s one of the things I love about being here at ODA is I feel like it is a very different way for me to make meaningful change. And, you know, I think the work that we do is really important. And I think for everyone, but especially myself, it’s been about just really figuring out what you can do next to kind of keep moving forward. A lot of my colleagues have gone on to work other campaigns that have been really successful, working in lobbying, working for other nonprofit organizations. And it’s kind of just about picking up the pieces and not losing the momentum, you know, as corny as I guess it sounds, not losing hope.
Joanna Pasceri
What stands out the most to you in your job here at O’Donnell & Associates?
Emily Sullivan
I think it really is just like kind of seeing the reach of the work that we’re doing. You know, it’s all across New York state in so many different sectors and industries doing all sorts of different things that can, in my view, like, really, really help people. I think I was really struck early on, towards the beginning, by the kind of goals that we have here. Over the summer, I toured with Diane, actually, like a low-income housing facility in Harlem. And I was just really struck by how proud I was and excited to be involved in, you know, the kind of organization that was making that kind of thing happen. It’s really like meaningful on-the-ground change where I feel as if in politics when you’re working and organizing, unless your candidate wins, you’re not really seeing any kind of long-term, really serious, tangible, long-term change and good come from the work you put in. Whereas I feel like here at ODA, like I’m seeing every day the kind of stuff that we’re doing and how it’s impacting people’s lives for the better.
Joanna Pasceri
Wonderful. Well, you’re studying political science and anthropology at Dickinson while also being involved in student leadership. How has being on the ground in the real campaign work you’re doing, plus the work you’re doing at ODA, changed the way you look at politics in the classroom?
Emily Sullivan
That’s a really good question. I mean, so having worked the Harris-Walz campaign, like obviously is the best first day of class fun fact ever. But mainly I think it’s just kind of provided me with a perspective that you don’t get in a classroom setting, that you can’t get. Most of my coursework, my main area of study has been in political theory. And I guess it’s one thing to read a textbook and speculate and say, you know, this is why people support right-wing leaders or left-wing leaders. And, you know, this is why people had hesitations about a woman for president. And it’s another thing entirely to have spent so much time on the ground speaking to people and having had those conversations and having real firsthand perspective of what that looks like, what that rationale is and how that plays out. I think has been the biggest thing for me.
Joanna Pasceri
You juggle college and work here at O’Donnell & Associates, which keeps you pretty busy. When you do get a little downtime, how do you like to spend it?
Emily Sullivan
Right. So I’m actually—I’m also working on my senior honors thesis right now, so that’s really taking up any free time I might have. But I try to make time to cook dinner most nights. I love to do that. I’ll make dinner and I’ll have like a documentary on in the background—history or nature or something like that. I’ve also been getting really into thrifting clothes and then flipping them. So I’ve been doing a lot of sewing. I also really love to paint. I think it’s really important to have a creative outlet of some kind. I think that’s very inherent to human nature is the desire to make things. And then I think as I’m getting very nostalgic already about the end of my college experience, I’m really making sure to take as much time as I can, spending as much time with my friends as I can while we’re all in one place for these last couple months.
Joanna Pasceri
Good idea. Well, that’s a lot of talent right there. What’s the topic of your thesis?
Emily Sullivan
So it’s kind of in the works still right now, but it’s going to be covering the evolution of the feminist movement and how that has had implications on American legislation and the political landscape overall.
Joanna Pasceri
Wow. One last thing. What’s your favorite meal to cook?
Emily Sullivan
You know, I think because I don’t have a lot of downtime, I like to do something really easy but really tasty. I love to just whip up a really good tofu stir fry. It’s just kind of my go-to—something that’s good and simple.
Joanna Pasceri
Emily, thanks so much for joining us from the lobby. This has been a great talk. We’re so glad to have you on our team at O’Donnell & Associates.
Emily Sullivan
Thank you so much. I’m so happy to be here and so happy to be a part of this team.
Joanna Pasceri
Stay tuned for more Meet the Team conversations where we introduce you to the people behind the great work at O’Donnell & Associates. If you’d like to learn more about our team and how we help clients navigate government and policy across New York, visit us at odonnellsolutions.com. Thanks for listening, everyone. We’ll see you next time from the lobby with Jack O’Donnell.
