Chris Cooper
Chris Cooper is the Managing Partner in the Washington, DC office of KnickerbockerSKD. He joined the firm after nearly nine years with MSHC Partners (formerly Malchow Schlackman Hoppey & Cooper), a targeted political communications company in Washington, DC, San Francisco, and Austin.
A National Record of Success
Chris has built a distinguished career in Democratic politics for over a decade, having worked or consulted on campaigns in 34 states and the District of Columbia. His experience spans the fields of communications strategy, persuasion mail, media consulting, campaign management and public relations. He has helped candidates across the country win elections from Governor and U.S. Senator to state representative and city councilmember.
In every election cycle since 1998, Chris has developed persuasion mail for the independent expenditure arm of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). His work with the DCCC and directly for congressional candidates has helped elect 35 Democratic Members of Congress. Among his current congressional clients are Representatives Chet Edwards (D-TX), Zack Space (D-OH) and Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL).
Chris believes strongly in the importance of electing Democrats to state and local offices. In 2008, he played a key role in Ohio Democrats' successful campaign to regain control of the OH House of Representatives for the first time in 14 years. He has worked extensively in Virginia, including the election campaign of Gov. Tim Kaine in 2005, helping Democrats regain the State Senate in 2007, and helping Virginia House Democrats pick up seats in each election since 2003. A native of Charleston, SC, Chris has helped elect Democrats to Congress and the state legislature from conservative "red" districts in Idaho, Texas, South Dakota, and Kentucky.
A Wide-Ranging Political Background
Before joining MSHC Partners in 2000, Chris served as national development director and political director at the New Democrat Network; campaign director at Campaign Performance Group, a persuasion mail firm; account executive at Joe Slade White and Company media consulting firm; manager of two congressional campaigns, including the 1996 reelection campaign of U.S. Rep. John Spratt (D-SC); director of voter identification and turnout on a gubernatorial campaign; and as an aide on the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee under then-Chairman Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-SC).
Chris graduated cum laude from Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia and is a frequent lecturer at colleges, political training seminars and conferences in the U.S. and Europe. He was a founding member of YDemsCan.net, a national political action committee dedicated to helping elect Democrats under the age of 40. Chris and his wife, Elizabeth Spratt Cooper, live in Washington, DC, with their daughter Lucy.