Jay Marlin
Partner
A partner at SKD, Jay Marlin has over twenty years experience in politics. Since joining SKD in 1996, Jay has developed the political and communications strategy, along with multi-million dollar advertising campaigns for SKD's biggest political clients. Before joining SKD, Jay was the campaign manager and communications director for U.S. Senate, gubernatorial, congressional, and mayoral races – including working for Senator Mary Landrieu and former Senator Tim Wirth.
SKD's Biggest Campaigns
At SKD, Jay has worked on the last several U.S. presidential campaigns. In 2008, Jay produced national/state-specific ads as a member of the Obama general election media team, producing television ads for such critical states as Nevada and Michigan. In 2000, Jay worked on ads for Vice President Gore's presidential campaign, and in 1996, Jay managed the state-specific TV and radio effort for President Clinton's re-election campaign.
One of the biggest upsets in 2008 was the defeat of North Carolina Republican Senator Elizabeth Dole. Jay helped developed the political strategy and produced $10 million of ads for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in defeating Dole. The campaign was awarded numerous Pollie Awards, including Best of Show and Best Use of Humor, and the Reed Award for Best Campaign Comeback.
Winning in Red States
Over the years, Jay has successfully elected Democrats often in states not friendly to Democratic candidates. In 2007, Jay was the media strategist for Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood's tough re-election win – Hood becoming the only Democrat to win statewide in Mississippi. In 2003, despite being outspent by over a million dollars, Jay developed the strategy for Hood's first win as Attorney General. And Jay produced the TV ads which helped defeat Louisiana's Republican Attorney General candidate.
In 2006, Jay helped develop the strategy and multi-million dollar ad campaign to re-elect Illinois' first Democratic Governor in 27 years – Rod Blagojevich. In 2002, Jay helped develop the ads for Blagojevich's tough primary/general election wins. In addition, Jay developed ads supporting Senator Landrieu's re-election in 2002; produced $4 million of ads supporting Florida Senator Bill Nelson's election, and worked for New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial.
Strategic Corporate Communications
In addition to his political work, Jay has provided strategic communications advice to SKD's corporate clients – such as Reliant Energy, XM Radio, Allstate, Qwest, and Ameritech – on crisis communications, branding, and advertising.
Prior to working full-time in politics, Jay was a corporate trial attorney in Denver. He earned a law degree at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and a B.A. in political science from Duke University.