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Person

Jess McIntosh

Nationality:

American
Political Party:

Democratic Party
Occupation:

Activist, Operative
Website:

jessmcintosh.org

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Jess McIntosh is a Democratic Party operative and left-wing activist who has worked for Democratic and liberal candidates and political efforts in New York, Minnesota, and at the national level. As of 2020, she was editor-at-large for the American Independent (formerly Shareblue), a liberal blog network associated with controversial operative David Brock.

In May 2018, McIntosh alleged in Elle that former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) had kissed her in questionable circumstances after dinner several years earlier. 1 Schneiderman had resigned earlier in the month amid allegations of abusive behavior by multiple former romantic partners. 2

 Career

In 2004, McIntosh was a policy advisor to the campaign of New York City politician Scott Stringer (D) for Manhattan Borough President. The following year, McIntosh worked on the communications team of incumbent Michael Bloomberg in his reelection campaign for Mayor of New York City on the Republican Party ticket. 3 (Prior to running for Mayor in 2001, Bloomberg had been a lifelong member of the Democratic Party; he would rejoin the Democrats after a spell as an Independent to run for President in 2020.)4

In 2007, McIntosh was a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), a political party in Minnesota affiliated with the national Democratic Party. 5 On March 16, 2007, McIntosh informed Minnesota Public Radio that that day would be her last with DFL and that she would be joining the Senate campaign of Al Franken on April 2. 6 For two years, McIntosh worked on Franken’s campaign as his press secretary, and following his election to the U.S. Senate, McIntosh was Franken’s chief press manager until 2010. 7

From 2010 to April 2016, McIntosh was the Vice President of Communication at EMILY’s List, a federal political action committee (PAC) that bundles and makes contributions to pro-abortion female candidates running on the Democratic ticket for federal office. 89 At the end of her tenure at EMILY’s List, a press release from the organization announced that McIntosh would be joining Hillary Clinton’s Presidential campaign as director of communications outreach. 10

Starting in 2017, McIntosh became the executive editor at ShareBlue, a media website founded in 2016 by progressive activist David Brock, owned by True Blue Media. 11 Since McIntosh started working at the website, it rebranded as the American Independent. As of 2020, McIntosh is listed on the website as an editor-at-large. 12 Also starting in 2017, McIntosh began co-hosting a radio program on SiriusXM. 13

Allegations against Eric Schneiderman

On May 31, 2018, Elle published an article by McIntosh in which she gave accounts of an incident that she alleges occurred when she was 23 years old involving Eric Schneiderman, who at the time was a Democratic state senator representing New York’s 31st Senate district. In the article, McIntosh describes how, though she had initially recounted the incident to her friends as “The Time I Went Out with the (Relatively) Hot Older State Senator,” as she aged, she gradually changed the way in which she framed the event to her peers. At 27 years old, for instance, McIntosh described the story as “the Time the State Senator Tricked Me into Going on a Date.” In the article’s conclusion, McIntosh, then 36 years old, characterized the incident as “the time I spent an evening with a monster.” 14

McIntosh wrote that Schneiderman had met her for dinner on a Friday night, with McIntosh assuming that the dinner was a professional meeting. McIntosh further wrote that she thought that Schneiderman was treating the dinner as a date. After the meal, Schneiderman insisted on driving McIntosh home and McIntosh accepted the offer. As she was trying to depart from the vehicle, McIntosh alleged that Schneiderman kissed her in questionable circumstances; McIntosh alleged that the event caused her mental distress over the following years. 15

McIntosh’s article was published during a period of extensive news coverage of Schneiderman in the wake of his resignation as New York Attorney General following allegations of abuse from former romantic partners. 16

References

  1. McIntosh, Jess. “I Went On A Date With Eric Schneiderman. It Took Me Years To Process What Happened That Night.” Elle. May 31, 2018. Accessed July 13, 2020 https://www.elle.com/culture/a20896599/eric-schneiderman-date-story-jess-mcintosh/
  2. Mayer, Jane; and Ronan Farrow. “Four Women Accuse New York’s Attorney General of Physical Abuse.” The New Yorker. May 7, 2018. Accessed July 13, 2020.https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/four-women-accuse-new-yorks-attorney-general-of-physical-abuse
  3. “Jess McIntosh.” Politicon. Accessed July 13, 2020. https://politicon.com/speaker/jess-mcintosh/
  4. Kertscher, Tom. “PolitiFact: Michael Bloomberg is registered as a Democrat, but is he accepted as one?” Tampa Bay Times. February 19, 2020. Accessed July 13, 2020. https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2020/02/19/politifact-michael-bloomberg-is-registered-as-a-democrat-but-is-he-accepted-as-one/
  5. “History.” Minnesota DFL. Accessed July 13, 2020. https://www.dfl.org/about/dfl-history/
  6. Mulcahy, Mike. “DFL spokeswoman goes to Franken campaign.” MPRNews. March 16, 2007. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2007/03/16/dfl-spokeswoman-goes-to-franken-campaign
  7. Mulcahy, Mike. “DFL spokeswoman goes to Franken campaign.” MPRNews. March 16, 2007. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2007/03/16/dfl-spokeswoman-goes-to-franken-campaign
  8. Wallbank, Derek. “Franken spokeswoman McIntosh leaving for EMILY’s List.” MinnPost. June 22, 2010. Accessed July 10, 2020. https://www.minnpost.com/dc-dispatches/2010/06/franken-spokeswoman-mcintosh-leaving-emilys-list/
  9. O’Connor, Karen. “Gender and Women’s Leadership: A Reference Handbook.” SAGE Publications. 2010. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://books.google.com/books?id=-3J_3pDNZlkC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=%22emily’s%20list%22&f=false[/note]
  10. “EMILY’s List Announces New Leadership in Communications Department.” EMILY’s List. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.emilyslist.org/news/entry/emilys-list-announces-new-leadership-in-communications-department
  11. “Shareblue’s Jess McIntosh: Grassroots are leading the Resistance.” The American Independent. February 24, 2017. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://americanindependent.com/shareblues-jess-mcintosh-grassroots-are-leading-the-resistance/
  12. “Company.” The American Independent. Accessed July 10, 2020.  https://americanindependent.com/company/
  13. “Jess McIntosh.” SiriusXM. Accessed July 10, 2020. https://m.siriusxm.com/servlet/Satellite?c=StreamJockey&childpagename=SXM/StreamJockey/MOB_HostDetail&cid=1513948767188&pagename=SXM/Wrapper
  14. McIntosh, Jess. “I Went On A Date With Eric Schneiderman. It Took Me Years To Process What Happened That Night.” Elle. May 31, 2018. Accessed July 13, 2020. https://www.elle.com/culture/a20896599/eric-schneiderman-date-story-jess-mcintosh/
  15. McIntosh, Jess. “I Went On A Date With Eric Schneiderman. It Took Me Years To Process What Happened That Night.” Elle. May 31, 2018. Accessed July 13, 2020. https://www.elle.com/culture/a20896599/eric-schneiderman-date-story-jess-mcintosh/
  16. Mayer, Jane; and Ronan Farrow. “Four Women Accuse New York’s Attorney General of Physical Abuse.” The New Yorker. May 7, 2018. Accessed July 13, 2020.https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/four-women-accuse-new-yorks-attorney-general-of-physical-abuse

Connected Organizations

  1. Demand Justice (Non-profit)
    Rise Up for Roe Speaker (2018)
  2. The American Independent (Other Group)
    Executive Editor
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