Faiz Shakir is a Democratic political operative and left-progressive organizer who is the founder and executive director of More Perfect Union and the interim executive director of the American Economic Liberties Project as of August 2023. He was campaign manager for the 2020 Presidential Campaign of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Shakir is among the most influential political operatives on the left, having also held high ranking positions with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), former Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). After the 2016 presidential election, Shakir led protests through the ACLU opposing the immigration policies of President Donald Trump.

Shakir is a practicing Muslim and has been called “the most powerful” Muslim in Democratic politics. ¹

Background

Shakir was born and raised in Florida to Pakistani immigrant parents. He attended Harvard University as an undergraduate and gravitated towards progressive organizing. While a student at Harvard in 2000, Shalkir was co-chair of “Islam Awareness Week”; part of the event which Shakir denied attending, raised money for the Holy Land Foundation, a group later shut down by the federal government for sending money to Hamas. The event caused many to criticize Shakir later in his career. ²

After college, Shakir worked as a junior researcher for then U.S. Senator John Kerry’s Presidential campaign, where he was involved in the response to Republican criticism of Kerry’s war record. Shakir also worked as a legislative aide to former U.S. Senator Bob Graham (D-FL) on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, and in the communications department at the Obama administration’s White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. ³

Center for American Progress and ThinkProgress

Shakir gained notoriety in the progressive movement as a writer for ThinkProgress, the publication and news arm of the large left-leaning think tank the Center for American Progress. Shakir joined ThinkProgress in 2005, eventually becoming editor-in-chief. ⁴ Shakir held the position of vice president for communications at the Center for American Progress.⁵

Democratic Leadership

In 2012, then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) hired Shakir from ThinkProgress. He worked as head of online engagement and new media in Pelosi’s office. ⁶

Shakir then served under Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid as a senior advisor, and was credited with moving Reid’s policy positions further to the left in order to appeal more to the Democratic base in his final term in the Senate. ⁷ Shakir handled policy, communications, and outreach for key Democratic constituency groups for Reid. ⁸

ACLU

Following Reid’s retirement from the Senate, Shakir joined the American Civil Liberties Union as national political director. Shakir helped push the ACLU into a left-of-center mobilization powerhouse in opposition to the immigration policies of the Trump administration. ⁹

Sanders Campaign

Shakir informally advised U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) campaign for President in 2016; while working on Capitol Hill, Shakir was chided in emails from John Podesta released by WikiLeaks for advising the Sanders Campaign in 2016. ¹⁰

In February 2019, Sanders announced that Shakir would serve as his campaign manager in the 2020 Presidential race, making him the first Muslim campaign manager for a major Presidential campaign. ¹¹

As of 2023, Shakir continues to serve as chief political advisor to Sanders.¹²

More Perfect Union

Shakir is the founder and executive director of More Perfect Union, which he said was partly modeled on ThinkProgress, which he ran at the Center for American Progress.¹³ As of 2022, he was listed as the executive director and president of both the 501(c)(4) More Perfect Union Action and its affiliated 501(c)(3) More Perfect Union Foundation.^{14 15}

American Economic Liberties Project

As of August 2023, Shakir is the interim executive director of the American Economic Liberties Project, a position he assumed in March 2023 after former executive director Sarah Miller left to become special advisor to the chair of the Federal Trade Commission in the Biden Administration.¹⁶ Shakir is married to Miller, and their wedding was reportedly officiated by Democratic operative John Podesta.¹⁷

1. Malloy, Daniel. “THE ‘ROCK STAR’ ACTIVIST LEADING THE RESISTANCE”. OZY. August 1, 2017. Accessed November 22, 2019. https://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/the-rock-star-activist-leading-the-resistance/79468/
2. Malloy, Daniel. “THE ‘ROCK STAR’ ACTIVIST LEADING THE RESISTANCE”. OZY. August 1, 2017. Accessed November 22, 2019. https://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/the-rock-star-activist-leading-the-resistance/79468/
3. “Faiz Shakir”. Center for American Progress. Accessed November 22, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20110624134741/http://www.americanprogress.org/experts/ShakirFaiz.html
4. “Faiz Shakir”. Center for American Progress. Accessed November 22, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20110624134741/http://www.americanprogress.org/experts/ShakirFaiz.htmlhttps://web.archive.org/web/20110624134741/http://www.americanprogress.org/experts/ShakirFaiz.html
5. “Faiz Shakir.” American Economic Liberties Project.” Accessed August 28, 2023. Available at: https://www.economicliberties.us/faiz-shakir/
6. Stein, Sam. “Nancy Pelosi Hires Think Progress’ Faiz Shakir As Director Of New Media”. Huffington Post. May 8, 2012. Accessed November 22, 2019. https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/nancy-pelosi-online-director-faiz-shakir-_n_1500180
7. Malloy, Daniel. “THE ‘ROCK STAR’ ACTIVIST LEADING THE RESISTANCE”. OZY. August 1, 2017. Accessed November 22, 2019. https://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/the-rock-star-activist-leading-the-resistance/79468/
8. Dutt, Ela. “Rivals On The Same Side Of The Aisle” India Times. April 19, 2019. Accessed November 22, 2019. http://www.newsindiatimes.com/rivals-on-the-same-side-of-the-aisle/
9. Brustein, Joshua. “The ACLU Wants to Be the NRA, Without All the Guns”. Bloomberg. November 8, 2017. Accessed November 22, 2019. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-11-08/the-aclu-wants-to-be-the-nra-without-all-the-guns
10. Resnick, Gideon. “Bernie Sanders Hires Top Progressive Advocate, Faiz Shakir, as Campaign Manager”. The Daily Beast. February 19, 2019. Accessed November 22, 2019. https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-hires-top-civil-liberties-advocate-faiz-shakir-as-campaign-manager
11. Resnick, Gideon. “Bernie Sanders Hires Top Progressive Advocate, Faiz Shakir, as Campaign Manager”. The Daily Beast. February 19, 2019. Accessed November 22, 2019https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-hires-top-civil-liberties-advocate-faiz-shakir-as-campaign-manager
12. “Faiz Shakir.” American Economic Liberties Project. Accessed August 28, 2023. Available at: https://www.economicliberties.us/faiz-shakir/
13. Lachlan Markay. “Sanders’ Campaign Chief Aiming to Push Biden Leftward.” Axios. March 10, 2021. Available at: https://www.axios.com/2021/03/11/sanders-shakir-biden-media-startup
14. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). More Perfect Union Action. 2022. Part VII.
15. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). More Perfect Union Foundation. 2022. Part VII.
16. “Economic Liberties Board of Directors Names Faiz Shakir Interim Executive Director and Nidhi Hegde Managing Director.” American Economic Liberties Project. March 15, 2023. Available at: https://www.economicliberties.us/press-release/economic-liberties-board-of-directors-names-faiz-shakir-interim-executive-director-and-nidhi-hegde-managing-director/
17. Daniel Fisher. “As Court Losses Mount, Khan Remakes FTC with Like-Minded Hires.” Legal Newsline. July 12, 2023. Available at: https://legalnewsline.com/stories/645655208-as-court-losses-mount-khan-remakes-ftc-with-like-minded-hires