Jose Morales Jr. is the deputy director of voter protection at Fair Fight Action, a left-of-center voter activation nonprofit created by Georgia Democratic politician Stacey Abrams, who lost the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election and persisted in denying the fact of her electoral defeat. ¹²

After the 2020 election, he served on the Biden-Harris Transition Team reviewing the selection of political appointees for the Department of Justice. ³

Morales previously worked for several Democratic campaigns and organizations, including the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the New Organizing Institute, and has been associated with major Democratic Party players such as Abrams, former Obama administration Attorney General Eric Holder and Biden administration nominee for Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.

Voting Advocacy

Jose Morales is the deputy director for voter protection at Fair Fight Action, an organization founded by Georgia Democratic politician Stacey Abrams to get out the vote for Democratic candidates and oppose most election-integrity rules such as maintaining updated voter registration rolls and voter ID requirements. The organization focuses on elections in Georgia but also around the country. ⁴

Morales joined Fair Fight Action in April 2020. ⁵

Morales said in October 2020 the term “voter fraud” is an excuse to creating “barriers” to voting. He said voter suppression includes insufficient options to submit a vote in some locations, cleaning of voter registration rolls and long wait times at polling locations. He said voter suppression is widespread “because your vote is extremely powerful. The very act of stuffing that bad boy in an envelope and sending it is extremely powerful and a threat to [politicians’] very existence.” ⁶

Biden-Harris Transition Team

After the 2020 election of the Democratic ticket of Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as Vice President, Morales became part of the Biden-Harris Transition Team, serving on the agency review team for selecting Department of Justice political appointees for the incoming administration. ⁷

This review team was charged with evaluating and selecting incoming staff not only for the Justice Department, but also for the Federal Election Commission, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the Commission on Civil Rights, the National Council on Disability, the United States Access Board, AbilityOne, the State Justice Institute, and the Legal Services Corporation. ⁸ Of those agencies, the FEC, EAC and Commission on Civil Rights play a role in election law and administration, and could be applicable to Morales’s role at Fair Fight Action.

Political Advocacy

Before coming to Fair Fight Action, Morales was national constituency director for former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Morales held this position from May 2019 to March 2020. ⁹

Before working for the Buttigieg campaign Morales worked for more than two years at the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, a group dedicated to drawing up more favorable congressional maps and state legislative district maps for Democrats. The group was founded by by former Attorney General Eric Holder. Morales joined the organization in February 2017 as director of special projects. In January 2018, Morales became the community engagement and projects director for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, and held the job until his May 2019 departure. ¹⁰

From February 2015 to February 2017, Morales was the executive assistant to the executive director at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the organization that raises money for House Democratic candidates. ¹¹

Before that, Morales worked for the New Organizing Institute, a liberal group of trained digital organizers and campaigners promoting Democratic campaigns and progressive political causes. The Washington Post called this group “the Democratic Party’s Hogwarts for digital wizardry.” ¹² Morales started at the New Organizing Institute in September 2013 as an events fellow. From January 2014 to February 2015, he was a programs associate. ¹³

Education

Morales is a 2013 graduate of American University, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in political science and sociology. ¹⁴

He was a fellow for public policy and international affairs at the Carnegie Mellon University in summer 2012. ¹⁵

1. Jennings, Noah. “MoCP virtual panel explains the indicators of voter suppression.” The Columbia Chronicle. October 12, 2020. Accessed December 20, 2020. https://columbiachronicle.com/mocp-virtual-panel-explains-the-indicators-of-voter-suppression
2. Rutz, David. “Abrams Still Refuses to Accept Defeat in Georgia Governor’s Race: ‘I Did Win My Election’.” Washington Free Beacon. March 15, 2019. Accessed April 09, 2019. https://freebeacon.com/politics/abrams-still-refuses-to-accept-defeat-in-georgia-governors-race-i-did-win-my-election/.
3. Hrywna, Mark. “Nonprofit Leaders Tapped to Aid Biden Transition.” The Nonprofit Times. November 13, 2020. https://www.thenonprofittimes.com/news/nonprofit-leaders-tapped-to-aid-in-biden-transition/
4. Montellaro, Zach. “How a census delay could complicate post-2020 redistricting plans.” Politico. April 15, 2020. Accessed December 20, 2020. https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-score/2020/04/15/how-a-census-delay-could-complicate-post-2020-redistricting-plans-786887
5. Jose Morales. LinkedIn. Accessed December 20, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jos%C3%A9-morales-jr-88355540/
6. Jennings, Noah. “MoCP virtual panel explains the indicators of voter suppression.” The Columbia Chronicle. October 12, 2020. Accessed December 20, 2020. https://columbiachronicle.com/mocp-virtual-panel-explains-the-indicators-of-voter-suppression
7. Agency Review Teams. Biden-Harris Transition. Accessed December 20, 2020. https://buildbackbetter.gov/the-transition/agency-review-teams/
8. Agency Review Teams. Biden-Harris Transition. Accessed December 20, 2020. https://buildbackbetter.gov/the-transition/agency-review-teams/
9. Jose Morales. LinkedIn. Accessed December 20, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jos%C3%A9-morales-jr-88355540/
10. Jose Morales. LinkedIn. Accessed December 20, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jos%C3%A9-morales-jr-88355540/
11. Jose Morales. LinkedIn. Accessed December 20, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jos%C3%A9-morales-jr-88355540/
12. Fung, Brian. “Inside the Democratic party’s Hogwarts for digital wizardry.” The Washington Post. July 8, 2014. Accessed December 20, 2020. www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/07/08/inside-the-democratic-partys-hogwarts-for-digital-wizardry/
13. Jose Morales. LinkedIn. Accessed December 20, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jos%C3%A9-morales-jr-88355540/
14. Jose Morales. LinkedIn. Accessed December 20, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jos%C3%A9-morales-jr-88355540/
15. Jose Morales. LinkedIn. Accessed December 20, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jos%C3%A9-morales-jr-88355540/