Julie Norton brings over twenty years experience in politics and government to SKDKnickerbocker. From her years in the Clinton Administration and the Howard Dean presidential campaign, to advising political candidates at every level from presidential to statehouse delegate, Julie brings particular expertise to the intersection of communications and policy.

Strong Winning Record

Julie has provided strategic and media consulting on countless campaigns of all types in all regions—from ballot initiative campaigns in Colorado and Maine to congressional races in West Virginia and Michigan; from Senate work in Alaska to state legislative races in Virginia; from DC-based issue advocacy to her work electing the only Democratic statewide official in South Carolina—she has helped her clients emerge victorious.

In 2006, Julie guided all five of her general election clients to victory, including races in which the polls indicated that winning was out of reach. In 2008, Julie helped re-elect one Democratic Senator and helped push a Republican Senator into retirement. And in 2010, a difficult year for Democrats, she helped the longest-serving Congressional incumbent weather a tough race in the most anti-incumbent year in recent memory. She also worked for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, where she helped a Democrat claim an open seat and another highly-targeted Democratic incumbent retain his seat—both hard-fought victories in a challenging environment. At the municipal level, Julie developed the strategy and made the ads that brought down a popular 15-year incumbent State’s Attorney with a previously unknown candidate.

Award-Winning Creative

Julie’s ads have been recognized for their creativity and effectiveness. She was just recognized with a Gold Pollie Award for producing the Best 2010 Democratic Independent Expenditure DCCC ad, which is a testimony to her work considering that there were hundreds of ads produced for the DCCC for the 2010 cycle. She has won other Pollie Awards for Use of Humor, Ballot Initiative Campaigns, and Best Use of Negative for a Congressional Campaign. Additionally the Campaign Media Analysis Group named an ad she produced for the non-profit group Every Child Matters “Ad of the Week.”

Strategic Communications

Julie has done extensive work advising non-profits, corporations and foundations in the area of energy reform and climate change policy, a subject she has focused on since attending the negotiation of the Kyoto Protocol as a member of the U.S. delegation. Her in-depth understanding of energy policy helps her devise communication and political strategies to help her clients navigate a constantly changing terrain. Julie has also worked for a variety of the firm’s other strategic communications clients outside of the energy arena.

After graduating with a B.A. in Political Science from Williams College in 1989, Julie worked for Governor Ray Mabus in her home-state of Mississippi, before moving to Washington in 1990 to join the political media firm of Doak and Shrum. Julie then spent eight years working on legislative affairs in the Clinton Administration, prior to returning to her true passion of politics.