The 2024 Post Election Conference: National Panel

Join Dole Institute Visiting Fellow Jerry Seib and Dole Institute Director Emeritus Bill Lacy as they co-moderate the National Panel of the 2024 Post Election Conference. Seib and Lacy will lead a panel that will dive into the practices of both presidential campaigns, congressional races in battlegrounds throughout the nation, and more from this unprecedented general election.

About the Post Election Conference

Held biennially after midterm and general elections, the Dole Institute’s Post Election Conference brings journalists, practitioners, and experts together to analyze campaigns and election results in Kansas and throughout the country.

Jerry Seib has been a journalist with The Wall Street Journal for almost 45 years. He served as the Journal’s Executive Washington Editor and wrote the weekly “Capital Journal” column for 29 years. He also reported from the Middle East for the Journal in the mid-1980s, covered the White House, has moderated three presidential debates, and interviewed every president since Ronald Reagan.

Bill Lacy is the former director of the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas. Since his appointment in 2004, Lacy established the Institute a highly-respected venue for bipartisan, philosophically-balanced political programming. Additionally, he led the Institute through many other milestones, including the creation of the Student Advisory Board, the completion of processing Senator Bob Dole’s archival collections, obtaining Senator Elizabeth Dole’s career papers, and the addition of millions to the Institute’s endowment to further the Institute’s mission and support the student body at the University.

Molly Ball is The Wall Street Journal’s senior political correspondent, covering campaigns, the White House, Congress, political personalities and policy debates across America. She is also a frequent television and radio commentator and the author of “Pelosi,” a bestselling biography of the first woman Speaker of the House. Prior to joining the Journal, she covered U.S. politics for Time magazine, the Atlantic, Politico and the Las Vegas Review-Journal. She has worked for newspapers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Cambodia, as well as the New York Times and the Washington Post. She has received numerous awards for her political coverage, including the Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress, the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency and the Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting. She is a graduate of Yale University, a former Knight-Wallace journalism fellow at the University of Michigan and once won $100,000 on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” Molly grew up in Idaho and Colorado and lives in the Washington, D.C., area with her husband and three children.

Brendan Buck is one of Washington’s top communications strategists and a trusted political analyst. Having served two consecutive Speakers of the House, he was at the center of many of this era’s biggest policy and political battles. Brendan is currently a Partner at Seven Letter, a Washington and Boston based public affairs firm. He is also an NBC News and MSNBC Political Analyst. Previously, he spent twelve years on Capitol Hill, all in the House. Most recently, he was Counselor to House Speaker Paul Ryan, leading messaging and communications strategy for the speaker and House GOP. Before that, Brendan served as Communications Director at the House Ways and Means Committee under Chairman Ryan and helped him navigate his unexpected ascension to the Speaker’s Office in 2015. Earlier, Brendan was Press Secretary to House Speaker John Boehner, working primarily with the White House press corps to shape the coverage of the Obama administration. Brendan was also on the 2012 Romney-Ryan presidential campaign, serving as Press Secretary to the Vice President nominee. He’s held several other senior communications roles on Capitol Hill including for future-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and former Rep. Tom Price. In 2017, POLITICO named him to its inaugural Power 30 list, and in 2020, PR Week named him to its annual ’40 Under 40′. He was also named a ’40 Under 40* alumnus by the University of Georgia, which is where you can find him many Saturdays during football season.

Francesca Chambers is a White House Correspondent for USA Today covering foreign policy and the 2024 presidential race. She has covered the nation’s highest elected office and the politicians seeking it since 2014. Prior to USA Today, she covered campaigns, elections and the White House for McClatchy, DailyMail.com and the syndicated newsmagazine DailyMailTV. She is a team Emmy winner and a Society of Professional Journalists D.C. Dateline Award recipient. Francesca is a frequent guest on network television and a former White House Correspondents’ Association board member. She is a proud graduate of the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas and currently sits on its board of trustees.

Anita Dunn is a partner and founding member of SKDK. She most recently served as a senior advisor to President Joe Biden. In that role, she advised on overall strategy and messaging during the beginning of the President’s term, overseeing successful landmark legislative priorities and helping the President navigate through once-in-a-lifetime crises. Prior to that, she served as a senior advisor to the Biden-Harris presidential campaign, advising on all aspects of the campaign, including messaging, debate preparation, and overall strategy. Ms. Dunn was a chief strategist to former President Barack Obama, as a senior campaign advisor and as the White House Communications Director. She oversaw all communications strategy and messaging and helped the former President navigate a complex legislative and political landscape early in his administration. Named one of Washingtonian’s most powerful women in 2019, She also served in a variety of senior roles for other key Democrats throughout her career, including Tom Daschle, Bill Bradley, and Evan Bayh.

Alex Latcham is a native of Des Moines, Iowa, and has worked for President Trump for over eight years, most recently as the Director of Congressional Engagement for his historic 2024 campaign. In this role, Latcham oversaw the campaign’s engagement with members of Congress, regularly advised President Trump on political races and endorsements, and served as the campaign’s primary liaison to the NRCC, NRSC, and RGA. During the 2024 Republican primary, Alex Latcham served as the Early States Director, planning and directing all campaign activity and staff within the early four nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada. In this role, Latcham contributed to historic victories that enabled President Trump to quickly and decisively secure the Republican nomination. During President Trump’s first term, Latcham served as Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Political Director. In this role, Latcham managed President Trump’s political and official engagements across the nation and regularly worked with national and state political parties, cabinet members, members of congress, state constitutional officers, and other key industries and organizations to strategically advance the administration’s political and policy priorities. From 2014-2016, Latcham was political director for the Republican Party of Iowa and was part of a small team responsible for the successful planning and execution of the record-setting 2016 Iowa Republican Caucuses. Alex Latcham holds a B.A. in Political Science from Drake University.

Jonathan Martin is the politics bureau chief and senior political columnist at POLITICO, where he writes a reported column on the inside conversation and big-picture trends shaping politics. Prior to starting his column in 2022, Martin was the national political correspondent for The New York Times, serving as the publication’s top political reporter for nearly a decade. He is the co-author of The New York Times bestseller “This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future,” which gave readers in-the-room access to the extraordinary events of the 2020 election and its aftermath. Martin regularly provides on-air political analysis for ABC, NBC and CBS. He and his wife, Betsy, live in Washington and New Orleans.

Molly Murphy is a top pollster and campaign strategist who has worked on some of the most consequential campaigns in recent history. Molly has experience with hundreds of statewide, congressional, and local races, helping elect Democrats in Republican and swing districts and making it possible for Democrats to prevail in competitive primaries. In addition to her work with candidates, Molly serves as one of the lead pollsters for the Harris-Walz campaign, is a lead advisor to the DCCC, closely supports the DSCC and DGA, and has extensive research experience for progressive issue organizations.

Chuck Todd is the Chief Political Analyst for NBC News, leading all aspects of the news division’s political coverage and analysis. Exclusively represented by the Leading Authorities Speakers Bureau, he offers a comprehensive picture of the current political landscape, making him one of the most sought-after voices in American political coverage. Throughout his career at NBC News, Todd served as the revered Meet the Press Moderator, Chief White House Correspondent, and Host of The Daily Rundown, NBC News Now, Meet the Press NOW, and Meet the Press Daily. He also co-moderated the two most-watched Democratic presidential debates in NBC’s history. Along with teaching a graduate-level political communications course at Johns Hopkins University, Todd contributes to publications like the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Atlantic Monthly, where he is a contributing editor. He is also the author of “The Stranger: Barack Obama in the White House” and co-author of “How Barack Obama Won.” Todd has been recognized by an array of organizations and publications, including GQ, George Magazine, and Washingtonian.