Tessa Simonds leads Blue State’s campaign practice, directing work for presidential and statewide candidates, national party committees, and national advocacy organizations alongside a team of experienced campaign strategists.
Tessa is a veteran organizer and campaign strategist with over a decade of experience building grassroots and digital programs for progressive candidates, political committees, and advocacy organizations. Before Blue State, Tessa was Senior Advisor for Digital Organizing on the 2020 Biden-Harris National Coordinated Campaign at the Democratic National Committee. In this role, she reimagined the approach to digital organizing and grassroots mobilization at scale in the battleground states, powering a voter contact program that made nearly 700 million voter contact attempts in the four months leading up to Election Day.
Prior to that, Tessa was the Director of Grassroots Mobilization on the Elizabeth Warren campaign, managing a staff of more than 64 people and 13 offices nationwide. At the Democratic National Committee, she imagined and launched the Mobilization team as Digital Director, growing it from 10 to more than 45. She’s proud to have trained and mentored hundreds of digital practitioners.
Tessa graduated from UMass Amherst with a B.S. in English and Social Thought and Political Economy. She is based in West Texas and maintains close ties to Washington, D.C. In her spare time, Tessa can usually be found on a long trail run, deep in a multi-day backpacking trip, or out with her camera and binoculars chasing West Texas light and birds.
About Blue State
Blue State is an agency partner to leading causes, companies, and campaigns. We’re here to hasten progress.
Tessa’s Activate 2026 Sessions:
Darkness in the cycle and the light at the end: Bright spots in US politics, including the Mamdani NYC Mayoral Campaign
This is a bleak time in US politics, but there are bright spots we can be learning from. This session is a tactical debrief on the Mamdani NYC Mayoral Campaign and other longshot races that found ways to win, or came close enough to matter. We’ll talk about what is working in US politics and why there are real reasons for hope in 2026 and beyond. Come with a race you want to know more about.
New Frontiers in Political Campaigning
Case studies in what’s actually working in 2026 and beyond. This session covers some of the innovative tactics US campaigns are using right now: creator marketing, AI in campaigns, voter contact at scale, and organizing innovations that are changing how we reach and move people. Less theory, more of what happened and what you can steal and implement before your next local election.