Jefferson Smith Hires New Campaign Manager from the Bus Project

Mayoral candidate Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-Portland) has named a new campaign manager for the runoff election: Henry Kraemer, the organizing director of the Bus Project, the youth political engagement nonprofit Smith founded.

Kraemer will step down from the Bus Project, he confirmed to WW this afternoon.

"I'm leaving the Bus," Kraemer said. "I'm super excited to go run Jeff's campaign. And the team here (at the Bus Project) is terrific, and they're going to keep doing great work."

Smith confirmed the hire to WW.

"Henry is one of the most talented people doing politics and democracy that I've seen in years," Smith said. "I'm terrifically excited to have him join the team."

Kraemer partially replaces campaign director Stacey Dycus, who quit after leading Smith's campaign to a surprisingly strong second place victory in the May primary. Dycus has said she chose to leave the campaign.

Smith told WW this afternoon that his campaign may still hire a political consultant for the fall. "We're now figuring out what we're going to do about hiring a consultant," Smith said. "(It's) pretty likely that we'll hire a consultant, but not a certainty."

WWeek 2015