Early activities As a college student, Carville distributed "hate sheets" about a political opponent at grocery stores on behalf of Ossie Bluege Brown, who ran for district attorney of
East Baton Rouge Parish in 1972. By the late 1970s, he was working for
Gus Weill and
Raymond Strother at Weill-Strother, a
political consulting firm that had assisted campaigns for Louisiana governors
Jimmie Davis,
John McKeithen,
Edwin Edwards, as well as U.S. Representative
Otto Passman. In the early 1980s, Carville served as executive assistant to
East Baton Rouge Parish mayor-president
Pat Screen. He later helped
Cathy Long win a special election in Louisiana's now-defunct
8th congressional district, following the death of her husband,
Gillis William Long.
State and local elections 1984 Senate election in Texas In 1983, Carville was recruited to run
Texas state legislator Lloyd Doggett's campaign for an
open Senate seat. He helped Doggett, a liberal, secure the
Democratic nomination in a primary that included conservative U.S. Representative
Kent Hance, and centrist former congressman
Bob Krueger. During the primary, Carville notably used a rubber
vertebrae exhibit and coached Doggett to use it as a prop to jokingly portray Krueger as a "
flip-flopper" who lacked resolve and "backbone." During the general election against
Republican Phil Gramm, Doggett received a small-dollar contribution from a
gay rights group, which he later returned following negative feedback amid attacks from Gramm. In line with national Republican messaging, Gramm emphasized themes of "
family values", including remarks at a prayer breakfast about "having people who believe in
Christianity in charge of government", which Carville criticized. On November 6, 1984, Doggett was defeated in the general election, polling 2,207,557 votes (41.5%), to Gramm's 3,116,348 votes (58.5%). Finding himself out of work after the defeat, Carville recalled, "I was scared to death, I was 40 years old, and didn't have any health insurance, I didn't have any money, I was mortified."
1986 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election In 1986, Carville helped
Bob Casey Sr. win election as the
42nd Governor of Pennsylvania. Casey defeated Philadelphia District Attorney
Ed Rendell in the Democratic primary in March, 56.5% to 39.6%. In the general election Republican Lieutenant Governor
Bill Scranton, initially led after pledging to halt attack ads, but his campaign drew criticism for a mailer sent to 600,000 voters that sharply attacked Casey's ethics. Carville responded by staging a media stunt, dumping 600,000 blank envelopes near Scranton's campaign headquarters and asking journalists, "How could you send out this many envelopes and not know about it?" The race was virtually tied until five days before the election, when Carville launched the "guru"
television commercial portraying Scranton as a regular drug user during the 1960s and mocking his interest and ties to
transcendental meditation and
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The ad, which depicted Scranton as a meditating, long-haired,
cannabis-smoking
hippie against a backdrop of
sitar music, was credited with tipping the scales in
socially conservative rural areas of Pennsylvania where Carville chose to air it. Casey went on to win by a narrow margin of 79,216 votes out of 3.3 million cast, 50.7% to Scranton's 48.4%.
1987 Kentucky gubernatorial election Carville managed Kentucky businessman
Wallace Wilkinson's 1987 gubernatorial campaign, presenting him as a self-made,
anti-establishment candidate. Wilkinson won the Democratic primary by accusing his opponents of wanting to raise taxes and campaigning on creating a
state lottery to generate public revenue. Wilkinson, who had made his wealth in retail and real estate management, faced lawsuits over unpaid overtime and declined to release his tax returns. Carville later appeared on
WLEX-TV and urged reporters to examine opponent
John Harper's family, stating that "there might be problems with some of Harper's children." Harper subsequently acknowledged that his son had been shot and killed by police in Ohio in 1978 during a pharmacy robbery. Wilkinson won
the general election with 504,674 votes (64.5%) to Harper's 273,141 (34.91%).
1988 Senate election in New Jersey Carville served as campaign manager to New Jersey U.S. Senator
Frank Lautenberg during his successful
1988 re-election campaign against Republican challenger
Pete Dawkins.
1990 Georgia and Texas gubernatorial elections Between 1989 and 1990, Carville assisted four-term
lieutenant governor Zell Miller in winning the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in a five-candidate field that included
Atlanta Mayor
Andrew Young, state senator
Roy Barnes, and former governor
Lester Maddox. Miller campaigned on a conservative proposals such as
shock-incarceration boot camps for first-time drug offenders, criticized Young over "an explosion of crime" in Atlanta, and emphasized a state lottery in lieu of tax increases. He won the August 1990 primary
runoff against Young and later defeated Republican candidate
Johnny Isakson in the November 1990 general election. Carville attributed Miller's victories to the appeal of the lottery issue and its ability to turn out
white suburban voters. While working in Georgia, Carville also consulted for former Texas Congressman and sitting state
attorney general Jim Mattox. On advice from Carville, Mattox based his campaign on the claim that a state lottery would address Texas' revenue needs without additional taxes. During the Democratic primary, Mattox ran a television advertisement accusing his opponent,
State Treasurer Ann Richards, a recovering alcoholic, of being a
cannabis and
cocaine, and questioning her fitness for office. He ultimately lost the nomination to Richards but gained a reputation as a combative campaigner.
1991 Senate special election in Pennsylvania In April 1991, a Senate seat in Pennsylvania was vacated when incumbent
John Heinz was killed in a plane crash. Governor Bob Casey Sr. appointed
Harris Wofford, then state secretary of labor, to fill the position until a special election that November; Carville consulted for Wofford to retain it. Against the backdrop of the
Gulf War and a struggling economy, Wofford's opponent,
U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, was widely seen as aligned with President
George H. W. Bush, making the race an early test of the administration's reelection prospects the following year. During the race, Carville helped Wofford craft an aggressive campaign, including advertisements criticizing Thornburgh's use of government jets for travel to destinations such as
Hawaii. Another advertisement linked Thornburgh to "the mess in Washington", drawing on anti-establishment themes. In the months before the election, Wofford overcame a 44-point polling deficit to win 1,860,760 votes (55%) to Thornburgh's 1,521,986 (45%). Wofford's victory brought Carville national attention and raised his profile within the Democratic Party ahead of the
1992 presidential election. Reports of an
extramarital affair with Clinton by
Gennifer Flowers emerged shortly before the
1992 New Hampshire Democratic primary. To defend Clinton, Carville alleged that Flowers was paid $175,000 by tabloids for the story and that "the
mainstream media got sucker-punched" by her allegations, criticizing reporters for pursuing what he called "cash for trash" journalism. Following Clinton's 1998 admission under oath of having an affair with Flowers, she sued Carville for
defamation of character. In 2004, a federal district court dismissed the case with summary judgment, which was then appealed by Flowers attorney
Larry Klayman. However in 2006, the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit affirmed the lower court's dismissal. Despite Clinton's success in the primaries, he trailed Bush and independent candidate
Ross Perot in presidential polls, and the
Los Angeles riots in April 1992 reduced his media coverage. In response, Carville amplied Clinton's criticism of
hip-hop artist
Sister Souljah in a speech delivered in June 1992. Souljah had remarked: "If black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?" Clinton responded by stating, "If you took the words, 'white' and 'black' and you reversed them, you might think
David Duke was giving that speech." The speech gained
national attention and appealed to moderate voters, but it also caused a rift between Clinton and some African Americans within the Democratic Party, including
Jesse Jackson, who argued that Souljah's remarks had been misinterpreted. In 1993, following Clinton's election as president, Carville was named Campaign District Manager of the Year by the
American Association of Political Consultants. His role in the Clinton campaign was documented in the
Academy Award-nominated documentary film
The War Room, released the same year.
Work in the White House In late 1992 and early 1993, Carville consulted for
San Fernando Valley state assemblyman
Richard Katz in his campaign for the
1993 Los Angeles mayoral election, the first in 63 years without an incumbent on the ballot. Katz ran on a
tough-on-crime platform that included
gun control, proposed
sales taxes on
firearms and
ammunition, and the sale of city-owned assets such as
Ontario International Airport to fund
police overtime, while pledging not to raise
property taxes. Despite hiring Carville and spending about $1 million on television advertising, Katz finished fourth in the
nonpartisan primary with 46,173 votes (9.73%), and did not advance to the general election. Carville continued to serve the
Democratic National Committee in a political capacity during the 1990s, and frequently advised Clinton on political matters. He was among a small number of individuals granted a permanent "Non-Government Service" security badge, issued to non-government employees such as contractors who required regular access to the
White House grounds. As a condition of the badge, Carville underwent an
FBI background check similar to those used for
security clearances. In 2018, Senator
Lindsey Graham referenced the comment in relation to allegations made by
Christine Blasey Ford against
Supreme Court nominee
Brett Kavanaugh. Carville later said that he had been “making a joke” at the time and added, "I'm always complimented when people use my lines; you always like to leave a little legacy out there."
2000s State Department work Following the
September 11 attacks, Carville proposed visiting
Arab and
Islamic nations on behalf of the U.S. government to do "some kind of
propaganda," stating he would use his experience to "tell people about my country and what's available to them beyond hopelessness and
terrorism." He added, "What the terrorists are after is the younger and increasingly poor population. What they are offering is not that much, but we are not doing a good job telling those young people the other side of the story. It's time we told them about choices they have without imposing
American values." On behalf of the
U.S. State Department, Carville and his wife, Mary Matalin, met with a group of 55 Arab women political leaders during the
2002 United States midterm elections. Titled the "Women as Political Leaders" International Visitor (IV) Program", it was the first program implemented under the
Middle East Partnership Initiative, a group of programs headed by then
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs Liz Cheney. In addition to events with Carville and Matalin, participants met with congressional, state and local campaign staff, and observed campaign activities during their visits to
Concord, New Hampshire;
Dallas, Texas;
Detroit, Michigan;
Toledo, Ohio;
Raleigh, North Carolina; and
Tallahassee and
Tampa, Florida.
2004 presidential election and 2006 midterms , Carville and
George Clooney following the 2003 Democratic presidential debates|left|230x230px In September 2004, after discussions with Bill Clinton, Democratic candidate
John Kerry enlisted Carville as an informal adviser to
his 2004 presidential campaign. Following Kerry's defeat, Carville attributed the loss in part to external factors, including news coverage of the
Iraq War, the
release of a video by Osama bin Laden, as well as the
Bush campaign's emphasis on
cultural issues. During the
2006 midterms, then Democratic National Committee chair
Howard Dean implemented a
fifty-state strategy, after which Democrats won control of both houses of Congress for the first time since 1994. Additionally, for the first time since the founding of the Republican Party in 1854, no Republican won a House, Senate, or gubernatorial seat previously held by a Democrat. Despite this, Carville criticized Dean's leadership in November 2006 as "
Rumsfeldian in its incompetence," called for his ouster as chair and replacement with
Harold Ford Jr., and argued that a more targeted strategy could have yielded as many as 50 House seats, roughly 20 more than Democrats won that year. Carville later partially retracted the statement.
2008 presidential election Carville advised
Hillary Clinton during her
2008 presidential campaign. In 2007, he said that rival candidate
Barack Obama was the Democratic candidate "most likely to explode or implode". On March 22, 2008, Carville compared
New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who had just endorsed Obama for the presidential nomination, to
Judas Iscariot, calling the endorsement "an act of betrayal." He claimed that Richardson, who had served in the Clinton administration in the 1990s, had indicated he remain neutral. Richardson denied this account, stating that he had made no commitment. The following year,
Politico reported that Carville, Paul Begala, and
Rahm Emanuel helped develop a Democratic strategy to portray conservative
talk radio host
Rush Limbaugh as the face of the Republican Party during the elections.
2010s at
Politicon 2016 Following the Democrats' poor performance in the
2010 midterms, Carville told an audience at a
Christian Science Monitor breakfast, "If Hillary gave up one of her
balls and gave it to Obama, he'd have two." He had made a similar remark in May 2008 insinuating that Hillary Clinton was the tougher presidential candidate, stating, "If she gave him one of her
cojones, they'd both have two." In November 2013, amid declining
approval ratings for Obama, Carville remarked, "I think the best thing he can do is take a toke on the
mayor of Toronto's crack pipe, because his numbers are about 48." Carville was hired by
Palantir Technologies as a paid adviser in 2011 and played a role in facilitating the company's collaboration with the
New Orleans Police Department to quietly deploy predictive policing software. In 2019, political pundit
Mark Halperin worked with Carville on his book, ''How to Beat Trump: America's Top Political Strategists on What It Will Take''. The collaboration drew criticism from many Democrats, as Halperin had been
accused by multiple women of
sexual harassment. Carville said, "I know he's been accused by a lot of people and lost his job. The guy called me and asked me to speak to him on a topic that I obviously care about. And I spoke to him."
2020s 2020 presidential election In January 2020, Carville endorsed
Colorado Senator
Michael Bennet's unsuccessful campaign for the
2020 Democratic presidential nomination. He appeared on stage with Bennet at campaign events in
New Hampshire ahead of the state's Democratic primary and described him as "
John Kennedy recloned, you can't get any better than this guy!" Bennet, who emphasized Carville's endorsement, received 963 votes in New Hampshire (0.3% of 300,022 ballots cast). In February 2020, Carville suggested ending the Democratic presidential primaries and instead having
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi select the party's presidential and vice-presidential nominees. He also suggested that Republican
Mitt Romney resign from Senate and preside over the
2020 Democratic National Convention, and said that he might cast a write-in vote for Pelosi. That same month, as
Bernie Sanders rose in the polls, Carville criticized prospect of his nomination, describing Sanders as a "
communist" and his supporters as a "
cult", and warning of severe electoral consequences. Furthermore, he also criticized the rise of
progressive populist Democratic policy positions, including student loan
debt relief and "
people voting from jail cells", and opposed proposals to bann hydraulic
fracking for
shale gas. In November 2020, Carville predicted that the result of the
presidential election would be known by 10p.m. on election night. After the
Associated Press took four additional days to declare the winner,
Politico described his prediction as among "the most audacious, confident and spectacularly incorrect prognostications about the year".
2022 Pennsylvania Senate election In 2022, Carville led the "Penn Progress"
super PAC, which spent all of its funds supporting Representative
Conor Lamb's bid for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by retiring Senator
Pat Toomey of
Pennsylvania. Lamb worked closely with the group and participated in donor calls arranged by Carville. and media outlets reported that Fetterman had not described himself that way. An
ABC affiliate in
Philadelphia stopped airing the advertisement, and Senator
Elizabeth Warren called on Lamb to disavow it. Carville also amplified commentary describing Fetterman as a "silver spoon
socialist."
2024 presidential election Ahead of the
2024 presidential election, Carville argued in an interview with
Maureen Dowd that the Democratic Party's political culture had become "too dominated by preachy females", which he said contributed to declining support among Black male voters. Following
Joe Biden's poor performance during a June 27, 2024 debate against
Donald Trump, Carville was among those who called for Biden to end his
re-election bid. In an interview with
Jake Tapper on July 1, he said, "The country wants something new. Let them have it." Carville's biographical documentary film
Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid!, which premiered at the
2024 Telluride Film Festival, covers an 18-month period during which he advocated for Biden to end his re-election campaign. == International elections ==