2000s Smith worked on
Tom Daschle's 2004 Senate campaign as a field organizer. In 2006, Smith went to work on
Claire McCaskill's Senate campaign in Missouri as Press Secretary. After McCaskill's win, she joined the 2007 Kentucky gubernatorial campaign of
Bruce Lunsford as traveling press secretary. She was also communications director for
Dan Seals' 2008 Illinois House race. In 2009, she became press secretary for
Terry McAuliffe and
Jon Corzine's gubernatorial races.
2010s Smith served as communications director for
Ted Strickland's 2010 Ohio governor's race. She became communications director for the
Democratic Governors Association in 2011. As communications director for the DGA, she oversaw gubernatorial campaign efforts in Kentucky and West Virginia. In 2012, she became director of the rapid response team for
Barack Obama's 2012 presidential campaign. While working for the Obama campaign she met
David Axelrod, whom Smith considers a mentor. She later worked as the spokeswoman for
Bill de Blasio's mayoral run in 2013. In 2016, she was the spokesperson for
Marisol Alcantara's successful New York State Senate campaign. After winning the election, the candidate joined the
Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), and Smith consulted briefly for the group. Critics of the IDC have questioned Smith's loyalty to the implementation of progressive policies and candidates. In 2018, Smith became spokeswoman for
Andrew Cuomo's successful re-election campaign, who had endorsed the political entity.
2020 Pete Buttigieg presidential campaign Smith met
Pete Buttigieg on the recommendations of Axelrod and O’Malley when he was considering running for
Democratic National Committee chair in 2017 and became a consultant for the campaign. She served as senior advisor for his 2020 presidential run, steering his campaign publicly by courting the national political press, a technique she further honed during Buttigieg's
2020 presidential campaign. She later modeled a New Hampshire bus trip off of
John McCain's
Straight Talk Express during his 2000 presidential campaign in which reporters were invited on board to travel and question the candidate.
Business Insider considered her to be one of the 10 most powerful women running the 2020 presidential campaigns. She has been included in
Fortune's 40 Under 40 in Government and Politics, and
''Crain's'' list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in New York.
2020s In 2020, Smith was one of six political experts named as fellows by the
Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service. She was a senior advisor on
Corey Johnson's 2021
campaign for New York City Comptroller, and raised $3.5 million in funds for a
PAC supporting
Andrew Yang's 2021 mayoral campaign. In 2022, Smith became a communications adviser for Michigan State Senator
Mallory McMorrow. Smith authored the 2022 book
Any Given Tuesday: A Political Love Story. It was written over a period of 18 months, and covers her life and political career. The book was praised for its insight into the personal and political fortunes of politicians she advised. Philip Elliott of
Time praised its transparency and wrote that it "may just rewrite the template for what a political memoir can be." Lloyd Green, writing for
The Guardian, called it "breezy and informative." Some critics felt that it minimized her role in discrediting the sexual assault allegations against Cuomo. In March 2024, the Democratic National Committee selected Smith to lead communications, opposition research and legal challenges as part of a team focused on combatting independent and third-party candidates in the
2024 presidential election. In July 2025,
The New York Times reported that Smith was an advisor for
Majority Democrats. == Political commentary and analysis ==