Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke's policy hires are the latest indication of a still-expanding operation at his headquarters in El Paso, Texas, and in early primary states. | Meg Kinnard/AP Photo 2020 Elections Beto O’Rourke beefs up policy staff

Beto O’Rourke was pummeled for his relatively light policy footprint when he first entered the presidential race.

But over the past two months, the former Texas congressman has released a raft of extensive proposals on issues ranging from climate change and immigration to voting rights and government reform.


Now, O’Rourke has hired a former Obama administration official and policy executive at the left-leaning Center for American Progress to oversee his campaign’s expanding policy arm.

Carmel Martin, a former assistant secretary for policy and budget at the Department of Education, has joined O’Rourke’s campaign as his national policy director, an O’Rourke adviser confirmed to POLITICO.

Her hiring is a boon to O’Rourke, who is seeking to regain his footing in the Democratic primary.

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Martin served as a policy adviser for John Kerry and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns. And her position as executive vice president for policy at CAP has been held in the past by heavyweights in Washington policy circles, including Melody Barnes before she left to join Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008.

Martin, before joining the Obama administration, worked as general counsel and chief education adviser to the late Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy on his Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee.

In addition to Martin, O’Rourke will continue to be advised by Ali Zaidi, a former associate director at Obama’s Office of Management and Budget and O’Rourke’s senior adviser for policy.

O’Rourke’s standing in public opinion polls fell off sharply following high expectations at the beginning of his campaign. He is running at 4 percent in the latest Morning Consult poll.

But he has put behind him early criticism that his campaign lacked policy depth, issuing plans to address climate change, immigration, reproductive rights, electoral reforms and LGBTQ rights, among other issues.

His policy hires are the latest indication of a still-expanding operation at his headquarters in El Paso, Texas, and in early primary states.

The O'Rourke adviser confirmed the campaign has hired Zayn Siddique, a senior policy adviser to O’Rourke during his unsuccessful Texas Senate campaign last year, as deputy policy director. Allison Hunn, an Obama administration alumnus and former legal policy analyst for Democracy Forward, will be O’Rourke’s chief of staff for policy, and Brendan Duke, previously a tax policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, will be associate director.

Devon Gray, a recent graduate of Stanford Law School and the Stanford Graduate School of Education, has been hired as a policy associate.

“As Beto travels across the country meeting with people from all walks of life, we’re building a team committed to ensuring our policies are reflective of the diversity in experiences, backgrounds and voices of all Americans,” Jen O’Malley Dillon, O’Rourke’s campaign manager, said in a prepared statement. “Our national policy team not only has the invaluable experience we need to lead the way on ambitious, innovative solutions on issues spanning from climate change to protecting women’s rights — they also have the compassion and creativity our country demands if we hope to build a government that leaves no American behind.”