Advertisement NH Primary Source: It’s now official: Ollen directing Beto’s campaign in NH; Pandit deputy director Following candidate’s third NH visit, O’Rourke campaign announces six-member state leadership team Share Shares Copy Link Copy

OLLEN DIRECTING O’ROURKE’S NH CAMPAIGN. It’s official: Mike Ollen, a veteran Democratic strategist and former state director for Sen. Maggie Hassan, is now the New Hampshire state campaign director for presidential candidate and former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke.The campaign also told WMUR on Wednesday that Soham Pandit, who has nearly 10 years of experience in Democratic politics, is the O’Rourke campaign’s deputy state director.Also joining O’Rourke’s leadership team in the first-primary state are:-- Anya Lehr, operations director: Lehr most recently served as the first director of operations for VICE Asia Pacific in Singapore, assisting in setting up new offices and operations across the region. She previously she worked at VICE HQ in New York as Operations Manager for Digital and International teams.Before joining VICE in 2014, Lehr worked in events and production. She is a native New Yorker and former general manager of her college radio station. -- Valerie Orellana, scheduling director: Orellana was most recently program coordinator of the Health Professions Program and an assessment coordinator in the Office of Residential Life at Dartmouth College, overseeing administrative systems and developing institution-wide programming events.Orellana co-launched the Pathways to Medicine Scholars Program in 2018, an initiative for students to discuss and engage with topics of health inequity and health policy. She graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in neuroscience and was an NCAA Division 1 swimmer. -- Sydney Watnick, organizing director: Watnick most recently managed the Coordinated Campaign in North Carolina on behalf of Gov. Roy Cooper’s Break the Majority organization, which flipped 15 seats and broke the supermajority in the state House and state Senate. She previously served on campaigns in Virginia, Ohio, Iowa and Massachusetts, for Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania and South Carolina, and at Planned Parenthood on the national communications team.Watnick is returning to the Granite State after serving as an organizer for the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s coordinated campaign in 2014, which reelected Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, then-Gov. Maggie Hassan and U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster.-- Katherine Fischer, regional organizing director: She most recently managed the field operation in Houston for O’Rourke’s U.S. Senate campaign in 2018. Starting the cycle as a volunteer, she ended the campaign running the organizing team in the largest city in Texas. O'Rourke’s grassroots organizing program was the largest in Texas and Harris County history. Fischer has been a part of the Beto for America team since it inception, helping to launch the distributed organizing program, and she continues to engage with supporters across the country.The New Hampshire staff announcement comes less than a week after O’Rourke expanded his national staff with the addition of Lauren Brainerd as organizing director and Lise Clavel as director of all state campaign organizations. O’Rourke began building his staff in March with the hiring of former Barack Obama aide Jennifer O’Malley Dillon as campaign manager."Beto is making a strong, early investment in New Hampshire to set the tone for our campaign and position himself to win the first-in-the-nation primary,” O'Malley Dillon said. “This talented team, led by Mike Ollen, brings a diverse set of experiences to the table and will ensure Beto is able to continue showing up and competing in every single community across the state.”Ollen recently left Hassan’s office after serving as her Senate office director for nearly two years. He previously served as deputy state director.He was political director for Hassan’s successful U.S. Senate campaign during the intensely competitive 2016 general election campaign and previously was deputy political director for Hillary Clinton’s New Hampshire primary campaign.Ollen worked at the Hilltop Public Solutions consulting firm in early 2015 and was deputy political director for Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s 2014 reelection campaign. He also worked in Kuster’s congressional office and the congressional office of was also involved in former President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign in the Granite State, first as a field organizer in Nashua and later as a regional field director in Strafford County.The announcement of his hiring as state director was not unexpected. WMUR first reported on April 11 that he was in line for the post after appearing on his own personal time at several O’Rourke campaign events in the state.Pandit has also been helping the O’Rourke campaign for weeks during O'Rourke's trips to the Granite State.He was the political director for U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas’ successful congressional campaign last year and previously managed New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Raymond Buckley’s campaign for Democratic National Committee chair in 2017. He managed Pappas’ 2016 campaign for the Executive Council and was the political director for the New Hampshire Democratic coordinated campaign in 2014.Before coming to New Hampshire, Pandit worked on the 2014 special election campaign for Alex Sink in Florida's 13th Congressional District, the 2013 special election campaign for U.S. Sen. Cory Booker in New Jersey and on the campaign arm of the League of Conservation Voters during the 2012 general election cycle.Pandit became involved in political campaigns in 2010 as an organizer for former U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy of Pennsyulvania and subsequently served as deputy political director for Murphy's primary bid for Pennsylvania Attorney General in 2012.O’Rourke made his third visit to New Hampshire two weeks ago and since announcing his candidacy for president in March, has visited all 10 counties in the state. His campaign said he has taken “more than 120 questions” from voters in Bedford, Claremont, Concord, Conway, Derry, Dover, Durham, Exeter, Gorham, Hanover, Hooksett, Keene, Laconia, Lebanon, Manchester, Nashua, New London, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Salem and Somersworth.