Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke's campaign has added a number of policy staffers recently. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images 2020 Elections Longtime Jason Kander aide joins O'Rourke campaign in top role Abe Rakov, previously the president of Let America Vote, will be Beto O'Rourke's early states director.

Abe Rakov, a longtime aide to former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, has signed on to former Rep. Beto O'Rourke's presidential bid as the campaign's early-states director.

Rakov managed Kander's races for secretary of state in 2012 and for Senate in 2016, when he lost by less than 3 percentage points while gaining a national following among Democrats. Rakov later became president of Let America Vote, a national political engagement group that Kander founded after losing to GOP Sen. Roy Blunt.


Rakov will have a portfolio covering Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina for O'Rourke's team, after gaining experience in those states running operations for Let America Vote in 2018.

Rakov has also served as deputy secretary of state in Missouri and as communications director for Eleanor Holmes Norton, a nonvoting member of Congress who represents Washington, D.C., and deputy communications director for former Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan.

A spokesperson for the O'Rourke campaign confirmed Rakov's hiring. Rakov will work from the O'Rourke campaign's headquarters in El Paso, Texas.

The O'Rourke campaign has added a number of policy staffers recently, including Carmel Martin as national policy director, Devon Gray as policy associate, Brendan Duke as associate director for policy, and Zayn Siddique as deputy policy director.

Let America Vote is planning to divide more responsibilities among a trio of top staffers — national political director Porsha White, director of communications and policy Chris deLaubenfels and digital director Tori DeGiosio — after Rakov's departure from the organization.