Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, the incoming DSCC chair, tapped Scott Fairchild as the committee's executive director after two years as her Senate chief of staff. | Ethan Miller/Getty Images Congress Cortez Masto taps chief of staff Fairchild as DSCC executive director

Scott Fairchild, chief of staff to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), will be the executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the 2020 campaign cycle.

Fairchild will manage the DSCC heading into an election featuring a number of Republican incumbents on defense but a challenging path back to the majority for Democrats. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority and are defending 22 seats in 2020, compared with just 12 for Democrats.


Cortez Masto, the incoming DSCC chair, tapped Fairchild as the committee's executive director after two years as her Senate chief of staff. Fairchild also managed Cortez Masto's successful 2016 campaign against Rep. Joe Heck. Fairchild was previously the national campaigns director for the League of Conservation voters and managed Rahm Emanuel's successful 2011 campaign to be mayor of Chicago.

“In our fight to elect a Democratic majority, we need experienced strategists who understand the hard work that goes into winning tough campaigns and Scott has shown time and again he knows how to win,” Cortez Masto said in a statement. “I trust Scott will help lead our candidates to success in the cycle ahead and look forward to continuing our work together.”

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Lauren Passalacqua, a DSCC spokeswoman, said the party is "well positioned to win back the Senate" coming off a cycle in which the party was defending a historically bad map but limited Republicans' net gain to a single seat.

“Our aggressive work on a favorable map starts by making sure both the DSCC and Senate campaigns are staffed with top-flight talent ready to take full advantage of the offensive opportunities we have this cycle," Passalacqua said.