Who Is Sean McElwee? Sean McElwee is a data scientist, policy advisor, and activist from the United States. McElwee co-founded the progressive think tank and polling firm Data for Progress in 2018, where he serves as executive director.
McElwee announced his resignation from the company in December 2022.
Who Is Sean McElwee? A Look At His Biography
McElwee grew up in the Connecticut town of Ledyard. He studied at New York’s Christian institution, The King’s College.
He worked for the libertarian Reason Foundation for a while after finishing university. Years later, McElwee found work at the progressive think tank Demos.
Let us further look into Who Is Sean McElwee. He got his start in journalism as an intern for CBS News and Salon, and he’s since written for a wide range of outlets as a contributor. Articles by McElwee in The New York Times include pieces where he advocated in favor of the Abolish ICE movement.
Why He Became Popular?
In 2018, McElwee’s advocacy for the Abolish ICE movement garnered widespread attention. In addition, McElwee is an advocate for challenging moderate Democrats in the Democratic primaries from a left-wing perspective. The Justice Democrats reportedly gave Cori Bush money to run against Lacy Clay in 2020 because of McElwee’s urging.
Since 2018, McElwee has served as the Data for Progress (DFP), a polling firm and a progressive think tank. It was the most accurate pollster in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, according to an independent analysis.
The Biden Administration has cited data for Progress polling and analysis, and Ron Klain has retweeted McElwee’s tweets. However, after the 2022 midterms, McElwee’s election betting on PredictIt raised ethical concerns.
In November 2022, McElwee handed in his resignation from the company. In addition, Puck reported on a statement by McElwee in which he announced the formation of a new group dedicated to seeing the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 into law.
Who Is Sean McElwee And A Look At His Popularity
Now we will discuss Who Is Sean McElwee in terms of his political career. McElwee went from interning at a libertarian think tank to advising the White House and becoming a billionaire his age in a decade. Then, because of the criminal charges against Bankman-Fried, he was fired by the organization he founded for allegedly creating pressure on an employee to be a straw donor for Democratic causes.
McElwee, who calls himself an “Overton Window Mover,” launched the nonpartisan polling group Data for Progress in 2018 to help the Democratic Party change its course. He thought he could prove with data that Green New Deal and Medicare for All were more popular than the Establishment and the media realized.
After two think tanks, McElwee started Data for Progress. He asked political operatives for polling ideas in a Slack channel. He cut costs by hiring cheap pollsters and freelance writers. As the 2020 campaign heated up, he backed Elizabeth Warren and said he wanted Data for Progress to be her “in-house think tank.”
Data for Progress hired pollsters, data scientists, politicians, and journalists. In their minds, the polling team was the political equivalent of the Squad causing havoc in the nation’s capital. Sunrise Movement and Movement for Black Lives relied on them to communicate progressive ideals, while McElwee’s swashbuckling persona attracted clients and funders.
McElwee likes to gamble, so he ran a company full of 20-something leftists while courting wealthy donors and criticizing progressive allies. Let us further look at Who Is Sean McElwee. When the pandemic hit, he invited his staff to a Zoom poker game while playing another, higher-stakes game. He encouraged them to bet on polled races through Predictit. He reasoned that this would compel them to answer questions about their assumptions about the makeup of the electorate. His wager on Biden’s 2020 victory was valued at $20,000.
Who Is Sean McElwee, And Why Is He In News?
McElwee was trying to raise money for the Democrats when he met Sam Bankman-Fried, a billionaire who promised to donate $1 billion to the party by 2024 and sought McElwee out for counsel. So he and his sibling Gabe established Guarding Against Pandemics, a non-profit advocacy organization, and Protect Our Future, a super PAC that hired Data for Progress to conduct polling.
The goal was to back Democrats who advocated long-term risk reduction strategies like pandemic preparedness in keeping with the spirit of effective altruism. Still, many of these individuals were crypto-friendly or at least reticent to criticize the industry when it was at its peak popularity, and Bankman-Fried was advocating for a light regulatory hand from the federal government.
A former ally of McElwee’s and progressive strategist, Max Berger, revealed that this was more than just funneling money to candidates. It was about Sean directing a political strategy to insulate cryptocurrency exchanges from government regulation. And allowing cryptocurrency billionaires to continue ripping off middle- and lower-class people.
This threw a lot of speculation on Who Is Sean McElwee in real terms. Sam Bankman-Fried’s compensation to Sean McElwee included this task. From the perspective of progressive politics, this is unacceptable.
Lastly, if you want to know Who Is Sean McElwee and his relationship news, here is some disappointing news. He keeps his personal life extremely private. Therefore, there is no news flooding around about his relationship status.
