Jason M. Childress is a public affairs director with Foley & Lardner LLP. He is a member of the Government & Public Policy Practice based in Madison, Wisconsin.
Mr. Childress is a seasoned political strategist who began his career in 1994 and has since counseled numerous state and federal elected officials and candidates on a wide variety of political matters. Mr. Childress joined Foley after six years as the executive director of the State Senate Democratic Committee. In this role, he served three Senate Democratic leaders as their chief political and campaign strategist and managed all media relations, research, message development and finance operations. Mr. Childress was the architect of the Democrats’ successful bid to regain the majority in the State Senate and has since helped them maintain that lead. Prior to this, Mr. Childress served as a finance consultant to the Assembly Democratic leader and Democratic Party of Wisconsin.
Mr. Childress began his political career interning for U.S. Congressman Peter Barca and worked to help elect Congressman Jay Johnson and re-elect President Clinton as northeast regional director for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. He has conducted numerous local and national trainings on all areas of campaign planning and execution and is a recognized national leader in state legislative politics. Mr. Childress also has extensive non-profit experience, having served as the assistant development director for United Way. There he worked with top leadership in every major area employer to secure funding for social service programs. As the regional development director for Special Olympics Wisconsin, Mr. Childress worked to secure corporate, individual and government support for the organization’s programming. He also served on the board and as the government relations chair for the Association of Fundraising Professionals. In this role he helped advocate for federal tax code changes to encourage greater philanthropic giving.
Mr. Childress was a dean’s list student and graduate of the University of Wisconsin River Falls where he wrote for the Student Voice newspaper and chaired the College Democrats.