Rachael Dean Wilson

Managing Director, Alliance for Securing Democracy and US Elections
Washington, DC Office
Democracy
Leadership,
Staff,
GMF Expert
My Areas of Expertise:
Authoritarian Interference Elections
United States

Rachael Dean Wilson is managing director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD) at GMF, where she leads work on US elections and political analysis. Driven by her belief that safeguarding democracy must involve all Americans, Wilson has spoken in cities across the country about the importance of building democratic resilience to autocratic efforts to undermine democracy. She has commented on election security issues for print and broadcast news outlets ranging from The Washington Post and C-SPAN to WVTM-TV Birmingham and The Arizona Republic. 

Wilson served in senior roles on Capitol Hill and political campaigns, and has experience in corporate communications and PR consulting. She worked for the late Senator John McCain for six years, most recently as his Senate communications director and advisor to his 2016 reelection campaign. Wilson received a bachelor’s degree in communication in public service from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in global policy from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University. 

Media Mentions

by
Rachael Dean Wilson
“ Taking a step back from the campaign tit-for-tat, attempting to divide women along the lines of mothers vs. non-mothers is poisonous to our communities and political discourse. I would encourage women of all political stripes to resist the tribalism these attack lines encourage on both sides. While this is an undoubtedly domestic conversation, I always like to remind people that deep domestic division and polarization benefits our adversaries abroad and weakens the United States on the world stage. ”
Fox News
by
Rachael Dean Wilson
“ Both Harris and Trump held rallies in the exact same location just days apart from one another, and I think, if you split-screen those, you see two very different campaigns and two very different stages: Harris riding high off of securing delegates to become the nominee, a huge fundraising haul … and then you had Trump, who I think is still thrown by the change at the top of the ticket. ”
CNBC
by
Rachael Dean Wilson
“ Americans want a strong commander in chief, but they also want a communicator in chief. And what we’ve seen time and again with Biden is that there’s not the kind of effectiveness and forcefulness that we have come to expect from a president. And that’s problematic. ”
CNBC
by
Rachael Dean Wilson
“ So, we are supercharging the ability to create false audio and false video that looks real, and it's hard to tell if it is or is not. And it can definitely, if spread with the right timing or with the right message, impact the election, impact the vote, depending on how it's deployed. ”
Scripps News
by
Rachael Dean Wilson
“ I'd also say go a step further and say that you need to take ownership over your information diet. I think a lot of people, you know, we look at what we eat, we exercise, we take care of all these things. But this is what we are consuming, and it impacts how we think and how we act. ”
Scripps News
by
Rachael Dean Wilson
“ Elections are human-run endeavors and they are imperfect. But the goal is to catch the mistakes quickly and correct them quickly. ”
Fox 5 DC
by
Rachael Dean Wilson
“ Their proven strategy is to amplify the most polarizing and extreme content to further divide the electorate. If their strategy incites or contributes to inciting violence, it would serve their ultimate goal of chaos. ”
VOA
by
Rachael Dean Wilson
“ We have a tendency to solve problems only after they emerge, not ahead of time. But this is the moment, if we ever need to be very forward-thinking of the things that could go wrong in our elections and bolster them, now is the time. ”
Votebeat

Featured Work