Civil Discourse and Debate with James Carville & Reince Priebus, Moderated by Lindsey Davis

Through The New Albany Lecture Series, The New Albany Center for Civil Discourse and Debate presents leaders of opposing viewpoints in discussion on important public policy matters.

JAMES CARVILLE
James “The Ragin’ Cajun” Carville is America’s best-known political consultant. His long list of electoral successes evidences a knack for steering overlooked campaigns to unexpected landslide victories and for re-making political underdogs into upset winners. His winning streak began in 1986, when he managed the gubernatorial victory of Robert Casey in Pennsylvania. In 1987, Carville helped guide Wallace Wilkinson to the governor’s seat in Kentucky.

Carville continued his winning streak with a win in New Jersey with Frank Lautenberg elected to the US Senate. He next managed the successful 1990 gubernatorial campaign of Georgia’s Lieutenant Governor Zell Miller, including a tough primary win over Atlanta mayor Andrew Young, and in 1991, Carville – who had already become prominent in many political circles – drew national attention when he led Senator Harris Wofford from 40 points behind in the polls to an upset landslide victory over former Pennsylvania Governor and U.S. Attorney General Richard Thornburgh. But his most prominent victory was in 1992 when he helped William Jefferson Clinton win the Presidency.

In recent years, Carville has not been a paid political consultant for many domestic politicians or candidates, instead focusing on campaigns in more than 23 countries around the globe stretching from the continents of South America to Europe to Africa and most recently Asia.

James Carville is also a best-selling author, actor, producer, talk-show host, speaker and restaurateur. His titles include We’re Still Right, They’re Still Wrong: The Democrats’ Case for 2016, Love & War: Twenty Years, Three Presidents, Two Daughters and One Louisiana Home; It’s The Middle Class Stupid!; All’s Fair: Love, War, and Running for President (with wife Mary Matalin); We’re Right, They’re Wrong: A Handbook for Spirited Progressives; And the Horse He Rode In On: The People vs. Kenneth Starr; Buck Up, Suck Up… and Come Back When You Foul Up; Had Enough? A Handbook for Fighting Back; Stickin’: The Case for Loyalty; his children’s book, Lu and the Swamp Ghost; and 2006’s Take it Back, 40 More Years: How the Democrats will Rule the Next Generation.

Along with pollster Stanley Greenberg, Carville founded Democracy Corps, an independent, non-profit polling organization dedicated to making government more responsive to the American people. He now co-hosts the weekly Politicon podcast Politics War Room with journalist Al Hunt.

Carville also serves as a fellow at LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication and lives in New Orleans with his wife Mary Matalin.

REINCE PRIEBUS
Reince Priebus was named White House Chief of Staff shortly after the 2016 campaign.

Prior to managing the White House staff, Priebus served as the longest-serving chairman of the Republican National Committee in modern history. He oversaw a dramatic turnaround of the RNC, rescuing its finances, repairing its operations, and rebuilding its ground game. By welcoming new voters and harnessing the power of new technologies, Priebus built the infrastructure needed for landslide GOP victories. He left the RNC the winningest chairmen of either political party in American history. He was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016 and 2017.

Before serving as RNC Chairman, Priebus was the most successful chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. Priebus created the framework for one of the most historic election cycles Wisconsin has ever experienced. During his tenure, the state’s Republicans elected Ron Johnson to the Senate, elected Scott Walker as Governor, gained two additional U.S. House seats, and took back both the state Assembly and Senate, defeating the democratic leaders of both those chambers.

Priebus is a regular political commentator for major news channels and is an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserves. Prior to his role at CBS News, he served as a visiting Fellow at Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School. Priebus and his wife, Sally, have two young children, Jack and Grace. He was raised in Kenosha, Wisconsin and is a die-hard Packers fan.

LINSEY DAVIS
Linsey Davis is currently an anchor for ABC News Live Prime, which is ABC News Live’s first-ever streaming evening newscast, and weekend World News Tonight on Sundays. She is a correspondent filing reports for World News Tonight, Good Morning America, 20/20 and Nightline.

Davis has received several honors for her reporting, including two Emmy® Awards and a regional Edward R. Murrow Award.

Davis earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Virginia and a Master of Arts degree in communications from New York University.