Lauren J. Harper

About Lauren J. Harper

Political and communications strategist with a passion for civic engagement. Working to grow a big-tent Democratic Party that wins with WelcomePAC. Full Bio: Lauren Harper is a political and communications strategist from South Carolina. She is Co-Founder of The Welcome Party and WelcomePAC and CEO of her firm, CityBright. ​ Lauren previously served as South Carolina State Director for Beto O’Rourke’s presidential campaign, as Policy and Communications Advisor for Columbia (SC) Mayor Steve Benjamin and as an aide to (SC) Sen. Mia McLeod. ​ In the 2022 cycle, Lauren served as Coordinated Campaign Director for the Texas Democratic Party & Beto for Texas and led coordinated (hard side) PAC work with more than a dozen WelcomePAC candidates in Ohio and California. Her legacy projects with the City of Columbia include creating the first municipal food policy committee in South Carolina (the Columbia Food Policy Committee); launching the Books 2 Boys & Girls program in partnership with City of Columbia Parks & Recreation, Columbia Police Department and Richland Library; and hosting the state\'s first peer-to-peer municipal election for the Columbia Youth Commission.​ ​ Lauren serves on the Boards of SC Women in Leadership and Bluebonnet Data. ​ Lauren has a passion for voter education and civic engagement, particularly for young people and those who have not historically been a part of political processes. ​ Lauren is an alumna of the University of South Carolina. She lives in Austin, Texas.

Experience

1. Co-founder

   Welcome Pac

   Nov 2021 — Present

Education

• University of South Carolina-Columbia

  Bachelor of Arts (BA), Public Relations