Human Rights Campaign hires Obama, Harris veterans for 2026 LGBTQ+ rights fight

The Human Rights Campaign is rebuilding parts of its senior leadership ranks ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, adding veteran operatives in policy, litigation, strategy, communications, and state advocacy as the LGBTQ+ rights movement prepares for another defining political cycle.The organization announced Wednesday that it had made several senior appointments, including Kate Childs Graham as chief strategy officer, Sharon McGowan as senior vice president of policy and litigation, Laura MacCleery as vice president of policy and law, Densil Porteous as vice president of volunteer leadership, Ramiro Sarmiento as national press secretary, and Mo Jenkins as Texas state director.The hires come at a moment when LGBTQ+ advocacy groups are recalibrating for fights that now stretch from school boards and statehouses to federal agencies, courtrooms, corporate America, and the 2026 ballot.Related: As LGBTQ+ people go back into the closet under Trump, the Human Rights Campaign reveals plan to fight back“As attacks on LGBTQ+ people continue across the country, HRC is investing in the experienced leadership needed to meet this moment,” Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. “These leaders bring decades of expertise across public policy, advocacy, communications, electoral strategy, and coalition building. Together, they will help accelerate our work to defend our community, expand equality, and build the power needed to create lasting change.”The personnel moves also come weeks after Brandon Wolf, the Pulse survivor and gun violence prevention advocate who had served as HRC’s national press secretary, left the organization to return to Equality Florida as senior director of communications strategy. In May, Wolf told The Advocate that he was returning to Florida’s “front lines” ahead of the 10th commemoration of the Pulse nightclub massacre, saying, “I’m not headed back to the front lines in spite of my time at HRC. I??