Maria Handley (born 4 October 1977) is a member-at-large of the Democratic National Committee from

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

. A veteran of both Bill Bradley and

Howard Dean Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American physician, author, lobbyist, and retired politician who served as the 79th governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 2009 ...

's campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination, Handley was appointed by Dean to the DNC. As a superdelegate to the

2008 Democratic National Convention The 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for president and vice president. The convent ...

, Handley has publicly supported

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

Biography

Born in rural

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

and adopted as a child by Boulder County couple Bruce and Vija Handley, Maria Handley graduated from the

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sy ...

in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and a minor in

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

. Her parents were politically active and her father ran for state representative when she was two years old, and Handley entered professional politics shortly after graduation. She worked as a field director in

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

and

for the 2000 presidential campaign of Bill Bradley, and for Mayor

Paul Schell Paul E. S. Schell (born Paul Ervin Schlachtenhaufen; October 8, 1937 – July 27, 2014) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 50th mayor of Seattle, Washington from 1998 to 2002. Early life and education The oldest of six chi ...

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

in 2001. She was then statewide political director for Rollie Heath's unsuccessful bid for Colorado governor in 2002. Handley was one of the first staff members hired by the presidential campaign of Howard Dean in February 2003, serving first as Regional Political Director and then as National Deputy Director of Constituency Outreach for the Dean campaign. Following the end of Dean's presidential bid, Handley returned to Colorado and worked as field director for Ken Salazar's Senate campaign, and as Outreach Director for ProgressNow.org. She is currently working as a field consultant for

Jared Polis Jared Schutz Polis (; born May 12, 1975) is an American politician, entrepreneur, businessman, and philanthropist, serving as the 43rd governor of Colorado since January 2019. He served one term on the Colorado State Board of Education from 20 ...

' campaign for the Democratic nomination in Colorado's 2nd congressional district, and as campaign manager for Rollie Heath, now a candidate for the

Colorado State Senate The Colorado Senate is the upper house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Colorado. It is composed of 35 members elected from single-member districts, with each district having a population of about 123,0 ...

. Handley is married; she and her husband, Rich Pelletier, currently live in Lafayette, Colorado. Handley was appointed by chairman

to an at-large seat on the Democratic National Committee, and is a member of the DNC's Hispanic Caucus. As a member of the Democratic National Committee, she is a superdelegate to the

. In 2007, she announced her intention to vote for New York Sen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Handley, Maria Living people University of Colorado Boulder alumni 1977 births People from Lafayette, Colorado