From Pages of SB Indy to Podium of Pentagon Press Room: Chris Meagher's Odyssey Traces a Political Era
Fondly remembered on the local news beat, Meagher is now a leading Democratic communications strategist in Washington, feeling "exhausted" by Trump, but still hopeful about the future.
On March 26, 2007, 24-year old Chris Meagher scored one of his first front page bylines as a Santa Barbara local news reporter.
“Capps Speaks Out on Paper,” declared the four-column headline in the Santa Barbara Sound, above a story about then-Rep. Lois Capps speaking at a De La Guerra Plaza rally, and assailing the ownership of the News-Press for mistreatment of its workers.
Today, the Daily Sound is long defunct, Lois Capps is long-retired from Congress and the News-Press declared bankruptcy a few years back.
But 42-year old Chris Meagher, who long ago switched jerseys in the eternal contest between newshounds and political hacks, remains at the top of his game.
Now a seasoned and savvy political communications strategist, Meagher mastered his craft as he hustled and hurtled through an unlikely, two-decade professional and personal journey. After six years of churning out stories for the Santa Barbara Independent and a stretch serving as an aide to Capps, he helped build from scratch the insurgent 2020 presidential crusade of Pete Buttigieg, then vaulted to pinnacle platforms of Washington power, as a senior spokesman at the White House and the Pentagon, with multiple adventures between, in red, blue and purple states alike.
“When you join the Administration, you have to fill out what’s called an SF 86 for your background check and clearance, and you have to go back 10 or 15 years, with every address you lived at,” Meagher recalled with a smile during a Newsmakers TV interview this week. “And it was a lot of work — I had to rack my brain a lot about where I’ve lived over the last decade. But that’s the nature of politics - come Election Day, you move on, one way or the other.”
Old school sensibility. In a very online political era, when bombast, braggadocio and trash talking often characterize the language, (lack of) listening skills and mien of millennial political professionals, Meagher is low-key, substantive and thoughtful, a throwback to a time before reality show entertainment supplanted prudence and sobriety in public affairs.
To be sure, he’s displayed skill as an operative in navigating the minute-to-minute, white water turbulence of social media discourse that drives the 24/7 news cycle; with the celebrated political strategist Lis Smith, he helped demonstrate in the upstart 2020 Buttigieg campaign the possibilities and benefits of an “all of the above” campaign communications strategy;
“One thing that (Buttigieg) says all the time is, we can't expect people to go along with our message or understand our message if they've never heard it in the first place,” Meagher said. “They're not going to be on our side if they don't even know what we're saying. And so we really have to get out there.”
More importantly, however, Chris’s professionalism in performing high-level duties during the Biden Administration - from the Department of Transportation to the White House and the Defense Department - bespoke a mature understanding and appreciation for the high stakes of policy decisions affecting real lives of real people.
Which is why this week’s clown show press conference antics by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (whose qualifications for his post begin and end with his experience as a part-time weekend host of “Fox and Friends”), not to mention Donald Trump’s efforts to transform the U.S. military into his personal Praetorian guard, leave Meagher feeling “exhausted.”
“It's discouraging, honestly,” he said “The Pentagon was the hardest job that I've ever had, but it was also the most fulfilling and best job that I've ever had, being able to work directly with the men and women who have signed up to serve their country. “
“Not because Donald Trump is President or Joe Biden is President or Barack Obama or George Bush or whoever,” he added. “They swore an oath to the Constitution to defend our freedom because they believe in what the United States is.
“And…it was refreshing to work with men and women who were there, not focused on politics, but focused on the mission. And to see a press conference like the one that Pete Hegseth held (Thursday) - all political,” Meagher said. “And clearly it was done because Donald Trump was pissed off about this CNN story that contradicted what they had been saying…”
Worth a listen. As a pro-democracy Democratic pro persevering in a landscape transmogrified by right-wing extremism, Meagher offers intriguing perspective on where his party went wrong in 2024 and how it might recover as it braces for the 2026 and 2028 elections. Earnest, honest and reflective, he discussed the Joe Biden he saw up close in the White House, possible contenders for ‘28, and the urgent need for Democrats to adapt and learn to drive breakthrough campaign messages, in a political atmosphere polluted by lies, disinformation and bad faith argument.
Check out our conversation with Chris Meagher via YouTube below or by clicking through this link. The podcast is on Apple, Spotify, and on Soundcloud here. TVSB, Channel 17, airs “Newsmakers TV” weeknights at 8 p.m. and at 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. KCSB, 91.9 FM, broadcasts the program at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.
