Peter Ragone

Who is Peter Ragone?

Peter Ragone III is an American public affairs expert and entrepreneur active in a range of political and civic efforts. He is the Senior Adviser for Strategic Planning for New York Mayor de Blasio.

Ragone had a long career in American politics. He was press secretary to then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Ragone played a crucial role in crafting Newsom’s major policy issues on topics such as same-sex marriage, universal healthcare and homelessness.

Prior to working with Newsom, Ragone served as communications director for Gray Davis and worked in the governor's anti-recall campaign. Ragone was also Al Gore's New York and California presidential campaign communications director. Ragone also served as chief spokesman for Andrew Cuomo in his 2002 run for New York governor. Cuomo chose Ragone for this role after he worked as Cuomo’s national press office director during his tenure as Housing and Urban Development Secretary under the Clinton administration. Ragone also worked on former Governor Mario Cuomo’s campaign for reelection in 1994. Ragone also briefly served on Hillary Rodham Clinton’s first campaign for Senate and got his start in national politics during the Clinton-Gore coordinated presidential campaign in 1996.