Hari Sevugan

Who is Hari Sevugan?

Hari Sevugan is the former national press secretary for the Democratic National Committee. He served as the senior spokesman for the Barack Obama presidential campaign. According to one report "Sevugan's sound bytes were often pithy, biting and memorable." Another report is more direct, noting during the 2008 campaign Sevugan always gave out "the press office's harshest lines."

In June, 2011, Sevugan left his position with the DNC to become the Vice President of Communications for StudentsFirst, an education reform organization founded by Michelle A. Rhee, former chancellor of the Washington, D.C. public schools. He resigned his position in 2012 amidst reports of political differences.

Sevugan grew up in the suburbs of Chicago after moving to the United States with his family from India in 1977. He majored in political science from University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, and received a JD from Northwestern University. In 2003, he quit his legal practice to serve in the political campaign for Dan Hynes against Barack Obama in the Democratic primary for an open Senate seat from Illinois.