Marshall Cohen

Marshall Cohen is a veteran political strategist with winning experience at the local, state, and federal level. Marshall has worked with candidates up and down the ballot to develop their brand, hone a message that can cut through the noise, and design a media buy to reach the right audiences – all key factors that have helped Marshall’s candidates win in the toughest territory and the most difficult political environments.

From 2019 to 2023, Marshall served as the Political Director at the Democratic Governors Association (DGA), where he oversaw the entire political program. He managed over $250 million in campaign investments, strategically spending resources to gain four new governors and defend 17 of 18 incumbents. Under Marshall’s watch, the DGA won tough races – from Louisiana to Kentucky, North Carolina to Michigan, Pennsylvania to Arizona. His work helped break barriers – from quadrupling the number of women Democratic governors, to electing the first two lesbian governors in history, to re-electing the first Democratic Latina and electing only the third African American governor in our nation’s history. Through this success he has become a trusted political advisor to governors and a mentor to campaign staff – providing message guidance, strategic support, and tactical advice.

Before his extensive work at the gubernatorial level, Marshall had crisscrossed the country managing races at all levels of the ballot, from state legislative races to judicial seats and “Red to Blue” congressional races. He managed Jamie Raskin’s win in the most expensive primary campaign for Congress in history, despite being outspent 8 to 1. 

Marshall has also done significant work in the non-electoral space: running sophisticated paid media programs for issue advocacy groups, designing and executing smart primary-purpose voter education work for 501c4 organizations in multiple states, and even leading a ballot initiative in Kentucky to stop the legislature from procedural overreach. 

Throughout his career, Marshall has become a trusted political analyst for leading organizations and the nation’s top donors. His political insights have been quoted in the New York Times, Politico, USA Today, Associated Press, and CBS News. Marshall was given the “40 Under 40” award from the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) and named a “New Jerseyan of the Year” by the political news outlet the New Jersey Globe. 

A proud native of New Jersey, Marshall got his bachelors and masters degree at The George Washington University. He now lives in Washington, DC with his wife Dara and their rescue dog Julep.