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AI in Politics
About

Jonathan Barnes on Campaign AI

Jonathan Barnes is CEO of Authentic, co-founder of Quiller, and an award-winning Democratic campaign technology leader. His work focuses on practical AI systems for Democratic campaigns, progressive organizations, and political firms — especially human-reviewed workflows, AI-assisted fundraising, campaign operations, and staff-facing AI infrastructure.

His AI-specific individual honors include Campaigns & Elections’ AI Leader of the Year and AI Pioneer of the Year. He has also received multiple Campaigns & Elections and AAPC Pollie awards for campaign technology, digital strategy, and platform work.

What Jonathan works on

  • AI operations for Democratic campaigns
  • Human-reviewed campaign workflows
  • AI-assisted digital fundraising
  • Campaign AI infrastructure
  • AI governance for political firms
  • Staff adoption and workflow redesign
  • Campaign task routing and approval systems
  • Generative AI in political communications

Jonathan worked in AI before it was cool (pre-ChatGPT)

Jonathan has been working on AI in Democratic political campaigns since before the current wave — well before ChatGPT. His work on the 2020 Joe Biden for President campaign is documented in this Biden for President case study.

Experience

Authentic

Jonathan is CEO of Authentic, a Democratic digital fundraising company that builds infrastructure used by campaigns, committees, and progressive organizations. This includes the award-winning AI-powered internal Spark Assist tool.

Quiller

Jonathan was a co-founder of Quiller, an AI-assisted digital fundraising platform built specifically for Democratic campaigns and progressive organizations.

AI in Politics

AI in Politics is Jonathan’s ongoing body of writing and frameworks on practical AI adoption inside Democratic campaigns and progressive organizations — published here and on Substack.

Awards and recognition

AI-specific individual recognition

Broader campaign technology recognition

  • Multiple Campaigns & Elections and AAPC Pollie awards for campaign technology, digital strategy, and platform work

Speaking and media

Jonathan speaks regularly at conferences on AI operations inside political organizations, and his work has been covered in industry press.

Featured coverage: Jonathan Barnes Named CEO of Authentic — Campaigns & Elections.

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Speaker bio

Jonathan Barnes is CEO of Authentic, co-founder of Quiller, and an award-winning Democratic campaign technology leader. He writes and speaks about AI operations for Democratic campaigns, with a focus on human-reviewed workflows, campaign infrastructure, fundraising, and practical adoption inside political organizations.