Nick Daggers is a founding partner of the 1833 Group. He has spent fifteen years as a professional political operative working with clients all over the country while helping to oversee their campaign finances and manage their races. He also has worked with numerous nonprofits and other progressive causes.
His career in politics started in 2002 when, as a junior in high school, he walked into a local Democratic candidate’s office and started helping. Since then, he’s been hooked.
For more than eight years, he was a vice president and later partner at the CFO Consulting Group, a nationally known Democratic consulting firm specializing in fundraising, campaign management, and compliance.
Working as a consultant, he specialized in fundraising and development while helping raise millions of dollars for Democratic candidates from coast to coast. During his time with CFO, Nick served over twenty clients including: state-wide candidates in five states, congressional campaigns in more than a dozen states; seven sitting Illinois state legislators; nonprofits; and PACs. He has worked with those clients to reach their fundraising goals and has also assisted in numerous other capacities including campaign management, budgeting, public affairs and long-term planning.
After starting his career as a field organizer in Iowa for New Mexico’s Gov. Bill Richardson’s presidential campaign, Nick returned to Illinois to start raising money for Debbie Halvorson’s successful campaign for Congress in 2008. In 2010, he was the finance director for U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, who raised over $3.8 million—the most of any congressional candidate in Illinois that cycle. He also was the lead fundraising consultant for Foster’s comeback bid to Congress in 2012, which raised over $3.4 million.
Nick founded the 1833 Group in 2018 with his longtime associate and colleague JR Patton. Their goal is to offer fantastic services to clients of all sizes, support the fight for progressive values, and help qualified candidates and causes find success at the ballot box.
In addition to working with candidates, Nick also has worked with nonprofits, PACs and ballot initiatives to help groups reach their fundraising goals and plan for their future.
He is also a frequent commentator, trainer, and expert on campaign finance issues. He has been a part of training and discussion panels for the; American Association of Political Consultants, Campaigns & Elections, the Democratic Party of Illinois, College Democrats of Illinois, and the New Leaders Council. He has provided commentary on CLTV’s Politics Tonight with Paul Lisnek, Business Insider, Crain’s Chicago Business and he was a presenter at the 2019 New Founders Conference in Chicago.
Nick was named to the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) Class of 2020 40 under 40 award winners. He is also is a member of the National Association of Political Fundraisers & the AAPC.
He holds a degree in politics and government as well as history from Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. He lives in the suburbs of Chicago with his wife, Christina, their sons, Carter and Jackson, and their rescue dog Maya.
Nick can be reached at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @nickdaggers1833
James “JR” Patton is a founding partner of the 1833 Group. He has spent over a decade working in professional politics and government administration. JR’s experience in both of these arenas allows him to bring a unique skill set that can be utilized by first-time candidates and seasoned leaders alike.
After being introduced to professional politics knocking doors in Iowa for then-presidential candidate Joe Biden in 2008, JR returned home to Chicago and joined Debbie Halvorson’s successful bid for Congress in the fall of that year. Following the 2008 cycle, JR returned to school, earning an associate degree in arts with a concentration in political science from Lake Land College in Mattoon, Illinois, and a Bachelor of Science with a political science major from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois—all the while continuing to gain experience working with local candidates.
In late 2011, JR again returned home to Chicago, where he managed numerous state legislative and local municipal races during the 2012 and 2013 election cycles. Following the 2013 campaign cycle, JR took a position as chief strategist and counselor to Michelle Markiewicz Qualkinbush, the mayor of Calumet City. During his time in Calumet City, JR quickly became an integral member of the mayor’s inner circle and was quickly elevated to the position of chief of staff. While serving in that capacity, JR led the restructuring and turnaround of two different city departments. In addition to these revamping efforts, JR had a lead role in personnel, purchasing, budgeting and many other administrative functions of the city.
While serving as a member of the Qualkinbush administration, JR continued to advise candidates during his off-hours—working with candidates for various municipal, park board and school board races during the 2015 cycle. In April 2017, JR left his position with Calumet City to begin consulting full time once again.
JR currently resides in Calumet City with his wife, Mollie, and their sons Lukas and James. He also represents Calumet City’s 6th Ward as an alderman on the City Council.
JR can be reached at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @jpatton81018
Mark Mclaurin
Senior VP for Campaigns
Mark Mclaurin joined the 1833 Group in 2021 as the Senior Vice-President of Campaigns. Mark brings over 25 years of experience managing campaigns providing senior strategic advice on electoral and issue advocacy, ballot measures across the United States.
Mark spent 11 years as Political Director at SEIU Local 500, Maryland’s largest SEIU Local and 8 years as a member of the Executive Committee of SEIU’s Maryland/DC State Council. In that role he helped coordinate all direct and independent efforts across the Washington, Virginia, and Maryland region.
Mark is an alumna of the Catholic University of America, a graduate of Human Rights Campaign’s Youth College for Campaign Training, and the Brown-Tully Institute for Democratic Congressional Campaign managers. Mark specializes in working with labor, progressive groups, candidates of color, and LGBTQIA candidates.
He has deep ties to his community in Baltimore, Mark currently serves as a Mayoral appointee to Baltimore City’s Wage and Hour Commission. In addition, he served as the 7th Congressional Director for United States Senator Barbara A. Mikulski and Public Policy Director for the Public Justice Center. Mark also chaired Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis’ LGBT advisory Commission and served on the Policy Committee of Gender Rights Maryland.
Hannah was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where she had her first taste of politics as a high school student, working with the nationally renowned We the People Program: The Citizen and the Constitution, which is run by the Center for Civic Education. It was here that she developed her passion for supporting the people who were going to make a difference in her community and a very healthy love of debate. Learning about the constitution and rights and responsibilities it provides to the American people helped Hannah develop her political views and her lifelong commitment to progressive ideals and the Democratic party.
Hannah is a recent graduate of Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana with degrees in political science and public communications. While attending to full class load, Hannah found time to intern with a local Congressional campaign. Within a few months the candidate asked her to step in and manage the campaign. After that campaign, and while still in school, Hannah took on other responsibilities with local races in the Muncie, IN area.
She is excited to be a part of the 1833 Group and looks forward to help their clients achieve success in the years to come.
Katie began her career at the 1833 Group as an intern where her talents and skills quickly became noticed. After graduating from Illinois State University in May 2020 with degrees in political science and sociology, we brought her on full time as a finance assistant.
Katie is a native of the Chicago suburbs with a lifelong passion for politics and social justice. During her time at ISU, she was very involved with the College Democrats. This student-led-organization gave her the opportunity to volunteer on local campaigns and showed her the importance of getting young people involved in politics. She also spent a summer interning for Congressman Sean Casten’s district office which gave her the opportunity to engage with constituents and learn about local and federal agencies. She is excited to continue working hard to elect progressives across the country.
Fundraising Assistant
