Matthew John Dowd is a political commentator, analyst, and consultant from USA. He is well known as chief strategist for George W. Bush’s presidential re-election campaign in 2004. His oldest son served in Baghdad for two years as signal intelligence specialist.
Matthew Dowd’s net worth is estimated around $5 million currently, while his girlfriend Maria Shriver net worth is at about $100 million. He is an active political analyst and a very loud opponent of President Trump’s politics. Dowd’s tweets and opinions on different issues often start many debates, controversies, and criticism. He shares his points of view of American politics very often. Below are some highlights in his political and personal life that might interest you.
Walk Through the Article
Early Life And Education
Matthew Dowd was born on 29 May 1961 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He was raised in a Catholic family with 11 children, with him being the third child. His mother worked as an elementary school teacher and his father was an automotive executive. They were Republicans. Dowd attended Cardinal Newman College in St.Louis, Missouri.
Career
Matthew Dowd found a strong interest in politics when he was only 12 years old while following the Senate Watergate Committee hearings in 1973. While in college, Dowd volunteered for the campaign of the Democrat Joseph P. Teasdale and for the campaign of the Republican William Broomfield.
He started his political career as a Democrat, and was a campaign staff member of Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Dowd worked also for the Texas governor Bob Bullock and in 1999, decided to switch parties and become a Republican. In 2002, Dowd worked as a Republican National Committee senior adviser, and was chief strategist for the 2004 presidential re-election campaign for George W. Bush. He worked for another re-election campaign, for Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006.
In 2007 Dowd started to disagree with George W. Bush’s politics and started to criticize him over Iraq War, handling the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe, and refusing to meet Cindy Sheehan, an anti-war activist, whose son was killed in Iraq war. After Dowd left the Bush administration, he started to work as political analyst for ABC. He has taught at school of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, as well as at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics.
Dowd is a co-author of the bestseller Applebee’s America: How successful political, business and religious leaders connect with the new American Community. In 2017, he released his own book, A New Way: Embracing the Paradox as we Lead and Serve.
Dowd is an opponent of President Trump politics and thinks that his use of Twitter is dangerous. Dowd has founded three successful companies, including Public Strategies Inc, a public affairs firm, and Vianovo, a brand positioning and international communications firm.
Dowd’s Stance On Current Issues
Coronavirus Outbreak
During this coronavirus pandemic, Dowd has emphasized the question of loss. He recalled the moments he was going through tough period in his private life, a battle for his twin daughters’ health. The struggle, the grief, the strength to be there for the other child, which reminds him of the current pandemic situation, a new reality the world faces. Everyone according to him has experienced the trauma of loss during this pandemic – be it personal or collective, loss of someone, societal loss of the previous life we were used to, or loss of a job. But we should be grateful for other small things.
Dowd says the pandemic gives us the opportunities to help people and to get used to a different, simpler life. He often speaks about his personal trauma, which includes the loss of his twin daughter and younger sister to drug addiction. His surviving twin daughter is 17 years old now, a light of that journey which changed their everyday life and they got used to a different life, a new beginning. The society will get used to a different reality as well after the coronavirus pandemic, he assures.
2020 Presidential Election
Dowd analyzed the presidential elections results back in history and claims that ideology never won elections. For more than 25 years, ideology has never decided the winner. According to Dowd, the voters will decide over the approval of president Trump. If it’s more than 50%, then it will be hard to beat him; but if it’s below 50% it will be hard for him to win.
However Dowd thinks that the 2020 President will have to heal the country which has been divided in so many different ways. So, the Democrats should choose a candidate who is in best position to beat Trump. Dowd even points out names for Republican candidates for 2024 election.
Economy
The US economy seems to be the only field that Dowd agrees with President Trump on some issues. He often says that the President is winning, talking about the economy. He agrees with President Trump’s position over the corona pandemic, about finding a balance between protecting people’s health and protecting the economy.
Megyn Kelly & Matthew Dowd Twitter War
The Twitter war between Kelly and Dowd started with Dowd himself who advised the American journalists, Megyn Kelly and former host of “Today” show, Matt Lauer to fade away and enjoy their pot of money. Kelly replied that she could do that, but instead has decided to speak up for women being harassed and abused.
Many thought that putting together Lauer, who has been accused of rape and Kelly who has been victimized by people like Lauer was note wise. Dowd continued with criticism over her support for women, which was also considered by many as a mistake, since she was very loud about Trump’s behavior to women. Her battle over this issue was filmed in the movie, Bombshell, played by Charlize Theron. It ended with Dowd deleting the original Tweet after much criticism. Kelly accepted that as an apology.
Personal Life
Matthew Dowd has been married twice so far. First, he was married to Tammy Edgerly and has three sons from that marriage. His second marriage was to Nicole Baines and it was short lived as well. He had twin girls from the second marriage, though one of them died after few months of birth.
Girlfriend, Maria Shriver
Since 2013, Dowd has been in a relationship with Maria Shriver, the ex wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former California governor and actor. He met Maria Shriver while working for her husband’s campaign for California governorship election. They started a relationship in 2013, few years after Maria filed for divorce from the former actor and governor.
Maria was married to Anold Schwarzenegger for 25 years. She decided to divorce him when it was publicly revealed that he has a child with a member of the household staff. The couple has 4 children together.
Maria is a niece of former American President, John F. Kennedy. He was her uncle. She worked as a journalist but left journalism due to conflict of interests when her husband was elected governor. Since 2013 she has been a substitute co-anchor in “Today” show and “Hoda & Jenna” on NBC.
Also, Maria founded a nonprofit organization, The Women’s Alzheimer’s movement. She was an executive producer of The Alzheimer’s Project documentary that earned her two Emmy Awards. She is well known for her charity work. There is a nursery named after her in Saint John’s Health Center.
Maria is also as an author; she has written six books so far. Besides the books, she has published the Coloring book “Color your mind” dedicated to people with Alzheimer’s.
Maria was born on 6 November 1955 in Chicago. She received Bachelor Degree of Arts from Georgetown University in Washington.
Related Amazon Products
 | A New Way: Embracing the Paradox as We Lead and Serve |
 | Applebee’s America: How Successful Political, Business, and Religious Leaders Connect with the New American Community |
