In another sign of a likely reelection bid, Gov. Tony Evers today rolled out four new hires for his political operation including Cassi Fenili as campaign manager.

Along with Fenili, Haley Barbour will serve as finance director, Atanu Chakravarty as director of strategic initiatives and Sam Roecker as communications director.

The campaign said the hires will work to advance Evers’ agenda and “highlight his steady leadership that continues to move Wisconsin forward.”

Evers, 69, has yet to formally announce if he will run for a second term. But he finished 2020 with $3.4 million in the bank after the state party transferred $2.7 million to his campaign last year. By comparison, former Gov. Scott Walker finished 2012 with $793,861 in the bank and had $59,318 cash on hand to finish 2016, two years before he lost his reelection bid to Evers.

Fenili first joined Evers’ campaign staff in 2017, serving as deputy campaign manager. She worked for his administration after he took office in 2019 and then moved back to a senior adviser role with his campaign. During the 2020 election cycle, she also worked with the state Dem Party on the “save the veto” initiative to prevent Republicans from reaching two-thirds majorities in both houses of the Legislature.

Barbour most recently served as finance director for Kansas U.S. Senate candidate Barbara Bollier and was the Iowa political director for U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s presidential campaign.

Last cycle, Chakravarty was director of media and research for the Democratic Governors Association’s independent expenditure efforts.

Roecker served as consultant with the state party’s save the veto effort and was communications director for Jill Karofsky’s successful 2020 campaign for state Supreme Court.

Evers’ campaign also announced that Mitch Wallace, who had been the operation’s executive director, would continue as a political adviser and member of senior leadership.

See the release.

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