Symone Sanders Townsend is an author, seasoned democratic strategist and co-host of MSNBC’s The Weeknight.

Symone rose to prominence in 2016 as the national press secretary for U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders’s then-presidential campaign. At 25, she became the youngest presidential press secretary on record and was named to Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of 16 young Americans shaping the 2016 election. At 29, she published her first book, No, You Shut Up: Speaking Truth to Power and Reclaiming America and served as a senior advisor for President Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign. At 31, Symone was appointed as a senior member of the Biden-Harris administration serving as Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor and Chief Spokesperson to Vice President Kamala Harris. With her White House appointment, Symone became the first Black woman to serve as a spokesperson to a Vice President. In 2022, she joined MSNBC to host “SYMONE” providing essential context on the most pressing issues facing Americans today.

Now, Symone brings the depth of her experience to The Weeknight where she and her co-hosts serve as the go-to source for viewers on headlines of the day.

A communicator with a passion for problem solving and social justice, Symone served as the national chair of the Coalition of Juvenile Justice Emerging Leaders Committee and a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice before joining Senator Sanders’s campaign. There, she worked to raise the profile of young voices in the fight for juvenile justice reform and brought millennial perspectives to policy conversations. Prior to joining the Biden-Harris administration, Symone owned her own consulting firm where she helped clients find sound solutions to tough political and social problems.

She is a former political commentator for CNN and resident fellow of both Harvard's Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School and the University of Southern California's Center for the Political Future. Symone holds an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from American University. In 2024, she received Black Enterprise’s Luminary Award at the Women of Power Summit.

She is a proud member of the Links Incorporated and a native of North Omaha, Nebraska. Symone currently resides in Washington D.C. with her husband, Shawn Townsend.

Symone’s discussion was titled The Road to 2025: Unpacking the Democratic Party Apparatus.