Maria Cardona
Political Commentator
Maria Cardona is a CNN and CNN en Español political commentator, who has appeared on MSNBC, FOX, Univision, and Telemundo prior to signing on exclusively with
Panelists spar over Trump's shifting hurricane rhetoric
CNN commentators Maria Cardona and Scott Jennings spar over President Trump's recent comments about Puerto Rico and Florida as Hurricane Dorian makes its way towards the US.
Cardona: Trump tweets highlight hypocrisy
Why Sanders must take the high road
Trump's 'enabler' charge against Clinton won't work
What happened to Boy Wonder?
GOP Strategist: brokered convention 'highly unlikely'
Fiorina to appear on 'View' after 'demented' comments
Why Hillary Clinton dominated
Donald Trump fever starting to break
Celebrate new day for U.S-Cuba relations
Rubio embodies American Dream, but would deny it to others
Maria Cardona is a CNN and CNN en Español political commentator, who has appeared on MSNBC, FOX, Univision, and Telemundo prior to signing on exclusively with CNN. She is regarded as one of the nation's top 100 most influential Latinos. A seasoned public policy advocate and political strategist, , Cardona has more than two decades of experience in the government, politics, public relations and community affairs arenas. Recognized among the most influential Latinos in the country, Cardona is a principal at the Dewey Square Group (DSG), leading the Multicultural and Public Affairs practices. Cardona joined DSG in 2005 and founded DSG's Latino Strategies practice, "Latinovations," leveraging her reach in the Latino community by advocating on Latino issues, guiding clients on "best practices" for coalition building and support for their positions, products, and brands within the Hispanic community, and spearheading multicultural campaigns.
While at DSG, Cardona served as a senior advisor and spokesperson to the Hillary Clinton for President Campaign during the 2008 Democratic primary election, serving on the campaign's Hispanic outreach team. During the 2008 general election, she was a key surrogate for the Obama for America election campaign, a role she revisited during the most recent 2012 presidential election.
Before joining DSG, Cardona led the New Democrat Network's (NDN) outreach initiative with Hispanics nationwide as a senior vice president. Her government and political background includes service as director of communications for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), and five years at the Department of Commerce, first as Deputy Press Secretary and later as Press Secretary. During her time at the Commerce Department, she acted as lead communications strategist for the passage of NAFTA in 1993. She also served as communications director for the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2003.
Cardona serves on the Boards of Directors of numerous organizations dedicated to Latino issues and youth including Hoops Sagrado, New America Media, Citizenship Counts, PODER PAC, Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino, and the National Hispana Leadership Institute.