Ethan Rome

Ethan Rome is a social justice strategist and campaign leader with more than 35 years of experience running large-scale state and national legislative, political, and union organizing campaigns. Ethan joined Issue One in 2018 and oversees the legislative, communications, and research departments, and leads cross-cutting initiatives such as the $15 million Count Every Vote campaign and efforts to strengthen our elections and hold social media platforms accountable.

Ethan is the former executive director of Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the national grassroots coalition that ran a $60 million five-year effort to pass, protect, and promote the Affordable Care Act. Prior to HCAN, Rome directed national communications for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, one of the largest labor unions in America.

Before coming to Washington, DC, Ethan served as policy and communications director to Connecticut Speaker of the House Tom Ritter,  built one of the first comprehensive political operations for a state legislative caucus in the country, and co-directed a  campaign to enact a new state income tax that is now responsible for 50% of the state’s revenue. He began his career as an organizer and then the legislative and political director for the Connecticut Citizen Action Group, a grassroots economic justice organization founded in 1970.