14 Facts About Timothy Kraft

Timothy E Kraft was a retired Democratic political consultant, best known as the campaign manager for the unsuccessful reelection bid of US President Jimmy Carter.

The son of a pediatrician, Kraft was born into a staunchly Democratic family in Noblesville, Indiana.

Timothy Kraft was raised in the then-Republican stronghold of Muncie, Indiana.

Timothy Kraft worked part-time on the staff of US Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana, a Carter primary opponent in 1976.

In 1966 and 1967, Timothy Kraft engaged in graduate work in Latin American studies at Georgetown University in Washington, DC Thereafter, he was something of a political wanderer during the era of the Vietnam War.

Timothy Kraft subsequently settled in New Mexico, where in the capital city of Santa Fe he became the executive director of the state Democratic Party.

In 1974, Timothy Kraft worked to elect the liberal Jerry Apodaca as governor.

Timothy Kraft was regional coordinator for the 1975 Democratic national telethon.

Timothy Kraft worked to solicit campaign contributions from ten western states so that Carter could qualify for federal matching funds under the amended 1974 Federal Election Campaign Act.

Timothy Kraft was sent to organize the Iowa caucuses; though Carter finished second to "None of the Above", he was proclaimed by the national media as the winner in Iowa and went forward to key primary victories thereafter in New Hampshire, Florida, and Pennsylvania, where Kraft played a leading role in assembling the Carter partisans to eliminate the challenge of US Senator Henry M Jackson of Washington state.

Still Timothy Kraft was saddled with nearly $60,000 in unreimbursed legal expenses; later the Reagan administration obtained passage of a law that reimburses persons in such situations when cleared of wrongdoing, but the measure was not retroactive to cover Timothy Kraft.

In 2004, Kraft lived in Corrales, New Mexico, the home of former US Senator Fred R Harris of Oklahoma, another of the 1976 Democratic primary presidential candidates.

In 2008, Timothy Kraft was retired and lived with his wife, Molly, in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Timothy Kraft died in Albuquerque, New Mexico on January 21,2024 at the age of 82.