Nick Daggers is a founding partner of the 1833 Group. He has spent more than a decade as a professional political operative working with clients all over the country while helping to oversee their campaign finances and manage their races. He also has worked with numerous nonprofits and other progressive causes.
His career in politics started in 2002 when, as a junior in high school, he walked into a local Democratic candidate’s office and started helping. Since then, he’s been hooked. For more than eight years, he was a vice president and later partner at the CFO Consulting Group, a nationally known Democratic consulting firm specializing in fundraising, campaign management, and compliance.
Working as a consultant, he specialized in fundraising and development while helping raise millions of dollars for Democratic candidates from coast to coast. During his time with CFO, Nick served over twenty clients including: state-wide candidates in five states, congressional campaigns in more than a dozen states; seven sitting Illinois state legislators; nonprofits; and PACs. He has worked with those clients to reach their fundraising goals and has also assisted in numerous other capacities including campaign management, budgeting, public affairs and long-term planning.
After starting his career as a field organizer in Iowa for New Mexico’s Gov. Bill Richardson’s presidential campaign, Nick returned to Illinois to start raising money for Debbie Halvorson’s successful campaign for Congress in 2008. In 2010, he was the finance director for U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, who raised over $3.8 million—the most of any congressional candidate in Illinois that cycle. He also was the lead fundraising consultant for Foster’s comeback bid to Congress in 2012, which raised over $3.4 million.
Nick founded the 1833 Group in 2018 with his longtime associate and colleague JR Patton. Their goal is to offer fantastic services to clients of all sizes, support the fight for progressive values, and help qualified candidates and causes find success at the ballot box.
In addition to working with candidates, Nick also has worked with nonprofits, PACs and ballot initiatives to help groups reach their fundraising goals and plan for their future.
He is also a frequent commentator and trainer on campaign finance issues. He has lead training panels for the College Democrats of Illinois, New Leaders Council, and the Elgin YWCA’s Run for Office, A Woman’s Focus. He has provided commentary on CLTV’s Politics Tonight with Paul Lisnek and was a presenter at the 2019 New Founders Conference in Chicago.
Nick holds a degree in politics and government as well as history from Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. He lives in the suburbs of Chicago with his wife, Christina, and their sons, Carter and Jackson. Nick also is a member of the National Association of Political Fundraisers and the American Association of Political Consultants.
