Jonathan Brown

President, Sextant Strategies & Research

Jonathan Brown is a veteran political and public policy opinion researcher with experience ranging from Presidential campaigns and high profile statewide races down to local races for candidates, Independent Expenditure committees and ballot measure committees. He has also provided research to private sector clients, including Fortune 500 companies, advocacy groups and government agencies.

He founded Sextant Strategies & Research in 2015 after serving as West Coast Research Director for national Democratic polling firm Global Strategy Group, for which he opened a Southern California office. Prior to that, he spent a number of years at Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates, a California-based opinion research company.

In the electoral realm, Brown has built a reputation for helping underdog candidates win against long odds. In 2015, he helped David Ryu win a City Council seat in Los Angeles even though his opponent had the endorsements of the popular Mayor, incumbent, term-limited Council member and the powerful L.A. County Federation of Labor. In 2012, Brown was the lead pollster and a strategist on two of the biggest upsets in the California general election. He helped guide Democrat Sharon Quirk-Silva to a surprise victory over an incumbent Republican Assemblyman in Orange County, CA. In the first year of California’s “top two” primary, Brown helped Bay Area Democrat Marc Levine topple an incumbent Democratic Assemblyman who had both the Democratic Party’s official endorsement and a massive funding advantage.

While Brown has worked extensively in California, conducting research in every area of the state, he has an impressive breadth of work throughout the country. Other notable campaigns for which Brown was a key part of the polling team include U.S. Senator Patty Murray’s successful 2010 re-election in Washington and the main Independent Expenditure effort on behalf of U.S. Senator Harry Reid in Nevada that same year. Both races were considered toss-ups throughout the cycle.

Members of Congress that Brown has helped elect or re-elect include Janice Hahn (CA), Steve Kagen (WI), Rick Larsen (WA), Laura Richardson (CA), Linda Sanchez (CA), Loretta Sanchez (CA), Juan Vargas (CA). He has conducted Congressional campaign research for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and League of Conservation Voters.

He has worked on Mayoral and other local races in many of the nation’s largest cities including Boston, Fresno, Honolulu, Houston, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Madison, Milwaukee, San Antonio, San Diego and Seattle.

In the public policy arena, he has helped local governments pass all manner of revenue enhancement measures, protected the interests of Solar Panel owners and enhanced anti-smoking efforts in Nevada and California.

Brown worked on campaigns across the country as a political consultant, campaign manager and communications director for more than a decade before focusing on research.