[3] Brazile was also previously a CNN contributor, but resigned in October 2016, after WikiLeaks revealed that she shared two debate questions with Hillary Clinton's campaign during the 2016 United States presidential election.

[7] After graduating from LSU, Brazile worked for several advocacy groups in Washington, D.C., and was reportedly instrumental in the successful campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday.

[9] After Gephardt lost the primary in 1988, Brazile served as deputy field director of the Michael Dukakis general election campaign.

[10] On October 20, 1988, she made headlines by telling a group of reporters that George H. W. Bush needed to "fess up" about unsubstantiated rumors of an extramarital affair.

[10][13] Four years later, the same issue, the relationship of George H. W. Bush and Jennifer Fitzgerald, would be briefly rehashed during the 1992 campaign against Bill Clinton, who had his own extramarital affair rumors.

"[21] She was strongly critical of the Stupak–Pitts Amendment, which places limits on taxpayer-funded abortions in the context of the November 2009 Affordable Health Care for America Act.

As vice-chair of the DNC, she led the organization during the transition between outgoing chair Tim Kaine, who resigned to run for the U.S. Senate, and his successor, Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was not permitted to ascend to the post until at least fifteen days after being nominated on April 5, 2011.

"[27] At the next event in Flint, Clinton was delivered a similar question from audience member Mikki Wade, whose family was affected by the poisoned water.

[31] Brazile at first vehemently denied receiving or furnishing the Clinton campaign with any town hall questions and dismissed the WikiLeaks organization as "these sad ass whipper leakers try to slow my groove".

"[34] Jake Tapper, a former colleague of Brazile's at CNN, provided his perspective on the leak of a question to a Presidential candidate, calling it "very, very upsetting" and added that "journalistically, it's horrifying".

"[37] In a talk at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications on the University of Nebraska–Lincoln campus on October 12, 2016, Brazile condemned the leaks, which intelligence officials said came from Russia,[38] and said they were intended to "manipulate an election, disrupt or discredit or destroy our democracy" and ultimately try to "produce an outcome more favorable to them and their interests.

"[39] On October 31, 2016, The New York Times reported: "CNN has severed ties with the Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, after hacked e-mails from WikiLeaks showed that she shared questions for CNN-sponsored candidate events in advance with friends on Hillary Clinton's campaign.

"[41] On March 17, 2017, Brazile admitted to forwarding debate questions to Clinton's campaign during the 2016 Democratic primary, while she was Vice Chair of the DNC and working as a CNN commentator.

[42][43][44] In an essay she wrote for Time magazine, she said, "Then in October, a subsequent release of e-mails revealed that among the many things I did in my role as a Democratic operative and D.N.C.

"[45] Despite the scandal, Brazile went on to serve on various boards, including the National Democratic Institute (NDI), whose mission is to ensure free and fair elections.

[47] Brazile was a weekly contributor and political commentator on CNN's The Situation Room and appeared on American Morning and its successor, New Day.

Brazile had agreed mutually with both CNN and ABC to suspend her contracts with the networks in order to serve as interim chair of the DNC.

[53] According to Elisabeth Rosenthal of The New York Times, "While the book is primarily a charming autobiography about how a poor black girl came to run a presidential campaign, its publication is giving the refreshingly impolitic Ms. Brazile the opportunity to pour forth in writing and in interviews on larger issues, like what went wrong in 2000 and what the Democrats need to do to win in 2004.

"[54] Brazile is also the coauthor—with Yolanda Caraway, Leah Daughtry, and Minyon Moore—of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics (2018), a joint history and biography.

[66][67] In 1999, The New York Times Magazine described Brazile as a gay rights activist who served on the board of the Millennium March on Washington.