Max Weisman: Believing in a Message and Crafting It

Philadelphia City Councilmember Isaiah Thomas is a celebrity in local politics despite only serving one term. In the recent city council elections he came in first, receiving nearly 200,000 votes.

This is down to how active he is in all neighborhoods across the city and delivering on social reform legislation that has community input. The architect behind the messaging of these accomplishments has been his communications director Max Weisman.

Towards the end of his time in college, studying public communication at Temple University, he was already helping with a statewide campaign. This was for former congresswoman Allyson Schwartz's attempt to become the Democratic nominee for governor in 2014. Max was offered a full-time position if she won the primary and this would have been perfect timing since he was about to graduate. He recalls the feeling after Schwartz came short in the election and what he learned from this experience.

“I think you both have to be in it 150% when you're in it, but also recognize that your life continues after election day. On a professional level, it was a good reminder that I have to constantly be working on something, but also figuring out what's next. From a personal standpoint, it reminded me that my friends, my relationships, my family, all those things really got put on the back burner during the campaign,”

Life did go on after that election since Max found a job conducting research for the Democratic National Committee and through a friend who knew Isaish, he came in to assist in the stages of his 2015 run for city council. He also makes more time for his loved ones and says that his wife and daughter motivate him to perform at his best with every project.

Photo of Max Weisman courtesy of the @AWeisman1ceSaid account on X.

In our conversation, Max stated that all roads in Philadelphia politics lead back to Larry Ceisler. He helped raise Thomas’ profile to the point where he narrowly lost in the 2015 primaries by less than 1,500 votes. This success put Weisman on the map and was starting to get recognized in the local political sphere. He explained how he met this respected figure and the work he did at his firm Ceisler Media & Issue Advocacy.

“He had an opening specifically for someone who was going to be working on City Hall-related stuff, which was really exciting to me. I also don't think I would have been interested in working at a traditional PR firm, but because he did issue-based PR, it felt like a really easy transition for me. Instead of the issue being the candidate, I was working on immigration or child welfare. So the skill set and network felt really similar.”

The media relations expert claimed that anyone can be taught to write a press release but he believes the trait that made him stand out was the loyalty he showed to the clients and employers he worked with. He continued the friendship he formed with Thomas on the campaign trail and after winning a seat in the 2019 council primary election he joined the office but makes sure to keep up his professional relationship with Larry til this day.

The close bond they formed made working together a lot easier given their shared values, which is especially important when you are in charge of framing communications for the office. Max appreciates the exchanges of ideas they had in reference to the intersectionality of struggles Black and Jewish residents face and how the two communities could better support each other.

“When you're working for an individual like Isaiah instead of an agency like Ceisler, you have to not only really learn how a person speaks and thinks, but there has to be a lot of innate trust. I am speaking on your behalf when you are not in the room, and that can be really scary and nerve-wracking on both parts. But we have perfected it over the years.”

Max says that he does not experience a normal day-to-day routine as communication director but most of his tasks deal with crafting proactive messaging and talking with media outlets or community groups.

One of councilmember Thomas’ legislative staples has been the Driving Equity Bill, which impedes police from stopping drivers for low-level offenses like a broken tail light. Max explained why this was a success and the work that went into people understanding the intention of the bill. The bill passed by a 14 to two margin and has now added to the national conversation around criminal justice. Councilmember Thomas has been interviewed by national outlets and other municipalities are looking to implement similar policies.

Before this could happen, there was local support that needed to be garnered first. Weisman could spot which groups would critique the legislation and knew the best communication channels to get their feedback.

“We knew from the getgo that it was not gonna be popular because people on the left weren't gonna like it because they felt like it didn't go far enough in terms of police reform, and we knew that people on the right wouldn't like it because it could be seen as anti-police. People in the middle just wouldn't care about their issues. So the challenge is getting people to care about it in the exact way that I care about it. We held town halls, talked to the press on background, and used social media as informal focus groups to perfect our messaging.”

As councilmember Thomas increases his workload, the office will grow too. Max has been able to bring on another staffer who also helps with communications. Ben Wilcox interned with them during his senior year at Temple and was hired at the start of the summer. He currently helps Wesiman with digital communications, something the office hopes to improve on for their second term.

Ben and Max had the same favorite college professor and Max had stayed in contact with that instructor over the years. He reached out to the communication director to inform him that he had a student with similar interests. Weisman brought him on as an intern and has taught him more about the specifics of traditional communication. Ben is the second intern that Max has helped onboard as a full-staff member.

In less than years Max has amassed an impressive amount of campaign and public relations experience which now helps him manage the voice of the city’s most popular legislator and pass wisdom to the next of political communication invested youth.