La Follette High School class of 2005 alumnus Sam Cornale has been named the next executive director of the Democratic National Committee. He will help guide the Democratic Party through the 2022 midterm elections.

Cornale was “a critical part of our success these past four years," the DNC tweeted last week. "We’re proud that he will be working with (DNC Chair Jaime Harrison) to build on the progress made and continue winning seats up and down the ballot."

Cornale previously helped manage the DNC during the 2018 and 2020 elections. He also oversaw Tom Perez's 2017 campaign to chair the DNC and worked for Perez when Perez served as Labor Secretary under President Barack Obama.

Cornale, a born-and-raised Madisonian, attended Kennedy Elementary School, graduated from La Follette High School and received his bachelor’s degree in political science from University of Wisconsin-Madison. Since 2017 he has taught a course each spring semester for the university's Wisconsin in Washington, D.C., internship program, where students take classes and intern in the nation's capital. This spring, even though the program is online because of COVID-19, Cornale is teaching a class called "Presidential campaigns and governance."