About Us
Experienced leadership. Disciplined strategy. Proven results.
What We Believe
Winning doesn’t start with tactics. It starts with a solid strategic foundation that puts our clients on a winning trajectory.
Clear strategy. Disciplined execution. And the experience to know when to adapt as conditions change.
In high-stakes campaigns, complexity is a given—competing interests, shifting narratives, limited resources. Success comes from bringing clarity to that complexity and building a strategy that holds under pressure.
At Foundation Public, we help our clients win through strategy, not improvisation. The right foundation that is grounded in insight, shaped by experience, and executed with precision creates the conditions for campaigns to convert passion for change into delivering results.
What We Do
35 Ballot Measures
State Legislative Advocacy
Independent Expenditures
US Presidential Campaign
Crisis Communications
Non-Profit Campaigns
National Issue Advocacy
Legislative Caucus Campaigns
State, County, and City Campaigns
Leadership
Chris Lehman
Founder, Foundation Public
About Chris
Chris Lehman is a senior political and public affairs strategist trusted by trusted national organizations, high-profile political leaders, high net-worth individuals, and multimillion dollar campaigns to navigate complex, high-stakes challenges.
Selected Experience
Directed communications and paid media programs totaling $500M+
Advised on national, statewide, and local campaigns, including 2020 presidential
Led strategy for 35+ ballot measure campaigns
Extensive experience across issue advocacy, public affairs, and crisis communications
Leadership
Chris Lehman
Founder, Foundation Public
About Chris
Chris Lehman is a senior political and public affairs strategist trusted by trusted national organizations, high-profile political leaders, high net-worth individuals, and multimillion dollar campaigns to navigate complex, high-stakes challenges.
Selected Experience
Directed communications and paid media programs totaling $500M+
Advised on national, statewide, and local campaigns, including 2020 presidential
Led strategy for 35+ ballot measure campaigns
Extensive experience across issue advocacy, public affairs, and crisis communications
Campaign Highlights
Chris has played senior roles on nationally visible efforts, including co-creating the campaign that helped force Congress into voting to impeach President Donald J. Trump, as well as repeatedly winning “David vs. Goliath” campaigns against the Oil and Tobacco industries.
His work spans presidential campaigns, statewide initiatives, and complex local advocacy efforts and is known for being consistently grounded in clear strategy, disciplined messaging, and execution that delivers results under pressure.
See Our Work
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Need to Impeach
Campaign
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Taking on Big Oil
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Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids
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Foundational Principles
What builds a winning campaign.
Foundational Principles
What builds a winning campaign.
Our Recent Success
We help clients win high-stakes public affairs and political campaigns where the outcome matters and the opposition is well funded.
Impeached Donald Trump
In 2017, Foundation Public founder Chris Lehman worked with Tom Steyer, Chris Lehane, and Kevin Mack to launch a synergistic campaign to impeach Donald Trump - challenging Democratic Party Leadership who was speaking out against Trump while refusing to exercise their power and do anything about it. The campaign went viral, organized a million Americans in 6 days, and pressured Congress to act and ultimately impeach Trump on December 18, 2019.
Defeated Big Oil
When California passed a law to stop oil companies from drilling for oil in neighborhoods, or near schools and hospitals, Big Oil doubled down. They spent $63 million to overturn the law via referendum. Foundation Public led an asymmetric campaign effort centered on the stories and struggle of neighborhood leaders who bravely dared to challenge Big Oil and protect the health of children and pregnant women who are especially vulnerable to toxic emissions near oil wells. Celebrities like Jane Fonda, John Legend, Chrissy Tiegen, and Julia Louis Dreyfus, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, and Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger used their power to spotlight these brave neighborhood leaders and defeated Big Oil with a tiny fraction of spending.
Defeated Big Tobacco
Stymied by anti-smoking public education efforts, tobacco taxes, and crackdowns on youth advertising, Big Tobacco made a hard pivot to candy-flavored tobacco products to groom the next generation of smokers addicted to their nicotine products. Foundation Public guided the coalition of America’s largest and most trusted public health groups on an effort that ultimately banned candy-flavored tobacco in California for good while spending a tiny fraction of what Big Tobacco hurled against us.
About Us
is a full-service political and public affairs firm with national, statewide, and local experience including:
Foundation Public, LLC was founded by Chris Lehman who developed a reputation over 22 years in political and public affairs for repeatedly winning David vs. Goliath upset victories over the tobacco industry and for co-creating the national Need to Impeach campaign that resulted in the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
Case Studies
National Campaigns
Foundation Public LLC’s founder
Chris Lehman co-created the Need to Impeach campaign with Tom Steyer, Chris Lehane, and Kevin Mack.
The aggressive asymmetric effort began with a pointed letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi that was featured in the
New York Times and followed up by a groundbreaking television campaign that Lehman created, produced with Mark Putnam, and oversaw execution through 2019.
State Campaigns
2003-2020 - Senate Democrats - For 16 years, Foundation Public LLC’s Chris Lehman served as a top consultant and strategist for four consecutive leaders of the California State Senate and Senate Democrats. In 2004, under the leadership of Senator Don Perata, the Senate Democratic Caucus emerged as the progressive tip of the spear in opposition to Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
About Us
is a full-service political and public affairs firm with national, statewide, and local experience including:
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33 Ballot Measure Campaigns
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US Presidential Campaign
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National Issue Advocacy
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State Legislative Advocacy
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Crisis Communications
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Legislative Caucus Campaigns
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Independent Expenditures
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Non-Profit Campaigns
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State, County, and City Candidate Campaigns
Foundation Public, LLC was founded by Chris Lehman who developed a reputation over 22 years in political and public affairs for repeatedly winning David vs. Goliath upset victories over the tobacco industry and for co-creating the national Need to Impeach campaign that resulted in the impeachment of President Donald Trump.