Denise Riley is the Political Director for the Maryland State and District of Columbia AFL-CIO. She is responsible for political organizing of statewide and federal elections of labor’s endorsed candidates in Maryland and DC.  

Denise comes from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the national
AFL-CIO where she was hired as Maryland’s labor coordinator for the Dutch Ruppersberger and Chris Van Hollen congressional races, the only two Democratic seats gained in 2002.

Denise has worked on numerous campaigns for congressional and presidential candidates including running Western Pennsylvania for Bill Clinton during both his presidential campaigns.

Formally the Outreach Manager at Catholics for Choice, Denise mobilized over a thousand Catholics nationwide to lobby their state legislators to support mandating contraceptive coverage in all healthcare plans.

Currently, Denise is the Southern Maryland Chair of the United Democratic Women’s Clubs.  She also sits on the board of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, the Coalition of Labor Union Women, and the executive board of the Washington and Baltimore Newspaper Guild.  She is a member of the Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt Democratic Club in Prince George’s County.

Denise graduated from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a minor in Computer Science. She joined the CCAN board in 2007.