aylwardashleym 
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
- Criminal Justice and Policing Reform
- Reproductive Justice
- Women in politics
- Young voters
CLIENTS
- American Cancer Society
- EMILY’s List
- Supermajority
- Vera Action & Vera Institute of Justice
- ACLU
- Planned Parenthood
- Reproductive Freedoms for All
- Campus Vote Project
- Ben & Jerry’s
- Community Catalyst
- PhRMA
- Campaign Zero
- URGE
- All* In Action Fund
- Conway Strategic
- Reproaction
- Policy Link
- Everytown For Gun Safety
- Maryland Question 2 Ballot Initiative 2020
- Michigan Proposal 3 Right to Reproductive Freedom Ballot Initiative 2022
- New York Equal Rights Amendment Ballot Initiative 2024
- YWCA
- Way to Win
- Packard Foundation
- Justice and Joy
- Public Welfare Foundation
- Demand Justice
- RISE
- Spitfire
MEDIA
"Gay Gen Z Er wants to be Virginia’s youngest state delegate." LA Blade.
"Youth Voter Turnout in the 2022 Midterms Shows Strong Support for Democrats, Abortion Rights." Teen Vogue.
"How Gen Z agencies wooed Democratic voters: ‘Young people are nervous to trust politicians’." The Guardian.
"The defense Democrats aren’t using against Republicans’ soft-on-crime attacks." Vox.
"White House faces disaster with young voters." The Hill.
"Two long weeks: Inside Biden’s struggle to respond to abortion ruling." The Washington Post.
"Young Democrats are upset with party's response on abortion." The Washington Post.
Youth Politics Table Discussion
Young Voters Maryland Gubernatorial Forum
As a Research Manager, Ashley Aylward synthesizes findings across projects to inform client strategy and research with the most up-to-date perspective on target audiences and issue areas she specializes in.
Ashley has been with HIT Strategies since 2020, giving her breadths of experience in just about all of the audiences HIT works on. She now leads HIT’s research team that covers young voters, women, abortion, healthcare, and public safety work.
Her expertise in these bodies of work has been quoted in outlets ranging from New York Times, Washington Post, to Politico and Teen Vogue. You can view her Op-Eds in TIME Magazine on young voters and their impact on election cycles along with a “how to” guide on engaging with them.
Ashley ensures the client work in her research portfolio is iterative and innovative; constantly building off of the latest research. During election cycles, her work focuses on engaging with tuned out voters who require careful targeting and messaging to reach. Outside of elections, Ashley and her team are frequently presenting research on Capitol Hill and the White House with client legislative and advocacy teams. Their experience in these settings allow them to give advice in research design to best cater to gaining the attention and action of elected officials and their staff.
Before HIT, Ashley was a Research Specialist in the University of Chicago Survey Lab after moving to Chicago to work on the JB Pritzker for Illinois Governor campaign in 2018. Her research focused on access to healthcare, dental care, and pregnant patients who suffer from opioid use disorder. She studied polling and research methodology under Dr Mileah Kromer, Director of the Sarah T Hughes Center for Politics’s Goucher Poll. She has received Sarah T. Hughes Award for Practical Politics (2018) from Goucher College and the Democrat of the Year Award (2018) from the Maryland College Democrats for her work at the Goucher Poll and engaging young voters on campus with the Maryland Gubernatorial Primary campaigns in 2018. Her research on disparities in trust levels for women elected officials from her time at the Goucher Poll was presented at the American Political Science Association’s Annual Conference in 2017.