Harriet Trudell

Harriet Hope Trudell (; August 22, 1932 – December 19, 2019) was an American political organizer and activist. She was a delegate at the 1976 Democratic National Convention and the 1980 Democratic National Convention. She ran the 1968 presidential campaign of Hubert Humphrey in Nevada and the 1972 presidential campaign of George McGovern in southern Nevada and served as an aide to Governor Mike O'Callaghan and Representative Harry Reid.

Early life Trudell was born Harriet Hope Hardbarger in St. Petersburg, Florida, on August 22, 1932. Her mother was a political cartoonist who died when her daughter was ten years old. Her father was a plumber and union organizer who strongly supported President Franklin D. Roosevelt. After the move, Trudell became involved in politics. She had strong opinions and a gained a number of nicknames from prominent Las Vegas attorneys, including George Foley who referred to her as "6 and 7/8ths" and Ralph Denton who called her "Boss Tweed". She was the state coordinator of a petition to put a referendum on the ballot in support of abortion rights.

Trudell was an alternate delegate at the 1976 Democratic National Convention after Jane Logan, a delegate who supported Jerry Brown, failed to show up. She was also a delegate at the 1980 Democratic National Convention, backing Jimmy Carter. She was elected as chair of the Nevada delegation, beating Jon Collins in a 9–8 vote. She worked as a southern Nevada aide between 1974 and 1978 for Governor Mike O'Callaghan and worked for Representative Harry Reid as his foreign affairs aide in Washington, D.C. between 1983 and 1986.

She served on the board of the National Organization for Women (NOW), as a lobbyist for the Feminist Majority Foundation in the 1990s and was active in Operation Life. She was a member of the League of Women Voters and the Clark County Women's Democratic Club and was active in NOW's campaign "Elect Women 2000". She was a campaign director in Louisiana and travelled Tennessee, Virginia and South Carolina to recruit women to run for political office. Through her efforts, the number of women elected to the Louisiana State Legislature tripled. Trudell served as the political director for the Nevada State Democratic Party between 1998 and 2014.

Death and legacy Trudell was honored by Shelley Berkley on August 2, 2012, for her eightieth birthday in the United States House of Representatives. She died at Nathan Adelson Hospice in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 19, 2019, at the age of 87.