Lanae Erickson

Lanae Erickson is the Deputy Director of Third Way’s Social Policy & Politics Program, where she advances the case for a moderate-led U.S. politics and aims for progress on hot-button social issues like gay equality, immigration, abortion, and guns. She has spearheaded the program’s Gay Equality Initiative and played a leading role on a variety of other divisive issues including immigration, abortion, and crime. Ms. Erickson comes to Third Way from Alliance for Justice, where she served as Legislative Counsel drafting comprehensive reports on federal judicial nominees and advocating for progressive policies on a wide range of issues, including executive privilege, detention and interrogation policy, the state secrets doctrine, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Previously, she worked at the Legal Rights Center, a nonprofit poverty law firm, and the Center for Victims of Torture. Ms. Erickson earned her JD from the University of Minnesota Law School and her BA from Mount Holyoke College. She has been featured in a variety of media outlets, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Time Magazine, and appeared on Fox News, Air America, and Minnesota Public Radio.