Former White House Press Secretaries to Speak at Mock Convention Parents and Family Weekend Event Dana Perino and Josh Earnest will participate in a fireside chat at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 2 in University Chapel.

Office of Communications and Public Affairs
September 23, 2026

Washington and Lee University’s Mock Convention will host former White House press secretaries Dana Perino and Josh Earnest for its Parents and Family Weekend event, “The Road to the White House Runs Through our House.”

The event is open to the public and will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 2, in University Chapel. Tickets ($200 for general admission and $40 for students) are required and can be purchased online. An overflow watch party will be held in Stackhouse Theater, located in Elrod Commons.

Perino served as White House press secretary under President George W. Bush from 2007-2009, becoming the first Republican woman to be press secretary of the United States. She is a revered political commentator and journalist, as well as a New York Times bestselling author. Perino currently co-anchors Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom” with Bill Hemmer and co-hosts the talk show “The Five.”

Earnest served as the White House press secretary under President Barack Obama from 2014-2017, during which time he participated in multilateral summits including the G20 and G7, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the United Nations General Assembly, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). His two-decade career in politics has taken him from Capitol Hill to some of the most competitive political races in the country, and he has served as a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, appearing on the “Today Show,” “Meet the Press” and “NBC Nightly News.” Earnest is currently the executive vice president of communications and advertising for United Airlines.

W&L’s Mock Convention is a mock presidential nominating convention held every four years by the students of W&L, with the goal of predicting whom the party out of power will nominate to run for president of the United States. Mock Con is one of W&L’s oldest traditions, with a 75% accuracy rate since its first convention in 1908. The committee’s goal is to promote civic activity and political engagement within the W&L community and beyond, and by the time of the convention, 95% of the student body will be involved with Mock Con in some capacity. The 29th W&L Mock Convention will be held in February 2028.