Bruno Gianelli is a fictional character from the television series The West Wing played by Ron Silver, who was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2002 for his performance. Gianelli is considered to be a brilliant political strategist, claiming that the only election campaigns he'd ever lost "are ones where the candidate didn't listen or the advice didn't get through." He was credited with the election of five senators, three governors, a Democratic candidate called Hacket in a place "where they haven't elected a Democrat in 46 years" and an Israeli Prime Minister. Unlike many of the other characters in the series, Gianelli is not depicted as being all that concerned about ideals and principles and serves more as a hired gun. Leo McGarry remarks he's probably never voted in his life, and at one point he is made nervous by an campaign idea because, according to Sam Seaborn, "it's not immoral." The few times his own personal politics do come up he appears to be fairly moderate and, in fact, thinks both parties should be strong. He managed President Jed Bartlet's re-election campaign in the third and fourth season for the 2002 Presidential election. He was cited by C.J. Cregg after Bartlet's victory as being the reason for the landslide. He resurfaced in the show's sixth season as a campaign advisor to Republican Senator Arnold Vinick in his Presidential campaign for the 2006 election. During the Democratic primaries in the 2006 election, he was mentioned as having managed Governor Eric Baker's campaign for the Democratic nomination before Baker dropped out. Considering the other Democratic candidates too divisive, Gianelli then went to Vinick, a moderate Republican, and proposed a 50-state strategy that would allow Vinick to put the country back together. When questioned why he, a supposed Democrat, would be willing to run the campaign of a Republican he reasoned that this would help the Democrats by moving the Republicans away from the right-wing. After the 2006 Presidential election was over, Gianelli stated he hoped to retire to his home on the Hudson River in upstate New York.
