Brennan Gilmore

Brennan Gilmore (born 1979) is a musician and former United States Foreign Service Officer.

As a musician and bandleader he has originated and performed in a number of musical groups.

He was raised in Lexington, Virginia and attended the University of Virginia, studying international relations as an Echols Scholar, graduating in 2001.

He currently resides in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Gilmore served as chief of staff for Tom Perriello's campaign for governor in Virginia.

He currently serves as senior director for Clean Virginia, and works in rural workforce development, bringing IT opportunities to "underserved communities" in rural Virginia.

He teaches as adjunct faculty at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Gilmore joined the United States Foreign Service in 2002, shortly after finishing college, serving 15 years in several African countries, including Tunisia.

He also served at postings in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Sudan, and Sierra Leone —and domestically from the State Department in Washington, D.C. He was Deputy Chief of Mission in Central African Republic.

His service in Africa was curtailed by a closing of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Bangui in 2012 due to security concerns.

Gilmore served as Russ Feingold and Tom Perriello's top aide in their postings as U.S. Special Envoy to the African Great Lakes Region.

He is currently on long-term unpaid leave from the Department of State.

Brennan Gilmore's grandfather, John Middlemas, a 97-year-old World War II veteran, "took a knee" in support of NFL players protesting the national anthem, saying, "Those kids have every right to protest."

Gilmore "knew it was a powerful image" of his relative kneeling, and posted it to his Twitter account.

His grandfather's activism was inspired by his own New Zealand relative, a British settler "who spoke out against 'mean and nasty' treatment of the Maori 150 years ago."

Gilmore's aunt Maile Auterson, who heads a community gardens organization in Missouri and descends from a long line of Ozarks farmers, claims "they are a family of Democrats".

Gilmore was present for a protest rally in Charlottesville on August 12, 2017, that turned violent.

His film of a car ramming participants led to accusations and threats, damages for some of which he is now suing in court.

Gilmore served as chief of staff for Tom Perriello's Democratic campaign for Virginia governor in 2017 and formed a musical group from his friends known as Perriello's Pickers to help get the political message across.

He later performed with the group Wild Common.

Gilmore has been an outspoken critic of Dominion Energy.

He current serves as a senior director of Clean Virginia, an organization established to limit the influence of monopoly energy utility Dominion Energy in Virginia politics.

As Gilmore stated about legislation Dominion sponsored, "these are convenient ways to open the door to deregulation and overcharging the customer."

He has also opposed two natural gas pipelines proposed for Virginia, performing with his group Wild Common at a protest event to block them, stating:

"We are here today to stand up against two unnecessary and dangerous pipelines that represent corporate interests but threaten the Virginia whose hills and valleys and rivers gave birth to the musical traditions that we represent."

In his role at Wize Solutions, he promotes rural workforce development in the southwest region of Virginia.

The college course Gilmore teaches at James Madison University as adjunct faculty, "Political Protest and Civil Engagement", looks at the role of protests in a democracy.

His attendance at the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville on August 12, 2017, was motivated by his desire to counter the evil he saw gathering there.

As he explained to Judy Woodruff in an interview on PBS:

"... I think any time you have this very vial (sic) ideology show its face in this country, you need to have a majority of people who reject it show up and show that the numbers are on our side. And so, that's what took me to Charlottesville that day."

Gilmore has been outspoken on the lack of restrictions on personal spending of campaign funds in his home state, saying in March 2022:

"There is nothing currently stopping a political candidate in Virginia from using unlimited campaign funds, for which there is no cap in Virginia, to purchase a vacation house or a swanky country club membership. It's no wonder that public trust in our elected officials is at an all-time low. This legalization of grift is deeply embarrassing for Virginia."

Gilmore was present at the protest rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017, where he filmed the automobile ramming participants.

He subsequently was the target of accusations and threats regarding his role in the incident.

Gilmore says threats came in on Twitter and Facebook like: "You're a dead man walking. You're a CIA operative. You work for George Soros or Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton ... we're coming for you. We know where you are."

In an interview with NPR, Gilmore stated:

"I have a background in the Federal Service, a background in the Foreign Service that I'm incredibly proud of overseas, and they twisted that and said I was a CIA agent; I had been in Africa committing or organizing genocide in the overthrow of countries and then came back as part of a, you know — you name it — a George Soros, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton-funded effort to destabilize the country through a race war with, you know, the eventual goal of overthrowing the president — just . . absolutely ridiculous allegations."

Gilmore and his family suffered other consequences.

Gilmore pursued damages from media outlets in court.

The complaint was filed March 13, 2018, by Georgetown Law's Civil Rights Clinic on behalf of Gilmore, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia Charlottesville Division.