When people ask Talia Phoebe Marcus and Charles Robert Blaettler how they met, they prefer to answer in the most direct way: He was her boss.
It was October 2019, and Mondaire Jones’s congressional campaign was seeking a press secretary. Ms. Marcus, having just graduated from college, completed a phone interview with Mr. Blaettler, who was working as the campaign manager.
“She joked that I talked faster than anyone she had heard before,” Mr. Blaettler said. In reality, the campaign needed a serious push. Mr. Jones, a Democrat, was mounting a primary challenge against the incumbent in New York’s 17th Congressional District, Nita Lowey, when she announced her retirement three months after he entered the race. “We were like, oh my god, we have to staff up the campaign. I was trying to get the interview done as fast as possible.”
What started as a professional relationship grew into a friendship as the two worked together every day. As they came to rely on each other in an intense work environment, they grew closer. “She was really, really good at her job,” Mr. Blaettler said. “This person was saving my life.”
Ms. Marcus, 28, was born in Manhattan and grew up in White Plains, N.Y. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and communications from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a senior growth manager at Democracy Docket, a progressive news outlet covering elections, court hearings and voting rights.
Mr. Blaettler, 35, was born in Summit, N.J., and grew up in Mendham, N.J. He has a bachelor’s degree in Middle Eastern and South Asian studies from Emory University. He is the deputy federal affairs director for the Working Families Party in New York.
[Click here to binge read this week’s featured couples.]
One night, Mr. Blaettler celebrated his 30th birthday at Fifth Hammer Brewing Company in Long Island City, Queens. Everyone from the campaign was invited, along with his family. Later in the night, when the stragglers had migrated over to Karaoke Shout in Astoria, Mr. Blaettler’s sister whispered into Ms. Marcus’s ear, “I think you should marry my brother.”
Their first date was two weeks later, in February 2020. The two initially planned to get dinner in Manhattan, but the itinerary for the night kept growing. Unsure about whether the occasion was meant as a date or a simple get-together, Ms. Marcus found herself getting nervous. First, dinner at Han Dynasty in the East Village, then a comedy show at the Stand, then drinks at the Belfry. “We were sitting as a unit at the comedy show, and I was like, ‘This really feels like a date,’” she said.
It was at the bar that Mr. Blaettler asked if he could kiss her. She said yes.
Intentional about dating, they quickly entered a relationship, which they kept private for the remaining months of the campaign. The pandemic complicated things further, limiting how often they could spend time together.
In June, Mr. Blaettler left the campaign (Mr. Jones won the Democratic primary that month), and Ms. Marcus moved to Washington in December to work in the official congressional office after Mr. Jones won the general election. They did long-distance dating for a year before Mr. Blaettler joined her in Washington. They lived there together for three years before moving to Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
In August 2024, the couple took a trip to Lisbon. Before dinner, Mr. Blaettler suggested they take a walk on the beach, and an unsuspecting Ms. Marcus refused, not wanting to take her heels off. After some prodding, she acquiesced. It took Mr. Blaettler 30 seconds to get down on one knee.
After the proposal, preparations for converting Mr. Blaettler to Judaism were underway. Ms. Marcus grew up Modern Orthodox and always knew she would marry a Jewish man. Mr. Blaettler, having grown up in a Catholic household, knew he would convert to marry Ms. Marcus.
By their wedding day, he had converted. On Dec. 31, 2025, they were married at the Ravel Hotel in Long Island City before 175 guests. Rabbi Madeleine Fortney, of the Hebrew Union College, officiated the ceremony.
Ms. Marcus said her parents joked that they “just wanted to plan a party, and a wedding just happened to be there.”
As they counted down, Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York,” played. They kissed. Champagne and sparklers immediately appeared. “It was this big boom moment,” Ms. Marcus said.
The post They Ran a Campaign Together, Then Love Came After appeared first on New York Times.
