ABOUT SCOTT

After graduating from Miami with a degree in Political Science and History, I joined my first campaign. Representative Steve LaTourette, a five-term congressman representing northeast Ohio, hired me as a regional field representative. I represented the Congressman at events throughout the seven-county district, organized and managed volunteers, ran phone banks, set up the campaign office, handled fundraising correspondence, and performed myriad other tasks to ensure a successful campaign. I have been involved in campaigns as a staffer, consultant, or volunteer ever since. 

Ohio Republicans did not have a good year in 2006. With bleak job prospects, I moved to Louisville, Kentucky. I joined Executive Communications, Inc., a boutique political communications and market research firm, in April 2007 as a temporary letter-writer on an advocacy campaign involving Medicare Advantage. Quickly recognized for my depth of knowledge and leadership abilities, I was promoted to full-time management with oversight of the entire project. I continued to grow in management, overseeing successful grassroots and grasstops issue advocacy campaigns for Fortune 100 companies and national issue advocacy coalitions. Working in all fifty states, I gained invaluable experience in federal, state, and local organizing and communication. I continued to advance in leadership at Executive Communications, ultimately serving as Business Development and IT/Data Manager. As IT Manager, I oversaw a network comprising four servers and over 60 end-user stations. I implemented a disaster recovery and continuity plan that increased overall system uptime to near 100% reliability. In all my roles, I continued to advise on political communication, messaging, strategy, and positioning.

Following the 2010 census, redistricting presented a rare opportunity to join an incumbent versus incumbent race. I moved home to Ohio in 2012 to join Jim Renacci’s campaign against Betty Sutton. Rated the third most-contested race in the nation, it was an exhilarating campaign to be a part of. Coordinating closely with the US Senate campaign and the Presidential campaign of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, I led the campaign’s organizing and voter turnout efforts in three counties – Summit, Portage, and Cuyahoga. On Election Day, the Romney campaign’s voter turnout app completely failed. Stationed at the Cuyahoga County Victory Center, no one from the Presidential campaign down to the local party had any idea what to do. I quickly coordinated all the campaign and party staff to print paper voter contact lists while I coached the dozens of assembled volunteers on our pivot strategy. Those designated to poll flush were sent with paper poll lists to cross off those who had already voted. Phone volunteers were given these lists to call through those not crossed off. I triaged a voter turnout effort that made volunteers feel like their time was well invested while mobilizing as many last-minute voters as we could absent the voter contact database we’d spent all year populating. We ran one of the smoothest victory centers in the state that day.

Following the 2012 election, I went to work for the Republican National Committee as a Regional Field Representative with the Ohio Republican Party in 2013. Trained by the leading national operatives over a week in DC, I represented an eleven-county territory in northeast Ohio. Responsible for identifying, training, and mobilizing volunteers to perform voter identification and turnout, I led dozens of trainings for hundreds of volunteers. I also advised and assisted numerous candidates and campaigns. Displeased with my interactions with my own State Representative, I recruited my then-wife to run for the Ohio House against him. I simultaneously convinced the key stakeholders in Columbus not to oppose her campaign or support the incumbent, tacitly lending their support to our effort. I handled every aspect of her campaign from the initial press release and website to social media, direct mail, targeting, volunteer management, media relations, communications, and so forth. I even served as Deputy Treasurer, handling all financials, processing and tracking donations, and preparing all required filings and forms. The incumbent ended up running for Congress instead, leaving us to defeat a vicious write-in opponent. We won, and I continued to provide strategic communication and public relations advice. In fact, shortly following the election, the Caucus was discussing the race for Speaker of the House. One member suggested postponing the election until two outstanding races were called (they weren’t going our way and didn’t end up sending members to the Caucus). I drafted an email shutting down his effort, which she sent, elevating her to Leadership’s radar and getting her on the fast-track to a Leadership position within her first term. I continued to advise her on legislation, messaging, and overall strategy.

Frustrated with party leadership I experienced as a staffer, I resigned my position and transitioned to the private sector, performing site acquisition and local government relations for wireless real estate (cell phone towers). The following election, I ran for the Ohio Republican Party State Central & Executive Committee. I won with 55% of the vote, representing Republicans from Lake, Geauga, and Portage counties. Upon being sworn in, I quickly sought a new candidate to support for Party Chairman. Jane Timken threw her hat in the ring, and I was immediately “all in.” Jane won the Chairmanship by one vote. I considered my time on the State Central Committee a success. While on the Committee, I served on the Supreme Court Candidate Screening Committee, vetting candidates for the State’s highest court. I also had the privilege of attending the 2016 Republican National Convention in my then-hometown of Cleveland, as well as welcoming Vice President Mike Pence to town when he visited.