Katie Walsh | |
---|---|
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Implementation | |
In office January 20, 2017 –March 30, 2017 | |
President | Donald Trump |
Preceded by | Kristie Canegallo (Policy Implementation) |
Succeeded by | Kirstjen Nielsen (Principal Deputy) Natalie Quillian (2023) (Implementation) |
Personal details | |
Born | Katherine Marie Walsh November 1,1984 St. Louis,Missouri,U.S. |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | Mike Shields |
Education | George Washington University (BA) |
Katherine Marie Walsh (born November 1,1984) [1] is an American Republican political operative who served as White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Implementation in the Donald Trump administration. She also worked with the Trump-aligned 501(c)(4) advocacy organization America First Policies. [2] [3]
Walsh previously served as the Chief of Staff for the Republican National Committee. She joined the Republican National Committee as Deputy Finance Director in January 2013 and became Finance Director in June of that year. In her previous role as Deputy Finance Director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee,she worked with United States Senate campaigns across the country to implement comprehensive fundraising and campaign strategies. Her past experience also includes serving as Midwest Regional Finance Director for the McCain–Palin campaign in 2008 and working for Friends of Fred Thompson,at the Ashcroft Group,and as a field representative for Missourians for Matt Blunt. [4]
Walsh was born an only child in St. Louis,Missouri. [5] She credits her early interest in politics to her mother,who she said worked on a county executive race in Missouri when she was seven or eight. Her early political involvement came in high school when she worked as an intern for then-Senator John Ashcroft's unsuccessful 2000 reelection campaign. She attended Visitation Academy of St. Louis,a private,all-girls,Roman Catholic high school,and graduated in 2003. She was a field representative for Matt Blunt's 2004 campaign for Governor of Missouri. [6] [7] She also worked as an administrative assistant for the consulting firm Ashcroft Group. [7]
Walsh graduated from George Washington University with degrees in marketing and finance in 2007. [8]
Walsh was hired in 2007 as an assistant to the finance director for Fred Thompson's brief presidential campaign. [9]
After Thompson dropped out of the race,she joined the presidential campaign of John McCain as Midwest regional finance director. [9] [7]
Walsh then worked as deputy finance director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), [6] implementing fundraising and political strategies for Senate campaigns during the 2010 and 2012 election cycles. [7]
Walsh was hired as deputy finance director for the Republican National Committee in January 2013 and rose to finance director that June. [9] [8] At the RNC,Walsh was known as a "rainmaker", [6] breaking records by raising over $200 million during the 2014 election cycle. [8]
Walsh was named chief of staff of the Republican National Committee in early 2015, [9] serving under chair Reince Priebus. She was critical of the RNC's practice of sharing voter information with the Koch Brothers,saying "I think it's very dangerous and wrong to allow a group of very strong,well-financed individuals who have no accountability to anyone to have control over who gets access to the data when,why and how." [10] Spearheaded by the RNC's technology chief Andrew Barkett for the 2014 election cycle, [11] she ensured that a partnership began in July 2015 between the voter information in the RNC's Data Trust,operated by Karl Rove and developed by Johnny DeStefano,and the voter information in the Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners' i360,which is supported by the Koch Brothers network,so that each database's information would be shared with GOP candidates. [12] [13] [14] [15] The RNC's Data Trust had been sharing its information with the independent groups American Crossroads and American Action Network. [12] [13] [14] The extensive personal information in both i360 and Data Trust are developed from credit card use and internet choices such as credit card purchases,cable TV choices,and other sensitive personal information,much more personal than Facebook data. [13] [14] During the 2016 election cycle,Walsh was an architect of the Republican National Committee's get out the vote and voter identification operations. [6] She focused on using the Republican National Committee's data collection from the previous four years. She told CNN that the RNC intended to look to polls less often in favor of "predictive modeling," which tracks voters' likelihood of voting for Republican candidates. In November 2016,she said,"The beauty of predictive modeling is you're watching an electorate voter-by-voter over a long period of time ... You're watching their movement,you're watching what they care about,you're watching what they respond to to [sic] and there are a lot of upsides to this." She went on to say that the Republican National Committee was also focusing on get out the vote efforts for Donald Trump's presidential campaign.[ citation needed ] Walsh selected Alex Lundry's political marketing firm Deep Root Analytics to provide data analytics to the Trump campaign,along with TargetPoint Consulting and Causeway Solutions. [16]
Walsh was a member of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential transition team. The transition team was a group of around 100 aides,policy experts,government affairs officials,and former government officials who were tasked with vetting,interviewing,and recommending individuals for top cabinet and staff roles in Trump's administration. She was part of the Leadership staff. [17]
Walsh was named White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Implementation in the administration of Donald Trump. Walsh oversaw senior staff and managed scheduling and the Office of Public Liaison. [8] According to The Wall Street Journal ,Walsh had guarded access to the Oval Office on behalf of Chief of Staff Reince Priebus. [18]
Walsh resigned from her position on March 30,2017,becoming an adviser to a pro-Trump 501(c)(4),America First Policies,and the Republican National Committee. [19]
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is the primary committee of the Republican Party of the United States. Its members are chosen by the state delegations at the national convention every four years. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform,as well as assisting in fundraising and election strategy. It does not have direct authority over elected officials. It is also responsible for organizing and running the Republican National Convention. When a Republican is president,the White House controls the committee. According to Boris Heersink,"political scientists have traditionally described the parties' national committees as inconsequential but impartial service providers."
The Michigan Republican Party is the state affiliate of the national Republican Party in Michigan,United States,sometimes referred to as MIGOP.
Republicans Overseas (RO) is a political organization created in 2013 for United States citizens who are living outside of the United States. RO is recognized by the Republican National Committee (RNC),and by other affiliated groups,such as College Republicans. It operates in the majority of countries around the world where there are large numbers of United States citizen residents. Similar to political action committees (PAC) and Super Pacs;RO is a 527 political organization that operates as a corporation with specific interests of repealing the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and of generally representing Republicans living overseas.
Ronald N. Weiser is an American businessman and Republican Party donor and financier. Weiser founded a real estate company. He held fundraising roles for the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and John McCain. He was chairman of the Michigan Republican Party from 2009–2011,2017–2019,and 2021–2023. He was U.S. ambassador to Slovakia during Bush's first term (2001–2004),and was elected to the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan in 2016.
James Nicholas Ayers is an American political strategist and consultant who served as Chief of Staff to Vice President Mike Pence between July 2017 and January 2019. He had previously served as national chairman for Pence's vice-presidential campaign in 2016,as well as executive director of the Republican Governors Association from 2007 to 2010.
Reinhold Richard "Reince" Priebus is an American lawyer and politician who served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2011 to 2017 and as White House chief of staff during the first six months of Donald Trump's first presidency.
Alec L. Poitevint II is a Georgia businessman and longtime official of the U.S. Republican Party (GOP). In February 2011,he was named by GOP Chairman Reince Priebus to manage the 2012 Republican National Convention,to be held in Tampa beginning on August 27,2012. Poitevint replaces the team appointed by former RNC Chair Michael Steele,who Priebus fired immediately after his election as chairman in January 2011. Poitevint's official title of chairman of the Committee on Arrangements.
The 2016 Republican National Convention,in which delegates of the United States Republican Party chose the party's nominees for president and vice president in the 2016 U.S. presidential election,was held July 18–21,2016,at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland,Ohio. The event marked the third time Cleveland has hosted the Republican National Convention and the first since 1936. In addition to determining the party's national ticket,the convention ratified the party platform.
The Trump Victory Committee was a joint fundraising committee for Donald J. Trump for President,the Republican National Committee (RNC),and 11 state Republican committees.
Ronna Romney McDaniel is an American political strategist who served as chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) from 2017 until her resignation in 2024. A member of the Republican Party and the Romney family,McDaniel was chair of the Michigan Republican Party from 2015 to 2017.
Presidential primaries and caucuses of the Republican Party took place in many U.S. states,the District of Columbia,and five U.S. territories from February 3 to August 11,2020,to elect most of the 2,550 delegates to send to the Republican National Convention. Delegates to the national convention in other states were elected by the respective state party organizations. The delegates to the national convention voted on the first ballot to select Donald Trump as the Republican Party's nominee for president of the United States in the 2020 election,and selected Mike Pence as the vice-presidential nominee.
Johnny DeStefano is an American political advisor who served as Assistant to President Donald Trump and Counselor to the President from 2017 to May 2019. He previously oversaw the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs,White House Presidential Personnel Office,Office of Political Affairs,and Office of Public Liaison. DeStefano entered the Trump administration as Director of Presidential Personnel. After leaving the White House,DeStefano was appointed an adviser to the e-cigarette company Juul.
Raj Shah is an American political aide who served as the White House Deputy Press Secretary and Deputy Assistant to the President from 2017 to 2019. Before joining the Trump administration,Shah was in charge of opposition research at the Republican National Committee. He is currently deputy chief of staff for communications for House Speaker Mike Johnson.
David Urban is an American lobbyist and political commentator for CNN. He is the managing director for BGR Group and serves on the board of directors for numerous companies.
The 2020 Republican National Convention in which delegates of the United States Republican Party selected the party's nominees for president and vice president in the 2020 United States presidential election,was held from August 24 to 27,2020.
Robert Anthony Paduchik is an American political advisor who served as the co-chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2017 to 2019. He was also a senior advisor for the Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign. He was also the campaign's Ohio state director in 2016.
Debates took place among candidates in the campaign for the Republican Party's nomination for the president in the 2020 United States presidential election. The Republican National Committee (RNC) did not schedule any official RNC-sanctioned primary debates,and incumbent President Donald Trump stated that he would not debate any primary challenger. Thus,the debates held among Trump's primary challengers were instead sponsored by private organizations.
WinRed is an American fundraising platform for the Republican Party endorsed by the Republican National Committee (RNC). It was launched to compete with the Democratic Party's success in online grassroots fundraising with their platform ActBlue.
The Growth &Opportunity Project,commonly called the RNC autopsy,was a 2013 report created by the Republican National Committee (RNC) following incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama's victory over Republican candidate Mitt Romney in the 2012 United States presidential election. The report proposed reasons for the Republican Party lack of success in recent elections as well as recommendations for future campaigns and the direction of the party.
Lundry's work brought him into Trump's campaign war room, according to a post-election AdAge article that charted the GOP's 2016 data efforts. Deep Root was hand-picked by the RNC's then-chief of staff, Katie Walsh, in September of last year and joined two other data shops—TargetPoint Consulting and Causeway Solutions—in the effort to win Trump the presidency.