Ryan Ray
The 2016 Republican presidential field will have little problem finding veteran hands in Florida. Everybody knows Brett Doster, Randy Enwright, David Johnson, Marc Reichenfelder etc. will end up be gainfully employed this cycle. The last few GOP bumper crops — including 2010 and 2014 — though, have produced talented operatives, some perhaps off the radar of the POLITICO crowd, that national campaigns would be smart to put on staff.
Here are five Florida political operatives the GOP presidential candidates should hire — now:
• Ryan Wiggins, for instance, would bring a practiced media savvy and political sixth sense from her work as chief strategist at Full Contact Strategies as well as a nose for the ball, as evidenced by her successful pro bono work with Caring 4 Florida, a nonprofit dedicated to passing Charlotte’s Web legislation. Wiggins has a knack for ending up on the right side of a campaign and pushing her causes over the goal line, the supreme skill that candidates from out-of-state will seek.
• Former JAX Chamber Communications Director Dan Dawson would be able to give any candidate a lift in the increasingly crucial battleground of Northeast Florida. Many argue that region was decisive in Gov. Rick Scott‘s victory over Charlie Crist, and with a hyper-partisan 2015 Jacksonville mayoral race making statewide waves, things figure only become more and more polarized there. His expertise in rapid response and PR crisis management will certainly come in handy for any candidate seeking to navigate the strange horizons of Florida media and politics. After years with the Florida Senate Majority Office, he has a formidable inside game, too.
• Nick Hansen, former Tampa Bay field director for Mitt Romney and state director for Rick Perry, has been around the block and would likely be an excellent plug-and-play choice for any prospective nominee, be they working a moderate or conservative angle. His résumé speaks for itself: senior advisor to David Jolly‘s campaign, managing partner at a Pinellas-based consulting firm that has worked with Sens. Jack Latvala and Jeff Brandes, plus a stint with the Gus Bilirakis campaign.
• It doesn’t get much more high-powered on the conservative side than Associated Industries of Florida, and that’s exactly the catbird’s seat in which Ryan Tyson has put himself. The AIF’s vice president of political operations has the triple threat package: fundraising chops, campaign management experience with Charlie Dean‘s races for the Senate, and actionable polling and focus group research. Practically a one-man shop, Tyson could serve a GOP contender from soup to nuts.
• A Republican looking for the youth vote could hardly do better than Peret Pass. The former head of the Florida Young Republican Federation and current vice chair of the Young Republican National Federation has her own campaign consultancy at the tender age of 26. Her trajectory has only been in one direction — up — and she would love to take a prospective nominee with her on her ascent.
“This is a crop of outstanding talent that is the product of tough fights and hard work at the grassroots, political and media trenches,” veteran GOP ad man Rick Wilson said.
Certainly, there are other up-and-coming talents who should be scooped up by the national campaigns. Who did we miss?
