Become part of the movement for unbiased, accessible election information. Donate today.

Gail Gitcho

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Gail Gitcho
Gail Gitcho.jpeg
Basic facts
Organization:McKay-Gitcho Strategies
Role:Co-founder
Location:Boston, Massachusetts
Expertise:Communications
Affiliation:Republican
Education:•Ripon College (B.A. speech communication and rhetoric, 2001)
•Colorado State University (M.A. political communications, 2003)



Gail Gitcho is a Republican political communications advisor and the cofounder, with Ken McKay, of McKay-Gitcho Strategies. She has served as a press secretary for several congressman and congressional candidates. She served as Mitt Romney's presidential campaign press secretary in 2008 and 2012. She has also acted as press secretary for the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Republican Governors Association (RGA). She was a senior advisor for Bobby Jindal's 2016 presidential campaign.

Career

After graduating from Ripon College in 2001, Gitcho moved to Colorado for graduate school at Colorado State, where she also began her political career as a press secretary for Colorado Republican House candidate Jeff Bedingfield.[1][2] After Bedingfield's loss, Gitcho moved to Washington, D.C., to become press secretary for Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.). She remained with Pearce for a year and half, before moving over to Florida Rep. Clay Shaw's (R) office.[2][1]

In early 2007, Gitcho joined Mitt Romney's (R) 2008 presidential campaign team as a regional press secretary.[3] After Romney's defeat in the primaries, Gitcho was picked up by John McCain's campaign for the general election. Gitcho served as Mid-Atlantic communications director for McCain's campaign.[4][3]

In 2009, Gitcho became the national press secretary for the Republican National Committee. Gitcho served under chairman Michael Steele until 2010.[5][4] In February 2010, Gitcho began as communications director for Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.).[4][3] However, at the announcement that Mitt Romney would run for president in 2012, Gitcho joined the Romney campaign, this time as the communications director.[6][3]

After Romney's defeat to Barack Obama (D), Gitcho moved over to the Republican Governors Association (RGA). She served as the RGA's communications director. The RGA's press release stated that Gitcho would be "assuming responsibility for the RGA’s communications strategy in the 38 gubernatorial elections scheduled to take place between now (April 2013) and the end of 2014."[4][6]

In 2015, Gitcho left the RGA to join forces with her former RNC colleague Ken McKay—who had been the chief of staff at the RNC—to found McKay-Gitcho Strategies in Boston.[7][5]

Bobby Jindal presidential campaign, 2016

See also: Bobby Jindal presidential campaign, 2016

In February 2015, Bobby Jindal announced that Gitcho would serve as communications director for the pro-Jindal super PAC Believe Again.[6][8]

Jindal officially announced his 2016 presidential campaign on June 24, 2015. It was also officially announced that Gitcho would serve as a senior advisor for the campaign itself.[9][10]

Bobby Jindal suspended his presidential campaign on November 17, 2015.[11]

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Roll Call, "Shaw Adds to Staff," June 28, 2004
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 LinkedIn, "Gail Gitcho," accessed June 25, 2015
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Washington Post, "Gail Gitcho signs on with Romney," April 14, 2011
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Republican Governors Association, "RGA Names Gail Gitcho Communications Director," accessed June 25, 2015
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Politico, "RGA’s McKay and Gitcho form consulting firm," December 22, 2014
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 The Hill, "Jindal nabs former Romney aide," February 11, 2015
  7. ↑ Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "Business entity summary, McKay-Gitcho Strategies," accessed June 25, 2015
  8. ↑ CNN, "Jindal lands top former Romney aide," February 11, 2015
  9. ↑ The Times-Picayune, "Bobby Jindal's presidential campaign team made up of familiar faces," June 24, 2015
  10. ↑ Politico, "The power players behind Bobby Jindal’s campaign," June 24, 2015
  11. ↑ Politico, "Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal drops out of White House race," November 17, 2015
v • e
2016 Presidential Candidate Key Staffers and Advisors
OverviewPresidential Campaign Key Staffers Badge.png
General election campaigns
Suspended campaigns
Democratic Party Lincoln Chafee presidential campaign key staff • Martin O'Malley presidential campaign key staff
• Bernie Sanders presidential campaign key staff • Jim Webb presidential campaign key staff
Republican Party Jeb Bush presidential campaign key staff •Ben Carson presidential campaign key staff
•Chris Christie presidential campaign key staff • Ted Cruz presidential campaign key staff
• Carly Fiorina presidential campaign key staff • Lindsey Graham presidential campaign key staff
• Mike Huckabee presidential campaign key staff • Bobby Jindal presidential key staff
•John Kasich presidential campaign key staff • George Pataki presidential campaign key staff
• Rand Paul presidential campaign key staff • Rick Perry presidential campaign key staff
• Marco Rubio presidential campaign key staff • Rick Santorum presidential campaign key staff
• Scott Walker presidential campaign key staff
Retrieved from "https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Gail_Gitcho&oldid=10105345"