Phil Kerpen

Phil Kerpen
Basic facts
Organization:	American Commitment
Role:	President
Location:	Washington, D.C.
Education:	University of Pittsburgh

Phil Kerpen is the president of American Commitment, a free market advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. He also serves as a principal for the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, an organization "to educate policy makers and the public about government policies that ... maximize economic growth and equitable prosperity in America and around the world." Kerpen previously served as vice president of policy at Americans for Prosperity and as an analyst and researcher for the Free Enterprise Fund, Club for Growth, and The Cato Institute.

Biography

Kerpen attended college at the University of Pittsburgh where he was a member of the debate team. Following graduation, he interned at The Cato Institute in 1999. He was a policy analyst at Club for Growth from 2000 to 2004, a policy director for the Free Enterprise Fund — which he helped found — from 2005 to 2006, and vice president of policy at Americans for Prosperity from 2006 to 2012.

Kerpen published Democracy Denied: How Obama is Ignoring You and Bypassing Congress to Radically Transform America - and How to Stop Him in 2011. In April 2012, he became president of American Commitment. The organization said it would restore and protect the country's commitment to free markets, economic growth, constitutionally-limited government, property rights, and individual freedom. As of August 2025, Kerpen was one of four principals at the Committee to Unleash Prosperity.

In a 2012 interview with America's Future, Kerpen spoke of his career trajectory alongside mentor Steve Moore. Moore served as the senior economics writer for The Wall Street Journal from 2005 to 2014 and as a senior economic advisor to President Donald Trump's (R) 2016 presidential campaign. Both Kerpen and Moore worked together at The Cato Institute, Club for Growth, and the Free Enterprise Fund.

Work and activities

American Commitment

As of August 2025, Kerpen was the president of American Commitment. Kerpen and the organization conducted and delivered public policy research to "fill the capabilities gap between think tanks engaged in pure public policy work and grassroots organizations engaged in mobilizing citizen activists." As president, Kerpen regularly wrote on topics such as economic growth, protecting property rights, fixing the tax code, school choice, and reforming healthcare.

The Committee to Unleash Prosperity

As of August 2025, Kerpen was one of four principals at The Committee to Unleash Prosperity. As part of his work with the organization, he co-authored a number of reports, including, "The Nippon Steel Acquisition of U.S. Steel Corporation Can Save America’s Steel Industry,"The Capital One-Discover Deal Increases Competition and Benefits Consumers," and "Keep the Government’s Hands Off the Internet: Deregulation Is a Digital Economy Success Story."

Democracy Denied

Kerpen published Democracy Denied: How Obama is Ignoring You and Bypassing Congress to Radically Transform America - and How to Stop Him in 2011. The book was a critique of what it said was President Barack Obama's (D) use of unilateral regulatory action.

Notable endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

This section displays endorsements this individual made in elections within Ballotpedia's coverage scope. Know of one we missed? Click here to let us know.

See also

• What is an influencer?
• Americans for Prosperity
• Club for Growth
• Cato Institute

External links

• American Commitment
• The Committee to Unleash Prosperity
• Phil Kerpen on X

---