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Rick Wilson (Florida)
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| Rick Wilson | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Organization: | Intrepid Media, Inc. |
| Role: | Founder |
| Location: | Tallahassee, Fla. |
| Affiliation: | Republican |
| Website: | Official website |
Rick Wilson is a Republican media strategist and opinion writer working in the state of Florida. Wilson is best known negative advertising against Democratic candidates. In naming Wilson one of the 100 most influential people in Florida, Influence Magazine called him a "consummate storyteller and mischief maker."[1]
Career
Early work
Wilson got his start in politics as a field director for former President George H.W. Bush's 1988 presidential campaign. During that campaign, according to CNN, Wilson was mentored by Bush strategist Lee Atwater.[2]
Rudy Giuliani advisor
Wilson spent a number of years advising former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R), first as a media consultant during Giuliani's mayoral campaigns and then as an advisor to Giuliani while in office. According to The New York Times, Wilson officially joined Giuliani's mayoral staff as an advisor in September 1999.[3] He previously helped Giuliani's mayoral campaign, crafting an ad "that revolved around sex shops," according to CNN.[2]
During Giuliani's 2000 run for U.S. Senate against Hillary Clinton (D), Wilson briefly tested the idea of running ads that featured negative messages. He said:[4]
| “ | When you went into a focus group or asked the voters in New York, hey, what do you think about us bringing up Bill Clinton ... they pushed back on it immediately.They hated the fact that we were talk [sic] about his life. They had a directly specific response. It was not, 'Oh, that woman facilitated this.' It was, 'Oh, my God, that's horrible. She practically deserves it because he's been so bad to her.' It was really something that was sort of an early lesson in this is that there's a degree to which you can push that button but there's also a degree to which people will start to reject it. Again, those are the results from New York state.[5] | ” |
Saxby Chambliss 2002 U.S. Senate
In 2002, Wilson was a media advisor for then-Rep. Saxby Chambliss' U.S. Senate campaign. In one notable ad, Wilson and others in the campaign attacked then-Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.) over his votes for funding to the Department of Homeland Security. In an interview with Wilson, Huffington Post described the ad, writing:[6]
| “ | The ad, which contained images of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, listed the votes Cleland had cast around the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. Cleland had pushed to give DHS employees civil service protections, pitting him against President George W. Bush on the issue. But the ad’s copy suggested that he had opposed the creation of the department itself.[5] | ” |
Wilson told the site of the ad's creation, saying, "The ad was built ugly. The ad was built to look like it was primitive and quick and knocked off instantaneously. It is an ugly ad. It is a hideously looking ad because we wanted people to focus on the votes. The mechanism itself is pretty simple and basic. We knew back then that saying the words ‘against the president’s vital homeland security efforts’ [would work]."[6]
Presidential election, 2008
During the 2008 presidential election, Wilson was responsible for the creation of ads attacking then-Sen. Barack Obama (D) for his relationship with pastor Jeremiah Wright. According to Politico, Wilson began crafting the attack after a video was released showing Wright "damning the country, criticizing Israel, faulting U.S. policy for the Sept. 11 attacks and generally lashing out against white America."[7] Wilson created the ads for the National Republican Trust PAC. He told Buzzfeed that the ad was designed to change the tone of the election, saying, "That ad launched into the teeth of three very negative trends for the GOP: the markets had tanked, McCain’s campaign was collapsing and the American press was so deeply in love with Barack Obama that if they’d found a dead girl in the trunk of his car, they’d have shrugged it off. Everything was excused, every sin forgiven."[8]
U.S. Senate elections, 2014
ABC News called one of Wilson's ads for the 2014 election cycle one of the "most memorable GOP ads" of the year. ABC News described the spot, writing, "The ad mimics the vocabulary of online dating profiles, with an Obama voter explaining her disillusionment with a man who made promises to her in 2008 and 2012 but has since broken them. She reveals the man — a guy named Barack, with an accompanying photo of Obama — and says, 'I know I’m stuck with Barack for two more years…but I’m not stuck with his friends.'"[9]
2016 elections
During the 2016 election cycle, Wilson was involved with the U.S. Senate campaign of Carlos Lopez Cantera (R). Wilson first worked on Cantera's campaign, acting as an advisor, and his company produced media spots for the Cantera campaign. In January 2016, he moved to a super PAC supporting Cantera, Reform Washington.[10] In February 2016, the American Democracy Legal Fund filed a complaint against the super PAC and the campaign, claiming that Wilson's move between the two violated Federal Election Commission rules against camapigns coordinating with outside groups.[11]
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Wilson's firm Intrepid Media also worked for a super PAC in support of Marco Rubio's presidential campaign. According to financial records, the super PAC—called Baby Got PAC—paid Intrepid Media $42,240 in November 2016 for media consulting.[12]
NeverTrump movement
- See also: NeverTrump movement
During the 2016 election, Wilson was seen as one of the originators of the NeverTrump movement, a collective of mostly conservative voters who have vowed not to cast a vote for Donald Trump under any circumstances. Wilson has been critical of Trump during his appearances on national television and has vowed to never support Trump under any circumstances. In an opinion piece for the Independent Journal Review, Wilson wrote, "I will never vote for Donald Trump, not even if he’s the Republican nominee. I will never vote for Donald Trump, not even if Ronald Reagan and William F. Buckley rise from the grave and beg me to support him."[13]
He was also involved in an effort to find an independent candidate for president as an alternative to Trump. According to The New York Times, Wilson was "the main strategist on the effort" to gain ballot access for an independent candidate in all 50 states. He worked with the nonprofit organization Better for America to gain this access through traditional methods as well as litigation.[14]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Rick Wilson' Florida. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Influence Magazine, "Rick Wilson," Fall 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 CNN, "Donald Trump's hardcore hater," September 3, 2015
- ↑ The New York Times, "Mayor Accused of Using Staff for Campaign," February 5, 2000
- ↑ RealClearPolitics, "GOP Consultant Rick Wilson: People "Will Start To Reject" The Bill Clinton Attacks on Hillary," May 27, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Huffington Post, "Bitter Fights Over DHS Brought Down A Democrat In 2002. Could It Happen To The GOP In 2016?" February 25, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "GOP sees Rev. Wright as path to victory," March 19, 2008
- ↑ Buzzfeed, "Wright Adman: New Attack Won’t Work," May 17, 2012
- ↑ ABC News, "Meet The Brains Behind Three Of The Most Memorable GOP Ads Of Election 2014," November 3, 2014
- ↑ Florida Politics, "Rick Wilson transitions to Carlos Lopez Cantera’s super PAC," January 18, 2016
- ↑ Florida Politics, "ADLF files complaint against Carlos Lopez-Cantera’s Senate campaign and Reform Washington," February 17, 2016
- ↑ Center for Responsive Politics, "Vendor/Recipient: Intrepid Media, Inc.," accessed August 9, 2016
- ↑ Independent Journal Review, "With God As My Witness, I Will Never Vote For Donald Trump," accessed August 9, 2016
- ↑ The New York Times, "Evan McMullin, Anti-Trump Republican, Mounts Independent Presidential Bid," August 8, 2016
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