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Terry Sullivan (South Carolina)

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Terry Sullivan
Terry Sullivan (South Carolina).jpg
Basic facts
Organization:Firehouse Strategies
Role:Co-founder
Location:Washington, D.C.
Affiliation:Republican
Education:• University of North Carolina at Greensboro (1995)
• University of North Carolina at Wilmington (1997)


Terry Sullivan is a Republican political operative and co-founder of the consulting firm Firehouse Strategies.

  • Sullivan was the campaign manager for Marco Rubio's 2016 presidential campaign.
  • He also managed former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint's (R) campaign and worked on Rubio’s 2010 Senate bid. Sullivan subsequently joined Rubio's team in 2011, serving as deputy chief of staff before moving on to run Rubio's leadership PAC, Reclaim America.[1] [2]
  • Sullivan started Firehouse Strategies with two former Rubio staffers, Alex Conant and Will Holley, in June 2016.[3]

    • Career

    After attending the University of North Carolina at Greensboro from 1992 to 1995, Sullivan served as youth coordinator for North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms (R) during his successful 1996 Senate bid. Sullivan then graduated from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in 1997.[4] From May 2003 to December 2004, he worked as the campaign manager for Jim DeMint's (R) Senate campaign, helping DeMint secure his seat during his first run. Sullivan was a managing partner at First Tuesday Strategies, a South Carolina-based "political and grassroots consulting firm," from 2006 to 2011. The firm led dozens of Republicans to victory under Sullivan's management. He ran First Tuesday Strategies alongside his business partner, J. Warren Tompkins, who took over running a pro-Rubio SuperPAC, Conservative Solutions PAC, for the 2016 presidential election.[1][2][5][6][7]

    Sullivan was Mitt Romney's (R) campaign manager for the South Carolina primary during the 2008 election cycle. He served as senior adviser to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's (R) 2010 gubernatorial campaign in Texas; she lost to Rick Perry (R) in the primary.[8] Sullivan served in a similar capacity during Hutchison's U.S. Senate campaign in 2006.[8][2] Sullivan worked on Rubio's 2010 Senate campaign and joined his staff in 2011 after Rubio's victory over Democrat Kendrick B. Meek. He left Rubio's staff in December 2012 to run Reclaim America, Rubio's leadership PAC. Under Sullivan's leadership, the PAC raised $1.8 million during the 2012 election cycle and $3.9 million during that of 2014.[1][2][9]

    In June 2016, Sullivan and former Rubio presidential staffers Alex Conant and Will Holley started the consulting firm Firehouse Strategies.[3] According to The New York Times, the group was formed under the theory that Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign changed the rules of campaigning to put a premium on producing content. In the article, Conant identifies that "there’s just a steady flow of information, and if you don’t try to provide the content, your opponents or your critics will." Sullivan told the paper, "The solution is always more content, not less."[10]

    Marco Rubio presidential campaign, 2016

    See also: Marco Rubio presidential campaign, 2016

    On April 13, 2015, Rubio announced his presidential run on a conference call with donors. Among Sullivan's first tasks as Rubio's campaign manager was reaching out to former Romney donors, supporters and operatives.[11][1][12]

    The Washington Post noted that Rubio staffed with a strong eye towards his strategy in "the critical early-voting state of South Carolina." The paper noted that South Carolina was a key early state leading into the election in his home state of Florida: "Adding to the stakes in South Carolina['s primary] is Florida’s nominating contest, slated for just a few weeks later." As campaign manager and super PAC director respectively, Sullivan and his former business partner Tompkins were both based in South Carolina as of 2015.[13]

    At the close of Rubio's first week of campaigning, Sullivan penned an email outlining the campaign's early success and general tone moving forward: "Our early success is not going unnoticed by other campaigns. The [sic] weekend, the Drudge Report highlighted an AP report that another campaign has 'Started quietly spreading negative information about Rubio's record.' We cannot take the bait and return fire. We must stay positive." Though Sullivan refrained from identifying a specific campaign, Patricia Mazzei of The Miami Herald indicated that there was a tension between the Rubio and Bush campaigns.[14][15][16]

    According to Sean Sullivan of The Washington Post, Sullivan advanced a campaign posture that focuses more on acquiring delegates than on primary election victories, informing allies that a path to victory "would be a months-long grind."[17]

    On the day after the Iowa caucuses, Sullivan highlighted, via his Twitter handle @OnBackground,[18]

    On February 4, 2016, Politico reported that Sullivan was to attend a campaign strategy meeting in New York City. According to that report,[19]

    “

    The move to bring a top surrogate to major donors ... is a sign that after a strong showing in Iowa, the Rubio campaign is continuing to stick by its strategy of trying to pick off as many delegates as possible through the early primaries even if he doesn't win outright ... 'we feel good about where that leaves us,' Rubio said. 'In the end, our goal and our plan is we are going to have more delegates than anyone else, more than half the delegates and it is going got make us the Republican nominee.'[20]

    		”

    Rubio suspended his presidential campaign on March 15, 2016.[21]

    Media

    See also

    External links

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Politico, "The power players behind Marco Rubio's campaign," April 13, 2015
    2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Reclaim America PAC, "Director, Terry Sullivan," accessed May 19, 2015
    3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Florida Politics, "Former Marco Rubio staffers Terry Sullivan, Alex Conant launch consulting firm," June 6, 2016
    4. ↑ First Tuesday Strategies, "The Team," accessed May 19, 2015
    5. ↑ Roll Call, "Rubio Adds Well-Known GOP Strategist to Staff," February 10, 2011
    6. ↑ Washington Post, "Marco Rubio gets a super PAC," April 9, 2015
    7. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Politico, "Hutchison gears up for gov. bid," July 29, 2009
    8. ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Reclaim America PAC," accessed May 21, 2015
    9. ↑ The New York Times, "The Trump Show, a Hit for Now, Faces a Test in the Fall," June 5, 2016
    10. ↑ CNN, "He's in: Marco Rubio's presidential challenge," April 13, 2015
    11. ↑ Washington Post, "Who’s in Marco Rubio’s inner circle?" April 13, 2015
    12. ↑ Washington Post, "How Rubio’s aggressive South Carolina strategy threatens Bush," May 8, 2015
    13. ↑ Miami Herald, "Marco Rubio camp doesn't name names but notes tension with Jeb Bush," April 21, 2015
    14. ↑ Miami Herald, "In New Hampshire, signs of strain emerge between Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio," April 19, 2015
    15. ↑ National Review, "Rubio Campaign Chief: Don’t Take Jeb’s Bait," April 20, 2015
    16. ↑ The Washington Post, "Mired in third, Marco Rubio prepares for a long, drawn-out Republican race," January 23, 2016
    17. ↑ Twitter, "Profile: Terry Sullivan," February 2, 2016
    18. ↑ Politico, "Rubio advisor to head to NYC for strategy meeting," accessed February 4, 2016
    19. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
    20. ↑ The New York Times, "Marco Rubio Suspends His Presidential Campaign," March 15, 2016
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