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Republicans’ statehouse campaign arm will be led by a young GOP operative with deep ties to top Trumpworld political operatives heading into a crucial election that could determine the balance of the congressional map for the next decade.
The Republican State Leadership Committee has tapped Austin Chambers as its president, according to a draft statement announcing the hire obtained by The Daily Beast. The RSLC is expected to announce the hire on Thursday, and it will brief top donors on the decision in a late-morning conference call.
Chambers is a rising star in Republican politics, having served, beginning at age 20, as the political director for Sen. David Perdue’s (R-GA) successful 2014 campaign. He went on to run the gubernatorial campaign of Missouri Republican Eric Greitens, who was considered a likely presidential contender before he was engulfed in scandal and resigned last year, and was a top adviser to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s successful 2018 campaign.
The internal email announcing Chambers’ hiring mentioned Chambers’ work for Kemp, Purdue, and Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey. It did not mention Greitens by name, only referring to Chambers’ work on the successful campaign for Governor in Missouri.
Chambers could not be reached for comment. The RSLC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Also central to the RSLC’s thinking, according to a source familiar with the organization’s 2020 strategy, is Chambers’ longstanding relationship with Nick Ayers, the former chief of staff for Vice President Mike Pence who is expected to be a key player in President Donald Trump’s reelection effort and Republican 2020 strategy more broadly. Ayers was a top consultant to Greitens’ campaign, and Chambers worked for Ayers’ firm, C5 Creative Consulting, until its dissolution last year.
Chambers’ hiring at RSLC has rankled some inside the organization. Sources said two senior staffers, both of whom had applied for the job, conspicuously skipped the Wednesday all-hands meeting where Chambers’ hiring was announced. They also said that more seasoned operatives, including veteran state legislators, were passed over for the job.
At Wednesday’s meeting, staff also raised concerns about Chambers’ ties to Greitens and the legal and ethical travails that ended his political career. The Missouri House committee investigating allegations of illicit politicking and sexual misconduct by the former governor subpoenaed Chambers last May.
Greitens’ attorney assured RSLC leaders that his legal issues wouldn’t cause problems for the organization or its new president, according to a source at Wednesday’s meeting, where the attorney’s assurances were relayed.
Greitens resigned last year amidst a scandal involving the illicit use of his veterans’ charity for political purposes and his arrest on felony charges of invasion of privacy over allegations that he used nude photos to blackmail a former sexual partner. Greitens denied the latter charges, which were dropped after he agreed to resign.
In testimony as part of a state investigation into his conduct, Greitens’ former campaign manager alleged that Chambers had misled him in an effort to cover up the campaign’s use of a donor list provided by The Mission Continues, Greitens’ nonprofit, to raise money for the campaign.
In the wake of Greitens’ election, Chambers helped formulate policy and official messaging for the governor’s office, even though he was a political consultant, not a state employee, at the time, according to emails reported by the Springfield News-Leader.
RSLC’s elevation of Chambers comes amid high-stakes battles for statehouses around the country. The partisan makeup of the country’s 99 state legislatures will likely have a dramatic impact on the redrawing of congressional districts after the 2020 census, meaning the outcome of state legislative races next year will largely determine the U.S. congressional for the following decade.
