Rand Paul Names Top Campaign Aide, Launches 3-State Tour
Sen. Rand Paul (R.,Ky.), setting out on a three-state campaign style swing as 2016 maneuvering intensifies, has hired a senioradviserwho will be his campaign manager if he decides to launch a White House bid.
Mr. Paul has tapped for his political team GOP strategist Chip Englander, who had managed the successful 2014 campaign of Republican Bruce Rauner for governor of Illinois one of the biggest upsets in the GOP midterm election sweep of the nation.
The hire, which was first reported in the Washington Post and confirmed by a Paul aide, is the latest in a series of campaign operatives hired by Mr. Paul to build out his inner circle of close advisers such as senior strategist Doug Stafford.
His three-state tour starts Wednesday in New Hampshire, host of the first presidential primary. There Mr. Paul will meet with gun-rights supporters, opponents of Common Core, the national education standards opposed by many conservatives, and other activists before travelling to Arizona and Nevada for further meetings.
In leading Mr. Rauners campaign organization, Mr. Englander helped the GOP seize one of its biggest trophies of the 2014 midterm election. Illinois was one of three Democratic leaning states, along with Massachusetts and Maryland, where Republicans unexpectedly picked up governors seats.
That is the kind of party-broadening effort Mr. Paul is hoping to engineer in his own national campaign, as he has tried to reach out to African Americans and young voters and other groups that have traditionally been out of reach for the GOP.
Mr. Paul has said he wont decide until the spring whether to launch a presidential campaign, but he is moving aggressively to put in place the staff and structure he will need if he makes a go of it.
Of Mr. Englanders hiring, Mr. Paul said in a written statement, His management of Governor Rauners successful race last year highlights his strengths: precise and strategic management of massive, grassroots-driven operations.
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Rand Paul Names Top Campaign Aide, Launches 3-State Tour