Media Packet April 2017

Transcription

1 Media Packet April 2017 Press release Centrist Project overview Bios for Nick Troiano & Joel Searby Leaders available for interviews Utah polling memo Media Contacts Jim Glassman: Elizabeth Heaton:

2 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACTS : Jim Glassman ( ) & Elizabeth Heaton ( ) press@centristproject.org Centrist Project Launches Independent Candidate Recruitment Campaign for 2018 Election San Francisco, CA With strong funding, leadership, and grassroots momentum, the Centrist Project announced today a new #HackTheSenate campaign to reform America s dysfunctional political system. The Centrist Project is recruiting independent candidates to run for U.S. Senate and state legislatures in Voters have already begun pledging their support and crowdfunding contributions online. Both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders demonstrated that the current political environment is ripe for disruption, said Nick Troiano, the Centrist Project s new Executive Director, and former independent candidate for U.S. House. But the system is still badly broken, as we can see from the vicious partisanship over such issues as health care reform and Supreme Court nominations. The Centrist Project s fulcrum strategy aims to elect a sufficient number of centrist, independent candidates to legislatures, including the U.S. Senate, to deny each of the traditional parties an outright majority. The Centrist Project will also work to persuade elected Democrats and Republicans to abandon their party affiliations. This new centrist core of independents will hold the balance of power and forge common ground solutions to address the country s major challenges. The Centrist Project is a powerful and achievable hack to the system that can truly transform American politics, said Marc Merrill, a board member of the Centrist Project and co-founder/co-ceo of Riot Games, Inc. Magazine s 2016 Company of the Year. The Centrist Project has raised over $600,000 in seed funding to support its candidate recruitment activities, including from hundreds of grassroots members who are sending small dollar donations on a monthly basis. For the U.S. Senate, the Centrist Project is targeting Utah as one of its potential states. Recent polling conducted for the organization by JMC Analytics (March 18-20) found that just 21% of Utah voters support the reelection of incumbent Senator Orrin Hatch (R) and that a named potential independent candidate, Evan McMullin, would lead him head-to-head, 33%-29%. Joel Searby, who most recently managed Evan McMullin s independent presidential campaign, is the group s new Senior Strategist and leading candidate recruitment. Searby has begun traveling the country to brief former elected officials, CEOs, celebrities, and other prominent figures. On the state legislative level, the Centrist Project has hired a campaign team in Colorado and is partnering with independent organizations in Alaska, Connecticut, Maine, New Mexico and Oregon. ### The Centrist Project strategically recruits and supports centrist, independent candidates for office. For more information, visit

3 The Centrist Project Overview Mission The Centrist Project aims to bridge the growing partisan divide and break through the political dysfunction in politics by strategically electing centrist, independent candidates to office. We are the only organization in the country that is explicitly focused on recruiting, supporting, and electing independent candidates. History The Centrist Project was founded in 2013 by Charles Wheelan, a professor at Dartmouth College and author of the Centrist Manifesto. Over the past two election cycles, the organization supported several U.S. House and Senate independent candidates including Greg Orman, who ran a closely competitive campaign against Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) in Platform We support candidates who: Share our common ground approach to governance by putting their country first, following the facts, and working together to solve problems. Stand for our common sense principles of fiscal responsibility, environmental responsibility, economic opportunity, good governance, and social tolerance. Support our political reform agenda of increasing competition, participation, and accountability in government. Leadership Our staff includes: Nick Troiano, Executive Director former independent candidate for U.S. House in 2014 (PA-10) and founding staff member of Unity08/Americans Elect Joel Searby, Senior Strategist former campaign manager for Evan McMullin s 2016 independent presidential campaign Shelbi Lewark, Colorado State Director Dane Sherrets, Outreach Manager Our Board includes: Jeffrey Binder CEO of Immucor, Inc. Gregg Brockway Co-Founder of Chairish, Hotwire, & TripIt Leonard Gail Partner, Massey & Gail, LLP Katherine Gehl Former CEO, Gehl Foods Derek McDowell Co-Founder of Boyne Capital Marc Merrill Co-CEO & Co-Founder of Riot Games William Obenshain Executive Director, Center for Financial Services at DePaul Shawn Riegsecker CEO and Founder, Centro Randy Peeler Managing Director, Berkshire Partners Colston Young (co-chair) founder of Whiteboot

4 Nick Troiano Executive Director Nick Troiano is the Executive Director of the Centrist Project and is based in San Francisco, CA. Nick is active in leading efforts and supporting organizations that are aimed at strengthening American democracy and tackling our country's most pressing challenges. Most recently, Nick worked for Change.org on Change Politics a non-partisan platform that empowers citizens to make informed decisions on Election Day. In 2016, he was named to the "Forbes 30 Under 30" for Law & Policy. Nick ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014 from Pennsylvania s 10th District and drew national attention as both the youngest candidate and the most successful independent of the cycle, garnering over 22,000 votes. In 2012, Nick co-founded The Can Kicks Back campaign to advocate for bipartisan policies to reduce the national debt and was instrumental in the introduction of the INFORM Act to increase transparency in the federal budget. Previously, he served as National Campus Director for Americans Elect where he organized and supported student groups at over 300 colleges nationwide. Nick earned a Master s degree in American Government from Georgetown University, where he completed his undergraduate studies with honors and championed the creation of a $1 million Social Innovation and Public Service Fund. He has spoken on the topics of youth engagement, political reform, and fiscal issues to dozens of groups across the country, including along three national bus tours that collectively visited over 40 states. Nick has also provided commentary to a range of television, radio, and print media outlets and is featured in two documentaries, Follow the Leader (PBS) and Broken Eggs.

5 Joel Searby Senior Strategist Joel Searby is a veteran consultant with over 10 years experience in the realm of political campaigning, government affairs, corporate and non-profit strategic planning, leadership development, and faith-based initiatives. He spent a decade in consulting with one of the largest firms in the Southeast, serving as CEO beginning in They served clients in 17 states from federal to local, large PACs, trade associations and many others. In 2016, feeling a strong calling to step into the presidential mess, he left the firm to run Evan McMullin s historic three-month presidential campaign. Joel has worked with campaigns and organizations across a wide spectrum of sizes and resources from local candidates for office to managing a presidential campaign and from small trade associations with a few thousand members to some of the largest with over a hundred thousand members and multi-million dollar budgets. In his work Joel has focused on helping people and organizations identify their goals and challenges, create plans and budgets to meet them, assemble the necessary resources and teams to achieve the goals and then execute the plans for success. A true soup-to-nuts leader, Joel thrives in challenging situations that require intense focus and creative solutions to difficult problems be they getting elected, passing or defeating legislation, strategizing through difficult organizational transformation or identifying and equipping leaders. Together with his wife Jen and their children Evan and Lydia, Joel lives in Gainesville, Florida. He grew up in Normal, Illinois and attended University High School and graduated from Lincoln Christian University. Joel and Jen spent 6 months of their first year of marriage living in Santiago, Chile serving with a church plant and working with young mothers, kids, drug addicts and others in a rough part of the city. Both are fluent in Spanish and have traveled extensively in Central and South America.

6 Key Leaders Available for Interviews Greg Orman Former Independent U.S. Senate Candidate Successful businessman and entrepreneur Ran a competitive race for U.S. Senate in Kansas in 2014 against Senator Pat Roberts Authored the recent book, A Declaration of Independents: How We Can Break the Two-Party Stranglehold and Restore the American Dream Katherine Gehl Former CEO of Gehl Foods Milwaukee, WI Board Member of the Centrist Project Former Democrat & Obama campaign volunteer Author of the recent Fortune piece, Why Politics Is Failing America Marc Merrill Co-Founder/Co-CEO of Riot Games Board Member of the Centrist Project Riot Games: global gaming company (100 million players), 2016 Inc. Magazine Company of the Year Former Republican & Schwarzenegger campaign volunteer Owen Casas Independent State Representative Rockport, Maine One of two independent State Representatives who won election in 2016 in Maine Former United States Marine More info:

7 MEMORANDUM TO: Interested Parties FROM: Joel Searby, Senior Strategist The Centrist Project RE: Utah Poll Results The Centrist Project commissioned polling in Utah from March 18-20, 2017 in an effort to gauge public opinion on a number of key issues and to assess the viability of an independent candidate in the upcoming race for U.S. Senate. Our findings indicate that Utahans are not only eager for new ways to approach politics but that Senator Orrin Hatch and establishment Republicanism are in deep trouble. Key Findings 1) Senator Hatch is incredibly vulnerable Poll results indicate that only 21% of Utahans believe Senator Hatch should be re-elected. 2) Utahans are not just open to independent candidates but would vote for one While 43% of respondents said they are at least somewhat likely to vote for an independent against Hatch that doesn t always translate to votes in an actual ballot test. However, in our survey, it did with Hatch losing to Evan McMullin. 3) In a hypothetical race between Hatch, Evan McMullin and a Democrat, McMullin beats Hatch head-to-head In a head-to-head ballot test, our named independent candidate beats Hatch by a margin of 33% to 29% with the Democratic candidate picking up 11%. We chose to use Evan McMullin as he represents a known independent name in Utah following his run for President in 2016.

8 4) Utah voters are looking for candidates who will find common ground Asked to choose from the list below, 51% of voters said a candidate committed to finding common ground was the most important trait. 5) Voters increasingly believe the system is rigged in favor of the well-off and well-connected. Picking up on themes often heard throughout the 2016 campaign, voters in Utah believe that our political system is rigged against the average American. This underlying discontent sends an ominous signal to those deeply connected to the political establishment, particularly Senator Hatch. Polling was conducted by JMC Analytics. Methodology and geographic breakouts are below.

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