Tim Miller (political strategist)

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Tim Miller is an American political consultant and writer known for his role as communications director for the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign of Jeb Bush and for being an outspoken Republican critic of former U.S. president Donald Trump.

Campaign roles[]

A Colorado native, Miller started out in Republican politics as an intern working on the 1998 Colorado gubernatorial election.[1] He later earned a bachelor's degree from George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs.[2]

Miller was an Iowa staffer for John McCain in the 2008 GOP presidential primary campaign, and later served as national press secretary for the 2012 presidential campaign of Jon Huntsman.[2] In his role with the Huntsman campaign, Miller was credited by Esquire for making its daily email to reporters "surprisingly hip".[3] After the primary, Miller joined the Republican National Committee as its liaison to Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign.[4]

In 2015, Miller was hired by former Florida governor Jeb Bush to be a senior adviser to his presidential exploratory committee, Right to Rise PAC, and went on to serve as the communications director for Bush's presidential campaign.[2][5][6] During the campaign, Miller drew notice as a "vocal critic" of Donald Trump.[7] Following a 2016 South Carolina GOP primary debate, Miller followed Trump around the spin room heckling him until Miller was "hip-checked" by Trump campaign strategist Corey Lewandowski.[8]

Anti-Trump advocacy[]

Miller joined the anti-Trump "super PAC" Our Principles PAC following Jeb Bush's exit from the 2016 Republican primary, where he drew notice for lambasting Trump supporters he appeared with on-air.[9]

After Trump's election as president, Miller received media attention for announcing he had donated to Doug Jones, the Democratic opponent of Republican nominee and accused sex offender Roy Moore in the 2017 special election to fill Jeff Sessions' Senate seat.[10][11]

In 2020, Miller co-founded the advocacy organization Republican Voters Against Trump, which sponsored television and internet advertisements featuring lifelong Republicans explaining their decision to vote for former vice president Joe Biden instead of Donald Trump, and served as its political director.[4][12]

Miller has been characterized as a "NeverTrumper".[13] He was included by the Washington Post on a list of Republicans "who hate Donald Trump the most".[14] In November 2020, Miller announced he had left the Republican Party.[15][16]

Opposition research[]

In 2013, Miller co-founded America Rising, an opposition research group focused on surfacing negative stories about Democrats, where he served as executive director.[17] America Rising was noted during the 2014 midterm elections for deploying "trackers" to follow Democratic elected officials around Capitol Hill.[18]

Following the 2016 presidential campaign, Miller joined Definers Public Affairs, an opposition research-styled consulting firm working for corporate clients. In 2018, Definers circulated a research document linking anti-Facebook activists with the financier George Soros, often the subject of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, on behalf of Facebook.[19] As a result of the controversy, Facebook ended its work with Definers.[20]

Media career[]

Miller has been described by Politico as one of the "most digitally fluent and social-media savvy" GOP operatives.[2] Before the Definers controversy, Miller was a contributor to the liberal Crooked Media website and frequently appeared as the "token Republican" on its Pod Save America podcast.[10][4][20]

He is a writer for The Bulwark (website) and Rolling Stone.[4][13] Miller has written in support of Omar Ameen, an Iraqi refugee accused by Trump of being a member of ISIS.[21] A Rolling Stone column by Miller seeking on background comments from reluctant GOP Trump supporters elicited a widely shared quote, "There are two options, you can be on this hell ship, or you can be in the water drowning".[13]

Personal life[]

Miller graduated from Regis Jesuit High School in 2000 in Aurora Colorado and graduated from The George Washington University in 2004 with a BA in Political Science.[22] Miller is openly gay. He attributes his decision to take the risk of coming out in 2007, while still working on Republican campaigns, in part to the Larry Craig scandal.[4]

As of 2020, Miller lives in Oakland, California with his husband and their child.[19][21]

External links[]

References[]

  1. ^ Bleiker, Carla (July 14, 2020). "Republican Anti-Trump campaigner: Trump presidency 'an utter disaster'". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d Allen, Mike (February 20, 2015). "Big hire for Jeb: Tim Miller as comms director". Politico. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  3. ^ Jones, Chris (October 11, 2011). "Huntsman Never Stood a Chance. Now Maybe He Still Does". Esquire. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e Daniel, Walters (October 30, 2020). "One of the country's biggest Never Trumpers owes part of his journey to Larry Craig's 'wide stance'". Inlander. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  5. ^ Sarlin, Benjy (February 20, 2015). "Jeb Bush snags opposition research star Tim Miller for 2016". MSNBC.com. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  6. ^ Garcia, Michelle (February 22, 2015). "Jeb Bush Picks Opposition Researcher, Gay Republican Tim Miller For Campaign Team". The Advocate. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  7. ^ Isenstadt, Alex (March 1, 2016). "Anti-Trump super PAC adds top Bush adviser". Politico. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  8. ^ Coppins, McKay; Gray, Rosie (March 21, 2016). "Trump Campaign Manager Faces New Allegations Of Pushing, Sexually Suggestive Comments". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  9. ^ Moore, Jack (March 11, 2016). "Shrimpy Trump Supporter Burned by Jeb's Former Spokesperson on Live TV! Sad!". GQ. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  10. ^ a b Broverman, Neal (November 17, 2017). "Gay Former Spokesman for Jeb Bush Endorses Roy Moore Opponent". The Advocate. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  11. ^ Greenwood, Max (November 21, 2017). "GOP operative: 'I just donated to a Democrat for the first time' in Alabama Senate race". The Hill. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  12. ^ Karni, Annie (May 28, 2020). "Get Republicans to Vote Against Trump? This Group Will Spend $10 Million to Try". The New York Times. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  13. ^ a b c Glasser, Susan B. (July 16, 2020). "Trump's Losing, So When Are Republican Candidates Going to Abandon Him?". The New Yorker. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  14. ^ Cillizza, Chris; Blake, Aaron (May 7, 2016). "The 10 Republicans who hate Donald Trump the most". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  15. ^ Hall, Colby (November 23, 2020). "Joe Scarborough: How Can I Return to a Republican Party That Stayed Silent While Trump 'Shredded Constitutional Norms?'". Mediaite. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  16. ^ Miller, Tim (November 22, 2020). "Goodbye To All That". The Bulwark. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  17. ^ Haberman, Maggie (March 21, 2013). "RNC, Romney operatives launch firm". Politico. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  18. ^ O'Keefe, Ed (February 20, 2015). "Team Bush brings oppo guru Tim Miller on board". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  19. ^ a b Nicas, Jack (November 21, 2018). "How Facebook's P.R. Firm Brought Political Trickery to Tech". The New York Times. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  20. ^ a b Isaac, Mike; Nicas, Jack (November 15, 2020). "Facebook Cuts Ties With Washington Firm That Sought to Discredit Social Network's Critics". Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  21. ^ a b Riotta, Chris (February 14, 2020). "Meet the California Republican who helped create the Never Trump movement — and is willing to vote for Bernie Sanders". The Independent. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  22. ^ "Regis Jesuit High alumni page". Retrieved 16 February 2021.
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