MAIR STRATEGIES - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Founder
• Owner
• President
• Republican National Committee Online Communications Director

Liz Mair is the owner, founder and President of Mair Strategies LLC and the US' leading right-of-center online communications operative. Liz served as Online Communications Director at the Republican National Committee during 2008, where she led an aggressive and groundbreaking online media outreach effort aimed at electing John McCain, Sarah Palin and Republicans across the US. In this capacity, she also served as a spokesperson, undertaking on-camera interviews and debates on behalf of the RNC and the campaign against representatives of the Obama campaign and the DNC. The RNC-McCain operation Liz led in 2008 was widely credited by political reporters, pundits, and fellow operatives on both sides of the aisle for its effectiveness and professionalism, and is considered one of the areas in which the Republican side vastly outperformed its Democratic counterpart that cycle. During 2009 and 2010, Liz advised former Hewlett-Packard CEO and US Senate candidate Carly Fiorina on communications, including how to push back on attacks on her tenure at the helm of HP. She played an integral role in ensuring Fiorina won a difficult and hotly contested primary, and both beat the voter registration gap and outperformed more moderate Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman in the general election in deep blue California. Liz also consulted for Texas Governor Rick Perry during his presidential run, primarily working with left-of-center media to blunt and neutralize criticism of Perry from the left and amplify criticism from the left of other GOP primary contenders. A principal focus of Liz's work was researching and educating the media regarding Mitt Romney's business career and liabilities associated with it, the line of attack that ultimately prevented him from winning the presidency. In addition, Liz served as Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's online communications strategist ahead of and through his successful 2012 campaign against recall, and thereafter, as he prepared for his successful 2014 re-election campaign and his 2016 presidential run. Before leaving the Walker team in March 2015, she served as a trusted communications adviser for several weeks during the initial planning stages ahead of Walker's planned presidential run. Liz has advised Senator Rand Paul on outreach to tech and conservative online media, particularly during 2013 when the Senator's influence and imprint on the GOP was steadily increasing. She also conducted communications and opposition research services that enabled the decisive re-election of Senator Roy Blunt in 2016. Liz is also the originator of the most cost-effective ad in US political history, and a leader in litigation communications particularly concerning constitutional cases. She undertook communications efforts with respect to the three cases heard by the Supreme Court concerning marriage equality where as a long-time advocate, she acted on behalf of Freedom to Marry, which achieved its desired outcomes in each Supreme Court case. Liz also handles ballot initiative communications, and boasts an 80% win rate on ballot initiatives. She has most prominently worked on ballot initiatives in California, Florida and Maryland. In the US, since founding Mair Strategies, the overwhelming majority of her work has been for corporate and trade association clients, including multiple Fortune 500 companies. Liz also leads strategic communications campaigns in the UK, principally on taxation, "sindustry" and financial services issues. A rival operative once described Liz as "hit[ting] harder than a truck" where her use of opposition research is concerned; private polling showed that a single negative story she researched and pitched to investigative reporters regarding Trump Mortgage LLC, and which ran just days before the 2016 Virginia primary, organically made it onto the radar of 16% of Republican primary voters and negatively impacted their perceptions of Trump with zero money spent on ads to highlight it. A frequent TV news commentator on politics and policy and a social media presence in her own right, Liz was named one of Campaigns & Elections' INFLUENCERS 50 in the field of communications in 2013. She regularly features as a guest on MSNBC, CNN, Fox News and Real Time with Bill Maher. She is UK broadcaster ITN's regular GOP contributor during its presidential election night coverage. A recovering private equity/debt finance lawyer, Liz has an MA in International Relations from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and a Certificate in Political and Social Sciences from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). She studied law at the College of Law in London and practiced at Macfarlanes LLP. A dual US-UK national born in Seattle in 1978, Liz was raised between Surrey, England and the "Jet City." Until her relocation to the Washington, DC area in 2006, she lived the entirety of her adult life in the UK and continues to undertake public affairs and political work in both England and Scotland. Liz is also a prominent advocate for immigrants and pro-immigration policies, and a critic of restrictionist policies and restrictionism advocates. She speaks Spanish, French and Italian, and has volunteer taught citizenship classes in Northern Virginia. Liz is married and since 2019 has lived with her husband, son and two cats in Stamford, Connecticut. She also lives and works from London for about two months a year. She is an avid traveler, having visited six continents to-date.