Sen. Rob Portman has announced his senior campaign team for his 2016 re-election campaign.
Portman, R-Ohio, announced last week that Corry Bliss will serve as campaign manager, Kevin Hoggatt will serve as political director, and Natalie Baur will serve as finance director.
Portman is running for a second six-year term in the Senate and has said he will not run for president in 2016. However, a run for vice-president is still on the table.
Most recently, Bliss took over the Senate campaign of Pat Roberts in Kansas after being asked to by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. At the time, Roberts was trailing by 10 points. He went on to win by 11. Fox News named Bliss as one of the main reasons Roberts was able to turn around the race and win a decisive victory.
“Corry Bliss is among the best campaign managers in the country,” Roberts said. “Corry’s discipline, political savvy, and meticulous organizational skills are unparalleled and were vital to my re-election. Senator Portman made a great choice and I am confident Corry will serve him well, and I look forward to celebrating a Portman victory in 2016.”
Before that, Bliss managed Linda McMahon’s U.S. Senate race in Connecticut, in 2012, overseeing a $50 million budget and 40 person organization that ran eight points ahead of the presidential ticket. He is a graduate of Boston University and the CUNY School of Law.
Hoggatt, the newly named Portman for Senate political director, is a veteran of Portman’s staff and currently serves as director of development and special projects in Portman’s official office. He’s been working for Portman for eight years.
Hoggatt previously worked on Portman’s 2010 U.S. Senate campaign as deputy political director and special assistant.
During the 2008 and 2012 presidential cycles, he assisted Portman with debate preparations for both Mitt Romney and John McCain’s presidential campaigns. Hoggatt is a native of Wilmington, Ohio and a graduate of the Philosophy, Politics and the Public honors program at Xavier University in Cincinnati.
Baur, Portman for Senate finance director, is the founder of N.K. Baur & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm formed in 2000.
She specializes in fundraising, finance management, federal and state election law compliance, state and federal ethics compliance, special events, and public affairs.
She also has more than 13 years in federal election compliance experience and is also well versed in Ohio election law as well as Ohio and federal lobbying and ethics laws.
The campaign starts with some $5.8 million in the bank and the endorsement of more than 250 Ohio Republican leaders including the entire Republican Congressional delegation, all statewide elected officials, and 90 percent of State House and Senate Republican members.
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