PolitickerNV Profile: Ryan Erwin

Ryan Erwin, president of Ryan Erwin and AssociatesLas Vegas- In the coming weeks, PolitickerNV.com will be profiling some of the staffers and consultants who work so hard to get these guys and gals elected and us something to write about.  Today’s subject: Ryan Erwin, president of Ryan Erwin and Associates.

Erwin, 36, began his career in politics while a student at Ohio State University in the early nineties.  He worked for the Ohio GOP and was active in both state legislative races and the Bush/Quayle ’92 Ohio effort before leaving school to run the statewide grassroots for former Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine in 1994.

“I kept leaving [Ohio State] for a quarter, but was in school most of the time,” said Erwin.  “Then I left to do that DeWine race and kept figuring I’d go back and then I kind of became the guy that whenever the congressional committee or RNC—whenever somebody had to go someplace to run a race it was me.  I would just go.  I had no family, no attachments, so I’d go wherever.”

Erwin worked races in ten different states, including the 1996 Iowa caucuses for Steve Forbes, before he was recruited by the Nevada Republican Party to be its executive director from 1999 until July 2001.  From here, he went further west to serve as chief operating officer for the California Republican Party for two more years before returning to Nevada and helping launch November, Inc. with fellow Nevada consultants Mike and Lindsay Slanker.

Erwin describes his years running state parties as “really good years.”

“I’m so glad I did it,” said Erwin, “and I’m so glad I don’t do it anymore.”

“[California Republicans] really needed to burn the house down and start from scratch.  If we made a mistake, our mistake was that we didn’t burn it down enough.  You know when a football team tries to rebuild and contend?  We were kind of in that mode, and you’re destined for mediocrity when you try to rebuild and contend at the same time.”

Erwin considers his years running the California party as one of the best learning experiences he’s had, largely because of the unique corporate structure of the California GOP.  Unlike most other states which are run by a chairman and an executive director, in California the COO answers to a board of twenty-seven equal members.

“I was running a $30 million organization,” said Erwin.  “There’s hiring, firing, payrolls and admin.  I’m thrilled I did it, but it was an undertaking.”

Erwin prefers running a private firm to a state party because of the autonomy and the ability to pick and choose which candidates he will support.

“I’m not one of those guys who think all Republican candidates are better than all Democratic candidates just because of the ‘R’ next to their name,” said Erwin.  “We’ve got our fair share of great candidates and so do the Democrats, so being able to pick and choose was very important to me.”

Erwin left November, Inc. in late 2005 to start his own firm, Ryan Erwin and Associates, which operates in both Nevada and Texas.  He describes his client list as seventy percent corporate and thirty percent political candidates, with a small amount of federal, state and municipal-level lobbying thrown in.

“Most of what we do is public affairs,” said Erwin, “and I absolutely love it.”

Erwin’s firm has been successful enough that he was tapped by former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney to operate Romney’s Nevada caucus campaign.  Romney’s presidential bid was cut short by a worse-than-expected showing on Super Tuesday but did win an impressive fifty-one percent here, largely orchestrated by Erwin.

“For Romney, we built a grassroots organization that I think was as impressive as any in the country,” said Erwin.  “Contrary to everyone thinking it was just LDS, it was a whole lot bigger than that.”

Currently, Erwin’s client list includes “seven races in Texas,” 5th Assembly District candidate Donna Toussaint, 29th District candidate Sean Fellows and the Republican Assembly Caucus.

“Basically we provide everything from big-picture oversight to strategy, budgets, game plans, timelines and managing staff,” said Erwin. 

“Our job is to make sure that a candidate can be a candidate.  We do all of the other things for candidates.  They can get bogged down very easily in the minutiae and can’t do the things it takes to win a race.”

Despite Nevada Democrats’ success with the Jan. 19 caucuses, Erwin believes that Nevada will “stay red.”

“I think that John McCain has some interesting perspectives to bring to this state.  I think Hillary is a tough sell here, although she’s got the traditional Democratic support.  If Hillary runs here, you’ll see a traditional Democratic campaign and that isn’t good enough to make the state blue.  If it’s Obama and McCain, you can almost flip the electoral map on its ear.”

Today, the happily married father of two remains positive about Nevada Republicans’ chances, saying that he expects the GOP to pick up seats in the Assembly and, maybe, hold on to their majority in the state senate.  Regardless, he and his firm will play a factor in Nevada politics for years to come.

“The good thing about this state is that it’s very close-knit,” said Erwin.  “Fights are fought tough but usually clean.”

“Usually,” he repeated with a smile.