2012 Rising Stars

From Campaigns & Elections Magazine

Vincent Harris, 24, Republican

President, Harris Media, LLC

“Vincent Harris’ first political gig wasn’t a glamorous one. As a high school student in Northern Virginia, he would accompany former Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) to parades—Harris was the guy who walked next to the congressman wearing an elephant costume. “I’d actually skip school to go to those parades with him dressed up as an elephant,” Harris recalls. Thankfully, his career has been on a steady rise ever since.

Harris launched a blog, TooConservative.com, which gained a following in Northern Virginia. At the age of 18, he decided to weigh in on the 2008 presidential race, endorsing Mike Huckabee long before anyone was paying attention to the former Arkansas governor. At that stage in the game, Huckabee was looking for press anywhere he could find it and the campaign gladly granted Harris an interview. About a month after the interview, Huckabee offered Harris a job. Harris served as an online staffer on the Huckabee effort. He dealt with bloggers and updated the campaign’s social media channels. At Harris’ urging, Huckabee’s campaign became the first GOP campaign to launch a Twitter account.

After the 2008 race, Harris worked as the new media director at the National Republican Senatorial Committee for the first part of 2009 before he left to start his own firm—Harris Media. The firm was behind the online campaign efforts of Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Florida Gov. Rick Scott. This cycle, Harris’ firm worked for the presidential campaigns of Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Harris has also worked overseas—most recently leading trainings in Egypt for the International Republican Institute.

“I was actually one of the first trainers IRI brought into Egypt,” says Harris. “To see that in action and to be a part of that—it was absolutely one of the best experiences of my life.”