Tim Clark

Built in the hardest state to win

Tim Clark’s career was forged in the one place Republicans could least afford to hire poorly: California. For two decades before the country knew his name, Clark was the strategist Sacramento insiders called when a race couldn’t be lost — compiling an unbeaten record in California statewide primary campaigns and becoming one of just a handful of GOP consultants in a generation to win a statewide California general election, electing Silicon Valley technology executive Steve Poizner as Insurance Commissioner over the sitting Lieutenant Governor.

The client list from those years reads like a roster of the California Republican Party itself: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman, members of Congress, dozens of state legislators, big-city mayors, and the party’s own state leadership. Along the way Clark built a reputation for two things the consulting business rarely delivers together — winning, and winning cheap. The San Francisco Chronicle profiled him as “thrifty and sharp” after he delivered a state senate seat while being outspent roughly four-to-one.

He also built a record of expanding the party: electing the nation’s first Vietnamese-American state legislator, the nation’s highest-ranking Korean-American officeholder, and twice electing Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin in a heavily Democratic city.

The Trump campaign

In April 2016, with the Republican nomination coming down to California’s 172 delegates, the Trump campaign hired Clark to direct the state — two months before the primary, against Cruz and Kasich operations that had been organizing for over a year. Clark predicted a total sweep. The prediction held: every county, all 53 congressional districts, all 172 delegates — the largest block at the national convention, and the win that secured the nomination.

Clark then led the California delegation to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland — 172 delegates whose combined strength equaled one-seventh of the votes needed to nominate. When last-minute convention maneuvers threatened to exploit the rules and deny Trump the nomination, the delegation Clark built helped shut them down. Its delegates became the face of the convention floor, drawing more national camera time than any other state.

For the general election, the campaign assigned Clark to oversee the Southwest United States. He helped plan the earned-media efforts that shored up must-win Utah and Texas, and organized thousands of volunteers into 24 West Coast call centers that contacted over 2.1 million swing voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, and Florida — every one of them carried in November. His online volunteer team delivered millions of social media impressions nationally.

The White House years

In January 2017, Clark joined the presidential transition as White House Liaison to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — the largest agency of the federal government. He was a lead member of the HHS transition “beachhead” team that assumed operational control of the agency, then directed hiring for over 150 senior presidential personnel, including leadership at CDC, FDA, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and the National Cancer Institute, while helping fill 180 federal boards and commissions.

He went on to serve as a Policy Advisor on the White House Domestic Policy Council and as a Senior Executive in the Executive Office of the President. In 2018, as Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Clark directed HHS’s leading role in the Administration’s Opioid Crisis Response public relations launch — over 50 national and regional media interviews and multiple live events, reaching an estimated audience of more than 25 million. He later served as Chief Communications Officer of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a $7 billion organization.

A longtime volunteer youth soccer coach, Clark also helped staff the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition — and got some coaching in himself at the Council’s kickoff on the White House South Lawn.

The work today

Clark Doster Associates is the continuation of that record: senior political strategy for candidates, committees, associations, and advocacy organizations operating where the stakes are highest. Clark currently directs LibertyPAC, a national conservative political action committee, and remains a frequent guest expert on television and radio news. The firm’s commercial practice — strategic communications and brand strategy for businesses — operates as Clark Strategy Group.

Personal

Tim and Maya Clark have been married for over three decades and are raising five daughters. Clark holds a B.A. in Political Science with a minor in Business Marketing from San Jose State University, earned the rank of Eagle Scout as a youth, and is a frequent guest lecturer at colleges and professional conferences on strategy, messaging, and public policy communications.