Larson Named New RNC Chief of Staff

This morning, the RNC named strategist Jeff Larson as new Chief of Staff. He now faces the tough task of filling positions while the RNC manages a cash crunch.

The Republican National Committee officially announced this morning that Chairman Reince Priebus will be bringing in Republican strategist Jeff Larson as his next Chief of Staff.

For a decade until his departure in November 2010, Larson had been a partner in FLS Connect, a firm that specializes in voter contact programs.  A confidante of Sen. Norm Coleman, the Minnesota-based operative was also CEO of the host committee for the 2008 Republican convention.

“I don’t know how they would have raised the money [to run the convention] without Jeff Larson. In my mind, fundraising is one of his strengths,” said David Norcross, who chaired the preceding 2004 Republican convention and was a thirty year member of the Republican National Committee.

Indeed, those who know him or have worked with him were quick to praise the pick, characterizing him as a low-key operative who’s the first into the office in the morning and the last one out in the evening.

“Jeff is the consummate professional and competitor. He can be your best friend or your worst enemy - and he has a lot more friends than enemies,” said Matthew Burns, a friend of Larson’s who worked with him in planning the 2008 GOP convention. “Jeff is the first guy to give you the shirt off his own back, but tighter than bark to a tree when it comes to managing an organization's budget… Jeff Larson is a winner and he brings instant credibility to the RNC.”

“He will be good. He knows politics and he knows D.C. The Chairman will be well served by him,” Mike Leavitt, the outgoing RNC Chief of Staff, told FrumForum.

Larson’s fundraising experience bodes well for the RNC – which is $23 million in debt - even if that isn’t his primary responsibility.

Besides the sizable debt that the Republican National Committee holds, Larson also has the task of hiring talent and filling key department positions during a cash crunch – the RNC has only around $700,000 cash on hand. To put that in perspective, the RNC has operating costs of between $2 and $3 million a month – although Priebus recently claimed to have cut payroll and operating costs by half a million per month.

Correction: An earlier version of this piece claimed that Larson had not previously worked at the RNC. In fact, he has previously served as a regional political director at the RNC.

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