DAVID MERRICK, Founder of Holmes Street Consulting

David Merrick has close to a decade of unparalleled campaign, research, and issue advocacy experience. His work in these fields began as a part of Speaker Paul Ryan’s vaunted political operation, which broke every political fundraising record at the time and helped to defy the odds and grow Republican’s majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016.

 

He also worked for then-candidate and now Congressman Bryan Steil as his political director in 2018 when he defeated one of the most well-funded candidates in the country, Randy “Iron Stache” Bryce, by 12 points, despite the seat only having a four-point Republican voter registration advantage and the national trend that cycle that favored Democrats. Rep. Steil’s victory ensured that the seat Speaker Ryan retired from remained in Republican hands. 

 

Following this experience, he then worked for the Senate Leadership Fund/One Nation, an outside political organization affiliated with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. There he worked under Research Director Mark McLaughlin to vet candidates, conduct opposition research, approve media content, and conduct rapid response during the 2020 election cycle. Thanks in large part to the efforts of SLF/ON, Republicans were able to win key competitive races across the country in states like Montana, North Carolina, and Iowa to secure a 50-50 split in the Senate, even while Democrats maintained their majority in the House of Representatives and won the White House. 

 

In 2021, he moved back to Wisconsin to work as the Research Director for Empower Wisconsin, an organization dedicated to shining a light on the failures of first-term Democrat Governor Tony Evers and using research to emphasize his deeply misguided policy agenda.