Stuart Stevens

Stuart Stevens is an American travel writer and political consultant. He was the cofounder of Washington, D.C. - based political media consultancy Stevens & Schriefer Group (with Russell Schriefer). In 2013, he became a founding partner in Strategic Partners & Media. He served as a top strategist for Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign in addition to several other significant presidential campaigns over the course of his career. He later joined The Lincoln Project, a Republican Never Trump group for the 2020 United States presidential election. Early life and education Stevens, who is from Jackson, Mississippi, grew up in the Southern United States in the 1960s. He felt that the Democratic Party members he knew consisted predominantly of "good ol' boy" segregationists; he chose instead to join the Republican Party. He attended Colorado College (BA English, 1974), Pembroke College, Oxford (study abroad English, 1972), Middlebury College (MA English, 1976), and UCLA Film School (studied MFA Film). Stevens is an extreme sports enthusiast who participates in triathlons, has completed the Paris–Brest–Paris bicycle race, and once skied the last 100 miles to the North Pole. Career Beginning his political career in his native Mississippi, Stevens worked on Thad Cochran’s campaigns and others. Stevens worked for Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign and was part of George W. Bush's media team in 2000 and 2004. His book The Big Enchilada is a chronicle of Bush's 2000 campaign. He and Russell Schriefer worked for John McCain's campaign early in the 2008 election, but changed their allegiance to Mitt Romney by July 2007. Overseas, Stevens worked successfully for two candidates in 2005 and 2006. In Albania he worked for Prime Minister Sali Berisha during the 2005 election campaign, where he based the campaign primarily on "a pledge to reduce corruption". He also worked for 2006 election campaign of Joseph Kabila in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.