Nationality American Home town Brookfield, Missouri Role Consultant | Occupation Political consultant Name Jeff Roe Political party Republican Party | |
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Alma mater Northwest Missouri State University Organization Axiom Strategies, Candidate Command, Remington Research Group Known for Campaign manager for Ted Cruz's 2016 presidential bid Education Northwest Missouri State University Residence Kansas City, Missouri, United States | ||
Ballotpedia Insights with Jeff Roe and Jeff Hewitt
Jeff Roe is an American Republican political consultant and strategist. He is the founder and principal of Axiom Strategies, a political consulting firm located in Kansas City, Missouri, with offices in Washington, D.C. and Dallas, Texas. He formerly served as Chief of Staff, campaign manager, and longtime aide for U.S. Representative Sam Graves.
Contents
- Ballotpedia Insights with Jeff Roe and Jeff Hewitt
- Background
- Political career
- 2014 election cycle
- References
Known for his aggressive campaign techniques, Roe has earned a reputation as a "bare-knuckle" political operative who "plays to win." His political consulting firm, Axiom Strategies, has won numerous national awards en route to amassing an 81% win ratio.
Roe has consulted for a variety of local, state, and federal political campaigns. Notable clients have included Mike Huckabee, Rick Perry and Ted Cruz. Roe is the senior strategist and campaign manager for Cruz's 2016 presidential bid.
Background
Roe is a native of Brookfield, Missouri. He grew up on his family’s farm and became an Eagle Scout before joining the United States Army at age 17. He served in a 155 mm Howitzer Unit in South Korea. Following his service, he graduated from Northwest Missouri State University. He currently lives with his wife and daughter in Kansas City, Missouri.
Political career
Roe's political career began in 1994, working for then-Missouri State Representative Sam Graves. Following Graves’ election to the Missouri State Senate in 1994 and then the United States Congress in 2000, Roe became Graves’ Chief of Staff. In 2005, Roe left his position with Graves and founded Axiom Strategies, a Republican campaign consulting firm based in Kansas City, Missouri. In addition to Axiom Strategies, Roe founded creative agency and direct mail firm Candidate Command and polling and public opinion research company Remington Research Group.
After successfully managing several elections throughout the Midwest, including helping the Republican Party take over Missouri’s General Assembly for the first time in 50 years, Roe expanded Axiom Strategies’ operations to a national level in 2008, opening a second office in Washington, D.C. and working for Governor Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign in 2008, as well as managing the successful election efforts of several Missouri Congressmen.
In 2008, Congressman Sam Graves’ brother Todd Graves was wrongfully dismissed from his position as a U.S. Attorney. It was discovered that Todd Graves’ firing was retaliation from Senator Kit Bond’s office over Sam Graves’ refusal to fire Roe.
Roe and his consulting firm widened their national footprint in 2010, contributing to the election efforts of Congressmen Allen West, Rick Crawford (AR-1), Kevin Yoder (KS-3), Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-9), Sam Graves (MO-6), Billy Long (MO-7), Chuck Fleischmann (TN-3), Jo Ann Emerson (MO-8) and Senators Roy Blunt (MO), Jerry Moran (KS) and John Boozman (AR). Roe also counted a number of high-profile losing clients the same year, including Wink Harman, Jim Barnett, Bill Stouffer, and Van Tran.
In the 2012 election cycle, Axiom Strategies worked for Rick Perry's presidential campaign and for Richard Mourdock in his upset over Dick Lugar in the Indiana Senate primary. Roe also played a role in Christi Craddick’s successful bid for Texas Railroad Commissioner and David Dewhurst’s unsuccessful United States Senate campaign.
Other clients included the National Association of Realtors, Congressman Richard Hudson (NC-8) and Congresswoman Ann Wagner (MO-2). For his role defeating Proposition B in Missouri, the closest ballot initiative in Missouri since 1992, Roe was named Missouri's “2012 General Consultant All Star.” He was also named one of Missouri’s top 5 GOP “Influencers” by Campaigns & Elections Magazine.
In 2014, Roe was hired by Ted Cruz as a political strategist. According to Politico, Roe was brought on board to build out Cruz's political organization. After Cruz announced his candidacy for president in March 23, 2015, it was reported that Roe was the campaign manager and senior strategist for Cruz.
Roe was hired by Catherine Hanaway for her 2016 gubernatorial campaign in Missouri. Roe's campaign tactics have been criticized by former U.S. Senator John Danforth.
Roe regularly provides commentary for news outlets and publications such as The Kansas City Star, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Roll Call, The Hill, Fox News, Politico and radio stations such as KMBC and WPHT.
2014 election cycle
In 2014, Roe was the lead consultant for Martha McSally’s successful bid for Congress, in which she defeated incumbent Ron Barber by 167 votes in the closest congressional election in Arizona history. Roe was also involved in Mark Walker and David Rouzer's elections to open congressional seats in North Carolina and Glenn Grothman’s election to the open congressional seat in Wisconsin. He also consulted for the re-election bids of Kevin Yoder, Ann Wagner, Sam Graves, Blaine Luetkemeyer, Billy Long, Chuck Fleischmann and Jason Smith.
Roe was part of the team in Bruce Rauner’s successful campaign for Governor in Illinois and Greg Abbott’s successful campaign for Governor in Texas. In Texas State Senate races, Roe consulted for Bob Hall, who ousted 12-year incumbent Bob Deuell, and for Don Huffines, who unseated nearly 20-year incumbent John Carona.