A political strategist known for helping a Tea Party challenger unseat former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in Virginia will manage the gubernatorial campaign of Republican Dan Cox.
Cox announced Friday that Zach Werrell will serve as his campaign manager, touting his “extensive statewide campaign experience with national contacts.”
Werrell managed the 2014 congressional primary election campaign of Republican Dave Brat of Virginia, who ousted Cantor in a stunning upset.
Cox faces Democrat Wes Moore in Maryland’s November election.
Werrell, who grew up in Southern Maryland, is co-author of “How to Bag a RINO: The Whiz Kids Who Brought Down House Majority Leader Eric Cantor,” a reference to the term “Republican in Name Only.” The book is described as a detailed look at the Brat campaign, and “why it is a model for similar insurgent GOP campaigns across America as grassroots Republicans fight to take back their party, and the country.”
In 2015, Werrell described himself to the magazine “In These Times” as “a hardcore libertarian” who “was turned on to politics in high school” when Rep. Ron Paul ran for president in 2008.
He explained Brat’s grassroots strategy this way: “One: Go to events where like-minded people might be. Two: Introduce Dave and sign them up as volunteers. Three: Get them to come door-knocking or phone-calling, or to host an event. Rinse and repeat. Given our funding disadvantage, we had to maximize the resource we did have — manpower.”
Werrell has since managed other congressional campaigns.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Werrell graduated in 2013 from Haverford College in suburban Philadelphia and this year from the University of Texas law school.
An economics major at Haverford, Werrell in 2014 told The Clerk, the school’s student newspaper, his main interest was public policy to help shape the direction of the country.
“I incorrectly assumed the way for me to make the biggest impact was to work directly with WHAT policy looked like,” Werrell said. “I found, however, that changing WHO is making the policy is a much faster avenue to political change.”
