Pocket Profile: Sen. Heller’s Communications Director Neal Patel

Washington Examiner: Tell me a little bit about yourself and how you got to the Hill.

Patel: I am the youngest of four kids and born and raised in South Carolina. My dad’s a petroleum geologist by trade who was born, raised and educated in India. He found himself stationed in Houston, working off the gulf coast at a time when oil was booming. Through some unfortunate circumstances, my parents lost their savings, but it led to them to the hotel business in South Carolina. Basically, they moved from Houston to South Carolina, packed everything up in a station wagon, and started this new life as hoteliers. My dad was the accountant, the night watchman, the bar man, the plumber and the groundskeeper. My mom was the cashier, the head housekeeper, and the front desk attendant during the day (my dad did that at night). This was the story of a lot of Indian folks in the 1970s and 80s, and they did well. I grew up in that environment, and in the state of South Carolina. Not many kids from my background grow up idolizing Ric Flair and the Dukes of Hazzard but that was me.

Washington Examiner: What was your first exposure to politics?

Patel: It was a small town of 4,000 people. I learned politics because my dad exposed me to it. He was a small business owner, and he needed to know the key players in town, and this was the kind of town where those folks all spent time together. Then my mom became a public school teacher, so that put us further in the fabric of the community. We watched the local news every day, followed by international news. My parents always encouraged us to travel and made sure we were able to travel widely. They always told us that they might not be able to buy us the shiniest toys or the newest shoes, but they’d always make sure we could travel. Traveling as I grew up exposed me to more than I could have ever imagined.

Washington Examiner: How did you make your way to the Hill?

Patel: I went to school in Chapel Hill and then went to law school back in Charleston. I practiced law for two years, and I always wanted to work in Washington on Capitol Hill. I had spent a week in Washington in high school, and I had the chance to meet with my representative, Rep. Jim Clyburn. He actually took time to sit with me one-on-one. It was inspiring and it left me with that itch to come to D.C. In 2010, I quit practicing law, and took an unpaid internship with Congressman Joe Wilson. I worked for free and I did absolutely everything he asked of me — tours, answering calls, staffing him at all hours. When you start as an intern, you check your pride at the door. I survived, and after five months, I was offered a job on his staff.

I had done some drafting of op-eds and statements, especially related to the financial crisis and the government’s response. I was at that office for a year and then I went to an office for Rep. Charles Boustany of Louisiana in Cajun Country. South Carolina was a great place to cut my teeth in politics, but then I went to the office of a congressman facing a Republican-on-Republican primary. It gave me the experience of a lifetime. I went down to work the campaign. I rolled up my sleeves, and I loved it.

After Rep. Charles Boustany, I moved from the House to the Senate to work for Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada. He serves on the Finance, Banking and Commerce committees, as well as Veterans and the Committee on Aging.

Washington Examiner: What’s a day in the life look like for you right now?

Patel: With where we are right now, the news cycle is 24/7. And in the comms role I’m in, it’s even more that way. I’m fortunate that I have a chief of staff who comes out of communications and served as a communications director, so I’m able to learn from him. We’ve got to be cutting edge; we have to know what’s going on. Information is key for us, and it’s the business we’re in. So for us, when I get up in the morning and get into the office, we’ll have those news clips compiled, get a pulse of the day. What’s important to us is what’s going on in Nevada, and what people there are talking about. Then we ask what our plan is for the day, what’s the senator doing media-wise, how are we going to respond to incoming inquiries. More than anything, though, we have a weekly plan that we execute against.

Good communications is a reflection of good policy; good policy makes for good communications. I spend time learning as much as I can about Senate procedure, because, honestly, it helps me learn how to communicate better.

Washington Examiner: What do you do in your spare time?

Patel: I’m a new dad, so my two month old keeps me busy. But when I’m not on family time, I try to forge as many relationships as I can with people in my line of work, both Democrats and Republicans, though that tends not to happen in the 9 to 5. It tends to happen in the 6 to 10. I have to confess that I have an understanding and incredibly supportive wife, who understands it’s part of the gig to do that.

This article appears in the Sept. 14 edition of the Washington Examiner magazine.