The election might be over, but the work of a special political action committee continues, even after the last ballots were counted.
Maverick PAC, or MavPAC for short, was organized to get the next generation of conservatives more involved in politics. It hosts inexpensive fundraisers — sometimes as cheap as $25 — for young professionals, giving them ready access to today’s political playmakers.The PAC also contributes to conservative candidates in elections at federal and local levels.
Maverick PAC was started in Texas during the 2004 presidential election cycle. While groups of fundraisers raising money for the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign were given nicknames such as the Rangers and the Pioneers, there was another group of younger fundraisers called the Mavericks. They formed the PAC, but it was only in Texas until current co-chairs George P. Bush and Jay Zeidman took over, restructured the PAC and took it nationally. The name, however, remained in tact.
“We thought that mavericks are kind of rogue,” Zeidman said. “We thought that it really speaks to what our generation, who’s out on their own, is all about.”
Zeidman himself is somewhat of a rogue, making Red Alert‘s inaugural 30-under-30 list over the summer for his work with MavPAC. And much of the PAC’s most impressive work has come since then.
As of Oct. 29, MavPAC had received more than 3,000 separate donations and contributed $147,500 to candidates the 2012 election cycle, according to a press release.
“If we were a start-up, the investors would have made a lot of money,” Zeidman joked, before stressing the organization is a non-profit political entity. Some of the campaigns donated to included Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Maverick PAC also organized its first-ever bus tour through Florida, over four days in September. The tour stopped at college campuses and The Villages retirement community as a way to fire up young and old alike to engage in the political process and cast their ballots in the crucial swing state. Pasha Moore, executive director of the PAC, said the bus tour was successful.
“People were excited that we took the time to come to their campus and talk to them about politics,” she said. “You know, a lot of times, in Republican politics, we don’t always pay attention to the younger set of people that are just now able to vote.”
Both co-chairs spoke on the bus tour, but Moore said they were not there to talk about how to cast votes.
“We were there talking about, ‘You need to pay attention because this is your life and voting absolutely directly affects your future,'” she said. “I think that [the listeners] were particularly refreshed that it wasn’t — that we were giving such a positive message in general about politics.”
And although Obama won reelection and Republicans faced some other tough losses in other races, Zeidman stressed the PAC will not cease to exist now that the election is over.
“I think the biggest problem with politics today is that these rogue groups pop up for an election cycle here and there and then they go away,” Zeidman said. “We have structured Maverick PAC as a group that’s built to last, and I think that our success will only continue to be dictated by the type of people that are leading the chapters and are leading the organization out on the ground across the country.”
The “type of people” Zeidman credits with MavPAC’s ongoing success are individuals like Washington, D.C., chapter leader Morgan Ortagus. One of five leaders spearheading the D.C. MavPAC movement, Ortagus is not short on personal success. At the age of 30, she has already served as the deputy U.S. treasury attache to Saudi Arabia and an intelligence analyst at the U.S. Treasury in the Office of Intelligence and Analysis.
Upon moving from government work to the private sector last fall, Ortagus sought a way to get involved in political activism. She contacted Zeidman, who told her about Maverick PAC. After attending an event with former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Ortagus was impressed — and hooked.
“This is not just your ordinary, run-of-the-mill Republican gathering,” she said. “I really felt like it was a very sophisticated, hard-charging group of professionals in their 20s and 30s — some even in their 40s.”
With only 16 chapters in 12 states, the reach of Maverick PAC may seem limited. But for young conservatives who wish they had a MavPAC chapter in their area, Zeidman has straightforward advice: “It’s very simple; start one. We have grown organically. We have grown because somebody said, ‘I like what you guys are doing. I wish I had this in my hometown.’ And we say to them, ‘Do it.’”
Ortagus said she doesn’t see her involvement with MavPAC ending anytime soon. And while the draw of big-name contacts and political influence is certainly there, Ortagus also appreciates the relationships she has built with other young professionals in the PAC.
“I’ve met some really fantastic, amazing people that are really the movers and shakers — the young movers and shakers — of the Republican party,” Ortagus said. “I think if you want to be a part of that group, Maverick PAC is the place to be.”
