Clark Doster Associates President Tim Clark is a former Trump White House senior official, director of the 2016 campaign’s historic California sweep, and one of the few strategists in a generation to win statewide for Republicans in California. An 80% win rate in targeted contests. A record built where winning is hardest.
Hired two months before the primary to run Trump’s California campaign against opponents who had organized for a year. Result: all 53 congressional districts, all 172 delegates — the nation’s largest block, and the win that put the nomination over the top. Then promoted to direct the Southwest United States for the general election.
The full story →White House Liaison to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — the federal government’s largest agency. Senior Executive in the Executive Office of the President. Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, directing HHS’s lead role in the Administration’s opioid crisis media response. Chief Communications Officer of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.
The administration chapter →Undefeated in California statewide primary campaigns. One of just a handful of GOP consultants to win a statewide California general election in two decades — electing Steve Poizner Insurance Commissioner over the sitting Lieutenant Governor. A career built on delivering victories in America’s toughest terrain for Republicans, routinely against better-funded opposition.
The client roster →Multiple Pollie Awards from the American Association of Political Consultants for creative advertising excellence. Five national Telly Awards. Named a national “Rising Star” by Campaigns & Elections magazine. A frequent guest expert on television and radio news — and a strategist the press itself has profiled as a winner.
What they say →The 2016 Republican presidential nomination would be decided in the nation’s largest electoral battleground: California. Two months before the primary, the Trump campaign chose Tim Clark to direct the state — a campaign starting from scratch against Ted Cruz and John Kasich operations that had been organizing for over a year.
Clark made a bold prediction: Trump would win everything.
California apportions three delegates per congressional district — the primary was effectively fifty-three individual contests. With polls showing Cruz within five points, the campaign launched a statewide earned-media blitz hitting every market. Within a week, Trump had opened a commanding double-digit lead. An integrated phone-and-online program re-registered independent voters shut out of the closed primary — and the Secretary of State recorded a measurable spike in registration activity.
The national campaign was run on a shoestring; there would be no advertising dollars for California’s brutally expensive media markets. Victory would come through the ground. The campaign opened regional headquarters, mobilized over ten thousand volunteers, and built an operational plan for every one of the fifty-three districts — pressing Cruz and Kasich on their own turf while protecting seats trending Trump’s way.
“We were under-fire from all sides… My office and home were put on protective alert by local law enforcement. It was chaotic ugliness by the opposition.”
Tim ClarkNine major Trump rallies. Tens of thousands of volunteers in the precincts from San Diego to Redding. Several million calls from volunteer phone centers — all while fighting off big-dollar independent expenditure attacks funded by the state’s wealthiest Never-Trump donors.
Short on money and time, and against long odds, the Trump campaign swept the state — every county, every congressional district, all 172 delegates. The largest delegate block in the nation, and the win that secured the nomination.
From the first benchmark poll to the final GOTV call — strategy, message, data, and media, integrated and directed by a senior operator who has run it all at every level.
“Clark, who has not lost a statewide primary race, said he won’t need on-the-job preparation.”
“Clark is a well-respected Sacramento political operative… He’s thrifty and sharp, too.”
“I know he will be an asset to the team and ultimately deliver a win in California.”