Sam Oh, 39 — Sen. Tim Scott reelection 2022
Oh caught the campaign bug early as a low-level volunteer for a California State Assembly race in 2004.
"I kind of saw firsthand what it takes to win a really tough, hard-fought campaign," Oh told Insider. "I was a low man on the totem pole. I was going door to door, phone banking, putting up yard signs, folding something feeling like letters to like voters. We were doing 100-hour weeks, and we ended up winning that race."
Despite the all-out sprint, Oh was hooked. "I just learned so much and I thought it was like the most amazing thing I've ever been a part of," the Philadelphia native said.
Since that race, Oh has served in both government and in political campaigns and has been especially drawn to electing more GOP women. He helped out on the 2014 House campaign for Martha McSally, a former congresswoman and senator from Arizona, and was the chief of staff for then-Rep. Mimi Walters, a California Republican. In 2020, he helped Republicans flip two California congressional seats back into the red by advising Michelle Steel's and Young Kim's successful campaigns.
Oh, a vice president at the Republican political-consulting firm Targeted Victory, is now a consultant working on the reelection campaign of Scott, the Republican senator from South Carolina.
Read more: Sen. Tim Scott's flush with reelection cash. But being a Black Republican is still no party.
Oh said he wanted to "not only work with dynamic candidates but candidates who break narratives, who grow the Republican Party," and who "wanted to fight to win."
Scott, the only Black Republican in the US Senate, has seen his profile rise over the past year as the party sought to respond to the killing of George Floyd in 2020 and the ensuing protests and debate over racism and law enforcement's treatment of Black people. He delivered the GOP response to President Joe Biden's joint address to Congress in 2021 and is already seen as a 2024 contender.
Right now, however, Oh said Scott's team is focused on "laying the foundation to run a strong reelection campaign."
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