Paul Teller -  Volunteer Faculty at the Leadership Institute

Paul now serves as the Executive Director of Advancing American Freedom.  Under the leadership of Vice President Mike Pence, AAF promotes and defends policies that advance conservative principles.

Paul Teller graduated cum laude in 1993 from Duke University in Durham, NC, where he got his B.A. in political science.  Also, Paul volunteered on the Bush/Quayle ‘92 campaign in Washington and in North Carolina.  After completing his undergraduate work, he went right into American University’s Ph.D. program as a Dean’s Scholar in political science.  Simultaneously, he worked at the College Republican National Committee (CRNC), where he was Advertising Director for its controversial national newspaper, The Broadside, and general assistant on national conferences and public relations.  After finishing his graduate coursework, he briefly worked as a research associate at The National Center for Public Policy Research.  Then, Paul became Senior Advertising Account Executive for The Washington Times--National Weekly Edition, specializing in advocacy and political-fundraising advertising. 

Paul was awarded his Ph.D. in 1999, at the age of 28, after completing a dissertation on how the ideological distance between U.S. senators from the same state affects representation.  Shortly afterwards, he became a professional staff member for the Committee on House Administration under Rep. Bill Thomas (R-CA) in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

In early 2001, Paul became Legislative Director for the Republican Study Committee (RSC)—at the time the only caucus of U.S. House across-the-board conservatives, where he did legislative research, analysis, and strategy, as well as coalitions and communications work, across a broad range of issues.  As the RSC’s Executive Director and the Conservative Movement’s point-man on the House side (having served under seven RSC chairmen—three as Executive Director), he set and implemented strategy for the RSC’s policy, communications, and coalitions efforts.  Paul moved on to become Chief of Staff for U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, Republican from Texas— where he served until August of 2016.

In January 2017, President Donald Trump named him Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs, where he operated in the White House as a conservative liaison to House and Senate conservatives—and to the Conservative policy stakeholders throughout the Movement. 

 

Paul Teller