Matt Schlapp

Raised in Wichita, Kansas, Matt Schlapp is the son of Susan Schlapp, a former city councilwoman who, after eight years of service on the Wichita City Council (2003-2011), became senior constituent liaison for the Kansas Department of Commerce under Governor Sam Brownback.[4][5]

Schlapp's early schooling began at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School in Wichita, and in 1986, he graduated from Kapaun Mt. Carmel Catholic High School.[6] He earned a Bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame, and went on to earn a Master's degree in public policy from Wichita State University.[3]

Schlapp began his political career in 1994, and worked five years as a press secretary, campaign manager, and chief of staff for Representative Todd Tiahrt (R-KS). He also worked on the 2000 political campaign of George W. Bush, serving as a regional political director with oversight of Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas and Oklahoma.

During the 2000 political campaign of George W. Bush, Schlapp helped organise and was the on-site leader of the protest which became known as the Brooks Brothers riot. The riot was a demonstration at a meeting of election canvassers in Miami-Dade County, Florida, on November 22, 2000, during a recount of votes made during the 2000 United States presidential election, with the goal of shutting down the recount. After demonstrations and acts of violence, local officials shut down the recount early.

During the George W. Bush administration, he served as political director, and advised the President, Vice President, members of the cabinet, senior White House staff and had extensive contact with members of Congress and federal agencies.[7]

In 2004, Schlapp became a lobbyist at Koch Industries. He became vice president of federal affairs at Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC.

On June 19, 2014, Schlapp was unanimously elected chairman of the American Conservative Union.

In 2020, Schlapp made controversial comments regarding the George Floyd protests that began on May 26. He alleged that Black Lives Matter was "...hostile to families, capitalism, cops, unborn life and gender." As part of his lobbying work, Schlapp had been paid $200,000 per year by Verizon and Abbott Labs, and $120,000 a year by Comcast. Due to his remarks, Verizon ended his contract in June 2020,[8] Abbott Labs came under criticism for using Cove Strategies and Schlapp as a lobbyist despite Abbott's professed commitment to social justice, and consequently cut its ties with Schlapp.[9] Comcast followed suit.[10]

While ballots were being counted during the 2020 election, Schlapp made claims of voter fraud.[11][12][13][14] He claimed that 9,000 votes were improperly cast in Nevada; PolitiFact rated his claim false.[11] In the final days of the Trump administration, Schlapp was also lobbying for a pardon for Parker Petit, a major Republican donor, who was the Georgia finance chairman of Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign and was convicted of securities fraud in November 2020, according to the New York Times. Schlapp allegedly charged Parker $750,000 for his lobbying assistance.[15]

Schlapp's lobbying firm Cove Strategies earned more than $2.3 million in 2020.[16]

Schlapp married Mercedes Schlapp, whom he met while they both worked at the White House, where she was the director of specialty media.[17] They co-founded Cove Strategies, a communications and political consulting firm based in Alexandria, Virginia.[18] From September 2017 to July 2019, she served as Director of Strategic Communications in the Trump administration. Since July 2019, she has worked on the Trump 2020 re-election campaign.[19]

The couple have five daughters.[18]

• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Matt Schlapp on Twitter