Zach Howell

Who is Zach Howell?

Zach Howell was the national chairman of the College Republican National Committee. A native of Sandy, Utah, he was elected in June 2009 at the CRNC's biennial convention, in Washington, DC, by delegates from states nationwide.

The CRNC is one of the leading 527 groups in the United States, and provides field support for Republican and conservative causes nationwide. During Howell's tenure, the CRNC coordinated a large deployment of student volunteers to Virginia, for the 2009 gubernatorial election in support of Bob McDonnell. The field program also assisted with the other major general-election effort that year, for New Jersey gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie. After Republican victories in both of those bellwether races, Howell's administration targeted the Fall 2010 CRNC field program towards specific states, which they believed contained the greatest potential for state-level and congressional gains, in the November elections.

Howell's leadership of the CRNC also marked the first time that the organization launched national television ads, as part of an effort to energize young Americans, many of whom they believed were frustrated with the Obama administration's fiscal and economic policies. A large focus of the CRNC's message during the Obama presidency has revolved around the national debt controversy. In 2010, the CRNC launched its "Don't Put it on Our Tab" initiative, with Chairman Howell warning that "America is not too big to fail" - and drawing a comparison to the European sovereign debt crisis. Zach has also served as a contributor to Fox News, MSNBC, and POLITICO.