Jason Stanford

Class of 1992

Jason Stanford, a longtime political figure in Texas [1] and a Rising Star in Politics 2002, began working at the age of 14 as a sports writer for The Nugget, a weekly paper in Central Oregon. A Russian major at Lewis & Clark College, Jason moved to Moscow in 1992 to finish his degree and stayed for two years, editing an English-language expatriate magazine and working as a reporter in the Los Angeles Times bureau.

Jason moved to Texas in 1994 to work as a Deputy Press Secretary for the Ann Richards Committee. Jason and a former colleague founded Stanford Ryan Research & Communications, Inc. in January 1997. The firm became Stanford Research in 1999.

Several media outlets have featured Jason's views on opposition research and modern campaigns, including The Edge with Paula Zahn on the Fox News Channel, the Texas News Network (TXN), the Christian Science Monitor, the Buffalo News, Campaigns & Elections magazine, and the Austin American-Statesman. The recently New York Times bestseller Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential also featured his analysis of the War on Iraq.

Jason belongs to the Capitol of Texas Rotary and the American Association of Political Consultants and once belonged to the Board of Directors of the defunct 21st Century Democrats. Jason has taught seminars at three C&E campaign-training conventions.

He lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, Carson, their sons Henry Durdan and James Hatcher.

[1] Digging Dirt Deep in the Heart of Texas, Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 24, 1999.

Jason served as an active member on the Board of Alumni from 2000 to 2006.