Vaccaro gets top political post at NRCC

Theresa Vaccaro, a seasoned political operative from New Jersey who played a key role in protecting the GOP House majority in the 2024 election, is the new political director of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

This marks a rapid ascent for Vaccaro in Washington, where she has gone from northeast regional political director to deputy political director to the top slot over the last four years.  She’ll be tasked with defending the narrow Republican majority in the House in the 2026 midterm election.

Vaccaro served as executive director of the New Jersey Republican State Committee from 2016 to 2020, as Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen’s district director in 2015, and as Frelinghuysen’s campaign manager in 2014.  She worked for Mitt Romney in Iowa in 2012 and for the Missouri Republican Party during the 2010 cycle.

In 2020, she was campaign manager for then-Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr.’s bid to unseat Rep. Tom Malinowski; Kean came within one percentage point of winning that race and defeated Malinowski two years later.

Over the last two years, Vaccaro led political efforts of targeted districts across the U.S. and directed the Patriot Program.  In 2022, she helped flip five congressional seats in the northeast.

Vaccaro was a partner at Goldfinch Partners, the national political consulting firm run by New Jerseyan Harrison Neely, before taking the NRCC post.