Katie Walsh Shields is a national political strategist based in Washington, DC, with more than 15 years of experience working at the highest levels of national politics, including Presidential and U.S. Senate campaigns, national party committees, and the White House. Shields was recently named by the National Journal as “One of the 50 People Changing the Game in Washington.”

Most recently, Katie served as strategist for U.S. Senator Katie Britt, navigating Senator Britt through a complex three-way primary to achieve a stunning victory in the run-off election to become the first woman ever elected to the Senate from the State of Alabama and the only female Republican Senator with school-aged kids. When then-candidate Britt entered the race, she was polling at 2%, her main opponent was at 65% and had been endorsed by President Trump. When the campaign ended, Britt won 63% of the vote and carried 66 of 67 counties. Shields also previously oversaw the successful SuperPAC that helped re-elect U.S. Senator John Cornyn of Texas in 2020.

In the 2018 and 2020 cycles, Shields served as a national strategist for RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel where she oversaw the robust data operation that is the backbone of the RNC’s national marketing program for candidates. Shields served as Chief of Staff of the RNC from 2015-2016 where she guided the Republican Party’s successful ground game and data efforts to Presidential election victory. As Chief of Staff of the RNC, Shields oversaw a $200M investment in the GOP’s data and digital effort including a complete overhaul of how the GOP approaches data for voter engagement and GOTV. Following this investment, the GOP had a historic election night winning states like Michigan and Pennsylvania at the Presidential level for the first time in over 20 years.

Shields went on to serve as Senior Advisor to the Trump-Pence Presidential Transition Team, overseeing the President-elect’s Cabinet selection and nomination process, and created the strategic organization of the West Wing, overseeing all operations from hiring to political strategy of the new administration. Shields was then sworn in as Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy Chief of Staff of the White House.

A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Shields began her political career in her home state, working on the 2000 re-election campaign of then U.S. Senator John Ashcroft, and on Matt Blunt’s successful 2004 gubernatorial campaign.

Katie currently runs her own boutique political consulting and fundraising firm KWS Strategies. Over the past few cycles, Katie’s current and former clients have included the Republican National Committee, Speaker Mike Johnson, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Congressional Leadership Fund, Senator Katie Britt, Senator John Cornyn, Senator Rick Scott, Senator Josh Hawley, Mike Rogers for Senate, Texans for a Conservative Majority, and The 2020 Charlotte Host Committee, among others.

Katie was a Spring '18 GU Politics Fellow.