Matt Mackowiak is a Washington D.C.- and Austin-based political consultant and Chairman of the Travis County Republican Party. He served in senior roles with federal and state candidates and elected officials, worked for the George W. Bush administration, and has managed and advised numerous campaigns.
Career
Early in his career Mackowiak was a political appointee at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security serving Under Secretary Asa Hutchinson. He managed the second largest county in Iowa on the 2004 Bush-Cheney re-election campaign. Mackowiak counseled corporate clients at international PR firm Burson-Marsteller. From 2007-2009 was Press Secretary to U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. From 2005-2007 he served in the same role for three-term former U.S. Senator Conrad Burns. In 2010 Mackowiak was campaign manager for Bill Flores, the Republican nominee in Texas’ 17th Congressional District. After winning a 5-way primary, Flores defeated 10-term incumbent Rep. Chet Edwards by 25% in November. He also advised former U.S. Attorney John Ratcliffe, who defeated 17-term U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall in a primary runoff, the first Republican challenger to defeat a Republican congressional incumbent in Texas. From 2011-2014, Mackowiak, with his firm, Potomac Strategy Group, worked with Gov. Sean Parnell as a senior communications adviser. In the 2014 cycle, Mackowiak managed a statewide campaign for Texas Comptroller for Texas House Ways and Means chairman Harvey Hilderbran. He advised Texas Supreme Court Justice Jeff Brown. In the 2016 cycle, served as general consultant for Rep. Hugh Shine, who unseated incumbent state Rep. Molly White by 105 votes out of around 18,000 cast, which was one of four state representative races in which a challenger beat an incumbent. Matt also advised U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, who won reelection. In 2017 Mackowiak was appointed to fill a vacancy for chairman of the Travis County Republican Party left by James Dickey, who became Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas. Mackowiak won election to a full term in 2018 and was unopposed for re-election in 2020. He is active in many Austin-area concerns, having co-founded Save Austin Now opposing the city's homeless camping policy, and an advocate for full funding of the Austin Police Department. In 2018, Mackowiak and his client, now-U.S. Rep. Pete Flores surprised observers by unseating U.S. Rep. Pete Gallego and flipping a heavily Democratic district in San Antonio. Flores is the first Hispanic Republican elected to the Texas Senate. Through his career, Mackowiak has made frequent media appearances on local, national, and international media outlets, and was a columnist for several publications including The Washington Times and The Hill. He has hosted "Mack on Politics," a political podcast in partnership with The Washington Times hosting guest of national import. He has managed state-level news aggregation service Must Read Texas and Washington-oriented political interest blog Potomac Flacks. He was a Director of the Center for Public Policy and Political Studies at Austin Community College.
Personal life
Mackowiak lives in Austin, Texas with his wife Suzanne in the University Hills neighborhood. He is an active philanthropist, having raised funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, earning him runner-up for "Man of the Year" recognition in 2016. He was a finalist for the "Austin Under 40" list for Leadership Austin, and is a board member for the Texas Cowboys, the Veterans non-profit Luke's Wings, Balcones Country Club, and the Texas Delta Chi Housing Foundation. He has been active with the British-American Project, the Council for National Policy, and the Austin-based Headliner's Club. A native of Austin, Matt graduated with a B.S. in Communications Studies from the University of Texas in 2003.
