Indian American Raj Shah to be Principal Deputy Press Secretary
Washington, DC: The Office of the Press Secretary at the White House announced Tuesday, that Raj Shah, will serve as Deputy Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy Press Secretary. Other new hires include, Hope Hicks as Communications Director, Mercedes Schlapp as Senior Advisor for Strategic Communications and Steven Cheung as Director of Strategic Response. Raj Shah has formerly served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Communications Director.
Born to immigrants from Gujarat India, Raj Shah was raised in Connecticut. Showing an early interest in politics, Shah volunteered for Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) while at High School and graduated from Cornell University, with a major in Government studies. Putting policy to practice, Shah interned with Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT), the Republican Presidential campaigns in Washington, and even worked under President George Bush, as an intern at the Office of Presidential Personnel. For the 2012 Presidential cycle, Shah was deputy research director at the RNC. And in 2013, along with Matt Rhoades, co-founded America Rising LLC, developing the organization’s Hillary Clinton opposition research book. In the 2016 Presidential cycle, Shah served as the head of opposition research in the Republican National Committee (RNC) and was the principal coordinator behind the anti-Clinton campaign.
Sanjay Puri, Chairman, US India Political Action Committee, welcomed the announcement, adding, “USINPAC congratulates Raj Shah on his promotion as Principal Deputy Press Secretary. After a very successful presidential campaign, Shah now has the President’s ear, and we expect a strong boost to US-India relations in the near future.”
About USINPAC
The US India Political Action Committee (USINPAC) is the voice of over 3.2 million Indian- Americans and works on issues that concern the community. It supports candidates for local, state and federal office and encourages political participation by the Indian- American community. Visit www.usinpac.com for more details.