Harlan Hill, a bowtie-sporting pro-Trump millennial who often appears on Fox News and once claimed that he backed Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) presidential campaign, is now providing support to Michael Grimm’s New York primary campaign.
Hill’s firm, Logan Circle Group, has signed on to assist the criminally-convicted former congressman who is now running for his old seat. In the closing weeks, Hill will be doing digital media, online engagement and even television booking. Grimm is in a tight race for the GOP nomination with Rep. Dan Donovan (R-NY), who represents Staten Island and a stretch of Brooklyn.
“He’s a firebrand, a go-getter,” Hill said, describing Grimm to The Daily Beast. “He was the logical pick there. And also, I like to back winners.”
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Hill, who also sits on the advisory board for President Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign according to his website, finds himself at odds with the president on this particular race. Trump tweeted his support for Donovan and even went so far as to warn that Grimm would be unelectable in the general election. Just this past weekend, Trump’s lawyer and adviser Rudy Giuliani stumped for Donovan at a campaign event.
But Grimm still seems well positioned to secure the nomination. The most recent poll of the district found him up by ten points.
“He’s one of the hardest working retail politicians that I’ve ever witnessed,” Hill said of Grimm. “He gets out there and busts his ass more than just about anyone that I’ve ever seen.”
Hill and the group’s chief strategist, Ryan Girdusky, would not go into details about how much Grimm had paid them for their work. But according to filings from the Federal Election Commission, the consulting firm has made decent money from other recent GOP candidates.
Logan Circle Group was paid over $16,000 in April alone, by conservative New Jersey attorney John McCann’s campaign, prior to his primary victory over Steve Lonegan in New Jersey’s 5th District. It was also paid over $66,000 that month by Trump-backing Ohio state Rep. Christina Hagan’s campaign, which was trying to get her elected in Ohio’s 16th Congressional District. Hagan went on to lose by over 12 percent in her primary. Logan Circle Group has also recently been recruited by Rep. Jim Renacci’s campaign, in his efforts to unseat incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).
Girdusky, who said he has known Grimm for a few years, explained that the group’s decision to provide a last minute boost was motivated in part by the discrepancy in money between the two candidates. Donovan has over $500,000 in cash on hand, according to Open Secrets, while Grimm has just over $130,000.
“What we can do through earned media or social media to kind of engage Grimm’s base may be able to make up the difference,” Girdusky said.
