John Pudner

John Pudner’s testimony leading to a unanimous Federal Elections Commission decision establishing the right of voters to know who is paying for Facebook political ads resulted from a lifetime of building broad coalitions while adhering to conservative principles. Pudner was the eldest of nine children growing up in a three-bedroom house in inner-city Richmond, VA where he attended a conservative, Catholic high school whose alumni included Steve Bannon.

John entered the national political scene in the 2014 primaries where he jump-started the campaign of Dave Brat, who would ultimately unseat U.S. Majority Leader Eric Cantor in one of the most unprecedented upsets in political history. Later in the general election of the same year, he helped defeat a 32-year incumbent state senator in Alabama’s general election. He managed campaigns for almost three decades. His now-famous strategy of outsmarting instead of outspending the opposition was born out of a hobby of extrapolating statistical data on sports teams.

But through all his successes on the campaign trail, John saw firsthand the influence of money on politics—the manipulation of the system and the loopholes that didn’t favor a transparent election— one in which only select major corporate donors and union bosses were the true winners. With a desire to reform the system instead of circumventing it, John Pudner leads a team of ex-political wonks at Take Back Our Republic, an organization he founded in 2015, to change the very industry in which they once thrived.

Take Back Our Republic has worked on successful efforts to approve comprehensive campaign finance reform in South Dakota, to create bipartisan support to reform Ohio redistricting, to reach key conservative influencers in Michigan prior to a  ruling that favored allowing a vote on gerrymandering reform, among others.

He sits on the Advisory Board for Represent.Us. He also serves on the Voters’ Right to Know board, along with Ann Ravel, who he jokes is “the only Obama appointee I always defend when Drudge attacks her.”