The GOP Has a Tech Talent Problem It Might Not Solve

Scott Walker's withdrawal from the 2016 presidential race in Sept was tough on staffers like Matt Oczkowski -- as it turns out, tougher than he thought. Back in July, Walker looked like a GOP frontrunner. Knowing how critical tech was to President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election, the Walker campaign invested early in tech and digital talent. So when Walker’s funding dried up, and he announced that he was pulling out of the race, Oczkowski fully expected the whole tech and digital staff would be scooped up by another campaign. But that never happened.

For Oczkowski, that was sign -- a sign that the rest of the GOP field isn’t building and prioritizing tech as vigorously as the Democrats are. “It’s what everyone should be doing,” he says. “It’s certainly what Hillary’s doing.” For the GOP, on the other hand, the tech talent appears to be spread thin.