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Tyler Jones is a veteran political strategist and public relations executive who has advised elected officials, candidates, advocacy groups and businesses for nearly 20 years. Jones has served key roles in three presidential campaigns, led the public relations effort to bring down the Confederate Flag from the South Carolina State House, and helped pull off one of the biggest political upsets in the history of the state.

 

Named by Campaigns and Elections Magazine as one of the most influential Democrats in the country, Jones founded SPEAK Strategic Public Affairs (now Bold South Strategies) in 2015 and today serves as CEO.

 

In 2009, he became the youngest caucus director in the country when he was named Executive Director of the South Carolina House Democratic Caucus. In 2013, he was named Senior Advisor to the House Democratic Caucus where he also served as spokesman for House Democratic Leader Todd Rutherford until 2017. In the legislature, Jones crafted legislative, political and communications strategy for individual members as well as the caucus as a whole. In 2015, he helped spearhead House Democrats’ successful campaign to remove the Confederate flag from the state house grounds, which he considers the proudest moment of his career.

 

In 2018, Jones served as chief strategist and general consultant for Joe Cunningham’s historic campaign in South Carolina’s First Congressional District, flipping a district that had not been held by a Democrat in 40 years. The Charleston Post and Courier called it, “the biggest upset in modern South Carolina history,” while The Hill described Cunningham’s victory as “one of the biggest political upsets of the decade."

 

Over the course of his career, Jones has led upset victories throughout the state. In 2012, he helped now-State Rep. Beth Bernstein unseat an eight-year incumbent Republican by 13 points in the biggest surprise of the year. In 2016, he managed the campaign of the then-State Representative Mary Tinkler, who defeated a Republican incumbent to become the first Democratic Treasurer of Charleston County in over two decades. In 2020, Jones helped run the insurgent campaign of Spencer Wetmore, who flipped a Republican-held state house seat in Charleston by 20 points.

 

Jones was born and raised in New Bern, North Carolina before attending Charleston Southern University. He is a die-hard fan of the Chicago Cubs and the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. Tyler and his wife, Lauren, a clinical pharmacist at the United States Veterans Administration, live on Johns Island with their daughter, Afton, their son, Addison, and their dog, Leia.