My name is Drew Vaughn and I am running to be your next Vice Chair of Operations for the Hillsborough County Democrats. My goal is to use my expertise in marketing, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity to bring our Party into the future.

Drew Vaughn | Andrew Vaughn | Florida | Brandon Florida
Drew Vaughn | Andrew Vaughn | Florida | Brandon Florida

My Plan To Win in Florida:

As the Vice Chair, my job will be primarily to support our next Chair’s vision for the HCDEC. That being said I’m a lawyer/hacker, which basically makes me a menace – something the Republicans in this state are about to learn the hard way. I’m a proven winner (see my background below), I fight hard, and I will push every rule to the limit for our benefit (again I’m a lawyer so we’ll go to the line but not over). I believe we have to recognize that we got beat…bad, which means a change in strategy is necessary.

As a resident of Brandon, I have Republicans representing me in the State House, the State Senate, the State Governor, the Federal House, the Federal Senate, and the Presidency. I don’t have a single Democrat representing me anywhere. That means we as Democrats have almost no opportunity to show what we can do if we’re in power. In that situation it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that we can only offer words but no action. Nothing is further from the truth. Below is my loose plan of action that we need to implement to build on the successes we have had and to move the Democrats forward into the future.

So what’s my plan to turn this around?

  • Step 1: Make a Democrats’ day better. We have to uplift our Democrats who have been elected. We need to use our meetings for small scale easy collective action. There is no reason we can’t use a meeting to promote the wins our Democrats here in Hillsborough have had so that the community knows what we are accomplishing. There’s no reason we can’t use this organization to build the funds necessary to win this county. We have to rethink what the HCDEC is and what it should be doing.  
  • Step 2: Make a Republicans’ day worse. We have to expand the battleground against the Republicans. At its core, my philosophy is that “Good must be as devious as evil.” Using my background in law, marketing, hacking and AI – that’s something we can do. There is no reason we can’t also use our meetings to take small easy steps from our phones/laptops to make Republicans’ jobs harder. 
  • Step 3: Become A Community Force For Good. We control nothing. We will have very limited ability to make the case that we can deliver for the people. We have to take our message directly to our communities and use the HCDEC as a force multiplier for those organizations that are already doing good work in Hillsborough. The small collective actions taken in Steps 1 and 2, will prepare us for bigger in person actions in Step 3. We have to win back this community and expand our influence. The only way to do that is to stop just saying the right thing and start DOING the right things.  
Drew Vaughn | Andrew Vaughn | Florida | Brandon Florida
Drew Vaughn | Andrew Vaughn | Florida | Brandon Florida

My Background:

I have a unique background. I grew up on a chicken and turkey farm in rural Illinois. I got a scholarship to attend Augustana College where I ran Track and got my Bachelors degree in Swedish, English, and Political Science. I then went on to Loyola University Chicago School of Law – also on scholarship, and ultimately studied international law at Oxford University. After law school, I won case after case, ultimately going undefeated for over ten straight years. I made partner by 30, was made a Professor of Law, and was named one of the Top 10 lawyers in Illinois. Then I sold my law firm and retired from law at the ripe old age of 38.   

Most lawyers come from a wealthy background and get their clients from connections at Mommy and Daddy’s country club. People were pretty confused when some dude from a chicken farm was getting all their clients and winning all the cases. So they asked me how I got so many clients so fast. I told them that I understood  marketing better than they did (I have an MBA in Marketing/Strategy from Notre Dame and studied data analytics at MIT) and that I understood coding to make that marketing work (I learned that in 4-H).

So judges (from the trial level to the Supreme Court level) started asking me to help them with the digital marketing for their elections and lawyers started asking me to help them get clients. The next thing I knew, I owned a marketing company. That company has now won Ad of the Year twice, has been named one of the 5 Most Innovative marketing agencies in the United States, and I have been named one of the 100 Most Influential Marketers in the World.

I then went on to study cybersecurity, ultimately earning a ranking of being in the top 5% of hackers in the world. Using that background in law, business, marketing, and cybersecurity I then launched an Artificial Intelligence company here in Florida that is growing rapidly. I maintain an active presence in the Illinois State Bar Association and I was the primary drafter of Illinois’ artificial intelligence policy.  

Drew Vaughn | Andrew Vaughn | Florida | Brandon Florida
Drew Vaughn | Andrew Vaughn | Florida | Brandon Florida

Community Involvement:

I am the President of the PTA at Mintz Elementary in Brandon, FL. I was also recently appointed to the Florida State PTA Board where I serve as the President of Marketing and will be shaping marketing efforts and the recommended Artificial Intelligence policy for Florida students. I am a member of the Brandon Chamber of Commerce, have served them as a lecturer on marketing and AI, and have been selected for the Brandon Leadership Class of 2025.

I am a Precinct Captain for the HCDEC, I am a member of the East Hillsborough Democratic Club, the Hillsborough Black Caucus, and the Progressive Caucus of Tampa Bay. I have recently volunteered to help the Black Caucus with their marketing and website. I have knocked more doors than I can count, registered countless voters, and volunteered my technical expertise to both Democratic politicians and guerilla marketing campaigns for issues like Yes on 4. 

Drew Vaughn | Andrew Vaughn | Florida | Brandon Florida
Drew Vaughn | Andrew Vaughn | Florida | Brandon Florida

Personal Facts:

I’m 44 years old, I’ve been married for over 20 years to my wife Jenny (a former public school teacher who now co-owns our marketing/AI company). We have adopted 4 amazing children, ages 10, 8, 7, and 6. We also have a dog and three cats (two of whom we rescued from the street after this last hurricane).

For fun, I love to run, read history books, and I am an avid gardener (my personal gardening obsession is growing fruit trees). I have travelled extensively, most recently living in Costa Rica for four years.

Contact: 

That was a lot about me and my ideas. But the HCDEC isn’t about me. It’s about us. I want to hear what you love about the HCDEC. What you hate about it. What we can do better. And most importantly, what you think we can do to beat the hell out of the Republicans. If you have ideas, want to know more about me, or just want to chat – my cell phone number is 813-997-2479 you can call me anytime. 

Alternatively, if you’d like to schedule a time to chat you can use this link: Book A Call With Drew

One more option. I’ll be hosting a town hall for HCDEC members on December 1, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. I’ll send out an invite by email. Also, the Zoom link to attend the night of is here: Attend Drew Vaughn’s Town’s Hall. I’ll be happy to introduce myself there and to take any questions, concerns, or ideas on how we can work together to move the HCDEC forward.