Who We Are

Blaise has always been driven by an intellectual curiosity to discover what strategies and tactics work the best. Her passion for grassroots started at a young age going door to door to get signatures. It was most likely the Arizona heat that made her start thinking – how can she do this more efficiently?

In 2001 Blaise was given the unique opportunity to lead the 72 Hour Task Force. The 72 Hour Task force conducted dozens of field tests and changed the Republican Party’s GOTV from Get on TV to Get Out the Vote – person to person campaigning. As RNC Political Director in 2002 and 2004 she spearheaded the development of Voter Vault, the first online national voter file; created the Team Leader program; and led the implementation of the 72 Hour Task Force throughout the country. Blaise took her grassroots mindset to the NRSC where she served as Political Director in 2006.

The 72 Hour test results were the inspiration for Grassroots Targeting. There was the dire need to have better voter lists and an understanding of how to motivate and persuade individual voters…so she fixed that problem. Blaise launched Grassroots Targeting in 2005 working around the clock to provide accurate and actionable data- modeling every precinct in the nation. Blaise was a pioneer in her field and built Grassroots Targeting into the premier data analytics firm in the nation. Since 2005 Grassroots Targeting has created a legacy of winning campaigns that includes consulting for Presidential campaigns, defeating 8 incumbent US Senators (electing 29 US senators total), electing over 100 members of Congress, 19 Governors, and helping numerous committees reach their goals.

Blaise continues to have the motivation to learn. In 2013 she founded the Center for Strategic Initiatives to gather like-minded conservatives and discover best practices and new technology.

Blaise recently celebrated her 20th wedding anniversary with her husband Dan and does her best to keep up with her three kids and two dogs.

Tim Saler is the Managing Partner at Grassroots Targeting. He conducts microtargeting on behalf of campaigns, party committees, and independent expenditure groups, and authored the firm’s in-house voter scoring. Saler was the Chief Data Consultant for President Donald J. Trump’s historic primary and general election victories in 2024.

In 2025, Saler and Chief Pollster Tony Fabrizio were named Data & Analytics Innovator of the Year by the American Association of Political Consultants for their groundbreaking work on behalf of the Trump-Vance campaign. Since 2015, Grassroots Targeting is a twelve-time Pollie Award winner for Best Use of Analytics.

Saler has surveyed voters nationwide and has modeled voters across every precinct in the United States, using data and expertise to persuade, mobilize, and protect the vote. Since 2018, Saler’s voter targeting has empowered campaigns, party committees, and independent expenditure groups in twenty-one winning U.S. Senate races – including the defeat of six Democrat incumbents and the election of Ohio Senator JD Vance – and fourteen Governor races. With his unique experience and perspective, he occasionally also serves as a general consultant and strategist.

Prior to joining Grassroots Targeting, Saler was Deputy Campaign Manager to Florida Governor Rick Scott’s re-election comeback victory. Across three separate tenures at the Republican National Committee, his work helped revitalize absentee and early voting programs across a dozen battleground states, build what was at the time the largest volunteer voter contact effort in the history of the Republican Party, elect a Republican Governor of New Jersey, and elect Republican majorities to both chambers of the North Carolina legislature for the first time since 1869.

Saler is a former Executive Director of the Mississippi Republican Party under Governor Haley Barbour, Deputy Executive Director for Political Strategy at the Republican Party of Florida, and Director of Strategy at the Republican Party of Wisconsin. He began his career working on election integrity in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

A South Jersey native, Saler was named a Rising Star by Campaigns & Elections in 2016 and a member of the “40 Under 40” Class of 2017 by the American Association of Political Consultants.

Juston Johnson joined Grassroots Targeting in 2019, adding to the GT team an accomplished political professional with nearly two decades of experience and success.

Juston served as Political Director of the Republican National Committee during the 2017-2018 election cycle, in which Republicans expanded their majority in the United States Senate and defeated four incumbent Democrats.

During his term as Political Director at the RNC, Juston oversaw the national political operation for the party and the largest data-driven field program in party history, with more than 620 staff across 29 states and a budget of more than $95 million.

During the 2015-2016 cycle, Juston served as a Regional Political Director at the Republican National Committee, working hand-in-hand with President Donald Trump’s campaign to carry both of his battleground states, Wisconsin and Iowa, on the way to the White House. Republicans carried six U.S. Senate seats and won numerous targeted Congressional races in Juston’s region. Earlier in the cycle, Juston worked closely with state parties on the presidential nominating process through delegate operations, primaries, and caucuses.

In 2013 and 2014, Juston was Executive Director for the Republican Party of Florida and played a crucial role in the re-election of Governor Rick Scott, considered by pundits and analysts to be one of the most endangered incumbents in the nation.

During the 2012 cycle, Juston served as National Field Director for the Republican National Committee, with more than 600 staff and 280 offices across 13 battleground states and 36 congressional districts.

Juston served as Campaign Manager for first-time candidate U.S. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin in his surprise 2010 defeat of 18-year incumbent Democrat Russ Feingold, managing a campaign budget of more than $15 million. He also managed the campaign for Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen during the difficult 2006 election cycle.

Previously, Juston’s roles included serving as Political Director at the Republican Party of Wisconsin and both the Wisconsin Victory Director (2008) and Deputy Director of Political Education (2009) at the Republican National Committee.

Ellen Underwood is the Director of Research at Grassroots Targeting, where she has led more than 1,000 research projects since joining the firm in 2015. She leads all phases of qualitative and quantitative research, managing projects end-to-end — from designing survey instruments and moderator guides to overseeing quality control, budgets, and data visualizations.

Ellen has extensive experience writing complex survey instruments and transforming data into clear, compelling visual narratives. She designs & analyzes test research projects for best practices in campaigns for the firm.

A RIVA-trained focus group moderator, Ellen brings a special mix of empathy, energy, and discipline to even the most sensitive topics, opening up unique insights into voters’ opinions and attitudes, allowing for deeper dives into tough and sensitive subjects. She is particularly skilled at moderating in volatile environments.

Ellen lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her husband and energetic toddler, who keeps her on her toes both literally and figuratively.

Nick Lauritsen joined Grassroots Targeting in 2019 and has a unique background managing political campaigns as well as working in analytical modeling and microtargeting.

In 2018, Nick served as Regional Data Director at the Republican National Committee, overseeing critical battleground races in the Southeast. In that year alone, Nick worked with more than 70 stakeholders and delivered 50 targeting projects, including 10 in battleground congressional districts. Nick scripted and deployed over 100 polls in targeted congressional districts across the Southeast United States. Nick’s efforts to deploy data into the field on behalf of the RNC helped elect three U.S. Senators and three Governors in his region.

In 2016 Nick was a member of the RNC data team in Florida, directed absentee and early vote universes, and managed a field team in Northeast Florida. The team narrowly directed Trump to a Florida Victory registering and turning out voters that were long dormant before 2016.

Nick has put data into real-world application in the field in New Hampshire, Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Virginia. Nick has managed multiple political campaigns including Congressman Marlin Stutzman in his home state of Indiana.

Kristian Hemphill has worked at the intersection of data and politics for over a decade.

After working as a field and data director for the RNC’s victory operations in Colorado, he joined the RNC as a Regional Data Director, where he served as the primary RNC data point of contact for all 20+ targeted Senate, Congressional, and Gubernatorial campaigns within the Western Region’s 12 states.

In 2020 he served as the RNC’s Director of External Support; in that role, he managed and trained a team of 54 data staff, coordinated targeting, and oversaw data delivery for the RNC’s paid voter contact program.

Before joining Grassroots Targeting, he was the Campaign Manager for Tiffany Smiley’s 2022 Senate bid.

Rebecca Cutsinger joined Grassroots Targeting in 2023. Born and raised in Northern Virginia — and having had an interest in politics from an early age— she has a decade of grassroots campaign experience that has fueled her curiosity about people and what motivates them to vote. After college she returned to her hometown to manage Jeanine Lawson’s campaign for Chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors. Prior to that she worked for the Hung Cao for Congress campaign in Virginia’s 10th District (2022).

Rebecca graduated with honors from James Madison University and received a B.S. in Media Arts and Journalism with focuses in Political Communication and Leadership. Rebecca was also a competitive cheerleader for over a decade, competing on the James Madison University Division 1 Coed Cheerleading Team from 2020-2023. While at JMU she founded its chapter of Network of Enlightened Women; an organization dedicated to the education of conservative women on college campuses across the US.

She currently lives in Arlington with her three-year-old Siberian Husky.