Rachel Hoff

American Action Forum

Rachel Hoff is recognized as one of the preeminent young conservative leaders in Washington, D.C.  She currently serves as the Director of Defense Analysis with the American Action Forum in Washington, D.C.  Rachel previously served as Director of External Affairs for the Foreign Policy Initiative, and has worked at a think tank, on Capitol Hill, and for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC).  For the 2008 election cycle, she was Media Coordinator for the NRCC’s Independent Expenditure unit, in which role she coordinated a $20 million program of TV, radio, and mail advertising in 35 Congressional districts around the country.  On Capitol Hill, Rachel served as a Legislative Assistant and Research Analyst for Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), focusing specifically on foreign affairs and national security issues.  Prior to that, she worked at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), doing research with several of AEI’s prominent foreign policy experts on issues in the Middle East, democracy promotion, anti-terrorism strategies, and weapons nonproliferation.  

Rachel has been an innovative and dynamic leader in the Young Republican National Federation (YRNF) for many years.  In her capacity as Director of Media Relations for the 2008 election cycle, Rachel developed and implemented a strategy for national media outreach that has established the Young Republicans as the prominent voice of young conservatives, with YR leaders appearing on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, and CBS – totaling over $2 million of earned media coverage.   During the 2006 and 2007 mid-term and off-year election cycles, Rachel served as National Field Director and Campaign Committee Chairman for the YRNF, coordinating a nationwide effort to elect and re-elect Republican candidates at all levels of government.  She executed the program that deployed hundreds of YR volunteers into targeted states in every region of the country for intensive campaign weekends.  For her commitment to achieving excellence on behalf of the YRNF, Rachel was named 2006 Young Republican Woman of the Year.

Rachel was elected to represent Washington, DC as a delegate to the 2012 and 2016 Republican National Conventions and will serve on the 2016 Platform Committee. 

Rachel was born and raised on a U.S. military base near Tokyo, Japan.  She has also lived abroad in England and Ireland.  She holds a BA from Tufts University in Political Science and Philosophy and a Certificate in Irish Politics from the University College of Cork.  In 2004, Rachel was awarded the Dan Dutko Fellowship for public policy, which brought her to Washington.