About ProjectVirginia

ProjectVirginia provides insight, advice and resources to Republican candidates and activists in Virginia and around the nation to help the GOP implement cutting edge communication and voter mobilization technologies.

ProjectVirginia was founded to assist Republicans during the 2009 elections in Virginia. Our vision was to assist with implementing innovative social media communication and voter mobilization technologies to increase the Republican majority in Virginia’s House of Delegates and support the Republican candidates for Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General. ProjectVirginia envisions an ongoing collaboration between candidates, citizens, and conservative organizations to implement the most effective innovations in local grassroots organizing, new media and social networking technologies. The 2009 Virginia campaigns were the first step in building a battle-tested foundation to assist Republican candidates nationwide in 2010 leading up to the critical post-census redistricting debates.

The ProjectVirginia Team:

Ford O’Connell is the co-founder & President of ProjectVirgnia.

Mr. O’Connell is a Republican strategist and seasoned campaign veteran at the local, state and national level. Mr. O’Connell pens op-eds and political commentary for publications including the Washington Times, The American Spectator, Campaigns & Elections magazine, Townhall.com and The Daily Caller. His devotion to the conservative causes of limited government, free enterprise and personal responsibility were instilled in him by his grandfather, Henry Salvatori, a longtime Republican activist.

A graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, Mr. O’Connell holds graduate degrees from the University of Mississippi, Duke University and Northwestern University, in addition to a bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College where he was a member of the football, basketball and lacrosse teams.

In January 2009 Mr. O’Connell co-founded ProjectVirginia to assist Republican candidates in Virginia with the implementation of social media and web 2.0 communications services. Earlier this year, ProjectVirginia won Campaigns & Elections’ 2010 Reed Award for “Best Use of Twitter.” Mr. O’Connell also runs CivicForumPAC, which expands on his experience with ProjectVirginia to support conservative candidates across the country.

In May, Mr. O’Connell was named a 2010 Rising Star by Campaigns & Elections.


Steve Pearson is the co-founder & Chief Technologist of ProjectVirginia.

Mr. Pearson is a Republican strategist who spent two decades in the private sector creating solutions which synthesized market insights, process design and technology innovation across a broad spectrum of industries before diving into politics in 2002.  These prior ventures include an online consumer banking system, interactive telecommunications services and a social networking community for video game enthusiasts.

Mr. Pearson’s first campaign experience was his own successful run to serve on the Board of Education in Ridgefield, Connecticut. During that election, Mr. Pearson emphasized the importance of fiscally sound budgeting and the need to improv the transparency of public decision making. Despite being the youngest and least politically experienced member of the board during his term of office, Mr. Pearson was successful in challenging long-standing assumptions and shifting the budget planning process to a more open and rational course.

Mr. Pearson co-founded ProjectVirginia in 2009 to make social media and web 2.0 technologies more accessible to Republican candidates. Mr.Pearson is also involved with CivicForumPAC, an initiative to improve the utilization of innovative communication technologies and practices to support conservative candidates nationwide.

Mr. Pearson earned his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and an MBA from Georgetown University.



Chris Walling serves as the Political Editor of ProjectVirginia.

Chris graduated from University of The South with BA in European History.  Prior to joining ProjectVirginia, he served as Communications Intern at The Heritage Foundation.  Chris can be reached at chrisw@projectvirginia.com.

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