How Firehouse Strategies Found a Partner in Precision Strategies

Precision Strategies is acquiring Republican firm Firehouse Strategies.

The sale, which was first reported by Axios, brings together two teams from opposing trenches in presidential politics. Precision Strategies was founded in 2013 by Stephanie Cutter and Teddy Goff, who held senior roles on former President Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns. Firehouse, on the other hand, was founded by senior leaders of now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential bid.

Campaigns & Elections spoke with Firehouse co-founder and Partner Alex Conant on Wednesday morning about the acquisition, the importance of finding the right partner for his company and what it means to create a bipartisan firm in 2026. 

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

C&E: How long has this deal been in the works? How are you feeling?

Conant: I feel terrific about it. As the firm was turning 10 and we looked to the future, I wanted to find a strategic partner to help us grow and provide more services for our clients. So we engaged an investment banker who ran a process and, very quickly, Precision emerged as a great fit for our team. 

I’ve known Stefanie and Teddy going back to our days on opposing sides of campaigns, and have always had a ton of respect for what they’ve built at Precision. We’ve shared clients before and always worked well together, so when they expressed interest in having us join their team it made sense immediately.

In addition to strengthening our bipartisan offerings, our services really compliment each other. Firehouse has an excellent 50-state operative network that we use to run field campaigns. And Precision does paid, creative, digital, research – all the things you need for a modern public affairs campaign. And I think by combining our services, we’re really going to be able to offer a really unique public affairs platform. 

C&E: You were looking for a partner to help grow Firehouse. What was important to you in a potential partner and what was it about Precision that really sold you?

Conant: There were a lot of people that were interested in doing something with Firehouse. We had a lot of interesting conversations. But ultimately, because our firms have similar political backgrounds, we just got each other in a way that only people who have worked in presidential politics can really understand.

The ability to have bipartisan strength and the fact that we didn’t really have any conflicts and our services were so complimentary – it just seemed like the perfect fit.

C&E: Precision is going to retain the Firehouse brand as a conflict subsidiary. What does that mean for Firehouse, exactly?

Conant: As firms grow, you inevitably run into potential conflicts, so in order to not have a situation where a team could be working on both sides of an issue, we’ll have the Firehouse subsidiary to handle potential conflicts in the future.

It’s also a great brand that some of our clients have worked with for a decade, so there’s a lot of value in retaining it.

C&E: This partnership is coming at a moment of really intense partisanship. What was tempting about joining forces with a firm started by Democrats?

Conant: I’ve always aspired to have a bipartisan firm. We actually acquired Ray Glendening’s firm Scarlet Oak back in 2023. He’s a Democratic operative that we’ve done a lot of work with.

So yes, we were founded by Republicans, but from very early we’ve had Democrats at Firehouse and our field teams are bipartisan.

Every two years since we founded Firehouse, there’s been a complete change in power. Whether you look at the White House in ’16, Congress in ’18, the White House in 2020 or in 2024 – just given the world we live in, if you’re only able to work on one side of the aisle, you’re going to have trouble building a durable firm that provides what clients actually need.

C&E: What, if anything, do you expect to change about Firehouse’s mission and client work? Does this mean more corporate work?

We’ve always had corporate clients. Since 2016, we haven’t taken on any political clients, and that will continue. The biggest thing that will change is we’re going to be able to run bigger campaigns now. In the past we’ve had to outsource paid and creative and polling — just services we weren’t able to do in house. And now we’ll be able to do those things thanks to Precision’s resources. 

Likewise, we’ll be able to go add our field teams to the paid campaigns that Precision has been running. 

C&E: What’s the timeline for integrating Firehouse into Precision?

Conant: We’re going to be deliberate but intentional about it. I don’t want to put a timeline on it, but this is a priority for us.