WHO WE ARE

CASEY PHILLIPS

A fourth generation Western South Dakota rancher, Casey Phillips learned how to pound steel posts as soon as he could lift the driver, thus getting his start in politics as the “sign guy” for gubernatorial candidate Steve Kirby.  Having caught the campaign bug, Phillips went to work on John Thune’s unsuccessful 2002 race for US Senate as a door knocker.  Then desperate for a win he loaded up his trusty red Jeep Grand Cherokee and hit the trail working any race that would take him for the rest of his 20s.  

A ranchers work ethic coupled with strategic acumen and the ability to deliver a message that quickly made him a rising star in Republican political circles. After winning targeted races as a campaign manager, Casey served as an RPD at the NRCC and RSLC, and has been a general consultant for more than a dozen statewide campaigns. 

Now a campaign and award-winning director, screenwriter, producer, Casey has written and produced over 1,000 political television and radio ads across all 50 states, but it took until Kelly Armstrong’s 2024 Governor’s race for him to finally get “uff da” approved in one of his campaign commercials.

A former center for the University of Wyoming Cowboys, Casey and his wife Sarah have two young boys, Waylon and Cash. They split their time between Alexandria, VA and their real home on the family ranch in South Dakota.

LONNIE DIETZ

Lonnie Dietz has over two decades of political, campaign, and policy experience. Having managed several high-profile campaigns, Lonnie earned his first statewide victory here in North Dakota managing Rick Berg’s campaign for Congress against an 18-year incumbent. Building off that success, Lonnie went on to consult on races up and down the ballot. Bookending years of successful political consulting with North Dakota victories, Lonnie played a key role on Kelly Armstrong’s campaign for Governor providing media and general strategy services.

In addition to his political roles, Lonnie also served as Chief of Staff to two Members of Congress and a Texas State Senator.

He graduated from Claremont McKenna College where he played outside linebacker and met his wife, Erika, after persuading her to two-step. Today, they are proud parents of three children living in the DFW area, aka Fargo South, mainly because of the short commute to Bison National Championships.

TESSA SANDSTROM

Tessa is a native North Dakotan with more than 20 years of experience in communications and public relations. She grew up on a farm in western North Dakota where you learned by doing and sometimes that meant being creative and resourceful. Those “better figure it out” life lessons combined with an innate curiosity evolved into a “wanna figure it out” attitude. This served her well through three political campaigns with Governor and then Senator John Hoeven and Congressman Kelly Armstrong and a dozen years in the North Dakota Petroleum Council, first as a communications director, then as the Executive Director for the Council’s 501c3 nonprofit, the North Dakota Petroleum Foundation.

Throughout her career, she took on everything from political campaigns, research, and public relations to nonprofit management, community engagement, event planning, web design, graphic design and even tree planting, becoming a “Swiss Army Knife,” ready to tackle and handle any challenge that comes her way.

When she’s not being a nerd and researching something for fun or trying to “figure something out,” she’s usually spoiling her dog or on Lake Sakakwea fishing, pontooning or kayaking.