National chairman
While running for District 13 state house seat, FHS alumnus Emert leads U.S. Young Republicans
While running for the District 13 state House of Representatives seat, a 2003 Farragut High School alumnus has been learning the ropes of being a leader from coast to coast.
Jason Emert, 33, has served as national chairman of Young Republican National Federation since being elected in August.
An eighth-generation East Tennessean, Emert also is a former YRNF Man of the Year. He is vice president for business development at First Choice Medical while founder/CEO of the Emert Group, an international political consulting, public affairs and government relations firm.
Active in student government at FHS and the starting kicker and punter for the Admirals football team — earning a scholarship to Southern Illinois University — Emert recalled, “As a junior and senior at Farragut High School, I worked with Sen. Lamar Alexander’s 2002 campaign and later in his Knoxville Senate office assisting with responsibilities for engaging constituents in Knox and surrounding counties.
“I had unmatched experiences that have shaped who I am as a person and as a leader in our
party and community,” he added. “Those early foundations of working with local government and Sen. Alexander provided me the right perspective on how our party and our government should function from the ground up, not from D.C. down.”
After SIU, Emert earned a Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of Louisiana and a law degree from the University of Miami [Florida].
“I owe a lot to the East Tennessee community for providing me the early support to succeed in a way that has profoundly shaped my life and has led me to this position of national leadership,” Emert said.
An adjunct professor of American Government at Tusculum College, Emert was elected overwhelmingly as chairman. He defeated Kory Boone of Maryland at the National Convention with almost 85 percent of the vote — the largest margin of victory in a contested chairman’s race, a YRNF press release stated.
“I believe the power of our party begins at the local level,” he stated in the press release. “… My first paid job was at the
Blount County Courthouse working for County Executive Bill Crisp, future County Mayor then Register of Deeds Beverley Woodruff and for the Blount County Commission.”
With almost 6 million Young Republican-aged voters during the 2016 Republican Presidential Primary, there are more than 15,000 members of the Young Republican National Federation.
