Presidential races

Fiorina staffs up for potential 2016 bid

Businesswoman Carly Fiorina (R) is staffing up in preparation for a likely 2016 presidential run, hiring a top Republican National Committee (RNC) staffer to help her with communications.

{mosads}Fiorina has poached RNC Deputy Communications Director Sarah Isgur Flores to work for her political action committee, Unlocking Potential, as she mulls a White House bid.

“Excited to announce that I’m going to work for @CarlyFiorina at Unlocking Potential Project #NewAdventure,” Flores tweeted Friday morning.

Flores, a Texas native, is a fast-rising GOP strategist, having worked as an adviser on Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) Senate campaign and to Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign.

Fiorina, a former CEO of Hewlett-Packard who lost a 2010 race against Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), is the only Republican woman giving serious consideration to a White House bid, though she’d begin the race as a long shot given her low national name recognition.

She’s previously served as an adviser on Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) presidential campaign and as fundraising chairwoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Republican National Committee and vice chairwoman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

CNN first reported Flores’s hiring.