Ballard Partners

Ballard Partners, founded by GOP fundraiser and Trump ally Brian Ballard, more than quadrupled its revenue in 2025, representing such clients as Harvard University and TikTok. The firm once employed Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Attorney General Pam Bondi and became the highest-paid lobbying shop in Washington so far this year Before Trump was first elected in 2016, Ballard Partners had no presence in Washington. Having founded the firm in Florida in 1998, Ballard in 2017 opened its first office in a lobbying world that experts say was caught off-guard by Trump’s election. As a Trump donor and fundraiser, Ballard used his access to the president to grow his firm into a powerhouse that earned $24 million in 2020. Bondi joined the firm in 2019 and worked there until Trump nominated her to become attorney general in 2024. Wiles had been with the firm since 2011 and joined Mercury Public Affairs in 2022.