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He first got involved in Republican politics by doing advance work in Florida for Ronald Reagan’s unsuccessful presidential primary run in 1976. He later worked for a consulting firm led by Paul Manafort and Roger Stone, who went on the play key roles in the political rise of Donald J. Trump.
Over the course of Mr. Reed’s career, his clients included Senators Peter Fitzgerald of Illinois, John Warner and George Allen of Virginia, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
“Rick was an exceptional talent and a gifted ad maker,” Mr. Fitzgerald said in a statement provided by Mr. Reed’s family. “In my case, he took a very young, virtual neophyte, and vaulted him into a U.S. Senate seat.”
Mr. Reed worked on John McCain’s presidential campaign in 2000 and, despite the Arizona senator’s anger over the Swift Boat ads in 2004, briefly reunited with him for his 2008 run. He also produced ads for Mr. Trump’s primary campaign in 2016.
Mr. Reed, part of an old-school breed of political admen who reveled in writing their own scripts, considered the Republican pollster Arthur Finkelstein, whom he met early in his career, a mentor.
“He’s not one to necessarily spend a lot of time trying to curry favor with the party hierarchy,” Mr. Reed said of Mr. Finkelstein in a 2003 interview with Roll Call. “And that is not necessarily a bad thing.”
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