[2][3] The Swift Boat Veterans, an independent-expenditure group, was credited with a significant impact on the 2004 presidential election by advancing a sharp attack on John Kerry's military record,[4] described by Mother Jones magazine as a "smear campaign," and by NPR as discredited.

Active in Republican politics following his Gulf War service, LaCivita did field work for George Allen in central Virginia during his 1991 congressional campaign, then went with him to Capitol Hill, serving as a legislative assistant on foreign and defense policy.

[9] LaCivita ran the state party organization, as Jim Gilmore succeeded Allen as governor in 1997, acting as overseer of 'internal squabbles,' but going on later to capture control of both houses of the General Assembly in 1999.

[11] LaCivita and former gubernatorial chief of staff Jay Timmons worked on Allen's successful campaign in the 2000 Senate election against two-term Democrat Chuck Robb, a race he won with 52% of the vote.

[13] As Fred Barnes wrote:[14]"Earley wasted the summer and didn't find a message until September -- after party officials dispatched Chris LaCivita, the political director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, to run his campaign.

[15] During the 2002 midterm elections, LaCivita served as the political director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) under the chairmanship of Senator Bill Frist.

LaCivita at one time worked for the Republican political consulting firm DCI Group, which had close ties both to Progress for America and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

In the 2006 Florida gubernatorial election, LaCivita ran an independent organization, Floridians for a Better and Brighter Future, in support of Charlie Crist's Republican primary campaign against Tom Gallagher.

As Corker lagged in the polls behind Democratic opponent Harold Ford, LaCivita was later replaced by Tom Ingram who engineered a late-in-the-game turnaround to narrowly win the general election.

In August 2008, AIP began airing ads in battleground states seeking to raise questions about Democratic Party presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama's ties to former student radical William Ayers.

[27] In 2009 AIP aired a second national TV spot (colloquially called the "Jesus" ad) targeting the Obama stimulus package as unprecedented in its size and wastefulness[citation needed].

In 2011, Virginia Republicans succeeded in ousting two Democratic State Senators, gaining a 20–20 tie (and an effective majority with GOP Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling acting in their favor).

LaCivita was the strategist for Bill Stanley,[30] who defeated longtime Democratic incumbent Roscoe Reynolds in a race between two Southwest Virginia senators thrown together by redistricting.

[36] The conservative Attorney General, heavily outspent and behind in every public survey from July to November, battled to a surprisingly close finish[37] against former Democratic Party chair Terry McAuliffe, losing 45.2% to 47.7%, a margin of 56,000 votes of 2.2 million cast.

[39] In September 2014, Senate Republicans tapped LaCivita and his ally, Corry Bliss, to rescue the faltering campaign of incumbent Pat Roberts in Kansas, facing a serious challenge from Independent candidate Greg Orman (following the withdrawal of the Democratic nominee, in what was heretofore a three-way general-election contest).

[41] However, LaCivita's House candidate in Northern California, Doug Ose, fell just short of victory after a protracted count, losing by 1,400 votes to incumbent Ami Bera.

[50] During 2017 and 2018, LaCivita served as a consultant to the American Action Network and Congressional Leadership Fund, the SuperPAC allied with GOP Speaker Paul Ryan, reuniting with longtime campaign partner Corry Bliss.

He was also a general consultant to Anthony Gonzalez, the former NFL wide receiver and Stanford graduate who won the Republican nomination and was elected Congressman from Ohio's 16th Congressional District.

[1] On August 31, 2020, LaCivita was announced as head of Preserve America, a new pro-Trump superPAC that began a $30 million advertising blitz in early September, focusing initially on the swing states of Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, Iowa, and Georgia.