[7] In the 2004 presidential election, Rhoades was director of opposition research for the campaign to re-elect President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney.
[16] Definers Public Affairs is a private sector communications consulting firm[17] which was launched by Rhoades and former RNC research director Joe Pounder[18][19] in January 2015.
After realizing that the corporate sphere faced similar challenges as Rhoades and Pounder had been confronted with at America Rinsing, the business idea for Definers was formed.
[20] In 2017, Robby Mook, Clinton's 2016 campaign manager,[21] Eric Rosenbach, former defense secretary Ash Carter's chief of staff,[22] and Rhoades launched the Defending Digital Democracy Project at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
[25] In October 2019, Rhoades and Mook launched Defending Digital Campaigns (DDC), a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization with the main focus on providing cybersecurity services to congressional and presidential candidates.
DDC has received special approval from the Federal Election Commission to work directly with political campaigns while maintaining its non-profit status.
[26][27][28] In September, 2019, Rhoades joined CGCN Group,[5] an all-Republican issue advocacy and public affairs firm in Washington, D.C., with ties to GOP establishment and the party's conservative wing.