[2][3][4][5] Prior to joining AFP, Phillips was a Republican campaign strategist.

After briefly attending Liberty University in 1983, he went to Washington D.C. as part of a school sponsored internship with the United States Department of Education.

There he met fellow intern Julia Reider Phillips, whom he later married.

[8] Phillips was chief of staff to United States House of Representatives member Bob Goodlatte of Virginia.

[9][10] In 2005, Phillips was hired to lead Americans for Prosperity, a conservative political advocacy group active in building the Tea Party movement.