Dan Kunsman has every talent a Senate leader would want in a staff director, including the most important one of all: a knack for handling people and challenges smoothly and effectively.
Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso (Wyo.) is putting together an impressive record during his first eight months in his leadership role, and Kunsman has made a big contribution to Barrasso’s string of floor victories during what has been one of the busiest stretches of activity in years.
Kunsman works directly and closely with White House staff, creating a synergy that has fueled Republican successes.
Under Barrasso’s floor leadership, Senate Republicans didn’t lose a single amendment vote during any of the late-night vote-a-ramas they held on two budget resolutions and the reconciliation package that enacted President Trump’s signature legislative achievement, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
They haven’t lost a single floor vote this year on any of Trump’s Cabinet, judicial or other executive branch nominees.
Kunsman helps it all run smoothly by helping manage the Senate Republican whip team, which breaks tough jobs out into assignments at the leadership, senator and staff levels.
Prior to his job in the whip’s office, Kunsman served as chief of staff to Barrasso and oversaw the Senate Republican Conference and the Senate Republican Policy Committee when Barrasso headed those offices.
A native of Laramie, Wyoming, Kunsman enjoys fishing and being a dad. He is married to Isabel Santos Kunsman, who co-leads the international arbitration practice at AlixPartners and they have two children.
Kunsman started his career serving as a press assistant to then-Rep. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.) and rose to become Thomas’s communications director after he was elected to the Senate.
After nearly a decade on the Hill, Kunsman left to co-found and co-lead a public affairs practice in Jackson Hole, Wyo., for nearly a decade.
He has been Barrasso’s top aide since 2010 when he replaced his longtime friend Shawn Whitman as chief of staff.
Â