Mark Wallace - Political Career

Political Career

Prior to government service, Wallace was a practicing commercial litigation attorney in Miami, Florida. He began his political career under Florida Governor Jeb Bush and was active in his election campaigns in 1994, 1998 and 2002.

In 2000 Wallace played a key role working for then Governor George W. Bush’s legal team in the decisive Florida recount in 2000 where he served as counsel to the campaign in Florida and was a spokesman for the legal team in various national media outlets. Wallace was portrayed in the HBO movie Recount for his role in the disputed presidential contest.

During President Bush's administration from 1999 to 2003 Wallace served in a variety of federal government general counsel positions. At the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), he oversaw and managed all aspects of the FEMA Office of General Counsel, and acted as counsel to the FEMA-led New York and World Trade Center recovery effort in the wake of the 2001 September 11 attacks. He also served as the general counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), during the INS’ transition from the DOJ into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as part of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 reorganization. After the reorganization Wallace served as the first principal legal advisor to the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and to the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services for the Department of Homeland Security.

In 2003, Wallace joined President George W. Bush’s reelection campaign as the deputy campaign manager. In addition to his day-to-day responsibilities of assisting in the management of the national campaign, Wallace was the campaign’s lead liaison to the Republican National Convention, the campaign’s representative in debate negotiations, and led the campaign’s debate team at each of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates.