Aaron Alghawi

Aaron Fadi Alghawi (born December 17, 1989) is an American, libertarian Republican political activist based in Houston. He currently serves as an at-large board member of the Republican Liberty Caucus national committee.

Background, education, and early political experience
Alghawi was born Aaron Fadi Al-Ghawi on December 17, 1989 to Gail Ann (nee Babb) and Fadi Rafic Al-Ghawi, at Clinton Memorial Hospital in Wilmington, OH, a small city southeast of Dayton. Alghawi was exposed to politics, public service, and immigration issues from a young age. His father, who immigrated from Beirut, Lebanon in 1976, is a manager at a die casting plant and has been deeply involved with the Clinton County Habitat for Humanity, serving as its president during the late 2000s. Although a lifelong Republican, Alghawi's grandfather, the late Richard W. 'Dick' Babb, was Chairman of the Clinton County Democratic Party.

He attended Wilmington High School, where he played lacrosse, and was a recipient of the Southern Regional Education Board's 2008 Award of Educational Achievement for outstanding course preparation and achievement on the High Schools That Work Assessment. . While in school he worked part-time at the ABX Air sort center, the closure of which received national media attention, including a 60 Minutes CBS special broadcast on January 25, 2009

After graduating high school in 2008 he matriculated at Wright State University where he majored in international business and political science, served briefly in the student government house and was on the 2009 Model United Nations team. He transferred to Texas A&M University after his sophomore year and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Economics in May 2012. While a student at Texas A&M, he worked through the Republican National Committee as an unpaid intern on Bill Flores' 2010 congressional campaign. Flores, a retired oil and gas executive and political newcomer, defeated 20 year incumbent Democrat Chet Edwards. .

Republican Liberty Caucus
Alghawi was elected a National At-Large Board Member of the Republican Liberty Caucus on September 20, 2012. He had served as an alternate board member since November 2011. He co-manages the RLC's Facebook and Twitter pages and writes articles regularly for the RLC website.

Political Positions and Activism
Alghawi uses his position with the RLC to promote free-market capitalism, education reform, and immigration reform, as well as generally libertarian positions on social issues. His education reform policies were outlined in his response to President Barack Obama's 2012 State of the Union address. As a result of his economic philosophy and status as a second-generation American, Alghawi is a proponent of a market-driven approach to immigration reform that rejects nativist and protectionist sentiment, while still promoting assimilation. He believes the current naturalization process takes too long and that the legal path to immigration is riddled with bureaucracy that puts hard-working, legal immigrants at a disadvantage to those who immigrate to the United States illegally. . Although favoring a lenient policy on naturalization, he is opposed to in-state tuition for those in the United States illegally, believing that they should pay the international student fee. While a junior at Texas A&M, he testified before the Student Senate in favor of a bill supporting an end to in-state tuition for undocumented students. .