He professes to be “flattered and humbled,” but Joe Topham didn’t seem terribly surprised Wednesday to learn he had bested a field of 433 entrants to be named VPAP’s 2015 Pundit.
Turns out he’s pretty nimble with analyzing statistics and predicting winners.
“I like to think of myself as a fantasy football legend,” he says.
Joe was the only entrant to call all selected state legislative races – plus predict the total number of Republicans in each chamber (Senate: 21; House: 66)
His secret? Joe credits his morning ritual of reading VaNews.
“How can one lose when one’s so well informed?” he asks.
Joe, 31, is a native of King William County, earned a political science degree from VCU and – like so many aspiring politicos – did a turn at the Sorensen Institute’s Political Leaders Program.
After two years of working as a district liaison for U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Charlottesville), Joe began a career in local government. He works as Manager of Business Retention and Expansion for the Town of Ashland.
Joe has another title: Senior Vice President of Richmond-based Topham & Wallace LLC.
Joe is quick to add that Topham & Wallace LLC is a shell company that he and his buddy, Patrick Wallace, set up a few years ago with the twin goals of fostering intellectual discourse and reducing their chances of dying alone. All while sampling Richmond’s finest Manhattans.
“It’s our Happy Hour firm,” Joe explains.
Joe and Patrick initially used the weekly invitational email as a chance to entertain friends while scoring rhetorical points with one another. But once a Mailchimp account was established, there was no going back.
“The joke began to have a life of its own,” adds Joe, “We knew this had hit the big time when a candidate approached me thinking we were an actual political consulting firm.”
You may not be able to hire Joe. But you can congratulate him at @joetopham
Nov. 5, 2015
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