CONTRIBUTOR
REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES / NATIONAL IMPACT
Matt Mitchell
Member For
31 weeks 4 days
BIOGRAPHY
Matt Mitchell was born on 20 May 1988 in Sarasota, Florida. A first-generation Floridian, his parents sent him through Catholic school in Venice, where he would be picked up each day just in time to catch the last few minutes of Rush Limbaugh on the radio five days a week. He would become the first of four current or soon-to-be Republican super voters raised by his parents, who are eagerly anticipating thank you checks from the RNC for their handiwork. Matt was a scholar-athlete in high school, doubling as a cross country and track runner, and was accepted at the University of Florida in 2006. He graduated in August 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science.
While at UF, Matt was a member of the College Republicans at the University of Florida, and helped found a conservative student news magazine called The Florida Frontier. After serving as Managing Editor for a year, Matt spent most of 2008 back in Sarasota serving as a full-time staffer for Congressman Vern Buchanan’s re-election campaign, helping the freshman Republican turn a 369 vote win in 2006 into a 55,000 vote rout in ’08. While campaigning, Matt befriended Sarasota RedCounty editor Rich Swier, who recommended giving RC a shot as a Diarist, and is now heading up RedCounty’s Alachua County edition.
Matt is currently single and lives in Gainesville, Florida.
COMMENTARIES
Rubio: Charlie...you complete me?
By Matt Mitchell | 05/28/09
Before the conservatives on this site rip my head off for the title., I'm merely offering a different take on the whole Republican Senate primary issue. A lot is being made about Governor Charlie Crist's conservative credentials (or lack of them) and Rubio's qualifications to serve in the Senate and so on and so forth. But consider the implications of Crist remaining in Tallahassee instead of trying to gun for Washington. Rubio might very well... read more »
2 Comments | Related Topics »FLORIDA |
A courtly conundrum
By Matt Mitchell | 05/26/09
When President Obama announced his nomination of circuit court judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace outgoing Justice David H. Souter on the Supreme Court of the United States, he made a that was if anything a taste of the medicine of identity politics that his Democratic colleagues in the Senate were administered during the court nominee debacles of 2005. While Judge Sotomayor's general qualifications for the position are not much in dispute, her... read more »
5 Comments | Related Topics »FLORIDA |
Are WE Worth Dying For?
By Matt Mitchell | 05/25/09
Just outside the city of Hamm in the tiny artificial nation of Luxembourg lies the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial, where the remains of American soldiers killed during the Battle of the Bulge campaign are buried. General George Patton may be its most recognizable occupant, there's at least one soldier I know all too well who also calls Luxembourg his final resting place. Under a white marble cross at Plot G, Row 6, Grave 26 lies a... read more »
2 Comments | Related Topics »National |
Open Forum: Does it matter?
By Matt Mitchell | 05/24/09
Gonna try an open forum concept here about the future of the Republican Party here in Florida in response to a Miami Herald blog posting noting that unless former state house Speaker Marco Rubio (R-Miami) pulls off an unbelievable upset next year, Republicans in Florida will be represented statewide by five white men, all but one of whom is under the age of 40 (Adam Putnam, 34, running for Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services).... read more »
4 Comments | Related Topics »FLORIDA |
George LeMieux: Victim of grassroots pushback?
By Matt Mitchell | 05/21/09
He may be the most powerful Florida politician you've never heard of. He's George Lemieux, the Chairman of the prestigious Gunster, Yoakley law firm out of Tallahassee. One of Charlie Crist's earliest allies during his tenure as Florida's Attorney General, Lemieux managed Crist's gubernatorial campaign in 2006 and served as Crist's Chief of Staff from January 2007 until March 2008, when he retuned to Gunster as its Chairman of the firm. Crist... read more »
0 Comments | Related Topics »FLORIDA |
Bronson drops out of FL Gov's race
By Matt Mitchell | 05/21/09
The Sunshine State realm of the Interwebs are going abuzz with the not-so-surprising development that Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services Charles Bronson will not be seeking the Governor's mansion in 2010, leaving Attorney General Bill McCollum (R-Orlando) with a much smoother path to winning the Republican nomination for Governor. Bronson, a Republican from Kissimmee (just a few miles south of McCollum, once known as "The... read more »
0 Comments | Related Topics »FLORIDA |
Rubio v. Crist news and notes.
By Matt Mitchell | 05/20/09
Under the radar of the flurry of announcements for state offices, there's some new news coming down the pike about the other titanic battle for the Republican Party's heart and soul, the much-talked about Senate primary between Governor Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio. Mason-Dixon conducted an external poll whose results were made public yesterday, and immediately the media picked up on the big numbers in the poll, that being Crist's very large... read more »
2 Comments | Related Topics »FLORIDA |
Liveblogging: Test
By Matt Mitchell | 05/19/09
Polls are closing in California in five minutes. This is gonna be a test run for a liveblogging of elections that I will try out on RedCounty in future elections in Florida. Give me your feedback on how it works for you, please! 11:00 PM EDT: Aaaaaaaand.....polls are closed. CA SecState's office should be posting returns soon. 11:02: LA TIMES reports extremely low turnout. LA and Orange County reported turnout around 12% at 4PM local... read more »
2 Comments | Related Topics »FLORIDA |
Florida joins the special elections bandwagon.
By Matt Mitchell | 05/19/09
Pennsylvania and California are holding special elections today (CA residents should VOTE NO 6 TIMES, btw), and New Jersey holds its gubernatorial primary election in just two weeks. And as State Senator and Former Senate President Ken Pruitt (R-Port St. Lucie) plans to step down on August 4, a potentially nasty Republican primary is shaping up for Florida's 28th Senate district. This week, Governor Crist issued an executive order... read more »
Election Pulse: Florida - Governor
By Matt Mitchell | 05/18/09
Today, state Attorney General Bill McCollum declared his candidacy for Governor of Florida in an effort by state Republicans to fill the void left by Governor Crist's announcement to run for Senate in 2010. What does it all mean for us in Florida? I talk about the new developments in the Florida Governor's race in this week's edition of Election Pulse: Florida. Watch below: read more »
0 Comments | Related Topics »FLORIDA |
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