Mindy Finn

Last updated
Mindy Finn
Mindy Finn (506407419).jpg
Finn in 2007
Personal details
Born (1981-02-10) February 10, 1981 (age 43)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Political party Republican (Before 2016)
Independent (2016–present)
Children3
Education Boston University (BA)
George Washington University (MA)

Mindy Finn (born February 10, 1981) [1] [2] is an American digital media expert, [3] political and technology consultant, and entrepreneur. [4] She worked as a digital strategist for the Republican Party, most notably for George W. Bush and Mitt Romney's presidential campaigns in 2004 and 2008, respectively, and became the vice presidential candidate for Evan McMullin's 2016 presidential campaign. She co-founded the organizations Stand Up Republic and Empowered Women, and works to make elections more inclusive.

Contents

Early life and education

Finn was born in Houston and raised as an only child by her single mother in Kingwood, Texas. [5] [6] She attended Kingwood High School, where she was a member of the drill team and National Honor Society, as well as a math tutor. [5] Finn earned her bachelor's degree in journalism from Boston University, [7] and a master's degree in political management at George Washington University (GWU). [6] She was named a fellow at GWU's Institute of Politics, Democracy and the Internet in 2007. [8]

Career

Early in her career, Finn was a journalist and worked as congressional correspondent for the Republican-American , a family-owned newspaper based in Waterbury, Connecticut. [7] She started as an intern on the same day as the September 11 attacks (2001), which she covered by writing a series of front-page articles. [8] She transitioned from journalism to politics, working on Capitol Hill for Lamar Smith and others. [5] Finn later was a digital strategist for the Republican Party, working on operations programs for George W. Bush's 2004 presidential campaign and leading digital efforts for Mitt Romney's 2008 president campaign. [5] [9] She co-founded the digital fundraising and media firm Engage with Patrick Ruffini. [10] [11] [12] During 2011–2013, she helped Twitter develop strategic partnerships in Washington, D.C. [7] She has also completed strategic work for the Republican National Committee (c. 2015) [13] and Google. [5] [7] [14]

Finn founded the nonprofit organization Empowered Women in 2015, [6] which seeks to promote discussion around feminism and women's empowerment throughout the U.S. She continued as president, as of 2016. [7] [15] Shushannah Walshe of ABC News described the organization as "a network to connect center-right and independent women", [14] and Elle 's Rachael Combe called Finn "one of the few people outside of liberal circles actively organizing women under a feminist banner". [16] Finn has also advocated for more women, especially conservatives, [6] to run for office. [14] She also was on the Democracy Fund's bipartisan National Advisory Committee in 2016. [17] Finn speaks about politics and technology and has appeared on media outlets such as C-SPAN, Fox News, MSNBC, and NPR. [7]

Finn was a vice presidential candidate for Evan McMullin's 2016 presidential campaign. [14] Finn, who previously considered herself a "lifelong" Republican, [18] distanced herself from the party under Donald Trump and other leaders, including Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan. [9] She was an early member of the Never Trump movement, [6] [19] and helped form a political action committee to support the movement. [3] [20] She has been credited for launching the 'NeverTrump' hashtag, [21] and has been described as the "new face of the 'never Trump' Republicans". [22] She also studied the nativism fueling Trump's rise. [23] As a candidate, Finn advocated for paid time off for women, child care improvements, [7] and tax law simplification. [24] She also supported entitlement reform efforts around Social Security. [2]

In 2017, [25] Finn and McMullin co-founded Stand Up Republic, [26] which seeks to strengthen democracy in the U.S. Finn became executive director of the government accountability organization, [1] which has chapters in eighteen U.S. states, as of 2020. [3] [27] Stand Up Republic has worked to defeat select Republican politicians, including Dan Bishop, Roy Moore, [28] Devin Nunes, and Steve King, [29] and supported the impeachment of Trump. [30] [31] In 2020, she was named one of sixteen inaugural Brewer Fellows to Unite America, a fellowship established by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation in partnership with Cultivate the Karass and the Unite America Fund. [32] She founded and is chief executive of Citizen Data. [33]

Recognition

Finn was named one of the "50 Politicos to Watch" by Politico in 2011. [2] She was also included in the news organization's list of "top tweeters". Molly Ball described Finn's Twitter feed as "a cross section of her wide-ranging reading list, peppered with personal observations", and Finn had 4,650 followers, as of July 2011. [34] For co-founding Engage, [10] and for her work for Twitter, Washingtonian named Finn one of the "top 100 tech titans... mostly for her ability to mesh government and online strategy together". [7] In 2013, Grace Wyler and Brett LoGiurato of Business Insider included Finn in their list of "the 50 hottest people in online politics" for her political and advocacy work on Twitter, writing, "Finn has played a key role in making Twitter the go-to social media platform in the political sphere." [35]

In 2017, Finn was one of eight recipients of the George Washington Alumni Association's Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award. [36]

Personal life

Finn is Jewish with two sons and one daughter. [2] [15] [37] She lives in Washington, D.C., as of 2017. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christine Todd Whitman</span> American politician and author (born 1946)

Christine Temple Whitman is an American politician and author who served as the 50th governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001 and as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2003. As of 2024, Whitman is the only woman to have served as governor of New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liz Cheney</span> American lawyer and politician (born 1966)

Elizabeth Lynne Cheney is an American attorney and politician. She represented Wyoming's at-large congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2017 to 2023, and served as chair of the House Republican Conference—the third-highest position in the House Republican leadership—from 2019 to 2021. Cheney is known for her vocal opposition to former president Donald Trump. As of March 2023, she is a professor of practice at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 United States presidential election</span> 58th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket of former secretary of state and First Lady of the United States Hillary Clinton and Virginia junior senator Tim Kaine, in what was considered one of the biggest political upsets in American history. It was the fifth and most recent presidential election in which the winning candidate lost the popular vote. It was also the sixth and most recent presidential election in U.S. history in which both major party candidates were registered in the same home state; the others have been in 1860, 1904, 1920, 1940, and 1944.

This article contains the list of candidates associated with the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries for the 2016 United States presidential election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindsey Graham 2016 presidential campaign</span> American political campaign

Lindsey Graham, the senior United States senator from South Carolina and former U.S. Representative for South Carolina's 3rd congressional district, announced his bid for the Republican nomination for president on June 1, 2015, at an event in his hometown of Central, South Carolina. Although he was praised for solid, often humorous debate performances, the campaign never gained any traction, and was suspended on December 21, 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Republican Party vice presidential candidate selection</span>

Businessman Donald Trump of New York, the 2016 Republican nominee for President of the United States, considered several prominent Republicans and other individuals before selecting Governor Mike Pence of Indiana as his running mate on July 15, 2016. Pence formally won the vice presidential nomination at the 2016 Republican National Convention on July 19. The Trump–Pence ticket would go on to defeat the Clinton–Kaine ticket in the 2016 presidential election but ultimately lost to the Biden–Harris ticket in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 United States presidential election in Michigan</span>

The 2016 United States presidential election in Michigan was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Michigan voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican nominee, businessman Donald Trump, and his running mate Indiana Governor Mike Pence against Democratic nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and her running mate Virginia Senator Tim Kaine. At that time, Michigan had 16 electoral votes in the Electoral College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 United States presidential election in Utah</span>

The 2016 United States presidential election in Utah was held on November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States presidential election which was also held in the other 49 states and in the District of Columbia. Voters were asked to pick 6 electors to be pledged for a candidate in the Electoral College. The two main tickets of the election were the Republican one, consisting of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana Governor Mike Pence, and the Democratic one, consisting of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Virginia Senator Tim Kaine.

The Never Trump movement is an ongoing conservative movement that opposes Trumpism and former U.S. president Donald Trump. It began as an effort on the part of a group of Republicans and other prominent conservatives to prevent Republican front-runner Trump from obtaining the 2016 Republican Party presidential nomination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 United States Senate election in Utah</span>

The 2018 United States Senate election in Utah took place on November 6, 2018, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Utah, concurrently with other elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various state and local elections. The primaries took place on June 26.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evan McMullin</span> American political candidate (born 1976)

David Evan McMullin is an American political candidate and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer. McMullin ran as an independent in the 2016 United States presidential election and in the 2022 United States Senate election in Utah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evan McMullin 2016 presidential campaign</span> Political campaign for United States presidency

The 2016 presidential campaign of Evan McMullin was launched on August 10, 2016. McMullin ran as an independent presidential candidate, but also received the presidential nominations of Better for America, Independence Party of Minnesota, Independent Party of Florida, and South Carolina Independence Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Wilson (political consultant)</span> American political strategist (born 1963)

Frederick George "Rick" Wilson is an American political strategist, media consultant, and author based in Florida. A former member of the Republican Party, he has produced televised political commercials for governors, U.S. Senate candidates, Super PACs, and corporations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronna McDaniel</span> American political strategist (born 1973)

Ronna Romney McDaniel is an American political strategist who served as chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) from 2017 until her resignation in 2024. A member of the Republican Party and the Romney family, McDaniel was chair of the Michigan Republican Party from 2015 to 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 Republican Party presidential primaries</span>

Presidential primaries and caucuses of the Republican Party took place in many U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories from February 3 to August 11, 2020, to elect most of the 2,550 delegates to send to the Republican National Convention. Delegates to the national convention in other states were elected by the respective state party organizations. The delegates to the national convention voted on the first ballot to select Donald Trump as the Republican Party's nominee for president of the United States in the 2020 election, and selected Mike Pence as the vice-presidential nominee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faithless electors in the 2016 United States presidential election</span>

In the 2016 United States presidential election, ten members of the Electoral College voted or attempted to vote for a candidate different from the ones to whom they were pledged. Three of these votes were invalidated under the faithless elector laws of their respective states, and the elector either subsequently voted for the pledged candidate or was replaced by someone who did. Although there had been a combined total of 155 instances of individual electors voting faithlessly prior to 2016 in over two centuries of previous US presidential elections, 2016 was the first election in over a hundred years in which multiple electors worked to alter the result of the election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 United States presidential election in Utah</span>

The 2020 United States presidential election in Utah was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Utah voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, incumbent President Donald Trump, and running mate Vice President Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his running mate California Senator Kamala Harris. Utah has six electoral votes in the Electoral College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 United States Senate election in Utah</span>

The 2022 United States Senate election in Utah was held on November 8, 2022, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Utah. Incumbent senator Mike Lee, who was first elected in 2010, won re-election to a third term, defeating Evan McMullin, an independent candidate who was endorsed by the Utah Democratic Party.

References

  1. 1 2 Sherman, Jake; Palmer, Anna (February 10, 2020). "Politico Playbook: T-minus 1 day to N.H." Politico . Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Shire, Emily (November 7, 2016). "You've Never Heard of Mindy Finn, But She Could Have Saved the GOP". Bustle . Retrieved June 2, 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 Saldin, Robert P.; Teles, Steven M. (May 2020). "The Last Anti-Trump Republicans Are Biding Their Time". The Atlantic . Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  4. ↑ Tuttle, Ian (October 31, 2016). "Evan McMullin against the Leviathans". National Review . Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Livingston, Abby (November 4, 2016). "Meet Mindy Finn, the Kingwood, Texas woman who is blowing up the GOP". Houston Chronicle . Retrieved June 23, 2020– via The Texas Tribune.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Maier, Lilly (October 13, 2016). "10 Truths About Mindy Finn, the Jewish, Pro-Life Texan Running for Vice-President". The Forward . ISSN   1051-340X . Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Scribner, Herb (October 12, 2016). "5 things you may not know about Mindy Finn, Evan McMullin's running mate". Deseret News . ISSN   0745-4724 . Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  8. 1 2 Baddour, Dylan (November 5, 2016). "Houston-area native bucking the GOP, as VP running mate of independent presidential candidate". Houston Chronicle . Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  9. 1 2 3 "What's next for Mindy Finn?". Politico . Capitol News Company. July 5, 2017. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  10. 1 2 Gaynor, Michael J. (November 2, 2016). "5 Questions for Vice Presidential Candidate Mindy Finn". Washingtonian . Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  11. ↑ O'Connor, Rory (May 8, 2012). Friends, Followers and the Future: How Social Media are Changing Politics, Threatening Big Brands, and Killing Traditional Media. City Lights Publishers. p. 159. ISBN   9780872865624 . Retrieved June 3, 2020.
  12. ↑ West, Darrell M. (March 4, 2013). Air Wars (6 ed.). SAGE. p. 158. ISBN   9781452239910 . Retrieved June 3, 2020.
  13. ↑ Bartlett, Tom (May–June 2015). "Rand Paul's Internet Army". Politico Magazine. ISSN   2381-1595 . Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Walshe, Shushannah (October 6, 2016). "Presidential Candidate Evan McMullin Picks Mindy Finn as Running Mate". ABC News . Retrieved June 2, 2020.
  15. 1 2 Oster, Marcy (October 10, 2016). "NeverTrump Independent Evan McMullin Names Jewish Running Mate". The Forward. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  16. ↑ Combe, Rachael (August 12, 2016). "Not With Her, But Not With Him: The Women Of The *New* GOP". Elle . Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  17. ↑ "Democracy Fund Announces Bipartisan National Advisory Committee". Democracy Fund. March 29, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  18. ↑ "Independent US presidential candidate names Jewish running mate". The Times of Israel . October 11, 2016. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
  19. ↑ Vogel, Kenneth P. (May 24, 2018). "Concerned by Trump, Some Republicans Quietly Align With Democrats". The New York Times. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  20. ↑ Daugherty, Alex (October 21, 2016). "Is this #NeverTrump vice presidential candidate the future of the Republican Party?". McClatchy . Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  21. ↑ Tait, Joshua (May 22, 2020). "Never Trumpers and the Future of American Conservatism". The Bulwark . Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  22. ↑ Mandel, Bethany (October 11, 2016). "This Jewish Woman Is the New Face of the 'Never Trump' Republicans". The Forward. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  23. ↑ "Stranger in My Own Country". Democracy Fund Voice. January 25, 2017. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  24. ↑ Andersen, Ericka (October 18, 2016). "Mindy Finn's Quest for the Vice Presidency". National Review . Stand Up Republic. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  25. ↑ Haddad, Tareq (November 18, 2019). "Former CIA Officer Labels 'America First' Policy a 'Scam' As Russian Troops Take Control of Syrian Airbase". Newsweek . Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  26. ↑ Morrill, Jim (May 17, 2020). "'Never Trumpers' plan to hold their own GOP convention in Charlotte in August". WBTV . Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  27. ↑ Click, Nathan (November 5, 2019). "Click: Gerrymandering is a national security concern". The Fayetteville Observer . Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  28. ↑ Weigel, David (December 8, 2017). "Anti-Trump conservatives place $500,000 ad buy against Roy Moore". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  29. ↑ Harrison, Steve (August 19, 2019). "Lifelong Conservative Targets Dan Bishop Over Social Media Investment". WFAE . Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  30. ↑ Bote, Joshua (February 5, 2020). "Anti-Trump protesters rally across the nation after impeachment acquittal". USA Today. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  31. ↑ Fanning, Timothy (February 4, 2020). "Sarasota residents to join nationwide protests over acquittal of President Trump". Sarasota Herald-Tribune . Archived from the original on April 11, 2021. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  32. ↑ Brewer Fellowship:
  33. ↑ Finn, Mindy (June 15, 2020). "From coronavirus to George Floyd: Why a bad year for America can lead to lasting reforms". USA Today . Retrieved June 24, 2020. Mindy Finn is chief executive and founder of Citizen Data and co-founder of Stand Up Republic.
  34. ↑ Ball, Molly (July 28, 2011). "Top tweeters". Politico. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  35. ↑ Wyler, Grace; LoGiurato, Brett (February 21, 2013). "THE DIGITAL 50: The 50 Hottest People In Online Politics". Business Insider . Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  36. ↑ "GW to Recognize Career Achievements of Eight Alumni". GW Today. George Washington University. August 14, 2017. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  37. ↑ @mindyfinn (October 19, 2018). "Big news on the home front: our precious baby girl came into the world yesterday morning fast and in the back of an Uber en route to the hospital. We're so grateful and thrilled. May she always be so independent and fierce!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.