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Mindy Finn

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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.

Mindy Finn
Finn in 2007
Personal details
Born (1981-02-10) February 10, 1981 (age 43)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Political partyRepublican (Before 2016)
Independent (2016–present)
Children3
EducationBoston University (BA)
George Washington University (MA)

Early life and education

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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

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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

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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

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

References

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  1. ^ a b Sherman, Jake; Palmer, Anna (February 10, 2020). "Politico Playbook: T-minus 1 day to N.H." Politico. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c "What's next for Mindy Finn?". Politico. Capitol News Company. July 5, 2017. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  10. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d Walshe, Shushannah (October 6, 2016). "Presidential Candidate Evan McMullin Picks Mindy Finn as Running Mate". ABC News. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
  15. ^ a b 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

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