Mike Madrid

National Political Consultant and Principal

Grassroots Lab

 

Mike Madrid is a communications expert and a nationally recognized expert on Latino voting trends. He graduated from the Edmund G. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1997, where he wrote his senior thesis on Latino politics and the perspective that politicization of emerging Latino voter groups in Southwestern states was unique in American history. The work focused largely on a critical assessment of professor Peter Skerry’s work “Mexican Americans: The Ambivalent Minority” and addressed questions surrounding the experience of Mexican American politicization as a choice between the pursuit of an aggrieved racial minority or a more typical assimilative integration into the broader political and social culture of the United States.

The completion of his thesis at Georgetown University in Washington DC on Latino voters became the basis for his pioneering work on Latino communications and outreach strategies in California, Texas, Florida and nationwide. He has served as the press secretary for the California Assembly Republican leader and as the political director for the California Republican Party. In these roles, Madrid played a key role in pioneering Latino outreach and communications strategies.

In 2001 he was named as one of America’s “Most Influential Hispanics” by Hispanic Business Magazine. He is a regular commentator on Latino political issues in statewide and national media publications.

Since 2000, Madrid has also developed an expertise in local governments in California. He served as the public affairs director to the League of California Cities. In that role, he was instrumental in the passage of Proposition 1A (The Local Taxpayer Protection Act), a historic achievement that constitutionally protected local government revenues from state raids. The measure received 84% of the vote—one of the highest percentages in California history.

In 2011, Madrid helped develop the Leadership California Institute, an organization dedicated to educating and training future California leaders.

Madrid is the editor and publisher of California City News, a news site dedicated to “the best politics, policy and practices of local government in California.”