Mitch Stewart
Executive Director of Organizing for America (since January 2009)
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(OFA)
- Career History: State Director in Virginia for Presidential candidate Barack Obama (2008); Caucus director in Iowa for Obama (2007 to 2008); Minnesota director for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party (2006 to 2007)
- Birthday: Oct. 30, 1975
- Hometown: Vermillion, S.D.
- Alma Mater: University of South Dakota, B.S. (chemistry and biology), 1999
Raised by his father who was a professor of sociology at the University of South Dakota and his mother who taught 5th graders, Stewart had an early introduction to politics. One of his best friends as a child was the son of now-Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.). Johnson worked in the South Dakota House of Representatives at the time, but the connection to the future senator would prove fruitful for Stewart.
For college, Stewart attended the University of South Dakota where he studied biology and chemistry. After graduating in 1999, Stewart joined Sen. Johnson's offices in Sioux Falls, S.D. He would stay in Johnson's South Dakota offices for a year before heading to Washington to work for the senator.
During the 2008 campaign, the Obama team compiled a list of 13 million email addresses. While the White House can't use the email list for political purposes, the Democratic National Committee can. In January 2009, the DNC sent a mass mailing to the list and announced the creation of OFA. OFA was devised to invite discussion and build support for White House policies through Obama's campaign activists.
The first hint of OFA's strategy came in February 2009, when Obama urged Congress to pass an economic stimulus package.
Growing up in South Dakota, Stewart was good friends with Sen. Tim Johnson 's son. Stewart worked in Johnson's Senate offices in Sioux Falls and D.C. from 1999 to 2002.
In 2002, Stewart worked on Johnson's re-election campaign, where he met Jennifer O'Malley Dillon , who is now executive director at the DNC. The two would work together during Tom Daschle 's 2004 re-election campaign and for Obama in Iowa during the 2008 Democratic primary.
Stewart has not donated to any candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
- Center for Responsive Politics
- Response to Whorunsgov.com questionnaire by Mitch Stewart on June 11, 2009
- Hass, Christopher, "National Health Care Day of Service," Organizing for America, June 14, 2009
- Rutenberg, Jim and Nagourney, Adam, "Melding Obama's Web to a YouTube Presidency," The New York Times, Jan. 26, 2009
- Sargent, Greg, "3,587 House Parties?," The Plum Line, Feb. 9, 2009
- CNN Election Center
- Broder, David, "David Broder: Big-name backing helps get 'live names' for later," The Washington Post, Dec. 17, 2007
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