Mike Flynn (October 19, 1967 – June 23, 2016) was an American online journalist who was known as the original editor of the Big Government website at Breitbart News.

Early life

Born and raised in

Quincy, Illinois Quincy ( ), known as Illinois's "Gem City", is a city in and the county seat of Adams County, Illinois, United States, located on the Mississippi River. The 2020 census counted a population of 39,463 in the city itself, down from 40,633 in 2010. ...

, Flynn was a sixth-generation native of central Illinois. He graduated from Quincy High School in 1985 and graduated from

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

in 1989. From 1989 until 1992, Flynn was the general manager of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in

Keokuk, Iowa Keokuk is a city in and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States, along with Fort Madison. It is Iowa's southernmost city. The population was 9,900 at the time of the 2020 census. The city is named after the Sauk chief Keokuk, who is ...

Career

According to the '' Quincy Herald-Whig'', Flynn self-described "as a strongly conservative libertarian," and he emphasized the

U.S. national debt The national debt of the United States is the total national debt owed by the federal government of the United States to Treasury security holders. The national debt at any point in time is the face value of the then-outstanding Treasury sec ...

, reducing government regulations, and border security. Flynn worked on the staff of the

Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 181 ...

from 1992 to 1997, and then for the American Legislative Exchange Council from 1997 to 2004. He was a lobbyist with the Reason Foundation. Flynn testified numerous times before the U.S. Congress and dozens of state legislatures. His research has been cited by publications such as ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. In 2015, Flynn ran for Congress during the Illinois's 18th congressional district special election to fill the remainder of the term of Republican Aaron Schock, who resigned on March 31, 2015. He was endorsed by conservative activists such as

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from ...

, Mark Levin, Congressman

Steve King Steven Arnold King (born May 28, 1949) is an American far-right politician and businessman who served as a U.S. representative from Iowa from 2003 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Iowa's 5th congressional district u ...

, Congressman Louie Gohmert,

Richard Viguerie Richard Art Viguerie (; born September 23, 1933) is an American conservative figure, pioneer of political direct mail and writer on politics. He is the current chairman of ConservativeHQ.com. Life and career Viguerie was born in Golden Acres, T ...

, Stephen Moore, and Erick Erickson. State Senator Darin LaHood defeated Flynn in the Republican primary on July 7, 2015, with 69.5% of the vote to Flynn's 27.7%. In 2016, Flynn served as a member of the leadership team in Illinois for Cruz's

presidential campaign President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

, and at the time of his death, was scheduled to be a delegate for Cruz at the

2016 Republican National Convention The 2016 Republican National Convention, in which delegates of the United States Republican Party chose the party's nominees for president and vice president in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, was held July 18–21, 2016, at Quicken Lo ...

Personal life

Flynn was married to his wife, Holly Flynn Pitt-Young, and had four children. He died from a heart attack in Washington, D.C. on June 23, 2016, aged 48.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flynn, Mike 1967 births 2016 deaths 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American male writers American libertarians American political writers Breitbart News people Candidates in the 2015 United States elections Online journalists People from Quincy, Illinois University of Iowa alumni Journalists from Illinois Illinois Republicans